Music Trade Review

SEPn:MBER
29, 1923
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
MUCH REMODELING ALONG THE PHILADELPHIA PIANO ROW I
Story & Clark, Stetson, Heppe & Son and Cunningham Co. All Make Extensive Alterations
In
Their Warerooms-Present Month Has Realized Expectations of Moderately Optimistic
jJIIII.AUI::LP H1A, PA., Se'pternbcr 24. · This m onth,
which in trade annals marks t h e re turn to Fall
activities and traditio na ll y is looked o n as the
open in g of th e n ew seaso n, has rea liL: ed th e
expec tati on of the moderatel y opt imistic, even
thou g h, du e to unu s ual weal h er co nditi ons, it
lag<;e d a lilt le behind the fore cash of the en­
thusiastic. The past week h as don e quite a
liltl e to bring u p the month's agg regate and
if th ue cont inu es, as seems probable, dur ing
nex l week the s am e rate of increase noted
during th e last seve n days t h e Septembe r rec­
ord certain ly wi ll be at very least entire ly
satisfacto ry.
For those hou ses appea ling to th e popul ar
demand an d which, in p urs uit of thi s policy,
offered during last mon th m id-S um mer bar­
,gains, are s uffe rin g-, of course, a little r etarda­
tion of buying, e ntir e ly na t ura l und e r the ci r­
·c um ~ t ances. On th e co nt ra ry , firms whi c h make
no particular a ttrac ti on for Aug ust found Sep­
t em ber goo d . . \ particu la rl y n o ti ceable ins ta n ce
in this respec t is the expe r ie n ce of N. Stetson
&. Co. , whose feature is the Ste in way. This
firm, during it s decade and a half of exi~tence,
neve r e n gage d in specia l sa les promotion cam­
paigns b y pr ice reduc ti ons or se n sa t iona l fea­
ture s. D urin g c\ u g us t , however, a nnoun cemen t
was made of th e i ilcrease in prices of t h e thr ee
siz(,s of Ste inw ay g rands, sty les M, 0 a nd A.
Tile an nouncement, of course, brought in a very
large in cre,lse in the numb er of or d e r s and re­
s ul te d in closing sa les which ' for some time had
been und er consideration.
Heppe Christmas Club Launched
The He ppe C hri stmas Cl ub has been launched.
The ne w clu b wi ll be the sixteen th of its kind
in the Heppe his tor y and th e firm believes th at
it wa~ the fi rq in the country to or igi nat e a
p lan which h as been hi g hly produ ct ive of sales
r esults. D ur ing the deca d e and a h alf o r m ore
of it; bei ng the H eppe Chr istmas Cl ub has had
on it s books the names of 8,235 membe rs. This
. year's c lu b wi ll be limit e d to exac tl y 500 an d
th e ex per ience of the pa st suggests th a t mem­
bersh ip w ill no t b e avai lable m uch after the
Illiddle of next month .
Remod eling Operations Among Piano Row
Pi ano Row is still in th e throes of struggl in g
against th e adve rs it ies b ro u g ht o n by th e pres­
ence of art isan s and m echa ni cs emp lo yed by
the Girard Estate to stre n g th en all th e str uc­
ture s by iron g ir de r reinforcements. Plas te r
a nd obstr u ctions, dirt and conf usion were, of
co ur se, unplea sa nt durin g th e Summertime,
but now that Fall activities a re on t he y ar e
particu la rl y objectionable. Sti ll, howev er, the
trade is e nterin g int o th e sp irit of the affai r,
but wit h a very firm wi s h th at a ll will be ov e r
just as soon as possibl e. The Story & Clark
st ore was the first to be attac ked by the bu ild­
ers, b ut this has now been comp leted and is
Illost attract ive. T h e Stetson s tore followed a nd
'though ~ tructural repairs have been completed
th e fin is hing touches ye t r emain to be d o n e on
th e upp er floo rs. \I\' orkmcn, h owever, a r e-or,
at leas t, in one in stance were un ti l a few day s
ago-ve r y bu sy in the large es ta bli s hln e nt s of
H ep pe &. So n a nd the C unn in g h am Piano Co.
