February, 1931
P R E S T O-T I M E S
YEARS AGO IN THE TRADE
Thirty Years A g o
(From The Presto, February 14, 1901.)
The Presto's publication day this week falls on
St. Valentine's Day. It would, therefore, be particu-
larly appropriate to present some trade valentines, but
an unusually large amount of trade news this week
crowds out the jingles which had been prepared.
Mr. Wm. J. Keeley, manager of the Wilcox &
White Co.'s warerooms at 164 Fifth avenue. New
York, arrived in Ch'cago last Friday night and after
visiting a portion of the Chicago trade and spending
Sunday as the guest of Mr. George P. Bent, left on
Monday night for St. Louis. This is Mr. Keeley's
first trip to Chicago and other western trade centers
since 1897, although he is a western man, hailing from
California. He possesses that irresistible, unconquer-
able energy which, 'tis said, is born in westerners.
Mr. P. J. Gildemeester, traveling representative of
Wm. Knabe & Co., left New York for Chicago direct
on Sunday last. Although he calls it a "flying trip"
he will be absent from New York about ten days.
Mr. Louis Dederick, secretary of the Manufacturers'
Piano Co., Chicago, is in New York.
Mr. V. W. O'Brien, Kranich & Bach's traveling rep-
resentative, will start from New York tomorrow, Lin-
coln's birthday, for a business trip. He will first go
south, then to Mexico, finally making a tour of the
Pacific Coast. He expects to be absent four or five
months.
Mr. Louis P. Bach is in Chicago this week.
Sohmer & Co. recently received an order from
Byron Mauzy, of San Francisco, for a carload of
pianos to be delivered immediately, with another car-
load soon to follow. According to Mr. Hugo Sohmer,
Mr. Mauzy says conditions on the Pacific Coast look
particularly favorable for high-grade pianos.
Mr. C. F. Reeps, formerly with the A. B. Chase
Co. and afterwards with the Shaw Piano Co. and the
Raymond Piano Co., is now superintendent of the
James & Holmstrom factory in New York.
The James & Holmstrom concern is receiving many
inquiries from the better class of dealers, particularly
for the upright pianos fitted with the transposing key-
board and the popular James & Holmstrom small
grand, which is justly conceded by the trade to have
no peer in its type or class.
Last week's Presto told of the disastrous fire which
partially destroyed the plant of the Stanley Piano Co.,
Peterborough, Ont., Canada.
Julius Bauer & Co. will vacate their present ware-
rooms and move to 250 and 252 Wabash avenue, Chi-
cago, in the warerooms formerly occupied by Smith &
Barnes.
A. L. Bailey, dealer of St. Johnsbury, Vt. s has a
handsome store in Burlington, Vt., in the Y. M. C. A.
Building. Mr. H. W. Hall is the manager at the
Burlington store and the pianos carried are Steinway,
McPhail, Mason & Hamlin, Poole and Huntington.
(From The Presto, February 21, 1901.)
H. L. Story, father of E. H. Story, of the Story &
Clark Piano Co., is expected in Chicago March 1.
John and Fred Jenkins, of the J. W. Jenkins Sons
Co., Kansas City, were in Chicago this week and left
for Boston and other eastern points.
E. W. Furbush, general travelling representative for
the Vose & Sons Piano Co., Boston, is expected to
arrive in Chicago this (Thursday) evening.
Mr. F. S. Shaw, manager of the collection depart-
ment of The Cable Co., Chicago, has just returned
from a short trip out of the city, and Mr. W. B.
Price, secretary of this company, is expected home
from the South within a day or two.
Jacob Bros., with the purchase of the business last
week of the Calenberg Piano Co. of New Rochelle,
N. Y., have as extensive and varied a line of produc-
tion as any house in the trade. Are they forming a
"piano trust"?
Rudolph Wurlitzer, of the Rudolph Wurlitzer Co.,
Cincinnati, Ohio, accompanied by Mrs. Wurlitzer, is
touring Mexico with the Gates excursion party which
reached Mexico City last Friday morning, after having
been delayed by a wreck of a preceding train. The
party will visit southern Mexico and leave for the
North Friday of this week.
Tonk Manufacturing Co., Chicago, has unexcelled
facilities for the production of piano stools of the
highest character in design and finish.
The Story & Clark pianos, which have from the
beginning been magnificent specimens as embodying
beautiful tone, splendid construction and exquisite
finish, seem today to have reached a stage of abso-
lute beauty and refinement.
The value of energy and industry, of business abil-
ity and administrative faculty, is well set forth in the
views of Mr. W. W. Kimball and Mr. Frank H.
Peavey, as published in another part of this paper.
J. R. Penn, formerly at Mansfield, Ohio, is now at
Mount Vernon, Ohio.
In a recent issue of the Saturday Evening Post,
of Philadelphia, we note among ably-expressed views
under the heading: "Why Millionaires Can't Stop
Making Money," which were given by promnent
men, among whom were Mr. Michael Cudahy, Mr. S.
