Music Trade Review

JUNE 28, 1919
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIE'V
$100,000,000 ANNUALLY IN PArHE BUSINESS FOR U. S.
NO VICTOR RECORDS FOR AUGUST
President Widmann Bringing Back From France Contracts Placing Control of Pathe Business on
Entire Western Hemisphere, Together With Great Britain and Her Colonies, in Hands of
Victor Co. to Take Advantage of Opportunity
Thus Presented to Take Care of Volume of
Unfilled Record Orders Now on the Books.
Pathe Freres Phonograph Co. Here-A New Development of Tremendous Importance
:t+.
51
Cab le advices were received at the headquar­
ter s of the Pathe Freres Phonograph Co.,
Brooklyn, N . Y., on Monday of this week to the
effect that Eugene A. Widmann, president of the
company, who has been sp endin g some time in
France, had sailed on the French li ne r "La
Lorraine" la st Satu rda y and was ' bringing with
him some important contracts pr ov iding for the
handling by the Pathe Freres Ph o nograph Co.
her e of the entire phonograph and record re­
quirements o f the \Vestern Hemisphere, to­
gether with Great Britain and her co lonies .
Through th e medium of the new co ntrac ts
ob tain ed by Mr. 'vVidmann, business appr oximat­
ing in value $100,000,000 annually w ill be trans­
f{'fred fr om Pari s to Bro ok lyn , N. Y ., making
necessary the providing of much additional
equipment at th e Pathe factory here, and the
employm e nt of a small army of workers to
meet manufacturing demands.
As has already bee n recorded, the big seven­
story factory building of the Path e concern
011 Grand av enue, Brooklyn, is now being en­
larged to extend from Flushing to Park avenues,
which will provide much additional and badly­
needed floor space. The company also acquired,
about a month ago, the French cabinet plant at
Metropolitan and Flushing avenues, Brooklyn,
which will also be used in the conduct of their
business. Further announcement of develop­
ments in the Pathe manufacturing end may be
expected shortly.
EDISON DEALERS IN CONVENTION
COLUMBIA CO. BUYS BIO FACTORY
Nearly 1,500 Representatives From All Sections
of the Country Attend Business Sessions and
Banquet at Commodore This Week-New
Edison Period Phonographs Exhibited
Takes Over the Large Factory Building Ad­
joining Its Present Plant in Bridgeport, Conn.,
From the Remington Typewriter Co.
The announcement was made this week of th e
As The Review goes to press Ed iso n dealers purchase by the Columbia Graphophone Co. of
the big factory adjo'ining the Columbia plant at
to the numb er of nea rly fiftee n hundred from
all sections of the co untr y are in 1\'ew Yo rk Bridgeport, Conn., and owned by the Remington
this week att end ing th eir fifth ann ual co nventio n Typewriter Co. The fact 9ry .buildi,n~ just pur­
chased is on Railroad avenue, 'andhas a con­
at the Hotel Commodore, nl'lni ;lg over Wednes­
day, Thursday and Friday, and endi ng wit h siderable frontage on Clinton avenue, extend­
ing seve ral hundred feet along th e railroad .
an elaborate banquet, also at th e H ote l Com­
Part of the prop e rty is on th e shore of Cedar
modore. The visiting dealers enjoyed some live
Creek, and although there is no dockage there
business sess ions a nd li stened to so me impor­
tant announcements regarding the plans for the n ow, it is possible this may be dev elop ed later,
according to officials .
de velop ment of Edison busin ess during the com­
The ori ginal factory was built forty ye ar5
ing fall and wint er.
ago for the manufacture of Sharpe riAes. Just
A feature of the conve nti on was an exhibI­
tion of new Edison period ph onograp hs in th e what departments of the Columbia Co. will be
housed til the Ilew building has not ye t
West Ball Room of th e Hotcl Com mod ore on
been announced, but without question the addi ·
vVednesday, to which the public was invited
tional facilitie s thus provided will prove mo s l
through th e medium of a large and artistic ad­
welcome in sol ving the Co lumbi a Co.'s present
ver tisement in the daily papers.
The n ew
phon ographs included adaptations of the work o f . production problem.
The tran sacti on was said to involve consid·
such master designer s as Chippendale, Hepple­
white, Sheraton and the brothers Ada m, as erab ly more than a million dollars, the assessed
valuation of the plant being $770,624, of which
well a s the styles of the ('ar li e r periods, and at­
land and buil din gs total $360,000; machinery,
tracted mlfch att e ntion not only from the repre­
senta tive s o f th e public who took advantage equ ipment and stock, $417,263, and other prop­
of the opportunity to in spec t them, but from erty, $361, acc ord ing to the City Hall r ecords.
