Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1931 2254

MUSICAL
TIMES
PRESTO
Established
1884
Established
1881
AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE JOURNAL
10 C«nti a Copy
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10 Months.. .$1,00
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CHICAGO, ILL., JANUARY, 1931
Issued
Monthly—
Fifteenth of Eiicli
TILDEN g'OUHDATf
H
1932
L,
FURTHER COMMblNIS Al> D EXPRESSIONS ON TWO PARALLELS OF
WESTERN_BUSINESS
THE POSSIBLE NEW PIANO SHORTAGE
Following up the article in the Decemher number
of Presto-Times on "Shortage of New Pianos," in
which the averments of H. Edgar French, president
of the Jesse French & Sons Piano Co., New Castle,
Ind., have been generally concurred in, we are in
receipt of numerous letters and verbal information in
ratification of Mr. French's words of warning and
advice.
The difficulties described by Mr. French set out a
plight rather than a theory. Piano manufacturers,
if they do not receive the orders, are not going ahead
to manufacture a lot of pianos. Their reasons foi
this may be fear of deterioration of made-up stock
standing around in the way in the shipping depart-
ments, or there may be one hundred and one othei
reasons. For instance, they do not want to construct
a ready-to-ship supply at present higher costs ot
materials entering into the instruments. At least it
is up to the dealers—whose orders fix the delimitation
of piano output—to order more freely in order that
the manufacturers may know "where they are at," to
use an expression first heard north of Mason and
Dixon's line when it was used in a Chicago revival
meeting by the Rev. Sam Jones of Cartersville, Ga.
The main point brought out by Mr. French was the
present shortage of late models of new pianos. Mr.
French dwelt upon the average dealer's practice in
bending all his efforts on the sale of used pianos, and
.said that in the main such so-called new pianos as
were on hand were "old new" pianos, made years
ago and which stand on the floors unsold and are
even harder to sell than a used piano in fairly good
condition.
When it comes to buying a new piano, the cus-
tomer wants a new one—one of late vintage and not
one of eight years ago, which pianos generally are
much wood and little music.
In this connection Mr. French wants to know how
long the stock of old pianos is going to last, because
when they are sold out, there will be a scrimmage for
new pianos.
Belief Now Prevails That the Present Buyers' Market
Will Change Before Very Long to a
Sellers' Market.
This paper is not inclined to make exaggerated re-
ports of the difficulty, but as showing that others in
a position to know take the same view as Mr. French,
a letter came in some time ago from R. A. Burke,
secretary of the Story & Clark Piano Co.. in which
he says:
LETTER FROM R. A. BURKE
"Piano prices must increase. The desultory buying
program that has prevailed during the past year or
two in the piano industry has of necessity justified
manufacturers to a more limited production schedule
Some manufacturers have even felt themselves obliged
to entirely discontinue manufacturing.
"Close-outs to clear shelves of obsolete styles have
put most of the manufacturers into a position of
limited completed stock on hand. With even a small
increase in retail sales, the country will experience a
piano shortage of rather serious proportions—as bad
if not worse than was faced during the war.
"Increased overhead expenses rise with curtailed
production, and since factory costs are already out of
proportion to wholesale selling, present prices of
necessity fail to show a profit. Increased wholesale
selling prices nre inevitable.
"It is believed that the present buyers' market will
change, before very long, to a sellers' market—a mar-
ket which always rules in prosperous times. Even
the most pessimistic pessimist is about ready to admit
that the present depression has almost run its course,
and that the pendulum is due for a swing b;:ck in the
very near future.
"As a whole, the piano industry should take an in-
ventory of itself, just as each individual connected
with it should do, and the industry enter the coming
year with confidence, determination, and a realization
of the fact that as individuals and as an industry those
connected with the piano trade must either grow or
go."
Later on when 1 lie article in Presto-Times was
called to Mr. Bnrke's attention, he responded by
saying:
"I read Mr. French's article with a great deal of
interest (in the last issue of your publication) and
think it is splendid and that there ought to be more
of the manufacturers and trade papers combined in
their efforts to spread such prapaganda, for, sooner
or later, it is bound to bring good results."
A PIANO TRAVELER TAKES A JOUST AT
THE TOPIC
Among other letters approving the article referred
to is one from a traveling piano salesman—whose
knowledge of the condition is more than presumably
on the inside—written in such free-lance fashion that
he asks that his name be withheld as the author of it.
