Presto

13
P R E S T 0-T I M E S
April 1, 1929
Piano Men Who Paint
Pictures for Recreation
Response to the Artistic Urge Is Delightful Way to Effectively Relax Followed
by Four Active Men in the Trade
A great many piano men have some avocation
which healthfully varies the routine of their vocation.
And as a rule the activities of the first are diss'milar
to the second. Some are frank enough to admit that
their regular work is stern duty; their hobby a relax-
ing joy. But nobody feels solemn when it is time
to play.
The pleasurable hobbies of piano men are numerous
and some, like golf, intrigue greater numbers than
others. A hobby census of the trade would be very
interesting. Besides the golfers, aviators, yachtsmen
and long-distance automobilists we might be able
to add to the number of piano men with the artistic
urge, already on our list.
E. M. Boothe's Special Joy.
E. M. Boothe, general manager of Premier Grand
Piano Corporation, New York, is widely known in
the piano trade as a wizard at piano sales. His task
plainly is one demanding persistency; the unremit-
ting study of the ways and means for distributing the
goods. But Mr. Boothe has his intervals for recrea-
tion and then his desire to sketch and paint suggests
the means to make his leisure time most enjoyable.
Mr. Boothe's inclination is for landscape painting,
which requires daylight time out of doors for proper
study. Not much opportunity for him during the
daylight hours. The handsome Premier Grands have
the power to evoke the artistic thrill in the prospects
and their beauties inspire him to greater selling activi-
ties, but really there's little incentive to the landscape
painter at the unromantic corner of East 39th street
and Fifth avenue.
The Pleasurable Week-Ends.
But there's the escape for week-ends to picturesque
spots where he can paint scenery without interrup-
tion, and of course there's a vacation of continuous
delight with his paints and canvases.
Mr. Boothe believes that every business man
should have some hobby that "takes him out of him-
self" at intervals. It may be full of movement and
thrills like D. D. Luxton's yachting or it may have
the calmer joys of the golfing of William J. Keeley,
or his own nerve-soothing recreation, but the char-
acter of play in the hobby activities tends to a
creation of pep and a renewal of mental and physical
energies.
E. B. Heyser Paints
Another of the fortunate ones blessed with the urge
to paint pictures is E. B. Heyser, vice-president and
secretary of the Frederick Investment Company,
Pittsburgh, Pa. He has the enviable ability to pursue
his tastes in both oils and water color and both land-
scape and still life divide his attention.
Mr. Heyser is an extremely busy man whose duties
require his unremitting care, but like Mr. Boothe he
makes joyous week-end excursions to the out-of-
doors. And of course the pleasures of his summer
vacation are in equal ratio to the time spent with his
out-of-door sketching. He knows where to go "n
his own state and loses no time in getting there. Tt
is remarkable for sceir'c charms and the absence of
'industrial features not usually classed as picturesciue.
But Mr. Heyser has the artistic perception which
sees beauty in every phase of nature. The tawny
flood of the Monongahela River may be common-
place to others, but to him, seen under conditions
of early morning, with wreaths of vapor streaming
from its surface and a veil of smoky mist disguising
the mills on the oppos'te shore, it is inspiration for
a picture. That is an advantage enjoyed by the
artist. What may seem to the uninspired as a scenic
liability is an asset to the man looking for an inter-
esting landscape subject.
Carl Bryhn a Critic.
When Carl F. Bryhn of Chicago forgets pianos and
prospects and makes an occasional visit to the stiuHo
of the Chicago Business Men's Art Club, of which
he is one of the old and active members, he gets
a loudly joyous greeting from the studio occupants.
He ivav wander over to the studio piano and by force
of habit, scoop up a few handfuls of the regulation
wareroom demonstration chords, the caressing rinples
that have convinced thousands of prospects of the
piano's tone. Or, with some urging, he mav launch
•nto a lively tune like "Molly on the Shore," adding
rollicking quivers that Percy Grainger never put in
his score. But sometlr'ng else is expected by his
artist friends.
Mr. Bryhn is accepted by the club as an expert critic
on marine pictures. In a mood of adventure when a
boy he ran away to sea and stayed away long enough
to learn the anatomy of ships and the peculiarities
of seafaring folk. He saw the picturesqe world ashore
even if he had to listen to the picturesque language
aboard. So the group of his fellow members in the
Chicago Business Men's Art Club, w T ho go each year
to Gloucester, Mass., to paint marine subjects, wel-
come while they dread the frankness of Mr. Bryhn's
criticisms. His own marine pictures, while having the
charm of correct composition and vivid color, also
have the technical truth in the drawing of ships,
made possible by his romantic years of seafaring.
J. A. Poppler's Gift.
There's J. A. Poppler of Grand Forks, N. D.,
famed in the trade as a go-getter at piano sales, but
also known to a more intimate circle as an artist of
marked ability. Mr. Poppler has the gift of keen
observation that makes the clever portraitist. Per-
haps that is why he has unusual ability to judge
character, a useful faculty in operating an installment
piano business. He has the humorous sense, too,
that sees the subject for a cartoon in a situation and
his cartoons invariably convey a lesson.
Mr. Poppler has built up a splendid piano business
in his section of North Dakota by adhesion to his
"meet-the-prospect-face-to-face" policy. He admits
the mail and the telephone are convenient aids to
pleasant conversations with the prospect, but give him
the old reliable personal process for the quick close
of the sale. He has trained an efficient sales staff in
that belief.
Always Ready to Sketch.
Mr. Poppler likes to meet people and talk to them.
If they are acquaintances he may reach to his hi])
pocket for a sketchbook or tablet and crayon and
make quick sketches of them. Even with strangers
it is an action that breaks down barriers of formality.
Thanks to his artistic ability he never knows moments
of ennui.
A WESSELL, NICKEL &
GROSS ACTION FACT
Announcement by Arthur Wessell of Substan-
tial Improvement in Orders for Fine Actions
Is One of Vital Trade Significance.
Arthur L. Wessell, Wessell, Nickel & Gross, piano
action manufacturers, Tenth avenue and West 45th
street, New York, said this week that business with
them has shown much substantial improvement since
the first of February, and that now they have several
large orders on their books.
The statement is a significant one that directs at-
tention to the condition of the production in fine
pianos. The Wessell, Nickel & Gross piano action is
reputed to be the finest manufactured. The motto of
the company is "Highest Grade and One Grade
Only!" So that a marked improvement in the piano
manufacturers' demand for the Wessell, Nickel &
Gross actions has one unmistakable meaning.
The condition of business with piano supply houses
has always been considered indicative of a corre-
sponding condition with piano manufacturers and of
course with piano dealers. Good, bad or indifferent
sales with retailers is very soon reflected in the degree
of activity in the piano factories. And of course the
piano action maker soon is affected by ebbs and
flows of the dealers' business with the piano manufac-
turer. In a reliable way the activity in the piano
action factories has always reflected the condition in
the piano plants. In that way the statement of Mr.
Wessell is of cheering importance.
MERIT IN THE SONG.
A very pretty little song, entitled "Nobody Ever
Looks At Mi" is just out of press. Words and music
by Will Sullivan of the Euglcwood Music House,
510 Euglewood avenue, Chicago. Th's little song
is melodious, and not too jazzy, not too fl ppant nor
too foolish. It will find a proper place in the list of
available drawing room, concert or vaudeville stage
numbers.
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