Music Trade Review
Issue: 1916 Vol. 62 N. 15 - Page 52
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
52
COLUMBIA DEPARTMENT FILMED
REFERENDUM ON PRICE MAINTENANCE
OFFER PRIZES FOR STORIES
Motion Picture Depicting Newly-Weds in
Search of a Grafonola Taken in Uptown Store
—Novel Uses for the Dictaphone
The Federal Chamber of Commerce Will Con-
duct Referendum Among Business Men on
the Question of Maintaining Resale Prices
The Columbia department in the store of the
Goldburg Carpet & Furniture Co., 163d street
and Third avenue, New York, was "filmed" las;
Friday as a part of a novel advertising scheme
which this concern will introduce in a short
while. A. moving picture was taken of various
departments in the store incidental to the "ac-
tion" of a plot which called for the furnishing
of a home by a young married couple. Con-
sidering that no home is. complete without a
Grafonola the store manager^ arranged for Law-
rence Fetik, manager of the Columbia depart-
ment, to sell the "married couple" a Grafonola,
200. with a good-sized library of records. Among
those who witnessed the "filming" were R. F.
Bolton, district manager, and Lester Leverich,
of the Columbia advertising division.
The Dictaphone is being put to unusual use by
several recent purchasers, judging from the re-
ports of the members of the Dictaphone sales
staff. Wah Chang, head of a wealthy smelting
company bearing his name, recently purchased
six Dictaphones for the use of himself and his
executives in China. For some time past he had
been unable to secure a competent translator
for his letters, but eliminated this difficulty by
purchasing the Dictaphones which enable him to
send the original Dictaphone cylinders to China,
where they are received by his directors, who
are also equipped with Dictaphones. A New
York lawyer traveling abroad is avoiding the
blue-pencil of the military censors by dictating
to the Dictaphone and sending the cylinders to
his business associates in New York.
James P. Bradt, general sales manager of the
Columbia Co., visited Philadelphia last week,
where he found District Manager Eckhardt clos-
ing a record-breaking business.
H. A. Yerkes, the recently appointed district
manager for the Central West left New York
Saturday to assume his new duties. Mr. Yerkes
will visit several Western points before arriving
at his headquarters in Chicago.
WASHINGTON, D. C, April 3.—The Chamber of
Commerce of the United States will conduct a
referendum among the business men of this
country as to whether or not the Federal Trade
Commission shall be authorized to prevent price
crtting. A special committee of ten members,
1 eaded by Paul T. Cherrington, recently made
an exhaustive report on the question of the main-
tenance of resale prices, full mention of which
was made in a former issue of The Review. The
majority recommendation favored legislation
permitting such price maintenance, and was
signed by seven of the ten members. The minor-
ity reported that they were unable to approve of
t! e principle of price maintenance as being in
tie public interest.
This referendum, which will be conducted
among chambers of commerce, boards of trade
and other civic organizations affiliated with the
Federal Chamber, will be the thirteenth refer-
endum which has been taken among the busi-
ness men of this country for the purpose of as-
certaining for the benefit of Congress and the
President the business opinion prevailing
throughout the United States on questions of
immediate importance. This will give the busi-
ness men of this country, all of whom will be
affected more or less by the result, an opportu-
nity to go on record as to whether or not Ameri-
can business needs legislation permitting pro-
ducers of "identified merchandise" to fix the
price at which such goods shall be resold.
Forty-five days will be allowed in which to
take the vote, and the result of the referendum
will be determined in the third week of May.
In the latest issue of Edison "Diamond
Points, the Diamond Disc house organ, cash'
prizes are offered for the two best stories regard-
ing the Diamond Disc submitted to the editor
before April 20 by any Edison jobber, dealer,
salesman or demonstrator. The stories must be
true and recite actual experiences; humorous, ro-
mantic or simply interesting, in connection with
the exploitation of the Diamond Disc machine or
records. The story must not be less than fifty
words or more than five hundred. The prize
winners will be announced in the May issue of
"Diamond Points."
BIG COMPANIES REPRESENTED
Recent Issue of the Saturday Evening Post
Contains Excellent Advertisements of Three
Large Talking Machine Manufacturers
The March 25th issue of the Saturday Eve-
ning Post contained three advertisements over
the signatures of leading talking-machine com-
panies, all of which were devoted to records.