In th e plant of the latte r co n ce rn , at the North­
west co rn e r of Eleventh a nd C h es tnut stre et s,
the reinforceme nt program is qu ite a n extensive
"n e. D u ri ng th e week agita tors made efforts
to induce a str ik e of st ru ct ur a l iron wo rk e r s
el11p loyed o n open s hop buildin g ope ratio ns­
a pparently, h oweve r, witho ut union sa nction­
and th ey were t o a n ex t ent s ucces sf u l at the
l ' un ningham Building operatio n, Ches tnut st re e t
n ~ ar juniper st reet, the new home of thi s or­
"anization, as well as in its present quarters at
t !,e cor n e r of E leve nth a nd C he s tnut s tre e ts.
j\tlca n w hde wo rk progressed, however, on s ev­
("'a l fl )o rs of the d o uble p r operty, 1117- 1119
Chest nu t . t 'eet, which is occupied by \. J.
Heppe & S o n.
The G. W. Hu ver Co. is now comp lete ly III
sta ll ed in its new loc at ion a t 1013 C hestnut
st ree t, whither it removed f rom 103 1 C h es tnut
st reet be cause of sa le of that build in g to in­
te,est s co nn ected with the RUdolph \Vurlit ze r
Co. The Huver Co., how ever, is stil l main tain­
In g a di sp lay in the s torc wi ndow o f its o ld
sta nd . The new s tore is a most a ttr active one
and it h as amp le fa c iliti es in the way of well­
appoi nt ed booths for delllon s tra tio n.
G. H . Eucke r, ge n era l man ager of retail divi­
sions of t h e Story & C lar k Co., paid a we lcom e
visi t during the week to th e Phi la delphia
branch.
Visitors to N . Stetson & Co.
G. A. J3a ri o,,'s Son Co., o ne of th e lea din g
Trenton, 1\. ]., pia no estab li s hm ellts and a dis­
tributor for the S tein way and o th er makes of
pianos, handled both wholesa le a nd retail by
N. Stetson & Co., is ma k in g v e r y exte nsive im­
pro vemen t s a nd bett e rment s to it s Main s tree t
es ta bli s hment in the New Je rsey capital. P. G.
Mundorf, manager of the Weaver P ia no Co. ,
Yo rk, Pa., was a vis itor of th e week to th e
headquarttrs of N . S tetson & Co., for w hose
goo d s he is also a di s tr ibutor.
Herbert M. S impso n, president of Ko hl e r &
Campbe ll , In c., ca ll ed durin g th e week on
H eppe & SOI1 . Mrs. Rosedale, cas hi er of th e
firm, returned from a be lat ed vacation s pent
in Cape May.
Victor Dealers Enthusiastic
The trade hand lin g Victor r ecor d s repo rt s the
expres s ion on the part of buyers du ring t he
week of h ear ty approva l of the Victo r Co.'s new
policy of weekly in stea d of mo n t hl y relea ses
and also of the new dou ble-face d Red Seal rec­
ords which went on sale h e re for the first time
on Friday la st. In t rade opinion t h ese innova ·
tions s h o uld pro ve to be ver y profitable to the
Victor Co. in stimu lating buying a n d incr easi ng
the favor in w hich it is held b y c us tomer s.
Mrs. Le vy , head of the book k eepi n g depar t­
ment of Ram sdell & So n, r etur ned yestcr d ay
from a belated but none th e les s e nj oyabic
vacation. The n cw H.a msd e ll lo cat ion was vis­
ited last week by an unu sua ll y la r ge nUlllbe. C ,
patrons r et urn ed fro l11 mo unt ain and shore, a nd
pay in g a vis it as a t"ribute of appreciation of
p leasant re lations.
It is com plete ly stocked
wit h new goods, there being four lin es of close ly
packed pianos fr ol11 ent rance door t'o rea r exi t.
KURTZMANN ADVERTISING SERVICE
Attractive Series of Advertisements for Use "Of
Dealers Prep·ared by C. Kurtzmann & Co.­
Special Copy for Seventy-fifth Anniversary
9
Player-Piano
NOTES
FROM THE LAUTER-HUMANA
FACTORY, NEWARK, N. J.