He says:
"If piano manufacturers would look more narrowly
to the terms of their contracts with dealers, they
could make it possible for both sides to be better
satisfied with the deals. Correspondence should be
so carefully worded that neither side should be left to
draw its own conclusions. In other words, slip-shod
methods, as practiced by some manufacturers, remind
me of the flap-doodle movies with waiters falling with
trays and scattering food and broken dishes over the
floor of the dining room.
"No country piano dealer likes to be called a moss-
back, but behold you, there are more moss-backs in
the big cities than in the small and medium-sized
towns. That's why I knew right off when I read
Sinclair Lewis' 'Main Street' a good many years ago
that he was describing New York's so-called Great
White Way just as accurately as Gopher Prairie.
Human nature is similar in its sillinesses in all men
and women.
"Mr. French has not overstated the danger, for no
manufacturer in times like these (meaning hand-to-
mouth times of production) can afford to be over-
magnanimous. The failures and foibles of men will
grind his business to powder if he acts too charitably
just now. Schools of piano playing are absolutely
essential as aids to future trade, but a school to show
the dealer his stand-by duty toward his friend, the
piano manufacturer is just as necessary but harder
to organize. Too difficult to effect, I should say.
"In my calls at many stores over a wide territory T
saw many second-hand pianos—in fact, some of the
stores w r ere filled up with them.
"When I talked of putting in a new stock of modern
instruments, some of the dealers seemed peeved and
cut me short by saying: 'I know your pianos are nice,
and nobody would like better to stock up with them
than I, but you'll have to give me time to dispose of
this mess of second-hand and old-style instruments
before I can give you an order.'
"In a few r instances I persuaded dealers to order
rather freely, but, as I said, I also met several ob-
durate fellows. Of course, most of them will see
their error later.
"PIANO TRAVELER."
A well-known representative of one of the largest
music houses in the Central West, in a letter to
Presto-Times, gave his written opinion that the prices
of pianos, made from now on, must cost the manufac-
turer more and consequently raise the price, accord-
ingly, to the dealer. He said that prices cannot go
back, and one of the reasons for this is that the costs
of every variety of material and of every piano part
entering into the construction of such an instrument
of music has been advanced—not arbitrarily but from
necessity.
In his letter he said in part: "Good pianos cost a
good deal of money to get them made right. It is the
same with every other good manufactured article.
Who would think of getting a mink coat for a lady
at a trivial price? Or a chinchilla coat for a man?
Or a fine suit of clothes? Who would expect to find
a Rolls-Royce car on the marked-down counter? Or
a watch suitable for the engineer who drives the
Twentieth Century Limited? Yet, due to foolish
advertising, many persons have been deceived into
thinking that pianos can be marked down to ridicu-
lously low prices without wiping the piano store off
the face of the earth and sending the dealer forth a
tramp."
(Continued on page 4)
Wherein Is Shown How the Sauce for the
Goose Is Not Usable with the Gander
in the Opinion of the
Goat.
By ALLAN J. LARK IN.
This is a story with a moral and that, for obvious
reasons, no names are mentioned, does not render
the lesson less likely to impress the readers. In this
town in the cattle country in which 1 have lived for
ten years, there is a general store kept by a man
with an in-growing conscience.
A music goods department is an important feature
of the business and in selling the pianos and other
commodities he has been defying the lightning of
the law for several years. He has been advertising
pianos as meritorious in every way and taking good
money for fake piano names and thumpboxes that ;ire
libels on the real piano.
This town is one considerably frequented by cat-
tlemen, sheepmen, miners and prospectors—the out-
of-door folk whose activities the moving picture films
so dramatically describe to the people of the trolley
car sections. These residents of the mountains and
breezy, level spaces are big buyers of the edibles
conveniently confined in cans, and it was that f;icl
that made the get-rich-quick-if-he-could general slore
keeper think he heard the tap-tap of opportunity.
Saw a Chance.
He was a delegate or alternate or booster or some-
thing to the Republican convention in Kansas Cily
in June, 1928. Who his particular preference was ;ts to
a candidate for the presidency does not matter. It
may be that his political motives were progressive.
I do not know. But I do know that he found 1 ime
while in Kansas City to acquire for cash a big ship-
ment of reactionary canned goods.
The goods were so cheap that he chuckled glee-
fully to himself in anticipation of the profits ahead.
At every additional swallow of convention scolllaw
red-eye he had visions of a bigger and fatter rake-off,
and he joyously returned home to gather in the gains.
Then he made the newspapers of the town tell of
the canned goods opportunities with big type and
comparative figures that carried conviction in every
statement.
They Bit Eagerly.
