Music Trade Review

THE
48
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
AUGUST 4, 1923
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COL UMBIA CO. MEN ARE GUESTS OF GEORGE W. HOPKINS
CONFERENCE OF VICTOR TRAVELERS
Twenty Members of Sales and Executive Staffs Entertained at Long Island Yacht Club by Vice­
Annual Convention of Members of Victor Co.
Traveling Staff Held in Camden-Golf Tour­
nament and Banquet Follow Business Session
president and General Sales Manager-Look Forward to Heavy Sales Totals This Year
Twe nt y l11 enillc rs of t he (' "c elltil'c and sa les
st arrs of the Co luillbia Graph ophon e Co. were
the g l1 ests rec ent ly of Ceoq"c \\!. Hopkins, vice·
president alld g (,ll('ral sales 11l a na gc r of the COIl l­
pan\', at the Lon g I s lall(l \ ' ac ht Club, Days id e ,
1,.1. Th (' s (' hve ntl' Co ll1ll1bi" ('llt hl1sia sts included
the company's c"(,(,l1li v(' sales c"bil\('(, K . M ills,
Illanag'cr of the N('I\" York br;lnch, and the
visitin." manager, of the VVest Coast bran c hes,
in who s e ilollor the nl('etillg' was ca lled.
\\t h en they arr ive d at I~'iysi,k the visitor s
i' lll11 ec1iate ly lliade their way to a t'able ov cr ­
100kinQ.: the L on!'; Islalld Sou nd, where an old­
fas hion ed dllck din nn was sen cd.
.A it er
doing amp le jllst ;u to t hc ,linncr th e .~llesL;
s ett led down lo i>USillCSS, an d 1). S. I(antncr,
San Francisco Illalla.~ c r , gave an illtcrc:-;ting ta lk
de scrib in g' h Olv he handl es the sa lllC d; str ibu ­
lion and sen'icc p robl e nl s that ar e met by Co·
IUlllLJi a hrallcll Ill ;lI1 co untr y.
\iI/. F St idham, manager oi the J,o s :\ngcles
I"';, nch, l'!I(c l·t;)i1' c(1 (he 0;11(,, 1', hv a d e tailed
description of some of the man y s ucc essfu l ac­
counts 111 his territor.l'.
He dcscribed two
t-"p c .~
·dea ler" who (lr c e nj o y- ill,!..:;' a big VOIUlllC
01 hll s ine-'S tiJr Oll g'h cOlhi ,; t cnl, inll'lli ge nt n ews­
papn \vO I'i<, side work \I· ith Ics'i clllp ha ,; is on the adve rti s­
in g. " Th ere arc t wo things the,;l' dea lcr ~ ha ve
in COlll lllon, " sai d i\,fr. S tidhaJ:l, "o:le, th e alll bi
li on (\11<1 kllo\ylcdgc to
)..!"O (tfter bll~iJless, and,
tll" O, til('. Sll" C("S that alwavs I'('wards ilJ\" c lli ·
.'C('nt sa les effort." :\1 r. Stidham th en described
tile t ilil'd dealer, prohablv rile mo s t s llcccssl'ul
0 1 all, \I'Il() cOl.lhin('s ;lIi1' c r (i, ill g with outsi(\c
.,;e ll;11".
\\'. H. I,awton , of Seattk, told th e
Illeetin!.!" o f SO llie 01 the o ll t,;i;llll lillC; katllres ill
Iii , tnrit()I"Y, and \11'. ,\ Iill.,; spoke Cllthll si;ls ti­
(';Jih' 01 th e hridll olltlook 10 1' " hi g YO IIlI"r ' or
hllsille ss ill th e f': lllpir c Si;lic.
l{ o!Jc rt I' or(e r,
field ;-. ;- 11 (':-.
II1;ll1:\:'-::('1"
of th e
(,O I11P ; [I1 ." ,
w ho
J"<'­
VACATION' TIME AT VICTOR PLANT
Entire Factory Close·d Down Two Weeks
Order to Give All Employes a Rest
cently returned from an exten s iv e vis it to the
\V cst Coas t branches, discllssed so me 01 lhe
Illore rece n t c!cITloplllents in the problems of
the phonograph indll st r y as a whole.
