Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1929 2240

Page 7 Text:

December 1, 1929
PRESTO-TIMES
Jay GriniK'll, president of Grinnell Bros., De^oit—
Because it is not the auto alone that makes I|etroit
;
famous. The Grinnell piano, for instance.
Harry Schaaf, president of Adam Schaaf, Inc., Chi-
cago—That radios do not dominate the entire retail
trade; there is a Rood deal in the piano business.
Edgar B. Jones, president of the Schiller Piaiio •
Company, Oregon, 111.—That his piano exhibits at
conventions this year attracted so much attention and
the instruments were so easily sold.
Fred. Stieff, president of Chas. M. Sticff, Inc., Bal-
timore, Md.—For the stanch and faithful Stieff
dealers.
Hobart ("Bert") Cable—That his advertisements
have helped the representatives of the company to
keep trade moving.
Henry Christman, president of Christman Piano
Co., New York—That many noted artists still play
and praise the Christman piano.
The Trade Press—That they were not obliged to
become quarterlies instead of monthlies.
Carl Ultes, of O. S. Kelly Company, Springfield,
Olro—That the Fairbanks-Kelly merger in the piano
plate business has proven so satisfactory.
Alexander Steinert of M. Steinert & Sons Co., Bos-
ton—For the boosts that have been given to business
through the government.
P. T. Starck; president of P. A. Starck Piano Co.,
Chicago—That the latest Starck grand has proven a
money-maker.
Julius Breckwoldt, Dolgeville. N Y.—That 1930
prox. looks better than 1929 ult.
B. C. Waters, president of th^ Western Electric
I'iano Company, Chicago—That the new Selectras
are meeting with such especial favor.
Max de Rochemont, president of the Laffargue
Company, New York—That the appreciation of good
music is keeping the piano identified primarily with its
production.
Carl E. Peck, chairman of the board of Hardman,
I'eck &Co., New York—That those dealers who have
handled Hardman pianos the longest are still pre-
ferring that make.
Curtis N. Kimball, president of th'^ W. W. Kim-
ball Company, Chicago—That the house of Kimball
is so firmly established.
J. M. Cameron, president of the Lauter-Humana
Company, Newark, N. J.—That come what will, music
and musical instruments go on forever.
Otto Doll, president qf the P-emier Grand Cor-
poration, New York—That the giaud piano business
is the sustaining power of the piano trade.
C. Albert Jacob, treisurer of the Muthushek Piano
Manufacturing Company, New York— For the pro-
gressiveness of the enterprises in which he is in-
terested.
W. N. Van Matre, president of the Schumann Piano
Company, Rockford, 111.—For the success of his in-
terests, both in and out of the piano trade.
W. S. Bond, president of the Weaver Piano Com-
pany, York, Pa.—For Weaver grand success.
Mark P. Campbell, president "f the Brambach Piano
Company and of the Music Industries Chamber of
Commerce—For good prospects of 1930 business gen-
erally.
Even the radio men who were supposed to be riding
on the crest of the wave of prosperity, seem to be
glad that things were not worse, for here is what the
Chicago Herald and Examiner gives as a reason for
their thankfulness: "That radio sets are still being
sold by industrious retailers, despite the wail of calam-
ity prophets."
Numerous Unnaniecl Ones—That the roosters that
commenced crowing in the recent darkness are now
crowing louder because they see the dawn coming
nearer, giving assurance that calamity is now re-
ferred to in the past tense.
Many persons in the trade could not be reached and
others did not reply to our broadcast inquiry as to
what thev are thankful for.
WISWELL DRAWS CLUB'
THANKSGIVING TURKEY
Much Merry-Making at the Drawing for
the Big Turkey at Piano Club of
Chicago.
The Piano Club of Chicago had a joyous time last
Monday, as the drawing of names to determine the
winner of the donated turkey for Thanksgiving was
provocative of much mirth.
The names were all put into a hat, and the rule of
the contest was that the last name drawn from the
"sky-piece"' would win the big gobbler. Each name
was called out amid shouts of laughter as A. H.
Grim, of the Tonk Mfg. Co., official drawer, took
theiii one by one from the hat.
As the names dwindled down until but three re-
mained in the hat, the fun was furious. These three
were G. S. McLaughlin, the secretary; A. H Grim
and I.. C. Wiswell. Then betting started, Mr. Mc-
Laughlin offering to bet two to one that Wiswell
would not win. Mr. Wiswell took him up on that
proposition and the next name that came out of the
hat was Grim's. The last drawing brought out AIc-
