Music Trade Review
Issue: 1918 Vol. 67 N. 4 - Page 5
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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
JULY 27, 1918
^lySffPSlff^iff^Wf^fff^Bf^iyglJ^I^^
Being Certain and Sundry More or Less Valuable Thoughts of an Amateur
Thinker, to wit, the Editor of This Player Section, an Untamed and Untam-
able Optimist, But Who Is a Philosopher and Psychologist of Parts, Withal
self-appointed teachers and prophets. In all stop; the best educational course one can take
the hurly-burly of confusion, of shoutings and is naturally a course of listening to the pianos
of tumults does it do any particular harm to themselves.
The music roll is assuredly coming into its remark that living on headlines has its disad-
own! Considering that this newspaper has vantages, whether the alleged news refers to the
On Humor: Good and Not So Good
lahored assiduously (yes, that is the word) dur- course of the war or to the disasters that are
ing more years than I care to number just now, sure to befall our business, if this, and that, and
The occupation of composing weekly matter
for the sole purpose of bringing the manufac- the other thing should happen coincidentally to for the columns of a trade paper, which shall
turers and the retailers of these necessary ar- befall at the same time? Why, in the name of be both intelligible and amusing, both significant
ticles to realize that they must co-operate if heaven, those who cannot give us positive good and good-humored, is not, whatever amateur
they want to make a bank roll out of a music advice should frighten us with warnings to pre- critics may imagine to the contrary, exactly cal-
roll, we cannot be very much grieved at ob- pare against evils they themselves can neither culated to promote a capacity for humorpus
serving on all sides signs of a general awaken- explain nor identify.is more than I can tell; but writing. Yet when you stop to think of it, a
ing of interest in all that has to do with what is, it is plain enough that the game of saying Boo! world which is always ready to vote your writ-
after all, to the public, the most important part to the business man is about as poor a game as ing dry as dust never fails to object if one who
of the whole player-piano. The little article on can be imagined just now. Of course, the busi- has managed to acquire painfully the reputation
window displays in The Review of July 13, ness man, especially the piano business man, of a humorist ventures to say a word which is
which dealt with retail boosting of the roll seems just now to want to be scared every so to be taken seriously. The case of the funny
business, had some good pictures showing what often. But why? Business is certainly not bad, man, would-be or actual, seems to be a case ol
is actually being done by intelligent co-opera- it is only uncertain. It is not that we cannot "you're damned if you do and damned if you
tion between the manufacturer and the retailer. sell the pianos and players, it is only that we don't." Which is exactly why, on the principle
The excellent advertising being done by the Q do not know how many we are to get week by of least resistance, this Point of View page is
R S Co. in the promotion of their line of story week. Well, that is not as if we could not sell never by any means in the slightest degree
rolls is equally to the point. One cannot help the goods we are getting! The fact is that humorous. It would not do. Of course, some
liking the story roll. The idea is first-rate in just now it is much easier to sell than to buy, one will say that this is a mistake—that, in fact,
every respect and the stories 1 have seen so far much easier to take orders than to manufacture the writer is indeed screamingly funny; but
are intelligently and sometimes cleverly writ- player-pianos! Very well, then, the orders are only when most serious. Coarse gibes of that
ten up. Of course, the story must be well done- being taken and the goods are being sold. sort, however, rebound from a superior nature
and the customer must be well introduced to it; Would it not be much worse if, instead of being without doing the least harm. Still, what a
but after that 1 can see no obstacles in the way. only permitted to do a certain amount of busi- fool a man is to expect either that he himself
It is all good stuff, and it all goes to show that ness, we had no business at all to do? Why or those who do him the honor to read his
the music roll men are coming out from the worry? And above all, why listen to the self- periodical piffle can carry on in times like these
ranks of the conservatives and beginning to appointed groan-gnawers and joy-removers? I save by liberal applications of good humor. , It
show themselves just as bright as the rest of may be wholly wrong; but this is my reaction is precisely because he goes into battle with a
the boys. The fact is, of course, that they (as the New Republic would say) to D. Junius grin that your Anglo-Saxon is a winner. The
were always bright enough, but they would per- « Juvenal, Esq.
British Tommy of Bairnsfather's cartoons is a
sist in hiding their lights under bushels.
reality. The Hun cannot understand how the
British prisoners, in their lowest misery, can still
Showing Them How
laugh and get up football games. So, too, your
Juvenalia
It becomes evident, as time goes on, that the Yank. Sammy goes into battle, grinning, in-
When the late D. Junius Juvenal sat him down, beauties of the reproducing piano are just suf- sists on regarding the whole thing as a joke,
ivory stylus in hand, to indite his first blister- ficiently obvious to catch the fancy of the mu- kills with a smile, advances with a smile, re-
ing Satire on the Roman Follies of A. D. 75, sically intelligent person who can be got to treats with a laugh when he has to and counter-
he began in this wise, "Semper ego auditor listen to them, without being sufficiently ob- attacks with more laughter. The laughing Sol-
tantum, nunquamme reponam"; that is to say, vious to capture the wandering attention of the dier is the democratic soldier. Briton, Frenchy,
"Must I forever watch other guys bursting into mob.
Now, to get all classes of the popula- Guaglio from Lombardy or little daredevil from
print and getting on the front page? What's tion interested in anything like this takes good Antwerp, Sammy from Chicago or" Rastus from
the matter with me pulling off a bit of the hot salesmanship; and in this particular case, good Georgia, all are smilers. Now your Hun does
stuff myself?" or words to that effect. Just so salesmanship means good demonstration more not smile. Bring Fritz over here and make
with a good many of us at the present moment. than anything else. A man who is going to him hustle a la Manhattan a year or two and he
There is this difference, however, that in this make, a business of selling the reproducing piano learns how to smile. But Fritzy at home has
year of grace, trie folks are not even waiting to must know the arguments for his instrument swallowed Nietsche and Superman and the Ger-
complain of others rushing into print ahead of thoroughly, from A to Z. Now, the principal man Gott, and Our Divine Mission, and Our
them; they are too busy getting into print them- argument is the music itself. But to choose Divine Kultur, and Our All-Highest and "Don't
selves. In truth, Juvenal's wail seems to have this music intelligently, to suit it to the needs dare-to-do-anything-without-permission"
until
become universal, and the world is filled with and capacity of the individual customer, while even his laughter is Verboten. "Poor Fritzy,"
at the same time keeping the level sufficiently as one of my nephews (three years in France
high to make the peculiar excellences of the in- and not a scratch) always calls him, he takes
strument stand out above those of the ordinary himself seriously and that is what is the mat-
The Sensation of the Year in Mutic Rolls
player-piano, demands musical intelligence above ter with him. Incidentally, that is why he is
all else, combined with judgment that shall pre- being beaten to a pulp. If he had the slightest
serve proper balance between the musical and sense of humor he would quit within the hour
the commercial side of a proposition which runs and beg to be given the chance to repair his
into big money. I have often thought of this crimes.
and have seen the necessity for training the
Is there a moral to this here parable? There
salesman most carefully for this work and espe-
cially of choosing shrewdly the right men for is. Civilians need not, in these days, leave the
it. For this very reason, then, I was much in- monopoly of good-humor to the soldier boys.
terested to notice that the Chickering people We are all soldiers, thank God! and we all need
the other day sent one of their men all the way the saving grace of humor.
out to San Francisco simply to instruct the
salesmen and repairmen who are specializing
on
the Chickering Ampico at Byron Mauzy's.
Exclusively Featured m
It is only a small item but significant. Now,
PIANOS — PLAYERS
if
some
one
will
please
take
the
hint
and
do
Thm Grmataat Vafa* at MoJmratm Coat
',
:: IMPERIAL PLAYER ROLLS : some instructing on the musical side of these
WHITMAN PIANO MFG. CO., Inc.
instruments we shall all be grateful. But,
408-410 West 14th Street
NEW YORK
Rolls: Music and Bank
WHITMAN
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
JULY 27, 1918
^lySffPSlff^iff^Wf^fff^Bf^iyglJ^I^^
Being Certain and Sundry More or Less Valuable Thoughts of an Amateur
Thinker, to wit, the Editor of This Player Section, an Untamed and Untam-
able Optimist, But Who Is a Philosopher and Psychologist of Parts, Withal
self-appointed teachers and prophets. In all stop; the best educational course one can take
the hurly-burly of confusion, of shoutings and is naturally a course of listening to the pianos
of tumults does it do any particular harm to themselves.
The music roll is assuredly coming into its remark that living on headlines has its disad-
own! Considering that this newspaper has vantages, whether the alleged news refers to the
On Humor: Good and Not So Good
lahored assiduously (yes, that is the word) dur- course of the war or to the disasters that are
ing more years than I care to number just now, sure to befall our business, if this, and that, and
The occupation of composing weekly matter
for the sole purpose of bringing the manufac- the other thing should happen coincidentally to for the columns of a trade paper, which shall
turers and the retailers of these necessary ar- befall at the same time? Why, in the name of be both intelligible and amusing, both significant
ticles to realize that they must co-operate if heaven, those who cannot give us positive good and good-humored, is not, whatever amateur
they want to make a bank roll out of a music advice should frighten us with warnings to pre- critics may imagine to the contrary, exactly cal-
roll, we cannot be very much grieved at ob- pare against evils they themselves can neither culated to promote a capacity for humorpus
serving on all sides signs of a general awaken- explain nor identify.is more than I can tell; but writing. Yet when you stop to think of it, a
ing of interest in all that has to do with what is, it is plain enough that the game of saying Boo! world which is always ready to vote your writ-
after all, to the public, the most important part to the business man is about as poor a game as ing dry as dust never fails to object if one who
of the whole player-piano. The little article on can be imagined just now. Of course, the busi- has managed to acquire painfully the reputation
window displays in The Review of July 13, ness man, especially the piano business man, of a humorist ventures to say a word which is
which dealt with retail boosting of the roll seems just now to want to be scared every so to be taken seriously. The case of the funny
business, had some good pictures showing what often. But why? Business is certainly not bad, man, would-be or actual, seems to be a case ol
is actually being done by intelligent co-opera- it is only uncertain. It is not that we cannot "you're damned if you do and damned if you
tion between the manufacturer and the retailer. sell the pianos and players, it is only that we don't." Which is exactly why, on the principle
The excellent advertising being done by the Q do not know how many we are to get week by of least resistance, this Point of View page is
R S Co. in the promotion of their line of story week. Well, that is not as if we could not sell never by any means in the slightest degree
rolls is equally to the point. One cannot help the goods we are getting! The fact is that humorous. It would not do. Of course, some
liking the story roll. The idea is first-rate in just now it is much easier to sell than to buy, one will say that this is a mistake—that, in fact,
every respect and the stories 1 have seen so far much easier to take orders than to manufacture the writer is indeed screamingly funny; but
are intelligently and sometimes cleverly writ- player-pianos! Very well, then, the orders are only when most serious. Coarse gibes of that
ten up. Of course, the story must be well done- being taken and the goods are being sold. sort, however, rebound from a superior nature
and the customer must be well introduced to it; Would it not be much worse if, instead of being without doing the least harm. Still, what a
but after that 1 can see no obstacles in the way. only permitted to do a certain amount of busi- fool a man is to expect either that he himself
It is all good stuff, and it all goes to show that ness, we had no business at all to do? Why or those who do him the honor to read his
the music roll men are coming out from the worry? And above all, why listen to the self- periodical piffle can carry on in times like these
ranks of the conservatives and beginning to appointed groan-gnawers and joy-removers? I save by liberal applications of good humor. , It
show themselves just as bright as the rest of may be wholly wrong; but this is my reaction is precisely because he goes into battle with a
the boys. The fact is, of course, that they (as the New Republic would say) to D. Junius grin that your Anglo-Saxon is a winner. The
were always bright enough, but they would per- « Juvenal, Esq.
British Tommy of Bairnsfather's cartoons is a
sist in hiding their lights under bushels.
reality. The Hun cannot understand how the
British prisoners, in their lowest misery, can still
Showing Them How
laugh and get up football games. So, too, your
Juvenalia
It becomes evident, as time goes on, that the Yank. Sammy goes into battle, grinning, in-
When the late D. Junius Juvenal sat him down, beauties of the reproducing piano are just suf- sists on regarding the whole thing as a joke,
ivory stylus in hand, to indite his first blister- ficiently obvious to catch the fancy of the mu- kills with a smile, advances with a smile, re-
ing Satire on the Roman Follies of A. D. 75, sically intelligent person who can be got to treats with a laugh when he has to and counter-
he began in this wise, "Semper ego auditor listen to them, without being sufficiently ob- attacks with more laughter. The laughing Sol-
tantum, nunquamme reponam"; that is to say, vious to capture the wandering attention of the dier is the democratic soldier. Briton, Frenchy,
"Must I forever watch other guys bursting into mob.
Now, to get all classes of the popula- Guaglio from Lombardy or little daredevil from
print and getting on the front page? What's tion interested in anything like this takes good Antwerp, Sammy from Chicago or" Rastus from
the matter with me pulling off a bit of the hot salesmanship; and in this particular case, good Georgia, all are smilers. Now your Hun does
stuff myself?" or words to that effect. Just so salesmanship means good demonstration more not smile. Bring Fritz over here and make
with a good many of us at the present moment. than anything else. A man who is going to him hustle a la Manhattan a year or two and he
There is this difference, however, that in this make, a business of selling the reproducing piano learns how to smile. But Fritzy at home has
year of grace, trie folks are not even waiting to must know the arguments for his instrument swallowed Nietsche and Superman and the Ger-
complain of others rushing into print ahead of thoroughly, from A to Z. Now, the principal man Gott, and Our Divine Mission, and Our
them; they are too busy getting into print them- argument is the music itself. But to choose Divine Kultur, and Our All-Highest and "Don't
selves. In truth, Juvenal's wail seems to have this music intelligently, to suit it to the needs dare-to-do-anything-without-permission"
until
become universal, and the world is filled with and capacity of the individual customer, while even his laughter is Verboten. "Poor Fritzy,"
at the same time keeping the level sufficiently as one of my nephews (three years in France
high to make the peculiar excellences of the in- and not a scratch) always calls him, he takes
strument stand out above those of the ordinary himself seriously and that is what is the mat-
The Sensation of the Year in Mutic Rolls
player-piano, demands musical intelligence above ter with him. Incidentally, that is why he is
all else, combined with judgment that shall pre- being beaten to a pulp. If he had the slightest
serve proper balance between the musical and sense of humor he would quit within the hour
the commercial side of a proposition which runs and beg to be given the chance to repair his
into big money. I have often thought of this crimes.
and have seen the necessity for training the
Is there a moral to this here parable? There
salesman most carefully for this work and espe-
cially of choosing shrewdly the right men for is. Civilians need not, in these days, leave the
it. For this very reason, then, I was much in- monopoly of good-humor to the soldier boys.
terested to notice that the Chickering people We are all soldiers, thank God! and we all need
the other day sent one of their men all the way the saving grace of humor.
out to San Francisco simply to instruct the
salesmen and repairmen who are specializing
on
the Chickering Ampico at Byron Mauzy's.
Exclusively Featured m
It is only a small item but significant. Now,
PIANOS — PLAYERS
if
some
one
will
please
take
the
hint
and
do
Thm Grmataat Vafa* at MoJmratm Coat
',
:: IMPERIAL PLAYER ROLLS : some instructing on the musical side of these
WHITMAN PIANO MFG. CO., Inc.
instruments we shall all be grateful. But,
408-410 West 14th Street
NEW YORK
Rolls: Music and Bank
WHITMAN
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