Music Trade Review

50
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
SEPTEMBER 8, 1923
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FALL BUSINESS IS EXPECTED IN SATISFYING VOLUME
BRUNSWICK SIGNS LYMAN ORCHESTRA
Many Factors All Tend to Justify the Trade's Be lief in Good Volume of Sales During the Coming
Recordings Made in Los Angeles by Bnmswick
-Records to Be Released Shortly
Months-Energetic Selling Efforts to Mark the Coming Selling Season
The genera l oplmon of the members of the
talking mach in e tj'ade, man ufact ur e rs as well
as retailers, is to the effect tha t Fall business
will be of di stinctly satisfactory vo lum e, and
th ere are many fac tors that are calculated to
justify this optimism. These factors include,
[or instan ce, t he introduction of a number of
new machine models in the establishe d lines, the
majority of which wi ll be ready for the reta il
buyer in co ns id erable num bers during the Fall
months; the inn o vation of offering a ll records,
including stand ard record s a nd th e class ics, in
double-face form, a m ove already anno unced by
two prominent companies; the readjustment of
list prices on hi g h-class records" and the issu­
ance of the new record li sts week ly, instead of
mont hl y as her etofore, w ith som e companies
offerin g new releases alm ost daily,
Th e vol um e of ta lkin g machine business dur­
in g the late Spring- and Sum mer months was
more or less disappointing in many sections,
due not so much to waning interest in talking
mac hine s, as to the unloa din g of s urplu s stocks
through the medium of sensational advertising
a nd the effe ct of such advertising on the p ubli c
at large. It seems now, however, as though the
trade mig ht be consi der ed to be finally stabil­
ized, with nothing in prospect in the immediate
future to caus e fur ther disturbances and w ith a
good result on sales.
Despite the optimistic views regarding Fall
prospects there is I}O question but that e ner­
get ic selling efforts must oe put forth if the
volum ;:: of busin ess realized is to measure up to
exp ectations. The various manufacturers of ma -
chines and records have been h ard at work an d
have in crease d produ ct ion to a point where,
in the case of most reco rds and machine mode ls,
it measures up with the dem and or comes close
to it.
It appears th at too many dealers, those who
hand le talking machines in connecti on with
pianos and other musical instruments, as w ell as
those wh o confine their effort s exclusively to
t hat lin e, are still li ving in the day s of 1920,
when, w ith production far below dem and, it is
a qu estion of allocating available s to cks among
anxious customers, rather than of endeav orin g
to move stock s o n hand through good sales­
man s hip .
The introdu ctio n of new recording artists and
orga nizati ons, of new distributing methods for
records, and of new li st price s, sho uld g ive the
average dea ler a wealth of ma terial to work
with in stimulating interest among new cus­
tom ers as we ll as those who already ow n ma­
chines. For t he new customer, too, there is an
a ssortment of machines that fit into the hum­
blest home or the most elaborate pala ce, and
at pric es that correspond.
In connection with the selling ca mpa ign it is
to be noticed that the various cOlTipanies have
arran ged for elaborate advertisin g campaig n s
calc ulated to arouse int erest not only in the va ­
riolls lines of mac hin es and records as such, but
in s pecific items-a policy desi gned to crysta l·
lize th e buy ing ur ge . Altogether, it seem
those who handle talking machines h ave little
to fear regarding business for, the months to
come.
VICTOR RECORDS BY RACE ARTISTS
YES, WE HAVE NO RECORDS, BUT­
Special Release of Three Records by Colored
Artists Is Particularly Timely
LEWISTOWN, MONT" September 5.- 0n August
24 the second' page of the Lewistown-Denver
News carried a full-page spread head ed "Yes,
We Have No Bananas, But- -" a nd after the word
"but" came the adver tisem ents of eleven differ­
ent merc hant s, telling of the man y things they
had to sell as substitutes for the much-lamented
bananas. Only one phonograph me rchant, the
Seld en Drug Co., Colum bia dealer, was repre­
se nted. His message sta ted that th e public de­
mand for the po pu lar banana so ng had so ld out
the fir other new hit s we re in stock, including thr ee
popular select ions that were listed. The fa­
mous Colum bia tra de-mark was used to adva n­
tage in the, Se lden Dr ug Co.'s ann oun ceme nt
a nd the advertising prod uc ed splendid r esults.
I n view of the apparent ly gr owin g interest in
records by co lored a rti sts, termed by some
manufacturers "race" recor d s, a speci al r elease
of three new records of that type by the Victor
Co. is most timely. The first of the ' new rec­
ords bears on one side "If Anybody Her e Wants
a R eal Kind Mamma" and on the other side
"Me111phis, T e nn essee," both sLIng by Ethel Rid­
ley, acc ompanied by Bradford's J azz Phools.
