Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1929 2232

P R tL S T 0-T I M E S
ISSUED THE FIRST AND
FIFTEENTH IN EACH
MONTH
F R A N K D. A B B O T T
- - - - - - - -
(C. A. D A N I ELL—1904-1927.)
August 1, 1929
PRESTO PUBLISHING CO.
Publishers
417 So. Dearborn St.
Chicago, 111.
The American Music Trade Journal
Editor
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 0234.
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
mercial Cable Co.'s Code), " P R E S T O , " Chicago.
Entered as second-class matter Jan 29. 1896, at the
Post Office, Chicago, 111., under Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription, $1.25 a year; 10 months, $1.00; 6 months,
75c; foreign, $3.00. Payable in advance. No extra charge
in United States possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates
for advertising on application.
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if of
general interest to the music trade will be paid for at
space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen in the
smaller cities are the best occasional correspondents, and
their assistance is invited.
Payment is not accepted for matter printed in the edi-
torial or news columns of Presto-Times.
Where half-tones are made the actual cost of produc-
tion will be charged if of commercial character or other
than strictly news interest.
When electrotypes afe sent for publication It is re-
quested that their subjects and sendees be carefully indi-
cated.
Forms close at noon on Thursday preceding date of
publication. Latest news matter and telegraphic com-
munications should be in not later than 11 o'clock on
that day. Advertising copy should be in hand before
Tuesday, 5 p. m.. before publication day to insure pre-
ferred position. Full page display copy should be in hand
by Tuesday noon preceding publication day. Want ad-
vertisements for current week, to insure classification,
should be in by Wednesday noon.
Address all communications for the editorial or business
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
Dearborn Street. Chicago, III.
The last form of Presto-Times goes to press at 11 a. m.
Thursday preceding publication day. Any news trans-
piring after that hour cannot be expected in the current
issue. Nothing received at the office that is not strictly
news of importance can have attention after 9 a. m. of
Thursday. If they concern the interests of manufactur-
ers or dealers such items will appear the issue following.
CHICAGO, AUGUST 1, 1929
PRESTO'S CAMPAIGN BORE FRUIT
Away back in The Presto of August 2, 1894, as an item in this
issue, department of "35 Years Ago" shows, this publication was
lighting for neighborly conduct in the piano trade. In those days
many of the piano merchants regarded every rival as an enemy in
trade. Later, others in increasing numbers, saw the sense in The
Presto's campaign for friendly co-operation and gave substantial
assistance from time to time, until today the interests of one are
considered the interests and advantages of all.
RETAIL ASSOCIATION'S STUNT
A heroic stunt of the National Association of Music Merchants
this year is not one measured by dollars and miles and horsepower,
but the hero is to be the man who gets the most new members for
the association. A difficult stunt? Yes, but an exciting one. A man
need not be a master of epicycles and eccentrics in astronomy to win,
but he must be a good salesman. Here is a chance to reveal a hero
in an old fogy. A chance to practice that practical freedom that has
the form of an obligation. The winner is to receive a loving cup at
the convention in New York next June.
HIGH STANDARDS OF LIVING
Men begin to know iheir strength when, instead of great num-
bers doing the same things, one takes charge of one thing and one
another. America grew great because it followed the doctrine of
prerogatives and natural selection; everything goes backward if too
much standardized. There are many countries dying of dry rot for
want of such initiative as motivates the every-day work of the average
American. What the European dubs as "Yankee notions" have proved
to be very practical ideas indeed. Every nation has its hobbies.
Germany believes that what is worth doing is worth doing well.
France has a hobby for thrift. England likes to manage many prov-
inces. The American likes to raise the standards of good living to
MUSIC TRADES SOLD AT AUCTION.
The Music Trades and Musical America were two
of the six magazines sold at auction on July 19 he-
fore John L. Lyttle, referee in bankruptcy, 299 Broad-
way, New York, on July 19. Music Trades was in
a list that brought $45,200. The purchaser was John
F. Majeski, 240 West street, who had worked in the
business office of Music Trades for some years in
association with Milton Weil. Deems Taylor, the
composer, had been editor of Music America, and
Arthur Kaye had been managing editor of The Music
Trades. When Mr. Weil sold out a few months ago
he is said to have accepted about $200,000 in pre-
ferred stock in the company as his price, and that
when he left for Paris, where he is now living, he
had only some $5,000 with him. With conditions as
they are across the ocean, it is not likely that Mr.
