Music Trade Review

THE
8
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
PHILADELPHIA DEALERS REPORT A FAIR SALES VOLUME
Report Has It That Charles F. Bellak Will Retire From Business-Tompkins Piano Co . to Dis­
continue-Many Philadelphia Piano Men Away Enjoying Their Vacations
PHlLADr::r.PHI/\, PA.,- Ju ly 24.-With th e first ha lf
of the us uall y dull lllid-Summe r . mon ths over
th e trade is e na bl ed to give a review of rea l
va lu e a nd pro p hecy of like im po rt. No o n e
co nt e nds that Jul y sa les in t he ordina ry ch a n ·
nel s of trad in g do not show a co nsid e rabl e de­
clin e from the record o f June . Hut th ere is con­
se ns us of opi nion that th e Jul y bu si ness already
e njo ye d 'is above that of th e co rr espon ding
month of last yea r and th a t, possess in g' not e­
wor th y characte ri stics , it is st ill financ ia ll y a ll
improvemen t over what had bee n anti cipated .
The contra st in the week's expe ri e nce s, and
eq ually in those of the e ntire m on t h, is betwee n
the ra th e r livel y buying of u se d pianos and of
th e cheaper lin es of new ones , a nd th e rath e r
rem arkabl e m a rk et for th e hi g hes t pri ced, and
particula rl y for reprodu c in g pianos. If one
we re to draw from t hese facts the ob serva t io n
th e public is in a bu y in g moo d it would fall a
lit t le s hort of th e truth beca use pu r chases on ly
are made when th e custo m er is appea led to. H e
has the purchasing power, but he is not utili zin g
it of his own initiative. That exp la in s why th e
flrllls cater in g to th e ge ne ra l publi c an d w hich
arc now co n cen trati ng on dr ives by pe rsonal
ca ll, by letter a nd by publi ci t y campa ig ns ge n­
erally of a sta rtlin g c haracte r a re s ucceed in g
and why, on th e other hand, tho se catering to
th e select trad e are e njoyin g s uc h go od patron­
age for hi g h-pric ed art icles, b eca u se t hese firm s
rea li ze the value of goo d sa lesma n s hip and hav e
fo und that pe rs istence a nd pers uas ive n ess, along
dif(nified lin es,' pays.
News comes unoffi c ia ll y, bu t a uthoritativ e ly,
t hat in the ea rl y future th e r e will re tir e from
the P hiladelphi a pia no trade it s Nestor a nd
th e man perh aps bett er lik ed a nd enjo y in g a
w ider ac quaint a nces hip in the trade than any
on e e lse. He is Cha rl es F . Be ll ak, s urvivin g
member a nd s ole p~oprietor of th e bu s in ess o f
J am es B e ll a k & Son s, es ta bli s hed ba ck in 1854
a nd co in cidentally with th e co n solidation of
th e p r esent mun icipa lit y of P hil a delphi a ou t of
the sco re of liberties , town s hi ps and other unit s
w hi ch combine to make the Ci t y of Philadelp hia
a nd th e Cou nty o f P hil adelp hi a co -ex ten sive .
M r. He ll ak , born just a yea r after the esta b­
li s hmen t o f the business bv J a m es Hella k, w holll
a ll in th e t ra d e st ill hold in highest memory,
ente red it as a yo un g man and continuou sly
s in ce has b een as s ociated with it. U POil th e
death of t he foun de r, L eo pold 'vV . Bellak, the
o ldest so n, be came head of the business a nd
s ub seq ue ntl y AJJr ed Be ll a k, th e yo un ge r s on,
C harl es F. He llak, th e second' so n, s uccee din g
to it ma n y yea rs ago. Th e pia not ra de was
both voca ti o n an d hobb y a nd he r e tir ~.s fr om it
w ith f('elin gs o f de ~ p re g ret. ML De ll a'k, how ­
eve r. determi n ed that he owed it to hi mself
aft e r so man y yea rs of ac ti vit y to rest, ;1.nd
there for e negotiat ions arc under way and
s ho rtl y w ill be closed for the tran s fe r of a ll
equit y to anot he r or ganiza ti o n whose identity
will not be revealed u nti l th e d ea l is co nsu m­
mat ed.
