Music Trade Review

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56
THE
MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
APRIL 20,
19l8
nance problem, and the policy which the com-
pany will adopt in reference to furnishing its
Lambert Friedl Makes Stirring Appeal for Liberty Loan—Riccardo Stracciari Entertains With authorized dealers with a discount sheet.
The most important feature of the afternoon
Several Selections—George W. Hopkins, Louis S. Sterling and Others Make Addresses
was the introduction of Riccardo Stracciari, fa-
The fourth regular meeting of Columbia deal- for the records, which will go on sale on May 10. mous operatic baritone, who records exclusively
During the course of the afternoon Mr. Har- for the Columbia Co. Mr. Stracciari's records
ers in metropolitan territory and up-State was
held Friday afternoon in the Green Room of ris introduced the Farber Sisters, co-stars with have achieved phenomenal success, and.he is
the Hotel McAlpin, under the auspices of the Al Jolson in his new production at the Winter recognized as one of the foremost baritones on
Garden. These talented and popular actresses the operatic stage. He recently appeared in
have arranged to make Columbia records exclu- New York for the Chicago Opera Co. and won
sively, and their first record will go on sale in unanimous praise from, every musical critic.
the very near future. This record is entitled He favored the dealers with several selections,
"How'd You Like to Be My Daddy?" and these and the enthusiastic applause which he received
artists favored the company with a rendition from the Columbia representatives reflected the
of this selection, which was reproduced imme- importance of his acquisition to the Columbia
diately afterward from their Columbia record. recording staff. Mr. Stracciari has made sev-
These popular "stars" were received enthusi- eral new Columbia records which will go on
astically, and their record was voted a sure suc- sale in the near future, and the success of these
cess.
records is already assured.
There were present at the meeting several
Short addresses were made by Louis S. Ster-
ling, managing director of the Columbia Grapho- dealers from Albany, Poughkeepsie, Middletown,
phone Co., Ltd., London, Eng., who is in this Nyack, and other points up State, and in ad-
country for a month's visit, and by George W. dition to the Columbia executives mentioned pre-
Hopkins, general sales manager of the Colum- viously, there were also in attendance R. W.
bia Co. Mr. Sterling gave the dealers some Knox, advertising manager of the Columbia
idea of the conditions in England at the pres- Co.; N. F. Milnor, sales manager of the Dicta-
ent time, commenting upon the fact that the phone division; Theodore Bauer, director of the
demand for records in 1917 was far ahead of operatic and concert division; G. C. Jell, gen-
any previous year in the company's history. Mr. eral manager of the record laboratory, and L.
Hopkins gave one of his usual effective ad- L. Leverich, assistant advertising manager of
dresses, calling attention to the price mainte- the company.
COLUMBIA CO. DEALERS HOLD FOURTH REGULAR MEETING
ERNEST JOHN VICTOR AD MANAGER
Riccardo Stracciari
local wholesale branch of the Columbia Grapho-
phone Co.
Lambert Friedl, manager of this branch, who
was responsible for the inauguration of these
meetings, which have been a remarkable suc-
cess, presided at this meeting, and in his open-
ing address gave a stirring appeal in behalf of
the Third Liberty Loan. In fact, his appeal
was so effective that during the course of the
meeting subscriptions were received from more
than fifteen Columbia representatives who were
present.
In the course of his address Mr. Friedl called
the dealers' attention to 1917 figures, which in-
dicated that on the basis of a population of
100,000,000 in this country, there were sold last
year talking machines on a proportion of one
to every 120 people. Figuring on a basis of
five people to a family, Mr. Friedl stated that
only one family out of twenty-four had bought
machines in 1917, and expressed the belief that
at least one family out of every eight could be
sold a phonograph without choking the chan-
nels of trade. In the course of his talk Mr.
Friedl maintained that there were two things
necessary in order to achieve success in the talk-
ing machine business; namely, to believe in the
products that you are selling and to work hard.
The dealers convene for these monthly meet-
ings in order to hear and discuss the midmonth
records which are placed on sale the 10th of
each month. These meetings really afford the
only satisfactory means of demonstration for
the dealers, and the interest which is being evi-
denced in these monthly gatherings is shown
by the fact that more than 300 Columbia repre-
sentatives were present at last Friday's meeting.
A. R. Harris, of the general sales depart-
ment of the Columbia Co., who is directly in
charge of record promotion, and who is a rec-
ognized authority in his field, commented briefly
upon each record, leaving it to the dealers to
decide whether or not the record was worth a
large or small order. Order blanks were fur-
nished to each dealer, so that after hearing the
records they could indicate their initial order
Editor of "Voice of the Victor" Advanced to
Important Post in Victor Co. Organization,
According to Announcement Made This Week
The following letter sent to the trade by
Louis F. Geissler, general manager of the Vic-
tor Talking Machine Co., requires no comment
beyond the endorsement of Mr. Geissler's views
regarding the experience and ability of Ernest
ity to maintain in the future as fully as it has
been maintained in the past that high efficiency
which has been characteristic of Victor adver-
tising and publicity.
"Associated with Mr. John on the editorial
staff, which has already given the trade such
excellent service, will be Arthur S. Garbett and
F. A. Delano, writers of distinction and high
qualifications. On the advertising staff will be
W. L. Marshall and H. E. Green, both men of
established worth and long experience.
"Ours is a highly specialized business requir-
ing special talents and special training. Our one
consistent purpose is to be of greater service
to the trade, and so to be of greater service to
ourselves. To that end the above appointments
have been made; to that end, also, we ask your
earnest co-operation, which must assuredly be
to the advantage of all concerned."
UTILIZES AUTOMATIC REPEATER
Owner of Brooks Talking Machines Finds the
Automatic Repeater of Convenience for Other
Purposes—Uses Talker as Awakener
Ernest John
John as qualifying him for his new post as ad-
vertising manager of the Victor Co.:
"We take great pleasure in announcing the ap-
pointment of Ernest John as manager of the
advertising and editorial departments of the
Victor Talking Machine Co., which departments
will be amalgamated under his direction.
"This highly important position requires not
only a broad advertising experience, but certain
special qualifications, and, above all, an intimate
knowledge of Victor business.
"As editor of the 'Voice of the Victor' and
manager of the editorial department, Mr. John,
with fourteen years of practical experience as
an advertising man, is already well known to
the trade. We confidently believe in his abil-
SAGINAW, MICH V April IS.—C. C. Brooks, presi-
dent of the Brooks Mfg. Co., recently received
a letter from one of the company's dealers de-
scribing a unique way in which one of this deal-
er's customers had utilized the automatic re-
peater on the Brooks talking machine.
This repeater is equipped with a dial which
starts the machine and sets it to repeat a record
any number of times, and Mr. Brooks' corre-
spondent states that his customer has conceived
the idea of turning the machine into a melodious
alarm clock, by taking the dial from an ordinary
alarm clock, and touching a spring to the alarm
winding key, so that when the alarm goes off
the spring will be wound up. At the other end
of the spring is a loop which is hooked over the
end of the pointer dial which starts the machine;
this loop slipping off the end of the pointer
after it has pulled it in the starting position.
It is understood, of course, that he has placed
on the machine, the night before, the record
which will most harmonize with his awakening
dreams, and the dealer has been assured that
each member of this particular family is en-
thusiastic over this innovation.