The out-of-door folk whose physical efficiency de-
pends so largely on canned foods arose to the ;i|>-
parent bargain chance. Miners came to town and
departed with burros laden with the tin-enclosed
edibles. Every hour saw the wheels creaking from
cowboy outfits depart with the wheels creaking from
heavy cargoes of the canned commodities the general!
store keeper had picked up cheap in Kansas Cily..
There was never such an output of grub in the townt
since the day years ago when Buck Allen found pay-
dirt on Bull Creek and the entire town population
scampered out there.
But a few days after the opening of the great
canned goods sale something happened to dissipate
the hopes of easy and quick riches. Miners and
other strenuous people who had paid real money for
the bargain canned goods returned to the town with
protests in their voices and loaded weapons in their
hands. They had discovered that the goods tlicy
had so trustingly bought were unedible. Nearly every
can was what is technically known as a "sweller," and
although the package had been freshly labeled, the
contents for the most part were dangerous for human
food.
The outraged purchasers did not shoot the store-
keeper as eac'i one purposed doing, for the reason
that the state has a specific statute bearing on just
such a contingency. Such was the heat of ill feeling,
however, the cause of their wrath considered it a
privilege to beat the sheriff to the calaboose 1o be
locked up
1 do not know what his punishment may be. The
case is yet to be heard, but T am satisfied the gcl-
rich-csuick general merchant will get his'n. The story
is told for purposes of comparison, and as such has ?
place in a piano trade paper.
Tn the same town made notorious by the unethical
general store keeper is a music dealer whose word is
as good as his bond and whose pianos are as good n«
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/
January, 1931
PRESTO-TIMES
can be made at the price he pays for them or as
good as can be sold at the figure he retails them for.
But notwithstanding all this, the latter realizes that he
lives in a section without honor for the man who
does business in accordance with the fundamentals
of right merchandising.
The Crooked Way.
With the dealer who made a thrilling specialty of
"sweller" canned goods on a recent occasion and
whose practice it has been to sell pianos on false
pretenses, every day is bargain day. Year in and
year out the villainous bumstencils have been sold
to innocent purchasers, who were made to believe
that the faked names on the fallboards represented
piano making excellence.
Perhaps the action of the county authorities in the
matter of t'.ie "sweller" canned goods may encourage
the honest piano dealer with the hope that some day
he may see an army of bumstencil victims sweep up
the sandy slreets of the town and pen the dealer who
victimized them in the calaboose.
Honest Man Wonders.
In the meantime the man who sells good pianos
at honest prices wonders why resentment should de-
velop so swiftly in the case of the store keeper who
distributed the swelled cans at cheap prices, and be
so slow in finding unanimous expression from the
people who bought phony pianos at high prices from
the dealer. The merchant who stands for honest
piano dealing knows that disappointment is the feel-
ing of a lot of people in that section who were vic-
tims in unethical deals. A great number of pianos
in that section, he says, were never anything but
pianos in appearance. The shame of it, though, he
considers, is that the now useless things bear names
on their fallboards criminally similar in sound to
honored standard names. The trade is aware of the
fraudulent practice by which names that stand for
honesty and worth were stenciled on worthless thump-
boxes for a good many years.
musical enterprise, is to be the medium for this link-
ing up of school music training with a functioning of
that training in adult life.
"In the instrumental field there exists the problem
of what to do with the hundreds of young people
Harried and Hurried Men Will Soon Turn to Music who are being trained "in the highly developed school
orchestras and bands. One solution to the problem
as an Oasis of Refreshment.
as to the orchestral players is the fostering of com-
Kenneth S. Clark, assistant secretary of the Na- munity orchestras and of municipal symphonies in
tional Music Week Committee, urging the necessity which they may play their part.
of piano-playing as a means of self-expression, says:
"Fortunately, the interest of the parents in the
"There is no occasion for 'viewing with alarm' the school music work of their children is today creating
future of man-made music in America. One would a condition most auspicious for a renaissance of home
think, from some of the words written or uttered on music. What with the mother's reawakened musical
this subject, that personally performed music was in activity and with the father's newly created enthu-
danger of being pulverized under the tread of ma
siasm for music, there is set m> a very happy rela-
chine-made music. It can scarcely ever become true tionship for linking the two generations in sponta-
that we shall be a nation of musical robots. Personal neous family music. In all of this home music the
reaction to the stimulus of music is too much an household's piano plays an essential role—whether the
inescapable human instinct for any such catastrophe music be that of the masters or the current tunes from
to happen. Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick made refer- Broadway and Hollywood. It seems to me that in
ence to the matter in a recent sermon in which he these days we too greatly overlook the value of the
said: 'I heard a musician the other day speaking piano as a soc.al center in the home, thinking of it
about the possible fortunes of music in this new solely as an .instrument of the concert hall or the
mechanical generation. He was not at all discour- musical salon. It is no less popular than before as a
aged. He said the more mechanized our lives become rallying place for those fond of music as a form of
the more music will come into its own. Hurried and social relaxation."
