Music Trade Review

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THE
RfYHW
ffUSIC TIRADE
V O L . x x x v i i i . No. 6.
PiiisM Every Sat, »y Edward Lymau Bill at 1 Madison Aye., New Yorlc, Fell. 8,1904,
W. S. RICH ON TRADE CONDITIONS. HOW B. & Q. PIANOS CAUGHT COLD.
The McPhail Ambassador Found the Outlook in the
West Very Satisfactory—In That Section Deal-
ers Are Cleaning Up, But There Are But
Few Pianos Left Over—Found an Increasing
Appreciation of the McPhail Wherever Visited.
[Special to The Review.]
Boston, Mass., Feb. 3, 1904.
The A. M. McPhail Piano Co.'s enterpris-
ing traveler, W. S. Rich, has returned from
a flying trip to the West. While away he
penetrated as far as Kansas City and Omaha.
He reports business conditions in the sections
visited by him as very good, "not booming,
as before Christmas, but wholesome and sat-
isfactory," as Mr. Rich expresses it. While
away he made several first-class new McPhail
agents.
"I found the feeling in the trade generally
good," he said. "The dealers seem to believe
that business will be all right this year. Jan-
uary, as you know, is, in the West, the month
in which a general clearing up of the odds
and ends of last year's business takes place.
I am glad to be able to say that I found a
number of dealers who did not have much left
over to clean up, having sold out in pretty
good shape. As to the McPhail concern, we
are looking forward to a very prosperous
year. We are working right along and have
not yet quite caught up with some of our
styles. While we are not what you might call
enormously busy, prospects are exceedingly
bright with us."
SINGLE COPIES 10 CENTS.
$2.00 PER YEAR.
BEAUTIFUL STEINWAY ART GRAND
The Fire Department Men Get on to a New Phrase
—Insurance Men Will Have to Pay for Not
Knowing That "Pianos Catch Cold."
For the Home of L. S. Sherman, of Sherman, Clay
& Co.—Is a Louis XVI. Style and Will Find
Sympathetic Surroundings.
[Special to The Review.]
One of the handsomest art pianos that has
gone from the art rooms of Steinway & Sons
is the one just completed and ready to be
shipped to Leander S. Sherman, of San Fran-
cisco, Cal., for his own use. Mr. Sherman's
music room is one of the most ideal conceiv-
able, and is furnished and decorated in pure
Louis XVI. style. The piano is a parlor grand
in dull mahogany with solid brass trimmings
in Louis XVI. design and candelabras of
solid brass on either side of the keyboard.
The exquisite refinement of the instrument
fits perfectly into the home of Mr. Sherman ;
and his daughters, whose musical education
was under the greatest masters of Europe,
are well able to appreciate the musical as well
as the artistic qualities of the piano, which is
certainly one of the Steinway masterpieces.
The Sherman-Clay Co., of which Mr. Sher-
man is the senior member, have had a
remarkable year in Steinway pianos, and this
great house is easily one of the largest con-
sumers of the Steinway product, as for years
they have developed the field under their con-
trol in the most intelligent and the most active
manner.
Chicago, 111., Feb. 1, 1904.
When the insurance adjusters went to work
a few days ago on the estimate of damage
done in the Berry building fire at Ohio and
Orleans streets, which was covered in detail
in my Chicago letter last week, the Bush &
Gerts Piano Co. were found to have "200
pianos that had caught cold" as the result of
the fire. This company will be one of the
heaviest losers, it is thought, when the extent
of the damage is fully known.
"Pianos catching cold" was a new phrase
to the fire department men. But they will
know better the next time they attend to a
fire in a building in which pianos are stored.
By insisting upon opening the windows of
the seventh story, in which the 200 musical
instruments were located, the firemen exposed
the pianos to the excessive cold, and they all
"checked" and will have to be rerubbed and
dressed as the finish of the cases is destroyed
—the surface seems to be scarred in squares.
CECILIAN RECITAL IN BUFFALO
Will be an Affair of Much Distinction—Miss Carrie
Bridewell Will be the Soloist.
Denton, Cottier & Daniels have sent out
beautifully engraved invitations to the
leading people of Buffalo, N. Y., asking
SECURE LARGER OFFICES.
their presence at the first Cecilian recital
The Perforated Music Roll Co. Will Remove to 25 to be given at Convention Hall, on next
Monday evening, Feb. 8th. The soloist on
West Twenty-third Street in March
this
occasion will be Miss Carrie Bridewell,
Owing to the growth of their business the
contralto
of the Metropolitan Opera Co.
Perforated Music Roll Co. have been com-
It
goes
without
saying that the attendance
pelled to seek office quarters far in excess of
will
be
large,
and
in view of the wonderful
those they now occupy at 10 W. 23d street,
possibilities
of
the
Cecilian, that it will
and they will accordingly remove to 25 West
come
in
for
no
small
share
of approval. The
23d street on March 1st, where they will oc-
selection
of
such
an
eminent
artist as Miss
cupy an entire floor.
Bridewell will add immeasurably to the
EXPORTS OF A BILLION AND A HALF.
pleasure of the audience. Taken all in all,
The value of the merchandise passing this is a notable concert which should
out of the ports of continental United bring notable results.
States in 1903 was more than a billion and
THE FISCHER NEW SMALL GRAND.
a half dollars. While the figures issued by
the Department of Commerce and Labor
Grant P. Wagner, manager of Howard,
through its Bureau of Statistics show "to- Farwell & Co., St. Paul, Minn., is enthusias-
tal exports" of $1,484,681,995, they do not tic over the new scale small Fischer grand,
include the shipments from the United and which is winning many encomiums from
States to Hawaii or Porto Rico, and if the musicians and others who have had the
these were added they would bring the privilege of examining it in the warerooms of
grand total to over a billion and a half his establishment. In design as well as in
dollars.
tone, it is a most admirable creation*
ANN ARBOR CO.'S GOOD YEAR.
Declare Dividend of Six Per Cent.—Manager Hen-
derson Highly Complimented on Company's
Success.
At the recent meeting of the Ann Arbor
Organ Co. held in Ann Arbor, Mich., the old
officers were re-elected. A cash dividend of
six per cent, on the entire capital stock of the
company was declared and paid, and a large
sum was set aside for the surplus fund.
The stockholders complimented J. C. Hen-
derson, the energetic manager on the mag-
nificent showing made for the past year, and
we may say that this appreciation is well
merited. Mr. Henderson has developed the
business of this institution to a point where it
is one of the most prosperous in the industry,
and he has moreover demonstrated that there
is money to be made in reed organs, provided
the manufacturers are progressive in the mat-
ter of styles and the dealers made aware of
the possibilities for these creations.
Early in the week Mr. Henderson left for
the Southwest, where he will take in all the
agencies of the company before his return to
Ann Arbor. While in Ft. Worth he will
attend the meeting of the Henderson Piano
Co., which will occur next week, and in
which, of course, he is interested.