Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
SEPTEMBER 7, 1918
SPECIAL WINDOW DISPLAYS READY FOR EDISON DEALERS
L. F. GEISSLER RESIGNS
FROM THE VICTOR CO. Four Elaborate Window Displays, Designed by Ellis Hansen, Are Now Ready for Distribution to
Will Relinquish Duties as General Manager of
Victor Talking Machine Co. on January 1,
1919, After a Notable Career in the Trade
It is with deepest regret that the talking ma-
chine trade has received the announcement that
Louis F. Geissler, general manager of the Vic-
tor Talking Machine *Co., has presented his
resignation to the board of directors of the
company, who have accepted it with great re-
luctance. Mr. Geissler's resignation will become
effective January 1, 1919.
The board of directors of the Victor Co.,
after paying a great tribute to Mr. Geissler for
his services to the company, and stating that
he will still continue as a director, in order to
offer the company the advantage of his ripe
judgment and large experience, announce that
the office of general manager will not be imme-
diately filled, but the functions of that office will
be assumed by the executive committee. Ralph
L. Freeman, a director and secretary of the
company, will act for the executive committee
in matters affecting the mutual interests of the
trade and the company, assisted by Henry C.
Brown, as sales manager, and the selling depart-
ment staff.
Mr. Geissler, after twenty years' service as
managing partner of Sherman, Clay & Co., San
Francisco, became sales manager of the Victor
Co. on October 1, 1915, and the development of
the talking machine as an artistic instrument
since that time has been due in a large measure
to his wide vision and his appreciation of the
musical possibilities of the talking machine and
the records that go with it. As general manager
of the Victor Co. he saw his ambition, that of
bringing the talking machine out of the novelty
and toy field and giving it a supreme position
in the musical field, fully realized, and the trade
as a whole owes its present high position largely
to the efforts of Mr. Geissler and those asso-
ciated with him and imbibing his spirit.
CALL AT COLUMBIA HEADQUARTERS
Edison Dealers—New Displays to Be Furnished Each Month at Nominal Cost
Thomas A. Edison, Inc., announce that they
are now prepared to furnish to their dealers four
elaborate window displays prepared by Ellis
Hansen, the well-known expert in that line, and
which were shown for the first time at the Edi-
son dealers' convention held in New York last
Ellis Hansen has a national reputation as one
of the leading window display men of the coun-
try, with a special ability for handling phono-
graph displays.
Not only has his work been
commented on in all of the prominent music
trade papers, but also in such advertising jour-
Cut No. 1—Ellis Hansen Display, Showing Figure of Frieda Hempel
nals as "Printers' Ink," "The Merchant Record
and Show Window" and others. His work is
also described at length in the "Library of Ad-
vertising," by A. P. Johnson, a standard work
on advertising.
The editor of this volume,
Thomas A. Bird, who is a recognized authority
on the subject of window displays, refers to
June. The Edison interests have always con-
sidered artistic window displays as most im-
portant adjuncts to the national advertising
campaign and have encouraged both jobbers
and dealers to give this matter their attention.
In securing the services of Mr. Hansen for de-
signing and arranging special window displays,
S. H. Nichols, manager of the Pittsburgh
branch of the Columbia Graphophone Co., was
a visitor this week to the executive offices of
the company in the Woolworth Building, New
York, bringing with him optimistic reports of
the business situation in his territory and a tale
of woe regarding the Grafonola and record
shipments which he has not yet received, and
which he states are needed very badly in his
district.
Another caller at the executive of-
fices this week was Roy S. Hibshman, general
manager of the Vocalion Co., of Boston, which
also handles the complete Columbia line.
George W. Hopkins, general sales manager
of the Columbia Co., spent the Labor Day holi-
days taking a well-deserved rest with his fam-
ily at Buzzard's Bay, Mass.
WHY NOT "WILL YOU PAY FOR IT?"
The talking machine department of a retail
house discovered that its charge accounts were
increasing in a manner out of proportion to its
cash sales increase. The proprietor did not sim-
ply take this situation for granted, but asked the
reason. The credit man, after a little question-
ing, found the answer. It was in the way sales-
men closed the order. They said, "Shall we
charge it?" instead of "Will you pay cash for it?"
or "Do you have an account here?" With the
instructions not to suggest to a customer that he
open an account for his purchase and charge it,
it was soon discovered that the increase in cash
sales broke all previous records.
Cut No. 2—Attractive Ellis Hansen Display, Showing Dance Figure
the company are able to place at the service
of the dealer, at nominal cost, window displays
that would prove beyond his means were he to
have them designed for his exclusive use.
Mr. Hansen as the "best man in America" in
displaying musical instruments,
The Hansen displays (see cuts 1 and 2) are
{Continued on page 44)