Music Trade Review
Issue: 1925 Vol. 80 N. 4 - Page 8
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8
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
Percy Grainger Appears with the
Duo-Art at Philadelphia Theatre
Noted Pianist Plays Week's Engagement With Reproducer at Fox Theatre in That City—
Trefz to Expand Production—New Head of Cunningham Roll Department
PHILADELPHIA, Pa., January 19.—With the
closing of the inventory season there has
followed the annual house-cleaning days of the
early year.
All the dealers in Piano Row,
neighborhood shops and in the department
stores are now in the midst of the January
sales campaign for the clean-up of left-over
stocks from the old year's lines and the shop-
worn or discontinued styles. The same good
demand which marked the Fall trading for all
string instruments continues. There has been
an advance in the price quotations from the
manufacturers who state that the high cost of
labor rather than the price of raw material*
is responsible. Those instruments which, since
the first of the year, have seen an upward re-
vision of 10 per cent are banjos and mandolins,
while their cases have also had similar ad-
vances.
While on a trip through the Eastern States
Vice-president and General Manager A. L.
Owen, of the P. A. Starck Piano Co., Chicago,
stopped over in Philadelphia a few days ago
to call on the local manager, Lamar Ellis, of
the Philadelphia branch.
By special arrangement with the local distribu-
tor of the Duo-Art Pianola pianos, the C. J.
Heppe & Sons Co., Percy Grainger, one of the
noted concert pianists; will play the first move-
ment of the Greig Concerto in A Minor at the
Fox Theatre this week. In the daily concerts
he will tie up with the Duo-Art used in con-
junction with the Fox Theatre grand orchestra.
The feature of the appearance of the famous
pianist is that he plays alternately with the
Duo-Art and his recorded playing, showing the
remarkable accuracy with which his playing is
reproduced by the Duo-Art.
Judging by the large advance orders which
have been placed with the firm of Otto R. Trefz,
Jr., the piano manufacturers are preparing to
expand their business in the coming year. The
Trefz Co. manufactures strings and other ac-
cessories used in the mechanical parts of piano
•production. It has, for the past twelve years,
been engaged in this line of business and during
the past year opened a special accessory de-
partment for repair supplies. It is now equipped
to offer anything in the line of supplies for the
manufacture and repair of pianos and players,
and carries all the standard foot motors for
trade use. The new department will be exten-
sively developed in the coming year and with its
extension the company will be able to render
a complete service to manufacturers, dealers
and repairers with shipments made on the day
the orders are received. In order to take care
of the expansion the company has secured ade-
quate floor space in the L-shaped building with
an additional floor taken over on the Jefferson
street side to give larger warehousing facili-
ties for the parts of the mechanical equipment
stocked.
The roll department of the Cunningham
Piano Co., LU2 Chestnut street, is now in charge
of Miss Nina Longo, who is in direct super-
vision of the retail distribution of the line of
rolls sold in connection with the Cunningham
pianos, and including the Q R S, Imperial and
Columbia makes. Assisting Miss Longo is Miss
Katherine McGonigal, just added to the sales
organization, coming to its forces from the Gim-
bel Bros.' department store. The music-roll de-
partment is now assembled on the second floor
of the large and very modern building which
the Cunningham Co. erected for its own use
and to which it removed last June.
The radio department of the Ludwig Piano
Co. has been extended under the management
of Charles O. Ludeke, head of the talking ma-
chine section, and there now are more than ten
different styles of radios carried in stock.
Having postponed the meeting of the Phila-
delphia Victor Dealers' Association which was
to have been held this week with the annual
election of officers, the President, Walter G.
Linton, of the Linton Co., announces that it will
be held on February 12. It has not yet been
decided just where the meeting will be held
but the most favored place is that of the Cafe
L'Aiglon, where the previous meetings have
taken place.
JANUARY 24,
Nick
1925
Lucas, Broadcast Star,
Brunswick Artist
Exclusive
First Recordings for Brunswick Co. Made by
Popular Radio Entertainer
Announcement has just been made by the
Brunswick Co. of its first recordings of "My
Hest Girl" and "Dreamer of Dreams," by Nick
Lucas, who is prominent because of his excel-
lent banjo and guitar work as a soloist of the
Oriole Orchestra. It is predicted that the vocal
records by Lucas will prove quite a sensation.