W. Allerton, D. K. Pearsons and others, that Messrs.
W. W. Kimball of Chicago, and Frank H. Peavey of
Minneapolis, the latter the controlling stockholder of
The Cable Co., Chicago, also honored the pages of
the "Post" with their opinions on the subject.
SELLING BALDWINS USED
BY STARS OF OPERA
A most remarkable full-page advertisement, undei
the head "Baldwin's One and Only Sale of Opera
Artists' Pianos" appeared in the Chicago Sunday
Tribune on Sunday, February 8. As the Baldwin was
the official piano of the Chicago Civic Opera, these
pianos were all personally selected and autographed
by the star artists of the Chicago Civic Opera. The
ad gives the facsimiles of the signatures of the fol-
lowing distinguished artists of the musical world:
Mary Garden, Charles Hackett, Frida Leider, Richard
Bonelli, Yanni-Marcoux, Antonio Cortis, Barre Hill,
Roberta Moranzoni, Maria Claessens. Claudio Muzio,
Chase Baromeo. Rosa Raisa, Virgilio Lazzari, Maria
Olszewska, Rene Maison, Coe Glade, Hilda Burke,
Desire Defrere and Theodore Ritch. The pianos in
the list advertised include Baldwins, Howards. Ham-
iltons and Ellingtons. Each piano has been auto-
graphed by the star who used it.
"Demonstrations do sell Capehart instruments."-
The Capehart Corporation, Fort Wayne, I ml.
PROBLEM FOR PARENTS
How Can a Child Learn to Love Music with a Large
Old Style, Ungainly, Out of Date, Out of
Tune, Out of Tone Piano?
By A. G. GULBRANSEN,
President Gulbransen Co.
Beauty is a great influence in a child's life; boy or
girl, children like and appreciate attractive things
from infancy and as the children grow older, propor-
tion and beauty make even a stronger appeal. Notice
how children love flowers, bright and colorful dresses,
pretty hats, ties, gloves, shoes and picture books. How
the children gaze with raptured looks at the beau-
tifully decorated Christmas tree, with its brilliant
lights, and with the girls how discriminating they are
in their selections of dolls and the clothes they have.
Vet with all this influence for beauty, conscious or
unconscious in child life, parents expect to arouse in
their children love for the piano with the exercises
on a large cumbersome out-of-place, out-of-date, cut-
of-tone and out-of-tune piano.
Why, the very sight of one of these old-fashioned
pianos repels the child, and arouses a feeling of resent-
ment against learning to play on the piano.
The modern upright piano of today is a much
smaller instrument and still retains its musical quali-
ties, and naturally is much more attractive to a child
and harmonizes with the modern furnishings of the
home.
If parents would only listen to reason and make
piano playing attractive and interesting for the child,
by having the boy or girl perform his or her exercises
on a modern piano, up-to-date in all respects with an
artistically designed case, it would prove an incentive,
for children are much more susceptible to beauty
than they are often given credit for in the minds of
their elders.
It even makes grown-ups shudder when they look
at one of the old-time pianos, whether it is in a private
home, public school or institution, for the very repel-
ling appearance of the instrument creates a feeling of
dislike, so why expect the children to love that which
their elders look at with disdain?
Some people think it is an act of charity and a good
deed to donate an old worn-out toneless piano to insti-
tutions, where children are brought in constant con-
tact with this derelict and all of its repulfive features.
Make the home attractive for the children, and
whether in a home, public school, or institution have
a modern piano, in a fine case; appeal to the child's
inborn love for beauty, surround the piano playing
with charm and happiness and the strongest appeal
will then have been made to the child's natural and
innate sense of beauty.
The American home is the foundation of the nation,
and with parents displaying the proper psychology in
the training of their children, it will tend to assure a
real home atmosphere, in which good music is a dom-
inant factor.
"Music in America" was the subject of a recent
talk by Francis L. York before the Saginaw Torch
Club, Saginaw, Mich., who said that "American music
in all its branches is the best and the greatest that
the world affords." W. J. Davis, of the W. J. Davis
Music House, 317 Court street, Saginaw, took an
interest in the lecture and Prof. Cummings, of Sag-
inaw, is the man who induced Mr. York to come.
.SCENE AT T1IK CAPKHART CORPORATION BANQUET HBLI) LAST MONTH AT THE HOTEL ANTHONY, FORT WAYNE. INDIANA. THIS WAS THE
FIRST 11ANQIET OF THE SEASON, AND OTHER DINNERS AND GET-TOGETHER MEETINGS OF THE FHSL.D ORGANIZATION WILL COME LATER
IN THE YEAR. THE TWO-DAY CONFERENCE PRECEDING THE T5ANO.UET WAS MARKED BY MUCH ENTHUSIASM.
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