"The
music illdustr v,"M r, I'o rter said, "particularly as
a ffectin g thc phon o~Taph field, is undergoing"
si le nt , in visihle hut prog ress i ve change. Co n­
'lllners are iJccol1ling th e dict;llors of th e s itu;!
(ioll. 1t is th eir w is hes w hich arc dOll1in;ding the
trcnd of th c 11I ;lIH1 fac(ur crs ;lIlt! , \ ~ Ill;tllllfactur cr:-; .~l'l l·lo ~ (' r 10
the COIlS lllll c r ;u HI
s hape lh c ir poli cics to nlec t th e c o n s um crs'
preferences and I'Cljl'irClllents, thc indu stry will
he-come les s allerted hy indll , trial and lrad e
inAucnce s.
T his appl ies to sty les, fin is he s,
Ill ec hanic al perforillances, t e rm s, advertising
plans and r etili l s tor e sale s pr act ice. Spectacu­
lar saies, lo n g-w ind ed t('fIllS, hi g h·pr essure
mcth ods, concess ions in price or gifts to stimu­
late> bU .I' inc'· ar c Jl~ss in g lik e the old men of
ycst erd ay.
V\lh y?
Becau se the co n SUlller is
intelligenl e nou g h to reco gn i;,:c legitimate valu e;
11'0'" c l,q,-( r:lp. The co n SUlll er is I'or cing t he
indu s tr y to revise practices which unre;stra in ed
agg r ess ion is blind to, but will fa ll a victim to,
('\·enlu<1lly."
Up t o (hi s point (he meeting had be c n a n
c nthu s ias tic on rr, but the m emb ers h ad been per ·
sonal lv co nservati ve. How eve r, when ·M r. Hop­
kins ar ose to di sc u s s the n ew phonographs and
Co lulllLJ ia )lew 1'r o('eS5 r ecords he wa s gree ted
w ith trem endo us appl a use. The manag e r in at­
lend,lll ce stat ed that every dea ler w ho had see n
t h e n e w phonographs h ad been unqualifiedly
enthu s ia s tic in vo icing his approval, and they
arc look in g forward to th e r ece ipt of good- s ized
s hip lnen\s of thi s lll e rchandi se in ord e r to attain
record-breaking sa les total s. .\I tcr discussing
(I/e ne w product [rOIll every angie, Mr. Hop­
kins in vit ed (Juestions or "dditional f cn larks
fr on l his C:llC';!,;, and at the cl ose of an illt('r­
csting rOllnd-taLJIe discussion th e 1I1 cc ling ad ­
journ ed and th e p arty I'r't urn c d to '\1('\1' York.
BESSIE SMITH RECORDS POPULAR
In
C!I,l l))"'i, '\. J.. July 21\.- -Th e en lire plant III
the Victor Talkin g Iviac lli nc Co . \las , h; ; l dOl-\Jl
al noon to-clay to remain c lose d until A u g ust 14
in order to enable all the eillploycs of th e COln­
pany to e njo.v a vacat ion of two weeks with
pa)'. 'fil e cO lnpany has tried Ollt the p lan of
clos in g down se veral comp let e departlllcnts fOI'
a year or t\V O pas t (-Inti the c'p C'ri Il H'tl l \vorke cl
sO well that thi s y ear the ent ire plant wa s clo sed
in order that the disor c:;r" i;;oa tioll incident to
I of bein g sp read over thc entire SUIlllller,
In ord er til za tioJl ma y bc takell C;HC of promptly durin~
til e vaca ti on Jwriod, var io u s members of the
executivc, sales and adl'e rtisin g departments
w ill rClllain at lh e ir desks for th e tl'-O wcek s,
taking thc ir vacations at a la t e r dat ('.
The ,;;ties d c partul e nt oj th e Co luilibia Grap h­
ophonc Co., Ne w York, rep orts an exc e pti o nal
increa,;e in the salcs of reco rds LJ)' \1iss lless ic
<-:Illith, e xcl" ,il e Co lulllLJi a artist and one of the
mOol popular s in gc rs of "Ulucs' ~elccl ions ]J ow
Ill;lkin" r ecord,;. ('Ollllllbia dealers everyw he r e
arc featuI'ing rc cord~ by lJesoic Sillitli t o ex -­
eelle nt ac\l'a nta gc , particularly in v iew of the
cou ntrywid e dcmand for re co rd s of this type.
