Music Trade Review

JULY
THE
21, 1923
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
PHILADELPHIA DEALERS LOOK FORWARD TO GOOD FALL
G. W. Huver to Occupy New Quarters in Fall-Wurlitzer Co. Leases Building at 1033 Chestnut
Street-Rapid Progress Being Made on the N ew Cunningham Build ing
PH ILADE LPHI A, P A., J lIl y 17.- Suflicicnt of th e
h eat o[ J lil y an d it s usua l tr a d e dra ggines s no w
has passe u to tes t th e teillper of the bu y in g
public. It has not been found wanting. That
is the conse nsus of opinion as exp ressed by the
conse rvatives, who do not indu lge in broadsides
a nd placards, but simp ly move on the even
a nd di g nified tenor of th eir way, and at the
o th e r ext reme th e radic a ls who are offering all
nlakes of pianos an d other in str uments at re­
pul ed price s la shing and some of whom have
th e ir entire bu s in ess hous e d eco rated wi th r ed
letl er invita ti o ns t o t a ke advantage of th e g reat
oppo rtuniti es and finall y of th e in-betweens w ho
m ee t r equirements as th ey arise. A ll re po rt
a somew hat surprising but really sa tisfactor y
a nu enco uraging sales experie nce . They ascrib e
th e lib era l buying at a time when in so Illany
other industries th e purchasers seem to be on
strik e against rulin g r a tes a nd awa iting reduc­
tions to the fact that th e re are in Philadelphia
and s uburbs this year a g r'eater proportion
e ith e r of slay -a t-homes o r of occ upants of newly
co ns tru cted home s th an has ex iste d s in ce wa r
da y~. Res id en t ia l co n s tru ction, so long held up ,
we nt into it s o ld-tim e sw in g in thi s C it y of
H o me s, in ea rl y Sp rin g tim e ; the h omes are
reauy ,,,,d taste for goo d Illusic is so general
that a piano, re gular or player type , is regarded
a lmo s t as an ess ential. Dealers car rying the
hi g h e r-price line s arc p e rhaps enjoying a larger
a mount of unlook ed-for bus in ess than those
ca tering to buyers of sma ll er purse.
From
th e pial10 departm ents of the d epar tment stores
there came during the w eek reports in harmony
w ith t hose from Piano Row a nd v icinity. I n
brief expe rience s in renewed buying u suall y no t
e njoyed unt il la te A ug ust ha ve bee n e ncoun­
te red. Both as to actua l sa les and parti cul a rl y
w ith regi,lr cl t o inquiri es of a character sug­
ges tin g follow up buying. 1n fact, the trade as
a whole is about equally divided b etwee n plea s­
~,
.,1
Lauter-Humana
The player-piano that is dif­
ferent! Possesses a quality
appeal that makes it a leader
everywhere.
Investigate!
Lauter-Humana CO.
Newark, N. J.
USED PIANOS
Repaired-Ready to Retail
All Makes born
$40 up
F. O. B. Brooklyn, in carloads of 12 or more.
A ny quantity.
L ess th an carload lots also.
HILL & SONS
Phone E"ergrcen 8 180
1365-1375 Myrtle Ave•• Brooklyn. N. Y.
ur e ove r w ha t is an d w ha t nO\l· " eem s ce rt a in
to be.
\'Vhi le ho rn e-lo ve rs have be e n mov in g into
new dOlilicilcs, the trade, too, is Jl,ol'ing to a
notab le deg ree. Closely followin g the an nounce­
llicnt IIl ade in these coluilln s of th e purpose of
lh e tilll e-h o nor ed firm of Ram sde ll & So n, 123S
\'Va lnut st reet, whose head was th e pres id e nt
of the last 1~ i a no Deal ers' Association Phi la­
d elphi a knew, to remove to larger q uartel's,
117 SO llth Twelfth s tr ee t, ther e came thi s wee k
th e sh ow win do w placard o f G. V,;. Huve r,
103 1-1033 Ch es tnut s treet,. in th e A lmar B uild ­
in g, a nn ounci n g inte nti o n at an ea rl y dat e to
r cmo ve to 1013 Ches tnu t street. The Huve r
store has bee n continuous ly in use as a pia no
salesroom for the last thirty years and for the
last decade by the present t enant, w ho took
over the retail business of th e Jacob Bros . Co.
T il e new locat ion will give it s li ght ly large r
accolll JIlodatio ns than now are po ssesse d. But
a n ew lease of life as a piano headquarters
awaits I he pre mises 1031-1033 Chestnut stree t,
be ca use it was definitely learned durin g th e
week th at t h e R ud o lph \ 'Vurlit ze r Co. was to
take pos sess io n at as early a da te as possible
and p ro babl y in Septem ber o r October. In fact,
it is Wur litzer Co ., acting thro u gh Genera l Man­
age r S. 'y\i. Toth, whi ch rec ent ly became owne r
of th e entire s tructure, an eight story building
of lnocle r n type and on e of the prominent ones
On this important shopping thoroughfare.
The
company wil l make exten sive r e nov at ions both
to the building gene rally and to the first, secon d
and third floors and basement w hi ch it will
occ up y, purc hase price and imp rovemen ts rep­
r ese ntin g expe nditur e of approximately thr ee­
Co. is now tenant of the fir st floor a nd ba se m e nt
of th e Dobson Building, 809-8 11 Ches tnu t s t reet.
