June-July, 1935
Other Notable Exhibits Around Town
Independent of the specified exhibits at the Stevens
Hotel, attractive showings are to be staged by non-
exhibitors.
In the piano field the Hardman, Peck & Company
line may be seen at the Weisert Music House, 540
North Michigan avenue.
A showing of Steinways at Lyon & Healy's will be
complete and representative of regular models and
probably several specially built designs will be there.
The Kimball line will have an especial setting in
the newly fitted up salesroom on the fourth floor of
the Kimball building.
And, then, exhibits of various pianos of the regular
convention instruments at the Stevens Hotel may be
seen at local agencies and branch houses. For instance
Baldwin is making its own store display unusually
attractive and inviting, as more particularly mentioned
elsewhere in this issue of PRESTO-TIMES, and
will have on exhibition a remarkably fine group of
instruments covering the entire Baldwin product.
The Estey pianos, in various models, are shown at
the Cable Piano Store, Wabash and Jackson. And
the Wyman Music Parlors in the Republic Building
will have an attractive line of Schiller and Lester
pianos. Mr. Wyman hopes to have on exhibition one
at least of the Schiller Nu-form type now being made
ready for the trade. An interesting group of Estey
reed and small pipe organs may be seen and examined
at the Estey showroom in the Lyon & Healy building
and at the Lyon & Healy piano parlors the Verti-
chord, the new product of Haddorff, is shown as also
the Everett, Cable-Nelson, Chickering and others.
All the latest Story & Clark models will be on
exhibition in the display room adjoining the com-
pany's general offices, 175 North Michigan avenue,
which will include the new console type Story &
Clark.
It is worth while to go out to the Gulbransen fac-
tories where Gulbransens in all designs, woods and
finishes may be seen and tried out, and be sure to
examine the Gulbransen spinet organ. These little
instruments are good sellers and attractive as floor
or window displays.
It will be easy to call at Wurlitzer's, where you
will be greeted by Hugh A. Stewart, general whole-
sale sales manager of the Wurlitzer Grand Piano
Company. Mr. Stewart will show you something
worthwhile and a line of pianos that every dealer
will want to learn more about. The general whole-
sale offices of the Wurlitzer Grand Piano Company
are on the fourth floor of the Wurlitzer building, 329
South Wabash avenue.
The Mathushek spinet grand—and a splendid array
of them—will be at the Weisert Piano Parlors, 540
North Michigan avenue, where Mr. Ben Strub, mid-
west sales representative, has his Chicago office.
BALDWIN COURTESIES
The Baldwin exhibit at the Stevens Hotel will
attract marked attention, but a special invitation was
extended to the trade to visit the new Baldwin sales-
rooms, 323 South Wabash avenue, where a complete
line is shown.
Visiting dealers are cordially invited to visit the
new Chicago warerooms just recently completed.
These new display rooms exemplify a new idea in
retail piano display in keeping with the modern sales
methods now so successfully used in other lines. The
new Baldwin store in Chicago has been proclaimed
as one of the most modern retail piano establishments
anywhere. Dealers attending the July convention of
the National Association of Music Merchants will find
it well worth their while to visit these new rooms
where a leisurely inspection can be made.
There will be a special room set aside for the use
of dealers in attendance at the convention. Comfort-
able lounging quarters will be provided. There will
be someone on hand to handle mail and telephone
messages. Visiting dealers are urged to make this
room their headquarters during the convention.
The Baldwin and the new Hamilton and Howard
styles have been recently announced to the trade.
This new line of pianos has been referred to by an
eminent authority as "a line of pianos with irresistible
appeal," and aside from their intrinsic musical quali-
ties they embody the latest development in design,
wood and finish. The manufacturers assert that "these
new grands and upright pianos possess new features
of construction which assure exceptional tonal quali-
ties. They represent an outstanding achievement by
the technical and staff of designing of the Baldwin
factories."
At the Baldwin headquarters all of the Baldwin
promotional literature will be shown and may be
secured. This will include "Give Your Child This
Chance" material which has been widely acclaimed
by piano merchants and professional musicians. There
will also be available for the leisurely perusal of visit-
PRESTO-TIMES
ing dealers various sales plans which have been tried
and proven.
The visiting dealers will also be given an oppor-
tunity to investigate the Baldwin financing plan which
has proven its soundness, particularly during these
last few years.
His Honor, Pres. Mayer
Henry P. Mayer of Paris, Texas, should be greeted
at the convention as ''Mr. President," a title he well
deserves as president, past president and president-
to-be of many important interests in his home town
and the commonwealth of Texas. He may be greeted
as the president of the Paris school board, of the
sanitarium of that locality, of a banking institution,
of a railroad company (Paris & Mt. Pleasant), presi-
dent of the Rotary Club and other enterprises and
public welfare, not to mention his own established
music house, the Henry P. Mayer Company. Many
persons in the trade will recall the disastrous $20,000,-
000 conflagration which wiped out Mr. Mayer's home
town in 1916 with losses to everybody in that section.
Henry's was severe, but since then he has made
another fortune and uses much of it for the better-
ment of his fellow citizens and to helping mankind.
FURTHER PROGRAM MENTION
The program and general information on activities
of the two busy days and nights have been sent by
Executive Secretary Delbert Loomis to the trade in
general as well as to members of the M. M. N. A., and
this information broadcast by that "live wire" so
completely and so vigorously that it need not be
repeated here.
