Presto

October, 1930
15
P R E S T O-T I M E S
MATHUSHEK PROGRESS
RCA=VICTOR'S HOME
SPREADING CHEER BY USING
PRESAGES BRIGHT FUTURE
RECORDING FEATURE
AUTOMATIC INSTRUMENTS
Modern Methods of Selling Have Been Adopted and
Three of the Younger Generation Are
Enlivening Trade.
'"Business is good with Mathushek!" That was the
salutation that greeted the Presto-Times representa-
tive when he called at the retail warerooms of the
company, 37 West 37th street, and talked with the
manager, John J. Glynn.
In the stress and turmoil through which the indus-
try has passed, the famous old Mathushek piano has
more than held its own. Orders have been coming
for the instrument from dealers and the public most
encouragingly.
One of the latest is from the Jersey City public
schools, who have placed a substantial request for
Mathushek Grands and Uprights. During the sum-
mer, the Stetson University of Florida and the
(ieorgia Woman's College added Mathushek pianos
to their musical equipment.
Many new agencies are being assigned. Piano mer-
chants are anxious to ally themselves with this pro-
gressive house, whose instruments stand eminent for
quality, and whose financial position is of the highest.
There are three young men of broad vision, active
in the Mathushek administration who have modern-
ized the wholesaling of the Mathushek without depart-
ing from the traditional conservatism of good busi-
ness. Their guiding policy is larger cooperation with
t'.ie piano merchant, more general constructive pub-
licity of the highest character to help him; adherence
to every principle of manufacturing that can, in any
way, enhance the eminent standing of the instrument
which, it can be said, lias reached the pinnacle of
quality as an art piano.
These young men are C. Albert Jacob, Jr., first
vice-president; Chas. Hall Jacob, assistant treasurer,
and John H. Gettell, secretary and general manager.
The board of directors of the Mathushek companies
is in full accord with these progressive views, and
with the recognized standing of the instrument and
the broad-gauge vision of the company, Presto-Times
feels justified in prophesying a great future in the
trade for the Mathushek.
A very happy supplement to this Mathushek story
came in the form of a statement by Mr. Glynn, just
as the reporter was departing. He used only six
I words, saying, "really and truly, business is improv-
ing," but they carried much significance. A state-
ment like that, coming from John J. Glynn, a man
who is very careful to have facts before he utters any-
thing for publication, is a most cheering bit of off-
|hand intelligence.
A new device which makes it possible for anyone
to make his own records in the home, has just been
placed on the market by the RCA Radiola division,
according to an announcement by V. W. Collamore,
manager of the Radiola division.
"The new home recording apparatus is part of a
combination Radiola-phonograph instrument," Mr.
Collamore said, "so that all three functions of the
complete instrument utilize practically the same
mechanism. A special switch makes it possible to
record excerpts from favorite broadcast programs at
the same time that the radio set is operating."
Mr. Collamore pointed out that while the records
made in the home cannot be expected to equal in qual-
ity the results of the highly developed and costly
apparatus of the recording laboratories, they will find
an interesting and infinite field of application as
"audible snapshots." Of the many uses to which the
RCA home recording system may be put, Mr. Colla-
more mentioned it as a possible aid to vocal and
instrumental instruction, permitting the student to
detect and correct his own faults. It could also be
used for the dictation of personal messages to friends
and relatives with something of the personality of the
speaker; for recording important family events such
as baby's first efforts at speech, birthday and anni-
versary greetings and the children's instrumental and
vocal efforts.
H. K. c \ ! ' i ; i l A R T .
MAJESTIC REFRIGERATORS.
The formal entry of tlie Grigsby-Grunow interests
liuto the electrical refrigeration field becomes a fact
Iwitli the announcement from Majestic Household
lUtilities Corporation in Chicago that its factories are
Inow in production at the rate of 1,000 daily, with a
Irapid step-up to 4,000 machines daily assured. The
{prices, which have long been a matter of widespread
:onjecture, are $175 for Model 150, having a nominal
|capacity of five cubic feet of food storage space, and
^195 for Model 170, with a seven cubic foot capacity.
(These prices are f. o. b. factory. The cabinet is un-
Jusual in that there has plainly been an attempt to
puild furniture beauty into the design. The vertical
?dges are beveled and the top has received the same
treatment. The satin chromium latch and hinges show
the influence of Art Moderne and there is a tempera-
ture regulator escutcheon plate in harmony with them,
"his is a good side-line, which a great many music
dealers are having much success in selling. Radio
ind piano merchants who have the space to spare will
ind the refrigerators excellent concomitant articles
to sell with musical instruments in fitting out the
iiodern home.
PIANOSTYLE PLAYER ROLLS.