Laughlin's name and so Mr. Wiswell was declared
winner of the turkey. His good luck was emphasized
by not only winning the turkey, but also Mr. Mc-
Laughlin's bet.
The following was the order in which the names
were drawn:
Maurice Blink, S. D. Harris, A. J. Cook, W T . M.
Gamble, J. P. Burns, F. P . Abbott. G. R. Brownell,
Edward Benedict, E. F. i^apham, Ben Strub, Adam
Schneider, Marshall Solberg, Roger O'Connor, J. G.
Peirson, D. L. Sterling, Jack Lundin, E. V. Gallo-
way, Al Koch, Edw. E. Waldren, T. F. Weber, R.
W. Pratt. Lawrence L. Shailer, F. A. Zetsche, G. A.
Porkett, A. H. Grm, G. S. McLaughlin, L. C. Wis-
well.
The dub gave a rising vote of thanks to Joe Burns,
the saxophonist, for the solo performances he gave on
that instrument. This skilled artist showed the lis-
teners that the saxophone is capable of real music—
that it can arouse other thoughts than that of ghosts
moaning in a graveyard at midnight or the winter
wind howling among the branches of leafless trees.
An oddity in invitations to the meetings of the club
was perpetrated by Secretary G. S. McLaughlin as
follows:
"Feller Piano Clubbers:
"We ain't got much grammar and ain't much on
ritin letters but we jist gotta rite and tell yuh whats
comin next, so yuh will know wbai •>'.< are missin
if yuh don't come.
"When we guys git together at llie I. A. C. and
put on the nose bag and hear some good talks and
see some good movin pitchers once in a while, why,
we sure have a swell time don't we? Youse fellers
that ain't been comin sure do miss soniethin too.
"Now I'm gonna let yuh in on soniethin 1 know
yuh want in on. Next Monday, at 12:15 I*. M. we
are gonna all put on the nose bag at ihe I. A. C. and
for the big surprise we got for ytib."
The letter of appreciation for the memorial that the
club sent recently to Mrs. Otto Scbulz, widow of the
late president of the M. Schuk; Company, was read at
the dinner. It reads as folKws:
6106 Kenmore Ave.,
Chicago, 111.
Nov. 10, 1929.
The I'iano Club of Chicago:
My dear Mr. O'Connor:
My family and T were deeply moved by the senti-
ment expressed in the beautiful memorial to Mr.
Schulz. We wish to sincerely thank you and the
members of your organization for the part you had in
this tribute to my husband.
Throughout his life he was close to you in his sym-
pathy and love, in his admiration for you with whom
he worked; and we will always cher'sh and keep as a
legacy this fine tribute to him.
In grateful appreciation,
EMMA M. SCHULZ.
HOLIDAY CATALOG OF
CLARK ORCHESTRA ROLLS
Latest and Snappiest Hits Are Listed in the DeKalb
Concern's December Bulletin.
The Clark Orchestra Roll Company, DeKalb. 111.,
has issued its December bulletin of Orchestrion Rolls.
The holiday catalog of Clark Orchestra Rolls gives
lists for 65-note rewind electric pianos, adapted to
play the following instruments:
American, Anderson, Aristoii, Armstrong, Auto-
Electrola, Banj-O-Grand, Carleton, Chicago Electric,
Coinola A & C, Colonial, Concertrola, Cote, Cremona.
G. Cupid, Danc-O-Grand, Decker Bros., Eberhart,
Electrotone, Empress A, Englehardt, Eusymphonie,
Evans, Haines, Heller, Howard, Ideal, Wm. A. John-
son, Kibby, King. Kreiter. Marquette, Monarch, Na-
tional 20-R. Nelson-Wiggen. Netzow, Niagara Midget
Orchestra, Originators, Pian-O-Grand, Presburg,
Price & Teeple. Rand L. Reed, Regina, Reichard,
Rhapsodist, Schaeffer, Schultz, Ard F and Gr, Star,
Tangley Air Calliope, Seeburg A. P>. C, D, E. F, K,
PGA, & L, Stand-Tangley, Caliiaphone. Victor, Yioli-
phone. Waltham, Warfield, Watson, Wilson.
Among the seasonable rolls arc the following, listed
as O-2232, "The Contest Winner":
Button Up Your Overcoat, Fox Trot; Honey, Fox
Trot; A Precious Little Thing Called Love, Fox
Trot; Sweetheart of All My Dreams, Fox Trot; Caro-
lina Moon, Waltz; Wedding Bells, Fox Trot; Weary
R : ver, Fox Trot; Sweethearts on I'arade, Fox Trot;
Broadway Melody, Fox Trot; Dream Train, Fox
Trot.
Grand and Upright Actions
Reconditioned
Water Damaged and Moth Eaten Player Actions Rebuilt
Expression Devices <
—
> Governors *
—
> Air Motors, Etc.
Striking Pneumatics
If you have grand or upright actions which have been damaged by water, moth, etc., and
are not prepared or do not have the time to rebuild these actions in your shops, let us give you
an estimate.
Special equipment and factory experienced mechanics enable us to give you a high grade
of work at minimum cost, and very prompt service.
E. A. BOUSLOG, Inc.
2106 Boulevard Place
Harrison 2268
INDIANAPOLIS, 1ND.
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/