harried and standardized and mechanized, men will
turn to music, an oasis of refreshment, a wayside
fountain where they may slake their thirst for beauty,
a k'nd of house of God and a gate of heaven.'
NATURAL INSTINCT FOR
PERFORMING MUSIC
"It is true, nevertheless, that many of our people
show a leaning toward allowing a great part of their
musical instinct to become atrophied from disuse. If
certain of the present trends are not checked, we are
likely to retrograde from the advanced position our
country has taken with regard to forwarding the
democratizing of music. Sigmund Spaeth has summed
up that position in his phrase, 'the common sense of
music,'" by which he means that each of us has an
instinct not only for hearing music but for perform-
ing it.
"Unfortunately, the very desirable mechanical de-
vices for our hearing of music has caused too many
(Continued from page 3)
of us to 'let George do it' for us with regard to the
Price Level Will Not Sink.
performance of music. To that extent we are becom-
Will A. Watkin of the Will A. VVatkin Co., Dallas, ing a nation of 'bleacherites' in music as in other
Texas, in commenting" on this most vital topic last forms of recreation. A certain degree of spectator-
ship in music is essential, as there must always be an
week, said:
"Pianos are being sold now at pre-war prices. I audience for any performance. Such listening to
am asked every day if the price level will sink next music should increase and it is increasing. However,
it has not fully served its purpose unless in a large
year, and I am positive that it will not.
"I have had reports from the companies that make number of cases it leads to active participation in
pianos which indicate that it is impossible to reduce music. To the considerable proportion of our popu-
the prices of instruments without materially injuring lation which is afflicted with 'bleacheritis' in music
their musical value. By this, I mean the qualities of we should address this reminder: 'There are times
when you should come off the bleachers and get into
tone, action and touch.
"Materials and labor are down now, and some the game.' We should not allow any individual to
manufacturers have been forced to quit business be- hear more than a certain amount of music during a
cause of inability to build pianos profitably at prices given period until he actually performs some music
himself.
in force at present.
"A piano is not merely a piece of furniture. It
"We see the same movies, hear the same broad-
must be attractive in appearance, and it must have casts and wear the same clothes. Large groups of us
'music' built into.it. This quality is possible only now read the same books, chosen for us by persons
through the most painstaking handiwork. An instru- wiser than we. Unless, therefore, the individual has
ment with poor tone and action defeats the purpose some means of self-expression in which he can be
for which it was purchased."
himself, there is little to differentiate him from his
The Watkin house is having piano recitals at the neighbor. He might almost as well be a robot—a
Watkin music salon, and at one of these, on the mechanical man.
evening of December 20, a Chickering piano was used.
"In the America of today the exercising of the
A recital by the pupils of Genevieve Harmer Dart
was given in the same salon on the evening of Mon- instinct for music is not as simple a matter as it
was in olden days when the shepherd played his pipe
day, December 22.
Why Do Not Dealers Co-operate w-th Manufacturers? on the hillside. The modern American must have an
environment conducive to music-making and, as
A prominent piano manufacturer who was asked for music is not a game of solitaire, he must from time
his experiences in trying to aid dealers to more and to time have an opportunity to perform music with his
better sales had this to say to a representative of fellows. In other words, it is our present community
Presto-Times one day this week:
life which is to blame for much of this thwarting of
"I believe that every honest-to-goodness piano our musical instincts. We do not provide, in that
dealer in the United States could double his business life, enough facilities for spontaneous music-making.
in a short time if he would put some energy into the
"In that failure we are lacking in the typically
solicitation for piano sales. My reason for saying American quality of efficiency. Here is the situation:
this arises from the fact that dealers seem to pay no The work which our progressive public schools are
attention to the manufacturer's efforts to help them doing today in developing the musical aptitudes of
get business.
children is not equalled by that done in any other
"For instance, some days ago, we mailed out a very country. Without chauvinism, we can justly say that
large broadside, offering a lot of new advertising cuts in this field America leads the world. Nevertheless,
to all of our customers, active and inactive, and a lot we allow much of that school music training to go
of prospective dealers as well. These cuts were all to waste because of a very definite gap in our social
good publicity. Now, the response from this was life. That gap is the hiatus between such training and
entirely unsatisfactory, very few requests having been a permanent functioning of it among adult groups
received.