The Eemington Typewriter plant employs in
th e visiting dealers. A report of th e conven­
the neighborhood of four hundred hand s.
tion a nd its atte ndant features will appear in
The Hevicw next week.
F. R. SMITH IS PROMOTED
Former Head Bookkeeper in New York Made
Assistant Manager of Boston Branch of
Columb:a Graphophone Co.
F . R. Smith, until recently head bookkeeper
of the New York retail branch of th e Co lumbi a
Graphophone Co., was recen tl y appointed assist­
ant man age r of the Boston. branch of the
Columbia Co. He will replace ;'11. C Per­
kins, who has resi gne d to take up the man age ­
ment of th e Pe rkin s Music Co., Mald en, Mass.
Mr. Perkins plans a vigorous effort in behalf
of his new business, as h e feels there is a
splendid field in the t er ritor y in which he will
operate. His store will handle the Colum bia
line exclusively.
S. S. Hackett and his. wife and daughter, all
from Fresno, Cal., are spending a few days this
week in New York City. Mr. Hackett is of
the Bristol-Cowan Co., large Columbia dealers
on the Western Coast.
CHARGED WITH UNFAIR PRACTICES
Complaint Served on Boston Piano & Music Co.
By the Federal Trade Commission
W .\ SHINGTON, D. C, June 23.-The Federal
Trad e Commission has serv ed formal complaint
of unfair competition against the Boston
Pian o & :Vlusic Co., Iowa Ci ty, la., and th e de­
fendant is cited to make answer befo re the Com­
mission in Washington on July 21. The charge
alleges fraudulent schemes and practices, and
false representation in the interstate sale of
talk ing machines and re cords known as "Mas­
te rp hone" machines and records. It is charged
that sa lesm en for· th e concern assured prospec­
tive purchasers that dealers were ab andoning
the sa le of var ious standard makes of machines
in favor of their product, and made oth er
promises of exclusive selling rights and sales
and ad ve rtising support which were not forth­
coming.
J. Allen, of Corpus Christi, Tex., recently
spent three days in New York.
In order to catch up to some extent at least
with the large number of unfilled orders for
records that have been accumulating for some
months past, the Victor Talking Machine Co.
has announced to its wholesale jobbers and
dealers that no new record supplement will be
issued for August, but that the efforts . that
would ordinarily be devote d to the producing
of new records will be used for pressing
records to fill orders now on hand. The official
announcement of the company says in part:
"To furnish you with records you have had
on order for some months past, we have been
c0mpelled to take extraordinary measures, and
have decided to list no new records for August,
1919. Instead we shall devote all our en ergies
for one month to the manufacture of records
for which the trade has a large unfilled demand.
"We shall, however, issu e a supplement in
which ·we have listed a greater number of
records than usual, and ill greater variety. The
records so listed are all excellent selections
and, better still, they are records of which there
are some stocks available in the hatids of our
distributors."
BUYS OUT SCHIRMER DEPARTMENT
H. W. Hess Assu;mes Control of Talking Ma­
chine Department of G. Schirmer, Inc.
H. W . Hess, formerly of Tilden-Thurber,
Providence, R. 1., who last Septe mber took
charge of the talking machine department of
C. Schirmer, Inc., New York City, last Tu es­
day purchased this talking machine depart­
ment from the Schirmer Co.
Since the
business was originally placed under Mr. Hess'
managem ent it was increased considerably. The
business in the future will be conducted under
the name of the Central Talking Machine Sales
Co., Inc., but as far as the public is concerned
all publicity, etc ., will continue to be conducted
and all r e tail business done under the name of
Sc hirmer.
NEW BONUS FOR EDISON EMPLOYES
ORANGE, N. J.• June 21.-At the annual field
da y of the Edison employes recently held at
O lympic Park, Irvington, it was announced by
Charles Edison that a new bonus system would
go into effe ct on July 1. The obj ec t of the new
bonus system is to reduce wastage and it will
apply to 7,000 employes.
BACK ON PEACE BASIS
Harr y B. Haring has joined the general sales
department of the Columbia Graphophone Co.,
but has not yet been given a definite assign­
ment. He was formerl y with the Fourth New
York Infantry and wa.s later cap'tain of a
machine gun com;;,any, and saw several months'
servi ce with the Am erica n Expeditionary Force
in France.
SOME TRADE BRIEFLETS
H. L. Moorey, manager of the New Haven
branch of the Columbia Graphophone Co.,
spent a few days in the executive offices of the
Columbia Co . this week.
Trubin Bros., Red Bank, N. J., are building
an addition to their store to take care of the
increased trade in the music department, espe·
cially ill the sale of talking machines.