Page 8 Text:

December 1, 1929
P R E S T 0-T I M E S
ISSUED THE FIRST AND
FIFTEENTH IN EACH
MONTH
FRANK
D. A B B O T T
- - - - - - - -
(C. A. D A N I ELL—1904-1927.)
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), "PRESTO," Chicago.
Entered as s« i con l?.s8 matter Jan 29. 1896. at the
Post Office, Chicago, III., 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 pointed 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
thfin strictly news interest.
When electrotypes are sent for publication it is re-
quested that their suhjects and senders be carefully indi-
cated.
Forms close at noon on Thursday preceding date of
publication. I>atest 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 -*d-
vertisements for current week, to insure classifications
should be in by Wednesday noon.
Address all communications for the editorial or business
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
The la •; form of Presto-Times goes to press at 11 a. m.
Thureda? preceding publication day. Any news trans-
piring afur that h ur cannot be expected in the current
issue. Nothing reot'ived at the office that is not strictly
news of importance can have attention after 9 a. m. of
Thursday. Tf they concern the interests of manufactur-
ers or dealers such items will appear the. issue following.
CHICAGO, DECEMBER 1, 1929
THE WALL STREET BUBBLE
Fred P. Bassett. of the M. Schulz Company, speaking- at the
recent open forum meeting- of the Piano Club of Chicago, said that
personally he did not know of a single individual of his acquaintance
who lost anything- on the collapse of stocks. Mr. Bassett is just the
average business man of the nation who cannot point out an ac-
quaintance who was bitten because he used Wall Street bears for
playfellows. This is a great nation with many diversified interests;
so much so that the ticker-tape is a game aside that the average man
is too busy to notice. What may seem big on Wall Street or La
Salle Street to men playing the tape all the time passes unnoticed in
the offices of great factories or in marts where real merchandise is
handled. Real business goes on all the time regardless of the polly-
wogs whose puddles dry up on them.
STOCK SLUMP HAS SLIGHT EFFECT
The stock market collapse did not hit the piano or radio business
as hard as some J»elieved. For example, the (irigsby-Grunow Com-
pany, manufacturers of Majestic radios, which had partly closed
down to take inventory and had not planned to resume full blast until
the beginning of the new year, was so bombarded with telegrams
from its dealers all over the country that work was resumed at
around one-third of capacity, which meant producing about 2,000
sets a day and employing between 4,000 and 5,000 people.
VIEWS OF PIANO MEN
The glaring contrasts of life and its patent absurdities are only a
few of the things that are aired at the Piano Club of Chicago in open
forum at the Monday luncheons. Some of the jests are quite useless
for quotation, but whatever is lost in vivacity is compensated for In-
discretion. As soon as the club discovers a better way of doing things
it does not stand longer in old traditions, realizing that new knowl-
edge has no foe but the ignorant, its speeches and programs give a
touch of singularity found in but few clubs. A topic will be taken
up and a number of persons will be called upon to assist in a general
inquiry into causes and to suggest practical remedies if it is some-
thing requiring remedial treatment. The main difficulties are pre-
sented and the clinic begins. The club soon discovers who can out-
strip the others in technique and industry and who can replace preju-
dice with keen judgment. These men are at home among the reali-
GROUP TEACHING IN ENGLAND.
The Liverpool Post recently stated that in one ele-
mentary school alone in Liverpool seventy children
are already receiving group piano instruction under
the Federation scheme. And the same issue of this
paper descrihed a class lesson given to children at
the Liverpool Royal Institute by a well-known local
musician, at which members of the Liverpool center
of the Incorporated Society of Musicians were pres-
ent, and at the end of the lesson were .igrecably sur-
prised at the progress made by the children who
formed the class.
ties. Some of them are men of unfathomable determination, who