Ge ne ra l 1Ianager G. \ Ai. T oth , in c har ge of
th e Phil a delphia branch of the Rudolph vV ur­
lit ze r Co. , is e njoying a bri ef vacation trip to
\Vi sco n sin . Upon hi s re turn ar ra n geme nt s wi ll
b e made for remova l to th e n('W h ome of t he
company, a t E leve nth ~ nd C hest nut s t reet".
Stock a nd fixtures of the T omp kin s P iano
Co., fo r over fif t ee n years a dealer in pia nos a nd
g ra ph op hones a nd locat ed at .'i14i Ge rm a nt ow n
ave nu e, arc to be di sposed of by sa le, a nd the
flflll w ill di scont inue business as a mus ic dea le r,
its hea d, J. Tom pkin s, ha ving co nnected with
a no th er li ne of trade as lIlanu fac ture r of s hell
grou nd products and poultry ke d . T he firm
dea lt in Xad le pia nos an d Victrolas, and occu­
pi ed it s own bu ildin g which is to be lease d to
o th e r tenants.
Throug'h th e int ensi ve advertis in g C w h ic h is bei n g co ndu~ted in th e local , n ews ­
papers by Eugene E. Goldman, In c., 623 So uth
J U LY
28, 1923
str ee t, in co njun ctio n with th e B runswi ck-Ba lke­
Co ll e nd er Co., P hil ade lphi a branch, 1002 A r ch
s treet, a la r ge bu s in ess has b ee n built up fo r
th e Brunsw ick lin e at this South street sto re.
Co-operati n g with Mr. Go ldman, the m a nufac­
turer s of the Brun sw ick talkin g m ac hine s have
e na bl ed hi m to mak e a t t ract ive a nd bu s iness­
ap pealin g' w indow di s pl ays, and the se are being
featured in photo g raphs [o r th e daily newspaper
di s plays.
The int erior o f th e store of McDevitt & Co.,
3035 Germantown ave nue, ha s bee n redecorated
and m a de into an attractive pi a n o emporium
under th e bru s h o f th e decorato r.
Rob ert J a neway Smith , of the Stor ey & Cla rk
sa le s orga ni za ti on, is t ou rin g the New E n g la nd
Sta tes in a new Ca dill ac ca r.
c. 1'ovey, of N. S tet so n & Co. offic e fo rce,
is back at hi s d e~ k after a bri ef vaca tion .
M a r ce llu s H eppe, so n of Florence Heppe,
h ead of th e firm b earin g his name , during th e
we e k j oin ed his fa th e r who is on a vac at ion at
Poland Sprin gs, Me. VVa lter C. Harper, assist­
a nt tr easurer, a lso is on vaca ti on.
G. C. Ramsdell, h ea d of Ramsd ell & Son,
s pe nt par t of the week in t he New York factory
of t he L affa r g ue Co., find in g th e r e o rders
pi led up for full y three Illo nth s ahea d. The finn
is hop ef ul that by the middle of the nex t month
it will b e ab le to e nt er into possess ion of it s
Il ew locatio n a t 12i South Twe lfth s t reet, only
a st on e's throw from its prese nt stand.
Samuel Ludw ig, of the piano d epart m e nt of
\Veymann & So n, is on a vaca tion wit h his
fami ly in A tl a nti c Ci ty. Edward Fowl e r is e n­
joyin g a trip to Nia ga ra Fall , . Ha rold ]'owe ll
is on a hO nC)"IllOO n trip , itinerar y not discl ose d,
and on hi s r e turn w ill occupy hi s new hom e in
Ro s lyn. lvf iss Gear, of th e ~ he e t mu sic depa rt­
ment, is o n vacat io n at th e s ho re.
r.
PITTSBURGH FINDS BUSINESS BETTER THAN LAST YEAR
Many Say First Six Months Was Best in Their Entire History-H. C. Niles, of Starr Piano Co. ,
Back From Trip-States Conditions Are Good Through All Territory Covered
P lT TSflU RGH , PA., July 24.·· Busin ess co nditi ons
in th e S teel City a r e re ported mu ch impro ve d
ove r t he sallle period a yea r ago. T hi s is bo rn e
o ut by state m e nt s from s nc h re li able m us ic
fi rm s as th e C. C. M ell o r Co., Le chn e r &
Sc hoe nb e r ger , S. Hallliiton Co ., ]. M. Ho ffma nn
Co. an d t h e W . F. Fr ed er ick P iano Co . The
t rend of bu sin ess for t he past te n days, it was
s tate d g-e ne r a ll y , was for hi g h-gr ad e in s tru­
m e nt s.
The
GEO. B. NORRIS "400"
Four Feet, Four Inches.
Equal Tension Scale.
Sliding Fall Board.
A fine example of what
modern methods can ac­
complish i:1 the produc­
tion of a strictly high
grade player at a moder­
ate price.
Address
Holland Piano Mfg. Co.
Factory. Menomonie, Wi •.
Metropolitan Bank Bldg.
Minneapolis, Minn.
In conllne ntili g on bu s in ess cond iti ons, W. C.
Dierks, of th e C. C. Me llor Co., ,;a id: " Ou r
bu s iness for t he fir s t s ix mont h s of th e p rese nt
yea r was the bes t in th e hi story of our compa ny.
J uly ha s s ta rted off we ll and is b y far excee d­
in g the volum e of bu sin ess th at we ha ndl ed last
July up to th is t ime. O u r busin ess is in a 1110st
satisfactory co ndition and we are co nfi dent that
sales [or th e Fall mont h., wi ll be better than
eve r. Th e re i, m o r e of a di s posit io n, we find, on
the part o f our pat ro ns to pu rchase hi g lt e r- pr iced
instruments a nd t o ma ke la r ge r initial payme nt s,
if not pay in g c;is h a ltoget he r. " TJle C. C. M el­
lor Co. is th e Ste in way hou se of Pittsburgh
and a lso ha ndl es th e D uo- .\rt repr oducin g piano ,
as we ll as the Krakau e r a nd Yo se lin es.
Ben L. Sykes, of ( ha s. M. StieR', I nc., sa id :
"B us in ess has ope n ed up we ll thi s week a nd
if it ke eps u p to th e e nd , as we anti cipate, it
will be a ba nn e r wee k for us. "
H . C. N ile s, of t h e Sta rr J' ia no Co., r eturn ed
frolll a bu si n ess trip through his terr itor y last
week a nd r epo r ted th at very satisfacto r y sa les
had been made to the several S ta rr dealers.
Mr. Niles is in cha r g'e of th e Starr agency he r e,
wh ic h is distributor for S tar r pia no s and p hono ­
g raph s and Ge nn e tt rec ord s. :M r. Niles sta t ed
th at the outlook for futur e tra de was exce p­
tionall y bri g h t fo r the S tarr lin e o f in st rum e nt s.
At th e L ech n e r & Schoenberger Co. L. ].
Sc hoenberger s tat ed th at , w hil e bu sin ess cOll ld
be b ett e r, th e sales for "the off-period" in Inid­
Summer, were muc h g rea ter in vol um e th a n
fo r the same pe riod a year ago. The L ech ne r
&: Sc hoenb erge r Co. had on di sp la y th e P;is L
\\' ee k in th e ir sh ow window a h a ndsom e mod e r
(oak) of th e S ta rr p laye r-piano. The firlll a lso
used co nsid e ra ble s pace in the news pape rs ca ll ­
in g th e atte nti o n of the public Lo th e fa ct that
the Kr a ni c h a nd !:lac h lin e of pia no s was
hand led.
L loyd Ha ys, SO il o f Hor ace Hays, of th e E. G.
H ays Co. , Leste r piano dea le r, is spe ndi ng hi s
vaca t ion ina n au tOIll ob iIe t ri p.