The second r eco rd is of "Bleeding H earted
B lu es" and "Yo u Can't Do vVhat My Last Man
D id," two p'ia no numbers played by Jam es T.
Johnson, and the third record is of "Midnight
Blues," sung by Rosa Hend erso n, and "Cotton
Belt B lu es," sung by Lizzie Miles.
THE BRUNSWICK IN DETROIT
H. B. Bibb, mana ger of lhe Ch icago disLrict
of the Brunswick Co., has annollnced th e taking
on of the comp lete Bru nswi ck line by the C row­
lcy-Miliner Co., of Detroit, J\Iich.
This concern is one of the largest d e partment
sLores in the State of Michigan, and for a nUlll­
be r of years has been handling the Victo r li ne
exclusi vely, The ta lki n g ma c h i ne depa rtme nt
is managed by Larry Dow.
VOCALION RECORDS SELLING WELL
SAN FRANClsco, CAL., August 31. -The NIunson­
Rayner Corp. has now completed its handsome
q uarte rs at 86 Second stree t and repo rts a heavy
business in Vocalion records. There is a grea t
rivalry developing bdween Ed. Zuc hel li , in
c har ge of the re cord departm ent o f the Los An­
geles Munson-Rayner firm, and the San Fran­
cisco dep artm ent, in charge of Tho s. G. Rock­
well, as to who will sell the most records, Both
say that Vocalions are sco rin g heavily.
Los ANGELES, CAL., Aug ust 25. -Los Angeles'
most famous pop ul ar Illus ic or ganiza tion, Abe
'Lyman's Ca lifornia Ambassador O rches t ra, has
just completed a nUlllb er of popular re cordi n gs
for th e Brunswick-Balke-Co ll ender Co.
The
orchestra was recently signed up exclusively by
the Bruns wick organ izat ion, and immed;~,tcly
upon the consummation of the deal the Bruns­
w ick Co. es tablished it temporary recording
Lyman's California Ambassador Orchestra
laborato ry in Los Ange les for th e sole purpose
of recording newly acquire d tal ent.
The recording for Brunswick was don e under
Lhe supervision of Skinke r Darby, chief of the
Br un sw ick
Co.'s
r ecordin g
division,
and
Walter Hansehan, head of the record in g depart­
ment.
Bot h of these men, along with thei r
assistants and the necessary paraphernalia used
in recor din g, came all the way from New York
and sp ent five weeks in pre parin g and re cording
the .'l.mbassador Orchestra. Records of the new
orga ni zation will be released shortly, and the rep­
erto ire consists of such numbers as "No, No
Nora, " "C ut Yo ur self a Piece of Cake," "Mid­
night Rose," and "Havana Ta ngo. " Abe Ly­
llI an's Cal iforni a c\mbassador Orch estra ha s at ­
tai ned much pop ularit y in Los Angeles sinc e it s
openi ng of the Cocoanut Grove Hotel in May,
1922. Th e orchestra is considered one of the
biggest att raction s in sou th ern California. Be­
fore coming to this city it was well known in
Chicago, having played in the Co lo nial a nd Ar ­
sonni a cafes there. Prio r to thi s en gag em e nt
the organization appeared in vaudeville with
Gilda Gray, of "Ziegfeld Follies."
A g-reat deal of the success of the orch estra
is due to Abe L yman, who se personality sells
the orchestra to .the public. He is one of the
old schoo l of stick-juggling di recto rs, and hi s
antics are an end less amusement to his spec­
Lators, He is of the in vent ive type an d se ems
to be able to inspire his men wit h a peppy
spirit which keeps th em at a hi gh pitch . The
lll ll sic of this orch estra car ri es with it the trtle
spir it of Ca liforni a , and at times it is almos t
Oriental in color. The gre atest effects atta ined
are reached in its playing soft ly a nd slowly,
and at all tim es w ith a decide d rh ythm wh ich
seems never to lapse or lag because of the
original effects.
A be Ly man himself has th e distinction, be­
sides that of a drumm er, in that he is th e C0111 ­
poser of many numbers which have be e n popu­
lar, such as "Pegp;y Dear," "Apple SaLlce," "I
Cri ed for You," "In the Land of Shady Palm
Trees," "Defor e Yo u Go," etc., eLc.
THE BRUNSWICK-BALKE-COLLENDER CO.
623-33 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago A. J. KENDRICK, Gen'J Salea Manager