The Mathushek exhibit at the Stevens Hotel, where
practically the entire line of Mathushek uprights and
grands will be shown as well as the Spinet Grand,
will attract especial attention, and Mein Host Ben
Strub, general Mid-West representative of Mathushek
sales, will have several distinguished officials of the
Mathushek Company as his guests: Albert Jacob, Jr.,
and perhaps his father, president of the company and
J. H. Gettell, secretary. Several new models in case
design and finish will be shown altogether, making
the Mathushek Exhibit well worth a visit. The Spinet
Grand has been leading the procession in the modified
forms of piano case and it will be interesting to see
and examine this forerunner of modified case work.
Steivart-Wurlitzer
Wholesale Sales Offices Now at Chicago
The official announcement issued by the Wurlitzer
Grand Piano Company, per Cyril Farny, vice-presi-
dent and general manager, naming Hugh Stewart as
the sales manager and a vice-presdent of that cor-
poration and that Everett Rothschild will continue ?.s
assistant to Mr. Stewart, closes with this paragraph:
"This adjustment in personnel combined
with improvements recently made in our
pianos, represents another forward step in
the new Wurlitzer program announced some
time ago. It is also concrete evidence of the
progress we are making in our sincere effort
to better serve the ever-growing nation-wide
group of Wurlitzer dealers."
In Mr. Stewart's letter to the trade announcing his
new position, he says:
"I wish to say that supplementing my
notice of having resigned my position with
Gulbransen Company, I am associated with
the Wurlitzer Grand Piano Co., De Kalb, 111.,
in a similar capacity. In addition, Mr.
Everett Rothschild who has been my assistant
for the past several years and likewise as-
sistant sales manager of the Gulbransen Co.,
will also be associated with me in my activi-
ties with the Wurlitzer Grand Piano Co.
"Investigation I believe will indicate to you
as it has indicated to me that the new Wur-
litzer program announced some time ago car-
ries with it advantages of a nature highly con-
structive and profitable to the piano industry,
the dealer and the retail customer. It is a
program well worth analysis by many of you
because where a conflict of interest does not
exist, I think you will conclude as I have
done that participation in it affords an op-
portunity in the piano field of more than ordi-
narily attractive possibilities."
The announcement is also made that the wholesale
Sales Offices of the Wurlitzer Grand Piano Co. are
now at Chicago, located in the Wurlitzer Building,
329 S. Wabash avenue, where a full line of Wurlitzer
grand and upright pianos is on display.
READABLE COMMENTS ON TRADE
O. Mattson, proprietor of the Mattson Music
House, Seattle, Wash., says: "I look forward to a
good piano business this year. I have had remark-
able success with the Story & Clark piano and in my
forty years of music experience I think the Story &
Clark combines the best points of piano selling and
piano satisfaction; a perfectly even scale and tone
quality: easy touch, responsive action, fine construc-
tion and workmanship. It is easy to sell."
W. H. Fowler, president of the Duluth Piano Com-
pany, Duluth, Minn., Baldwin factory representatives
in that territory, says: "We had an excellent trade
all through 1934 and long into the present year but
we expect 1935 will show a considerable increase and
believe that our 700 and more sales last year will run
to not less than 1,000 pianos this year."
The Mathushek Piano Mfg. Company, New York,
says: "Nineteen-Thirty-Five started out with great
encouragement and has continued favorable, so that
we feel this year will show an appreciable increase
over 1934. We are pleased to record a greatly in-
creased demand for the various models of Mathushek
grands and it is evident that piano quality is seri-
ously considered by purchasers nowadays."
William Thomson & Son, Glasgow, Scotland: "We
arc today, in Scotland, beginning to see the turn of
the tide. Our sales are up at least twenty per cent
and the radio is not now interfering with our piano
sales; in fact, the radio trade has risen also. In Lon-
don it is somewhat the same; factories that were
closed down are now working pretty steadily. All
things considered, I think the time is not far distant
when we will be back to prewar conditions, though
perhaps not to prewar prices."
Here's an Advertisement Worth Reading
When You Sell
a Band Instrument—
—don't you feel a bit weak in relying on an in-
ducement such as—-"it's good because Heinie
Kaboobler says it is"-—•
—isn't that sort of an argument an insult to
the intelligence of your prospect—and don't you
feel a bit shaky in using such a plea when you
have good reason to believe that said endorser
probably received a pretty compensation for
his endorsement?
Honestly now, don't you get a bigger "kick"
out of selling an article on its merits? Isn't it
proof of better salesmanship on your part to
S E L L an article on the strength of its quality,
performance, and its suitability to your pros-
pect's needs?
Isn't that cleaner selling? And doesn't it
make a finer salesman out of you? And isn't it
a treat to your conscience to feel that you have
actually S O L D your prospect, without resort-
ing to the "hokum" of patent medicine days?
If you like to feel that way, sell your pros-
pects York Instruments. York Instruments are
honestly built for discriminating performers—
and are sold purely on a basis of actual value
and performance. The prospect to whom you
sell a York Instrument quickly discovers that
you have sold him on the strength of legitimate
merit, rather than on a circus ballyhoo basis.
And when he discovers that, he's a better
friend than ever—which means that his influ-
ence will help you to sell to his friends.
Something to think about, isn't it?
See us at Convention, July 22, 23, 24,
Room 532A, Stevens Hotel
YORK BAND INSTRUMENT CO.
Makers of Good Band Instruments Since 1882
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN
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