"Here is a field of adult education which is largely
"Why is it that dealers have quit offering pianos
to the public? If they want to make attractive offers untilled but which should be a very fruitful one.
they need attractive cuts; and here when these cuts Signs of such productivity are the success of various
are offered them free of charge they do not take people's choruses, especially those which offer train-
ing in sight singing. Again, in the instrumental
advantage of the opportunity that is open.
"This is just one of the many ways that dealers world, the new, improved methods of group teaching
can increase their business, but an indifferent atti- have been proved to be efficacious with adults as well
tude to co-operation with factory assistance means as with children. An instance of such adaptability
nothing less than an indifferent attitude toward is furnished by the successful adult classes in the
piano which have been instituted by the Boston Pub-
hustling for piano business."
Perhaps other manufacturers have had similar ex- lic Library. It seems fortunate that the National
Music Week, which has been a stimulus to so much
periences.
POSSIBLE NEW PIANO SHORTAGE
WILLIAM THOMSON'S
RECENT GREAT TOUR
Presto-Times acknowledges the receipt of a copy
of the Govan, Scotland, Press, of the date of Decem-
ber 5, containing a full three-column writeup of the
North American tour of the well-known Glasgow
piano dealer, William Thomson—the senior partner
of William Thomson & Son, 7 Govan road—who is
known as ex-Bailie Thomson. A picture of Thomson
accompanies the narrative of his speaking tour in
Canada and the United States. In the article Mr.
Thomson said: "When the question arose for some-
one to tell the Scottish people across the sea the aims
and objects of the Scottish National Party, I was glad
the selection fell on me."
The article tells of his rousing meetings held in
New York, Philadelphia, Lynn, Mass., Toronto,
Brandon, Saskatoon, Regina and Edmonton, Canada,
as well as at Winnipeg, Calgary, Montreal, Van-
couver, Halifax and Ottawa. In the United States
he was heard also at Boston, Brooklyn, Detroit, Syra-
cuse and Rochester.
Those who knew Mr. Thomson will recognize his
hearty style in the article when he says: "I arrived
in New York about the 3rd of April, and was there
met by Archie Peebles, nephew of Mr. Peebles,
painter in Shields road, Mr. R. MacWilliams, and Mr.
John McLeod, an assistant professor in New York
University, who comes from Edinburgh, also 'Wee
Annie,' who had long been in my employment in
Glasgow—in fact, I have two of her sisters with me
now. She came all the way from Yonkers to give
me a welcome. She is now comfortably married to
a Govan boy—Harry Furness, and they are living in
a nice house at Yonkers, New York. Mr. Auld, the
founder of the Burns Club in New York, is also a
strong Nationalist for Scottish freedom, and is still
as fresh today as when I knew him thirty years ago.
"After sixteen days in New York and district, where
I attended something like 17 or 18 meetings, I will
not readily forget the help which I received from
Duncan Machines, chief accountant of the city of
New York. He was a little unsure about our schemes
at the beginning, but ultimately, 'in the language of
the Fiery Cross," came down flat-footed in favor of
Scottish Nationalism, and was a power of good to
our cause."
At the S. M. M. A. Council meeting at Edinburgh,
Scotland, last month, William Thomson, piano dealer
of Glasgow, took part, as the following item in the
proceedings, clipped from the London Music Trades
Review of December 15, will show: "Next on the
agenda was the proposal of certificates for tuners.
Mr. William Thomson (Glasgow) strongly supported
it. He felt it would be wise if examinations were
instituted, and certificates granted for tuners in first,
second, and third classes. The chairman expressed
the view that the scheme was good, but if it entailed
a certain amount of organizing, it would be difficult
to carry into practice. Mr. Machell (expressing simi-
lar sentiments) said that the idea was certainly good,
but in his opinion quite impracticable. Another dele-
gate pointed out that it might be difficult to get first-
class tuners to submit to examination. It was agreed
to take no action. Regarding the Scottish conven-
tion, Mr. Thomson proposed that at this gathering
there should be a 'whip round' for the benevolent
fund. This was a very worthy object, and everybody
should be given the opportunity of contributing. This
fund in the past had helped many people in distress,
and it deserved the warm support of all members of
the trade."
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).
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