It s ne\v hOllle will give it full} t hree times the
sa les ro om, showroom and stora ge faci liti es now
possessed. Vv'hile expansion is being made and
st ill 'f urth e r is contemplated in th e severa l de­
part lll ents of this organizati on \vilich m a nufac­
tures and d ea ls in everythin g Illusical, .from a
mouth o r gan to a movie pip e o r gan, the piano
depart rll ent, under thtl mana ge m e nt of Co rn e liu s
iV!. :Vl o nih a n, ha s been espec ia ll y acli\~; ; bran ch sto r es eith e r have be e n o r s hort ly a re
t o be ope ned und er hi s ge ne ral supe rvis io n.
Th o~e a lr ead y in ope rat ion are at 2126 Kort h
Front street, in the Ken s in g ton District of
Philadelphia; in the Colonial Theatre B uilding,
Br isto l, .l'a. , an d at 904 Broadway, Cam den.
S h ort ly to be opened will be th e br'a nc hes in
Hammonton, K. ].; Scranton, Pa., and Quaker­
t OW Il or r vrk:rs ie, Pa.
Th ere is being ru shed to completion for early
oc cup a ncy, but at a date n ot ye t attainable, the
impos in g new homc: of th e Cun ningham P ia no
Co., 13 12-1 314 C h est nut s tr eet. Th e C unnin g­
ham Co. is now co ndu ctin g a spec ia l ~a l e ca m­
pa ig n bot h at its h eadqua rt e rs, 11 01 C hest nut
s tr eet, a nd in all the country closely adjacent t o
Philadelphia, thro ugh the activities of frve crews ,
m ak ing hou se-to-house visita lioll S.
~\ rtis a n s a re prosecuting th e work of sw ing­
in g n ew iron g irders acros s th e cei li ng of the
but recent ly deco rated stor e of Story & nark
Piano Co., 1I0S Chest nut street, in connection
wi th ex te ns io n a nd elevator enclosure an d Gen­
e ral yla nage r Jules Ko hnh eim is hopefu l of ea rl y
cOlllpl et io n for business awaiting. Mr. Kohn­
h eilll, toge th e r w ith H . Gid eon, Robert Smit h
a nd .f. Horn, dmi ng th e week journ eyed to New
York to bi d safe journe y and r etu rn to P r esi­
d ent E. H. Story, who sail ed for Europ e. The
Ph il adelp hi a s tore during th e week e njoyed a
v i, it f r o m G. H. Eucker, gene ra l manage r of
I etai l !'alcs,
en route back to Chi cago from
N ew York.
Excellent con di t ions in th e trade up-State
paralleling thosr in the city were reported b y
Ben iam in \ ,y itlin , pre , idenl of the \ ,y itlin Mu s i-
11
cal In s tru ment Co., 904 'yValnut stre et, which
particul arly concentrates on wholesal e bu s iness.
Sal es were made of seve ral carlo a ds of Starr
piano s, made by the Sta rr Piano Co., of Rich ­
mond , Ind., a nd th e firm says that it is sold up on
a ll o rd ers for deli very in A ugust and September.
He likewi se was s uc ces sful in the introductory
offer o f the n ew pop ul ar-p ri ce player-p ia no, the
"Pullman," ma d e in t h e Pullman factory of the
comp a ny, and which is retailed at below $400.
I t is announ ce d to be an especially attractiv e
and w ell- made in s trument and was found to
have great sa lab le p roperties. Howard T. an ­
in's Arcadia Orc h es tra, which plays in one
of Philad elph ia's lea ding dining centers, th e
Arcadia Cafe, . is no w making record s for the
\ ,yi tlin Co. a nd its Gen n ett record s. A ti e·up
has be en arranged wit h L it Bros. fo r broadca s t­
ing fr om station vVDAR and wh ic h is being
exploited in a ll a d ve rti s in g campai g n in th e loca l
newspapers in con jun ction with the Lit Bros.
depart ment store a d vert iseme nt. Postal cards
with view of the orches tra also are being cir­
culated by m a il.
There h as been adde d to the line of pianos
carried by Lit Bros. department stor e th e Estey
make. It is th e p lan of Manager Arthur S tern ­
ber ger to carry always in stock a complete li ne
of th e var io u s mod els made by th e Estey Piano
Co. A di s tributin g branch of th e Es tey Lo.
ha s for yea rs bee n loca ted a t Seve nt ee nth a nd
\ Va lnut st r ee ts, a nd is to be co ntinu ed, Lit B ros.
being co-distribu tors in a dual a ge nc y ar'range­
ment. Th e new accession , regard ed as an im­
portant d evelopmen t in the trade, will b e vigor­
ously m a rketed. The firm is also featurin g th e
Gulbrans en player-piano and is couplin g up its
sales campaign with the national advertisin g of
that company.
S. N. Hill, repre!',:nting the Packard Piano
Co., o f For t Wayne, Ind., called on til<' lrad e
durin g the week as Eastern representati ve.
Joseph McCarthy, of Gimbel Bro s., is now
li s tin g hi s stock order s for th e Fall tra d e.
There is b eing fea tur ed in an extensive sa les
campaign fo r the month a line of us ed pianos
from the storerooms of the F. A. North Co.,
1306 Chestnut s tre et, in its sixty-se co nd semi­
annllal sale.
fvlr. and Mrs. Edw in Trout, of Pott stow n,
r a., celebrated t heir s il ver weddin g annive rsary
o n Jul y 2. They were in rece ipt of man y con­
c; ra tul atio ns fr o m th e ' tr ade.
CHARACTER
"Admirable Quality; Acknowledged Reputation"
-(Standard Dictionary)
D
PIANOS
Manufactured by
Smith, Barnes
===========and===========
Strohber C08
have for 33 years
justified their right
to be called
Pianos of Character
FACTORIES
North Milwaukee, Wis.
Chicago, III.
OFFICE
1872 Clybourn Avenue
Chicago, III.