not being hampered in their desire to teach, do not stop until the
goal of their efforts has been attained.
PROMOTING A GOOD WORK
Some of the piano manufacturers are far in the lead of the others
in their good work in promoting the national- campaign for classes in
piano playing in the schools of America. A notable leader in this
general movement is the Gulbransen Company, of Chicago. This
great manufacturing company went to extreme pains to get its data
first-hand, competent members of the firm personally conducting a
canvass of several representative cities of medium population to find
out the exact percentage of needers of pianos as compared with the
rest of the population. To the (uilbransen Company, also, must go
the credit for popularizing the word "needers," a substitute for "pros-
pects," which F. W. Wood of (lulbransen's thinks is a stale word and
offensive.
A DEFENSE OF PERFECTION
It even seems that perfection needs defenders once in a while.
After the piano was perfected, the desire for something additional
or different took hold of the people and they kept switching to player-
pianos, to phonographs, and finally to radio. These turn-abouts were
all right, for nature delights in infinite variety and the human race
is part and parcel of nature. Art that trots alongside of nature is
treading the direct path to success. Hut there are many little di-
vergent by-paths that the journeyer must avoid. Xature says to
Art: "Do not take that path. Do not go back on the piano, the
musical instrument of perfection. You need it for self-expression.
Nothing can take its place."
A SUBSTANTIAL SUPPLY HOUSE
One of the most reliable and substantial companies manufactur-
ing keys and actions for pianos and other supplies is the house of
Comstock, Cheney & Company, Ivoryton. Conn. Stock markets may
skid and the devices manufactured by Comstock, Cheney & Company
may at times run into a period of somewhat restricted use, but this
linn has always taken advantage of the principal means at hand to
tide over the tight places. Its thews and sinews and vital energies are
those of strong men running races and its life and success are based
on service and quality of goods.
cities they teach children how to play the piano dur-
ing school hours and at public expense. The Amer-
ican family is at the height of its prosperity. Buy-
ing was never so widespread as it is now. Radio has
fostered a growing desire to play music. All these
facts lead but to one conclusion—that pianos can be
sold by hard working, resourceful salesmen.
OFFER CABLE GRAND AS PRIZE.
A Cable grand w : ll be the prize in the Society of
American Musicians' annual contest for pianists. The
piano is being donated by The Cab'e Company to
promote this means of advancemcr. of individual
musical expression in America. F'nti nice to the con-
test will close March 1, 193(1.
PIANO STUDY IS EASIER.
Axel Christeusen. beloved member of the I'iano
Club of Chicago and all-around entertainer, was fea-
tured on the program at the annual banquet of the
Rock ford Teachers' Club on t'.ie night of November
6 at the Hotel Faust, that citv.
RADIO MESSAGES, OCEAN TO OCEAN.
The Mackay Radio & Telegraph Company on
August 15 inaugurated radio communications between
the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. This step places the
Mackay radio interests again in direct competition
with the Radio Corporation of America.
Today piano stud}- is easier than it ever has been.
Children learn to play five times quicker than they
did in the past. It is so easy that anybody can learn
to play regardless of age or talent. Even public
schools have adopted piano classes. In over 400
Francis MacMillan, American violinist. \\n> cor-
dially welcomed and applauded in Berlin, Germany,
November 19, on the occasion of his reappearance
after an absence of some twelve vears.
The Grandwood Music Company, 8937 Grand River
avenue, Detroit, has been incorporated. Its capital-
ization is $200,0C0. and it will deal in various kinds
of musical instruments.
CHRISTENSEN AT ROCKFORD.
DETROIT'S NEW MUSIC STORE.
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/

Download Page 7: PDF File | Image

Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).

Pro Tip: You can flip pages on the issue easily by using the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard.