Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
tfOHLER INDUSTRIES
HOLD BEEFSTEAK DINNER
Officials and Foremen of Kohler Industries
Make Merry at Annual Beefsteak Dinner—F.
E. Edgar Given Great Reception—Soldiers
Hold Happy Reunion—Over 300 Present
With "victory" luncheons, dinners and get-to-
gether meetings being quite the style this sea-
son it was but natural that the annual beefsteak
dinner given by the Kohler Industries to the
executives, superintendents, office men and fore-
men of that organization at Reisenweber's last
Saturday night should be heralded as a "vic-
tory beefsteak." Certainly the spirit of victory,
gQpd nature and optimism prevailed, and in all
: respects it was one of the most successful af-
fairs of,the kind ever held by the Kohler in-
terests.
Over 300 men, including the presidents and
other executives of the various companies, re-
sponded to the call on schedule, and, attired in
white aprons and fancy paper hats and equipped
^vith rattjes, horns and other noise-making con-
trivances, started out immediately to make the
occasion >a memorable one. The dinner itself
was elaborate and satisfying, and there were
plenty of drinkables with which to wash it
down. To lend joy to the occasion there was
likewise present a negro jazz band, and a num-
ber of excellent singers who maintained a con-
tinuous round of music, with the diners joining
most heartily in the choruses of the popular
songs, particularly such numbers as "Hail, Hail
the Gang's All Here."
An interesting feature was the rivalry between
the workmen of the various factories in giving
. voice to their respective cries. In this contest
.the Autopiano group seemed to come out on top
with their yell of:
"Ten thousand a year,
Ten thousand a year,
None do we fear,
A-u-t-o-p-i-a-n-o."
Then there were special yells and cheers given
for the various executives, and a rousing recep-
tion for Frank E. Edgar, whose appointment as
vice-president of the Autopiano Co. has just
been announced.
An interesting touch was given to the pro-
ceedings through the presence of a number of
men in khaki and blue, who in due course were
heartily cheered by the civilians. An interest-
:
ing incident was the meeting of two soldiers,
Corporal Gregory Kelly, formerly of the Bram-
bach factory, and Private Alfred Aversona, for-
merly with the Autopiano Co. Both men had
gone overseas with the 107th Infantry, made up
largely of men of the old Seventh Regiment, N.
G., N. Y. They were in the same company,
and, after fighting some time with the English
in the North, were both wounded at St. Quentin.
-1 Aversona was t r e a t s for his wounds in an Eng-
lish hospital, while Kelly was taken care of by
the Ffertch, and the two chums met for the first
time since St. Quentin at the beefsteak.
The dinner was in the nature of a huge joy-
fest, and there were no set speeches scheduled.
The spirit of optimism and confidence, however,
•was strongly in evidence, and from chief execu-
• tive down to office clerk there was apparent a
feeling that the Kohler Industries in all their
several divisions were entering upon a year of
unexampled activity.
PARHAM WERLEIN IN GOTHAM
One of the trade visitors to New York this
week was Parham Werlein, head of Philip Wer-
leiri, Ltd., New Orleans, La., who came to the
metropolis in order to hurry along some new
•pianos to fill in the empty spaces in his ware-
rooms. Mr. Werlein declared that as was the
case -y^ith'many other concerns, the volume of
holiday-business handled by the Werlein house
was limited' only by the amount of stock on
hand. Incidentally he said it looked like a big
year for business in and about New Orleans.
JANUARY 11,
1919