C. E. GOBER ENTERS FIELD
KEl':~ lar 1Illl ,;ic I;;ercililll ' , of this c it y is C. E. Gob e r,
proprietor of Gob er's Music S hop, w hi c h was
known as th e Sturtela nt Musi c Co. until it ,vas
purchased by Mr. Gober. A fine stoc k of talk
in g machines, records, shee t music and lllusical
lIl c rc handis c is handl ed by thi s e nterpri s in g
Illerchant, wh o is widely known locally as a
IJll1.Stel a n .
C!lM llF.N, K. J., Jllly 2S.The annual confcrence
of th e mcmbn s of the sta ff of the travelin g
departm e nt of th e Victor Talking Machine Co.
was h eld at th e h ea dquart e rs of the co mpany
I: er e on i\Ionday, T uesday an d Wednesday of
this wc ek, with all the m embers of the staff
11'0111 YariOliS sections of the cou ntry, together
\V it' h the executives, in att endan ce.
The thre e days were spe nt in a com plet e r e­
vicw o f existing trade con dition s an d the co n­
sid eratio n of plans for increasing sal es. A COlll ­
plete inspection of the plant was made and
much int erest wa s s hown in the new record
p rcssin g' plant. :\ se ries of co nferen ces with
th e ofticials of th e co mpany wound up the
111ceting;.
On VVednesday afternoon a go lf tournament
was h eJ d at the Bala Go lf Club, which was
follo we d by a dinner in th e eve nin~ w ith man y
of (he exec utiv es of the company in attendance.
l\{embers of the Victor tra ve ling staff a nd the
territories cove r ed by them are as follows: R .
A. Hartin', Philadelphia; B. F, Bibighaus, New
York City; R S. Cron, Chicago; \V. T. Davis,
P.altirnorc; R. A. Drake, Albany; F. C. Erdman,
Clev e land; J. A. Frye, Boston; \ \t. R L ew is,
Detr oit ; R P. Hamilton, Ca lifornia; R. C. H op­
kins, Newa rk; T. L Hu sse lton, Kansas City;
.\. H. LevI', B"ooklyn; E. J. F. Marx, Pitts­
burgh; A. C. Mayer, Cincinnati; L. S. j'.II organ,
i\Iilwaukee; K. B. Owen,- New Haven; D. S.
Pruitt. _'\tlanta; G. L Richardson, Des Moines;
C C. Hicks, Minne so ta; P . ]. Ri ck lin, St. Louis,
and F. L Hou gh, Dalla s,
BRUNSWICK DEALER EXPANDS
Huriey- Tobin Co., Trenton, Opens New Annex
-Phonograph Department Has Increased Space
THJ-: NTO :-l, N. ) .. :\ugust 1.- ·Thl' Hurley-Tobin
Co., ol thi,; city, Urllllsllick dea ler, held a [orlll a l
opcnin g rece ntl y of its new annex on Hanover
st reet and durin g the week of th e openin g
C raft's Orc hestra , a local mu s ical or ga ni za tion,
gave a series of concerts. The nc w annex a c­
cOll1lllodates the phono g raph d epar tment, which
has been given added space and eq uipment. The
Hurl ey- Tobin sto re comp rises about 43,000
square feet of floor space, which makes the es­
t a bli shlll en t o n e of the Jar ges t merchandising
houses in Trenton. Numerous telegrams and
floral pi eces were r ece iv ed at the opening, in­
cluding a co ngratul a tory offe ring from the
Brunswick Co. The Hurley-Tobin Co. now op­
erat es sevcn large retail esta blishments in Tren­
ton, Camden, Atlantic City and Brid ge ton, N. }.;
\Vilmington, Del.; Hazleton and Wilkes-Barre,
1'a., in w hich ta lking ma c hin es arc car ried and
ica lur ed.
The Mas o n Music Co. , Inc., of San Antonio,
Tex., has ju s t been incorporated with a capitali­
zati o n of $20,000. The following a re office rs in
th e company: G. W. Parish, L E. Robinson and
J. W. Mason.
THE BRUNSWICKTIALKE-COLLENDER CO.
CHICAGO
NEW YORK
CINCINNATI