ELECTRIC LIGHT IS NEW AND
USEFUL FEATURE
In Spool Box of Every Lauter=Humana
Gives Light Where It Is Most Needed-Dealers
Say That It Is Valuable Sales Aid
One of th e mos t recent features of th e
Lauter-Humana player-piano is th e small elec­
tric li gh t that is located on th e inside of th e·
spoo"J box. By this means the whole spoo l box
is -we ll lighted, making it possibl e to r ead t h e
words on a roll w ith ou t a n y othe r illu mina tion
in the room. This is an entirely orig inal de­
ve lopmen t of t h e Lauter fac tor y and h as bee n
the cau se of m u ch fa vo rab le comment amo n g
the lea ding pi ano dea le r s of th e cou ntry.
That th e electric li g ht is also a valuable sa les
a id is shown by th e s tateme nt of on e of th e
La u ter d ca lers:
" I ha ve had much s uccess w ith the e lectr ic
li g ht in closing deal s. I do not use thi s t a lkin g
point durin g t he ea rly part of the sa le, but ,vh il e
LIGHT WHERE IT IS NEEDED
the c us tom er's mind is sti ll in a pliable stage
an d he is pe r haps looking over some other in­
st rUl1lcnts I turn o n the li ght. Wh en he r e­
turns the effect is a lwa ys ex trem e ly favo ra bl e.
J know that it has h e lp e d me close several deals
during the pas t few months."
The electric li g ht is on ly one of the refine­
ments found in t he Lauter-Hu m ana. Th e others,
suc h as the s u ctio n pump, pre ss ur e ga u g'e, clc.,
are featur es not found in any ot her pla ye r-piano.
With so many di s tin ct features, it is not s ur ­
prising th at th e Laut er- Hul11 ana prac t ically se ll s
itse l£.
An advert is in g service of un usua l attractive­
n ess is now being prepared b y C. Ku rt zmann
& Co., Buffa lo, N. Y, for t he use of their dealers
ill loca l adve rti sing durin g t he Fall mon th s.
Th e advert isemen t s, eac h of which illu ~trates
some pa rticu lar type o f Kurtzmann in s t rumen t,
eit h e r a g ra nd or player, are desig ned for vari­
.'\. E. Schmal ziga n, w h olesa le manager' fo r t he
ous s izes of newspaper space, rangi n g from one
I ,a ut er-Hum ana Co., has ju st returned from a
to three co lumn s, h ave attractive borde rs. we ll
sho rt New E ngland trip. He spe nt a day w ith
b a la n ced t ex t a nd space for the sig na tur e of
Mr. VIr W. VI/ oo d a nd the sales for ce of thc
the dealer.
S. )/orris Co. , Bos ton rep resentaliv('s for th c
A part icularly interesting ser ies of adverti,c­
I,aute r-H uma na. This concer n reported an ex­
lllent s have been prepared for the use of K urt z­
ma nn dealers durin", t he month of Octobe r , , ce ll ent Summer bu s ine ss.
w h en C. KurIL:l11ann & Co. ce le b rate the seve nty­
fi fth an ni versary of the esta bl is hm en t of the
Neve r before have indica ti ons bee n so pla in
business in 184ll. Each of the four advertise­
for a fl ouris h ing F a ll a nd holiday t ra d e. lJeal­
ments in th e ser ies emp ha sizes th e en during
crs a re awa re of th is conditio n an d are anxious
qualities of the Ku rtz illann pianos and tells of
to secure t heir stock as soon as possible. This
the progress made b y that inst rument during
i, q uit e in cont rast to the "las t-minut e" attitude
the thr ee-qu arte r s of a ce ntur y that it has bee n
th at pr evai led several years ago.
b efo re the public. Newspaper mats of a ll th e
adver ti sements are furnished to d ea le r s w it h out
Many of the d epa rtm en t s in the Laute r­
charge upon request and they have a lr eady been
Humana factory are wo rk ing overtime in th e
furni shed wi th s h ee ts show in g rep rod u ctions of
d ete rmination to fi ll de alers' requi rem e nt s and
all the advertisements in the se ri f'S.
so m e arc even workin g on Sundays.