The Victor Talking Machine Co. used a
double-page spread, the Columbia Graphophone
Co. a full page, and the Pathe Freres Phono-
graph a half-page, and this publicity as a whole
formed an attractive and artistic series of high-
class national advertisements.
The Victor advertisement featured a group
picture of world-famous artists making records
for the Victory library, while surrounding this
center picture were small portraits of scenes
from some of the most popular operas which are
included in the Victor operatic repertoire. The
Columbia page was headed "Tone-timbre-
tempo," and the text consisted of an interesting
discussion of the important characteristics of
Columbia records and the Columbia recording
process. The Pathe advertisement featured an
attractive illustration showing a child playing
with a Pathe disc on a Pathephone, the text
pointing out that a sapphire ball cannot injure
the surface of a Pathe disc no matter how it is
handled.
HANDLE THE PATHE AS LEADER
Walter Drey & Co., 1553 Third avenue, New
York, a new local concern, held the formal open-
ing of their store on April 1. The Pathe line is
handled as a leader and Mr. Drey is preparing
to use considerable newspaper space to properly
present Pathephones and Pathe discs.
ATTRACTIVE NEWSPAPER ADS
For the first time in many years, with the ex-
ception of its full-page advertising during De-
cember, the Victor Talking Machine Co. has
used newspaper advertising other than its well-
known "stepping-stone" copy. This advertising
appeared in the local newspapers this week and
attracted considerable attention. The text was
contained in an attractive border design, the il-
lustration consisting of a Victrola XVIII sur-
rounded by some of the world-famous artists
recording for the Victor Co., including White-
hill, Ober, Gadski, Sembrich, Culp and Herbert.
The advertisement was three columns wide and
fourteen inches high.
The Field-Lippman Piano Stores have a Victor
window that savors very much of "war in Mexico,"
and carried a strong intimation that the Victor
machine is the official musical instrument of the
American force. There is an abundance of sand,
cactus and other Mexican scenery and some soldier
trappings. Chas. Crouse is the artist.
THE MOST MOMENTOUS FACTOR
The Value of the Talking Machine In Furnish-
ing Entertainment Commented Upon
"Let us pause in our admiration for the auto-
mobile, in our delight in the moving pictures and
in our awe of engines of war to consider the
fourth most momentous factor that has been in-
troduced into modern life—the recording and re-
producing music machines," says the Detroit
Journal in a recent editorial.
"What an enormous factor they have become
in life. More than one per minute is sold to
American homes. The auto, the talking machine
and the 'movies' have become necessities. And
of the three the talking machine is perhaps giv-
ing a higher and better form of intense enjoy-
ment to millions.
"Some musical exclusives affect to despise
what they think is the talking machine, having
heard one once ragging the scale at a country
fair. But gradually each of the most keenly sen-
sitive critics of music succumbs to the magic
spell of the high-class records, and they realize
that they are in the present, not of a slap-bang,
wang-dang infernal nuisance, but of an instru-
ment as revolutionary in cultural life as anything
since the invention of printing."
WORLD'S SALESMANSHIP CONGRESS
Many Leading Lights in the World of Selling
Expected to Attend Five-Day Convention
Which Will Be Held in Detroit Next July
Plans are now actively under way for a
World's Salesmanship Congress to be held in
Detroit on July 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13., when the
heads and subordinates of many of the leading
sales organizations of the country will gather
together for a discussion of "Commercial Pre-
paredness." An elaborate program of speeches
and discussions has been laid out for the several
days of the convention, the subjects being ar-
ranged to appeal to executives and salesmen,
and some to both branches. Several debates
will also be provided for. D. M. Barrett, editor
of Salesmanship, is chairman of the Executive
Committee in charge of the arrangements for
the convention, the committee itself being com-
posed of leading lights in the business world.
AN OPEN-AIR VICTOR DISPLAY AT A COUNTY FAIR
Fred S. Sammel,
who handles Milton
pianos a n d player-
pianos and a complete
line of Victrolas and
records, Bedford, Pa.,
is a thorough believer
in progressive meth-
ods in business, and
holds to that idea in
actual practice. Mr.
Sammel operated the
first motor delivery
truck in Bedford. The
manner in which Mr.