The Pianostyle Music Co., Inc., Bush Terminal
lo. 9, Brooklyn N. Y. in its latest bulletin lists these
[oils among a large number of others: Little White
|.ies, Fox Trot Song; My Bluebird Was Caught in the
tain, Fox Trot Song; My Rocky Mountain Home,
^Valtz Song; Seems to Me ("Queen High"); So Beats
[y Heart for You ("Rah, Rah, Daze"); Until We
t Again, Sweetheart, Waltz Song; What's the
T
se?, Fox Trot Song; When Love Comes in the
[oonlight ("Oh! Sailor Behave"); Why Have You
forgotten Waikiki?, Fox Trot Song; Give Yourself
Pat on the Back, Novelty Fox Trot; Gone, Fox
|"rot; Gypsy Love Song ("The Fortune Teller");
langin' on the Garden Gate, Fox Trot; Happy Days
tre Here Again ("Chasing Rainbows") ;Have a Little
faith in Me ("Spring Is Here"); Hawaiian Memories,
Valtz; Hawaiian Nightingale, Waltz; Here Am I
['Sweet Adeline"); Here Comes Emily Brown
Movietone Follies, 1930); High Society Blues ("High
lociety Blues"); Hilo March; Home Sweet Home,
T
Dealers Should Insist that Only Happy and Care-free
Tunes Should Be Played, Says Capehart.
Periods of industrial depression offer new oppor-
tunities for radio and music dealers to sell automatic
musical instruments, in the opinion of H. E. Capehart,
founder and president of The Capehart Corporation,
Fort Wayne, Ind., manufacturing the Capehart Or-
chestrope.
"At this time, when certain lines of business are re-
trenching and people are reducing their expenditures,
thoughtful and progressive dealers will stress the
economy of music in the home," says Mr. Capehart.
MISS ELKANOR GOfeA MAKING A RKCORD OF HER
VOICE W I T H T H E HOMK R E C O R D I N G D E V I C E ON
T H E N E W R C A R A D I O L A 86, W H I C H ALSO INCOR-
PORATES A N E W SCREEN-GRID SUPERHETERO-
D Y N E R E C E I V E R A N D AN I M P R O V E D E L E C T R I C
PHONOGRAPH.
T H E MOVEMENT OF A SINGLE
S W I T C H ALSO M A K E S I T P O S S I B L E AUTOMATI-
CALLY TO RECORD E X C E R P T S F R O M RADIO P R O -
GRAMS W H I L E T H E R E C E I V E R IS I N O P E R A T I O N ,
T H E RP:CORDS H A V E T W O S I D E S A N D MAY B E
P L A Y E D BACK I M M E D I A T E L Y A F T E R RECORDING,
T H E Y CAN B E R E P E A T E D A T W I L L .
A simplified microphone is used for the recording
process. The speech or music picked up by the
microphone is amplified, passed through the regular
phonograph pick-up system and impressed on a spe-
cial record. The record measures six inches in diam-
eter and is composed of a durable cellulose material.
A special chromium plated needle with a blunt head
is used for the recording process and for playing back
the record. The grooves in .the record, of which
there are ninety, have been previously cut, so that it
remains only for the needle to impress the electrical
sound waves on the grooves. A simple four-way
switch makes instantly available the phonograph, the
radio, the recording system and the play-back.
The home-recording feature is the essence of sim-
plicity. The discs, which are double-faced, are
merely placed on the turntable and the speaker talks
or sings into a small microphone. The record may
be played back immediately, no "developing" or other
complicated process being required.
These new 1931 Victor radios, while unchanged in
micro-synchronous principle have been radically
altered in the many new features mentioned, and, as
a result, have already proven themselves in matters
of superlative tone, selectivity and sensitivity.
"Every music dealer should educate his locality in the
fact that music in the home is more economical than
any other form of entertainment.
"Mechanical musical instruments should occupy a
prominent place in the storeroom of music dealers
everywhere and salesmen should be instructed to
stress the economy of music in this form. Moreover,
these instruments should be kept playing in the store,
and the dealers should insist that only happy and
care-free tunes be played. This will create an atmos-
phere of happiness for customers who enter and such
an atmosphere is important in so-called hard times.
"Moreover, it is the belief of those competent to
judge that music is even more popular in periods of
business depression than in normal tunes because
people like to turn from their worries to tuneful mel-
odies as a relief.
"The dealer who is not stressing his automatic
musical instruments at this time is overlooking an
opportunity to beat Old Man Hard Times at his own
game. At the same time that he is benefiting him-
self, the dealer will be doing his bit to spread cheer
in a period when many need it most."
The Capehart Corporation, always alive to new
ways of increasing business, is now going after a new
market for its instruments through dealers who have
been selling Orchestropes for use in the indoor min-
iature golf courses that are being set up for winter
sports. Even during the late summer and early fall
wide-awake dealers have gone after this new market
and many sales of Capehart equipment have resulted
from their aggressiveness.
The New Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans has just
been equipped with the newest and most modern sys-
tem of sound and music transmission, the Capehart
Industrial Unit.
Eleven speakers are concealed in the walls of the
main dining room and other speakers are in the lobby,
on the mezzanine floor, in private dining rooms, in the
coffee shop and other places throughout the hotel.
How the Capehart concern is speeding up and trip-
ling its production is told by the following telegram
in response to an inquiry just before this issue went
to press from the headquarters of the corporation:
"Presto-Times, Chicago:
. .
"The Capehart Corporation is installing tlie latest
type conveyor equipment, which will expedite mass
production, doubling their factory force anq tripling
their production, having started the first week; in Octo-
ber to take care of an unprecedented demand for their
products.
H. E. CAPEHART,
.
-
"President."
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