Weil has had much chance to add greatly to that
better living for everybody, and in both senses he leads the world.
More good autos, more good pianos, more of the luxuries of life are
owned and enjoyed in this country than in any other land. The ex-
ample has been set; let other nations follow.
LIVELIER REACTION IN TRADE
Piano trade is coming back so steadily that it is showing itself
capable of indefinite development. The degree to which this legacy
has been passed on is astonishing. The very cheap piano constitutes
no part of the special claim ; it is the better classes of pianos that are
walking in new paths of dawning hopes and untried possibilities.
The new condition has come about without prescribing any of the
antidotes for a depleted state of the piano trade.
MENTALITY AND FORTUNE
Men's minds are parcel of their fortunes. Mankind is ever
emerging from the gloom of ignorance and barbarism. The next
generation is bound to look upon the present one as slow, stupid,
and in the habit of duplicating work and not doing its own thinking,
independent of precedent. Perhaps, in this generation we have
doubled the quantity of our observation and yet not developed enough
skill to write a real selling advertisement. The man who would
crown his designs with the most prosperous success must give place
to thoughts and considerations of this kind.
WHERE EAR OUTCLASSES EYE
In sound the ear predominates over the eye, because it is more
immediately affected, and because the language of music blends more
immediately with, and forms a more natural accompaniment to, the
variable and infinite associations of ideas conveyed by words. Music
satisfies the keen sense of the beautiful and subtle. By listening to
a well-played fine piano, we seem to find a perfect paradise whose
fields are of young roses and whose air is music. Piano music seems
to be fitted to any rank or contingency in life.
he will see the other section of the house of Wur-
litzer. At the Piano Club luncheon in Chicago Mr.
Laughead told of his thrills in an airplane trip from
Los Angeles to San Francisco, flying it in 3% hours
—350 miles by plane, while it is some 450 miles by
rail. Baggage of 25 pounds is allowed each passen-
ger.
A BEAUTIFUL CHICKERING
Ampico Hall, Chicago, in announcing a Chickering
which it is offering to the local trade, says: "It will
be a long time before there comes another piano so
charming as this new model Chickering. Before com-
mencing its design we studied hundreds of American
homes, conferred with distinguished architects and
interior decorators throughout the land. The lines
REAL ESTATE MAKES MONEY.
of this baby grand are typical of the best present-day
American furniture. Come and see how gracefully
A fortune has just been made by the sale of a
long lease by a prominent concern in the music in- this new model Chickering would adorn your living
dustries of Indiana—practically a quarter of a mil- room; hear its mellow tone and judge for yourself
lion dollars, plus a good bonus to move. The prop- how enjoyable would be its music."
erty to be vacated by the music men is central in
one of the big cities of Indiana, and it was required
PIANO CLASSES PRACTICAL.
by real estate men as the site of a modern structure.
Class instruction has been adopted as the most
How many years would it take to make a profit of
efficient and economical way to teach all academic
such magnitude in making and selling pianos? When subjects. It has been applied in music teaching,
it comes to making money in gigantic sums, trust to how r ever, only during recent years and has proved
real estate to make the turn.
to be in many ways more successful than the indi-
GORDON LAUGHEAD'S ACTIVITIES.
vidual lesson, and of course far less expensive. It is
STEIN'S JULY BEATS RECORD.
probable, indeed, that there is no other way of realiz-
Gordon Laughead, general sales manager of the
Wurlitzer Grand Piano Company, returned to Chi-
Charles Frederick Stein, piano manufacturer, 3047 ing in practice the theory that every child has the
right to a training for self-expression in music, and
cago early last week from a three-weeks' trip to the Carroll avenue, Chicago, has had the biggest July
Pacific Coast, with a summer coat of tan. He starts trade this year of any July since he began manufac- that piano instruction in particular should be brought
within the reach of all.
east after a few days at home, his trip to embrace turing. His pianos are becoming more widely known
Montreal, two or three other Canadian points and every month. He says trade in good insirti-
then Boston. New York and Philadelphia. In Buffalo ments is going to be pretty fair this coming fall. Mr.
Morley Bros , of Saginaw, Mich., have become job-
he expects to confer with the authorities of the house
Madden, of Stein's, is now at his summer home in bers for Edison radios, phonographs and records.
there and he will return by way of Cincinnati, where
the north woods.
E. A. Bowman, Tnc, of Detroit, are the jobbers there.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
August 1, 1929
THIRTY=FIVE YEARS AGO
(From The Presto, July 26, 1894.)
The Emerson factory is turning out from thirty-
five to forty pianos a week. Not a bad record for the
dull summer season. Reason: the Emerson is a
seller.
The Story & Clark Organ Company are giving
the British and Continental trade and public a taste
of effective advertising. In one way the burning of
the London factory was of great benefit to them, for
it made them more widely known than before, as the
English journals of the highest class gave illustra-
tions of the ruins in which the name "Story & Clark"
on a wall of the building is the most conspicuous
object.
Some weeks ago we predicted that the attacks of
the boss boodler on the Everett piano and the John
Church Company would cease because they were
ineffectual to accomplish the purpose in view. This
is not the first setback the boodl'ng sheet has re-
ceived, but it is the most serious. Blumenberg has
set his heart on making the John Church Company
accede to his demands and the defeat of his object
was the bitterest disappointment he has had for
some time.
The Bradbury Piano Company, Washington, D. C,
have introduced an easy and novel way whereby
families may purchase an organ for their home, a
description of which is given in their advertisement
under "Pianos and Organs" in the daily papers of
that city. They are presenting all prospective buyers
with a handsome triple-combination savings bank, the
monthly savings of which are to apply to the pur-
chase of a Weaver organ.
We acknowledge with thanks the receipt of an in-
vitation from Charles M. Stieff, Baltimore, Md., to
attend the fifty-second anniversary and picnic of his
employees, which was held on Tuesday, July 24, at
Darley Park, Harford Road, Baltimore.
Mr. Charles Stanley, of A. Reed & Sons, Dixon,
111., was recently the recipient of two handsome
testimonials of appreciation. He received a diploma
from the board of lady managers of the World's
Columbian Exposition for his work in the produc-
tion and perfection of the : r exhibit at the World's
Fair. This was the first. The second was an ex-
pression of esteem from the Reed employees, who
presented him a few days ago with a handsome 14-
carat solid gold-cased watch inscribed "Presented to
C. Stanley in honor of the World's Fair Diploma by
the boys of A. Reed & Sons."
(From The Presto, Aug. 2, 1894.)
One of the mistakes in the piano trade is the re-
tailer who fancies that every neighboring competitor
is a mortal enemy. Such small-minded merchants
not only prove an annoyance to others, but are con-
stantly retarding their own progress. Piano dealers
should cultivate the amenities of trade, and by so
dorng and working together their profits will be bet-
ter and their customers be no less happy because
the customers pay a fair price for what they get.
Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Kimball started on Saturday
for Germany.
It should be remembered that the Jacob Doll piano
is being handled by a number of the most enterprising
dealers in the country, and that it is rapidly enlarging
its circle of friends.
From abroad we get news of the increasing suc-
cess of the Packard organs, which is a fitting accom-
paniment to their popularity in this country. The
new styles charm everyone by their handsome appear-
ance and rich tone.
There seems to be no end to the honors falling to
the house of Steinway & Sons. The latest distinction
is in being appointed piano makers to His Majesty,
the King of Italy, and being authorized to exhibit the
royal coat of arms as a trade mark of their manu-
facture. As a matter of fact, honors of this sort
have come so frequently to Steinway & Sons of late
that they receive no more than a passing notice from
the trade.
The editor of an esteemed contemporary, now in
Paris, writes his paper that he played upon a piano
Chopin once used, and "retired from it overawed by
the sacrilege I had committed." Unfortunately, we
cannot secure the sentiments of the piano. He was
also permitted to lovingly caress the keys of an Erard
that Paderewski had used, and he "improvised upon
the same several times." For which we extend
our sympathies to the instrument.
It is pretty difficult to find a piano manufacturer
who is sanguine enough to predict a rousing trade
this fall, but there is not one that does not believe
there will be a marked improvement and is preparing
for it.
Mr. Frank D. Abbott, editor of the well known
American music trade paper, The Presto, who, with
his wife has been making a tour of some of the prin-
cipal points in Europe, is now at the Kaiserhof Hotel,
Berlin, for a few days before returning to America.—
The "New York Herald" of Paris, July 15.
Mr. Carl Fischer, the music publisher and musical
instrument importer of New York, sailed last week
P R K S T 0-T I M E S
for Europe on his annual visit abroad. He will prob-
ably attend the Antwerp Exposition.
The Port Morris district, along the Southern
Boulevard, New York, is fast falling into the hands
of the piano makers. Quite an extensive settlement
of piano factories already looms up there, all within
a stone's throw of each other. Haines Bros., Estey
Piano Co., Doll, Connor, Ludwig & Co., Decker &
Son, and Newby & Evans, are all located on the
Boulevard, the five last named being within calling
distance of one another. And they are all new
factories.
The house of J. W. Martin & Brothers, 73 State
street, Rochester, N. Y., presents a bewildering array
of piano makers. It is questionable whether it is
good policy to carry so great a variety. Here is the
list: Steinway, Chickering, Decker Bros., Ivers &
Pond, Stultz & Bauer, Erie Piano Company, Mathu-
shek, Cable & Son, Needham, Wissner, and Kurtz-
mann. This is an appalling list for one small house
to carry. But the Martins are hustlers, and Mr. Wm.
Martin, son of the late senior partner, keeps things
well in hand. Mr. R. G. Firman, one of the widely
known salesman throughout "York State," is one of
the Martin salesmen.
. . . .There are, however, two of the foremost Amer-
ican houses in the piano trade which have been hon-
ored in this unusual manner. Every member of the
trade will recall the pardonable pride with which the
late Mr. Frank Chickering wore his decoration of
the Legion of Honor, which was conferred upon him
by the French government at the Paris Exposition.
Recently another of America's great piano makers
has been similarly honored by the German empire.
Mr. William Steinway is the possessor of the Cross
of the Order of the Red Eagle, which was conferred
on him by Emperor William of Germany. The Cross
of the Red Eagle, which Emperor William bestowed
on Mr. Steinway, consists of a solid gold cross con-
taining the coat of arms of Germany in gold and
enamel, surrounded by diamonds.
W. C. HEATON NEW ZENITH
SALES PROMOTION MANAGER
Former President of National Piano Travelers' Asso-
ciation Now on Western Trip.
W. C. Heaton, an international figure in the retail
and wholesale music industry has been named sales
promotion manager of the Zenith Radio Corporation
of Chicago, manufacturers of Zenith automatically-
tuned radio receivers, in an announcement issued
from the office of Paul 11. Klugh, vice-president and
general manager.
Mr. Heaton has been identified with the music in-
dustry for more than a score of years having entered
....an all electric set
which features great
range, selectivity and
volume without dis-
tortion in the finest
cabinets offered to the
radio buying public.
Produced by the
manufacturers of the
world renowned
JESSE FRENCH & SONS
PIANO
and worthy of the
" n a m e well known
W. C. HEATON".
the field with The Aeolian Company as retail sales
manager. In 1912 he joined the Kohler Industries,
opening up their Chicago offices as manager in 1914.
The year 1919 saw him vice-president of the Auto
Pneumatic Action Company, New York, and later as
president in 1921.
While in the music industry Mr. Heaton served as
president of the National Piano Travelers' Associa-
tion; chairman of the membership committee of the
National Piano Manufacturers' Association and direc-
tor of the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce.
The radio industry is not by any means new to
Mr. Heaton, who comes to Zenith from a similar posi-
tion of sales promotion manager with one of the other
large radio manufacturers. He contemplates imme-
diately an increase in the Zenith field representation
and the spending of much of his time in actual con-
tact with his field men and Zenith's distributor organ-
ization.
Mr. Heaton is now on an extensive western trip in
the Zenith interests.
since 1875"
THE JESSE FRENCH & SONS
PIANO CO.
NEWCASTLE, IND.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/

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