Sammel goes after trade
is indicated in the ac-
companying illustration,
which shows his effect-
ive display of talking
machines at the recent
Bedford County Fair.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
52
COLUMBIA DEPARTMENT FILMED
REFERENDUM ON PRICE MAINTENANCE
OFFER PRIZES FOR STORIES
Motion Picture Depicting Newly-Weds in
Search of a Grafonola Taken in Uptown Store
—Novel Uses for the Dictaphone
The Federal Chamber of Commerce Will Con-
duct Referendum Among Business Men on
the Question of Maintaining Resale Prices
The Columbia department in the store of the
Goldburg Carpet & Furniture Co., 163d street
and Third avenue, New York, was "filmed" las;
Friday as a part of a novel advertising scheme
which this concern will introduce in a short
while. A. moving picture was taken of various
departments in the store incidental to the "ac-
tion" of a plot which called for the furnishing
of a home by a young married couple. Con-
sidering that no home is. complete without a
Grafonola the store manager^ arranged for Law-
rence Fetik, manager of the Columbia depart-
ment, to sell the "married couple" a Grafonola,
200. with a good-sized library of records. Among
those who witnessed the "filming" were R. F.
Bolton, district manager, and Lester Leverich,
of the Columbia advertising division.
The Dictaphone is being put to unusual use by
several recent purchasers, judging from the re-
ports of the members of the Dictaphone sales
staff. Wah Chang, head of a wealthy smelting
company bearing his name, recently purchased
six Dictaphones for the use of himself and his
executives in China. For some time past he had
been unable to secure a competent translator
for his letters, but eliminated this difficulty by
purchasing the Dictaphones which enable him to
send the original Dictaphone cylinders to China,
where they are received by his directors, who
are also equipped with Dictaphones. A New
York lawyer traveling abroad is avoiding the
blue-pencil of the military censors by dictating
to the Dictaphone and sending the cylinders to
his business associates in New York.
James P. Bradt, general sales manager of the
Columbia Co., visited Philadelphia last week,
where he found District Manager Eckhardt clos-
ing a record-breaking business.
H. A. Yerkes, the recently appointed district
manager for the Central West left New York
Saturday to assume his new duties. Mr. Yerkes
will visit several Western points before arriving
at his headquarters in Chicago.
WASHINGTON, D. C, April 3.—The Chamber of
Commerce of the United States will conduct a
referendum among the business men of this
country as to whether or not the Federal Trade
Commission shall be authorized to prevent price
crtting. A special committee of ten members,
1 eaded by Paul T. Cherrington, recently made
an exhaustive report on the question of the main-
tenance of resale prices, full mention of which
was made in a former issue of The Review. The
majority recommendation favored legislation
permitting such price maintenance, and was
signed by seven of the ten members. The minor-
ity reported that they were unable to approve of
t! e principle of price maintenance as being in
tie public interest.
This referendum, which will be conducted
among chambers of commerce, boards of trade
and other civic organizations affiliated with the
Federal Chamber, will be the thirteenth refer-
endum which has been taken among the busi-
ness men of this country for the purpose of as-
certaining for the benefit of Congress and the
President the business opinion prevailing
throughout the United States on questions of
immediate importance. This will give the busi-
ness men of this country, all of whom will be
affected more or less by the result, an opportu-
nity to go on record as to whether or not Ameri-
can business needs legislation permitting pro-
ducers of "identified merchandise" to fix the
price at which such goods shall be resold.
Forty-five days will be allowed in which to
take the vote, and the result of the referendum
will be determined in the third week of May.
In the latest issue of Edison "Diamond
Points, the Diamond Disc house organ, cash'
prizes are offered for the two best stories regard-
ing the Diamond Disc submitted to the editor
before April 20 by any Edison jobber, dealer,
salesman or demonstrator. The stories must be
true and recite actual experiences; humorous, ro-
mantic or simply interesting, in connection with
the exploitation of the Diamond Disc machine or
records. The story must not be less than fifty
words or more than five hundred. The prize
winners will be announced in the May issue of
"Diamond Points."
BIG COMPANIES REPRESENTED
Recent Issue of the Saturday Evening Post
Contains Excellent Advertisements of Three
Large Talking Machine Manufacturers
The March 25th issue of the Saturday Eve-
ning Post contained three advertisements over
the signatures of leading talking-machine com-
panies, all of which were devoted to records.
The Victor Talking Machine Co. used a
double-page spread, the Columbia Graphophone
Co. a full page, and the Pathe Freres Phono-
graph a half-page, and this publicity as a whole
formed an attractive and artistic series of high-
class national advertisements.
The Victor advertisement featured a group
picture of world-famous artists making records
for the Victory library, while surrounding this
center picture were small portraits of scenes
from some of the most popular operas which are
included in the Victor operatic repertoire. The
Columbia page was headed "Tone-timbre-
tempo," and the text consisted of an interesting
discussion of the important characteristics of
Columbia records and the Columbia recording
process. The Pathe advertisement featured an
attractive illustration showing a child playing
with a Pathe disc on a Pathephone, the text
pointing out that a sapphire ball cannot injure
the surface of a Pathe disc no matter how it is
handled.
HANDLE THE PATHE AS LEADER
Walter Drey & Co., 1553 Third avenue, New
York, a new local concern, held the formal open-
ing of their store on April 1. The Pathe line is
handled as a leader and Mr. Drey is preparing
to use considerable newspaper space to properly
present Pathephones and Pathe discs.
ATTRACTIVE NEWSPAPER ADS
For the first time in many years, with the ex-
ception of its full-page advertising during De-
cember, the Victor Talking Machine Co. has
used newspaper advertising other than its well-
known "stepping-stone" copy. This advertising
appeared in the local newspapers this week and
attracted considerable attention. The text was
contained in an attractive border design, the il-
lustration consisting of a Victrola XVIII sur-
rounded by some of the world-famous artists
recording for the Victor Co., including White-
hill, Ober, Gadski, Sembrich, Culp and Herbert.
The advertisement was three columns wide and
fourteen inches high.
The Field-Lippman Piano Stores have a Victor
window that savors very much of "war in Mexico,"
and carried a strong intimation that the Victor
machine is the official musical instrument of the
American force. There is an abundance of sand,
cactus and other Mexican scenery and some soldier
trappings. Chas. Crouse is the artist.
THE MOST MOMENTOUS FACTOR
The Value of the Talking Machine In Furnish-
ing Entertainment Commented Upon
"Let us pause in our admiration for the auto-
mobile, in our delight in the moving pictures and
in our awe of engines of war to consider the
fourth most momentous factor that has been in-
troduced into modern life—the recording and re-
producing music machines," says the Detroit
Journal in a recent editorial.
"What an enormous factor they have become
in life. More than one per minute is sold to
American homes. The auto, the talking machine
and the 'movies' have become necessities. And
of the three the talking machine is perhaps giv-
ing a higher and better form of intense enjoy-
ment to millions.
"Some musical exclusives affect to despise
what they think is the talking machine, having
heard one once ragging the scale at a country
fair. But gradually each of the most keenly sen-
sitive critics of music succumbs to the magic
spell of the high-class records, and they realize
that they are in the present, not of a slap-bang,
wang-dang infernal nuisance, but of an instru-
ment as revolutionary in cultural life as anything
since the invention of printing."
WORLD'S SALESMANSHIP CONGRESS
Many Leading Lights in the World of Selling
Expected to Attend Five-Day Convention
Which Will Be Held in Detroit Next July
Plans are now actively under way for a
World's Salesmanship Congress to be held in
Detroit on July 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13., when the
heads and subordinates of many of the leading
sales organizations of the country will gather
together for a discussion of "Commercial Pre-
paredness." An elaborate program of speeches
and discussions has been laid out for the several
days of the convention, the subjects being ar-
ranged to appeal to executives and salesmen,
and some to both branches. Several debates
will also be provided for. D. M. Barrett, editor
of Salesmanship, is chairman of the Executive
Committee in charge of the arrangements for
the convention, the committee itself being com-
posed of leading lights in the business world.
AN OPEN-AIR VICTOR DISPLAY AT A COUNTY FAIR
Fred S. Sammel,
who handles Milton
pianos a n d player-
pianos and a complete
line of Victrolas and
records, Bedford, Pa.,
is a thorough believer
in progressive meth-
ods in business, and
holds to that idea in
actual practice. Mr.
Sammel operated the
first motor delivery
truck in Bedford. The
manner in which Mr.
Sammel goes after trade
is indicated in the ac-
companying illustration,
which shows his effect-
ive display of talking
machines at the recent
Bedford County Fair.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).