His style of singing and interpretation, along
with his own guitar accompaniments, are differ-
Chicago Plant of Willey Go.
is Destroyed by Fire
Plant and Stock of Big Veneer Concern Goes
Up in Flames Causing Loss of About $400,000
—Much Fine Lumber Is Lost
CHICAGO, I I I . , January 17.—The huge veneer
plant of the C. A. Willey Co., 2558 South Robey
street, which supplies many of the leading piano
and phonograph manufacturers of the country,
was ravaged this week by a severe fire which
caused a total loss of about $400,000. The fire
is said to have originated in the band-saw sec-
tion of the plant, supposedly from a hotbox.
The flames spread quickly through a stockroom
and then to all parts of the building, fed by
veneers and varnishes. The flames were first
noticed shortly after 7 o'clock, when about 123
employes were about to begin work. The Willey
plant makes a specialty of fine mahogany
veneers and is one of the largest plants of its
kind.
Landay Plays Winter Golf
Max Landay, of Landay Bros., New York,
has been attending the Winter Golf League
Tournament at Pinehurst, N. C, and reports
that he won the first prize in the sixth sixteen
after some thrilling matches.
Nick Lucas
cut from any other vocal records ever issued
by the Brunswick Co. For some time past Mr.
Lucas has been heard from the broadcasting
station WEBH, Edgewater Beach Hotel, Chi-
cago, and he is quite a favorite with the radio
fans. In his recording work Mr. Lucas has
been coached by Walter Haenschen, musical
director of the Brunswick recording laboratories,
and his first record shows that this training has
been of great value, for it is a perfect reproduc-
tion in every sense.
Gressey & Allen of Portland, Make
Window Display with Brambach
/ ~ \ N E of the. striking booths of the recent
^—^ radio show in Portland, Me., was that of
Crcssey & Allen, the well-known music house of
that city which has had some successful expe-
rience in handling radio apparatus and pre-
pared an exhibit of dignified character, in which
are represented various types of talking ma-
chines, including those combining radio features.
In the display one of the features was a
Brambach baby grand, which attracted a large
amount of attention during the course of the
show and reflected the regard held for that
instrument by the Cressey & Allen house. The
exhibit itself was under the auspices of Donald
Allen, a member of the firm, and drew a large
amount of attention.
8
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
Percy Grainger Appears with the
Duo-Art at Philadelphia Theatre
Noted Pianist Plays Week's Engagement With Reproducer at Fox Theatre in That City—
Trefz to Expand Production—New Head of Cunningham Roll Department
PHILADELPHIA, Pa., January 19.—With the
closing of the inventory season there has
followed the annual house-cleaning days of the
early year.
All the dealers in Piano Row,
neighborhood shops and in the department
stores are now in the midst of the January
sales campaign for the clean-up of left-over
stocks from the old year's lines and the shop-
worn or discontinued styles. The same good
demand which marked the Fall trading for all
string instruments continues. There has been
an advance in the price quotations from the
manufacturers who state that the high cost of
labor rather than the price of raw material*
is responsible. Those instruments which, since
the first of the year, have seen an upward re-
vision of 10 per cent are banjos and mandolins,
while their cases have also had similar ad-
vances.
While on a trip through the Eastern States
Vice-president and General Manager A. L.
Owen, of the P. A. Starck Piano Co., Chicago,
stopped over in Philadelphia a few days ago
to call on the local manager, Lamar Ellis, of
the Philadelphia branch.
By special arrangement with the local distribu-
tor of the Duo-Art Pianola pianos, the C. J.
Heppe & Sons Co., Percy Grainger, one of the
noted concert pianists; will play the first move-
ment of the Greig Concerto in A Minor at the
Fox Theatre this week. In the daily concerts
he will tie up with the Duo-Art used in con-
junction with the Fox Theatre grand orchestra.
The feature of the appearance of the famous
pianist is that he plays alternately with the
Duo-Art and his recorded playing, showing the
remarkable accuracy with which his playing is
reproduced by the Duo-Art.
Judging by the large advance orders which
have been placed with the firm of Otto R. Trefz,
Jr., the piano manufacturers are preparing to
expand their business in the coming year. The
Trefz Co. manufactures strings and other ac-
cessories used in the mechanical parts of piano
•production. It has, for the past twelve years,
been engaged in this line of business and during
the past year opened a special accessory de-
partment for repair supplies. It is now equipped
to offer anything in the line of supplies for the
manufacture and repair of pianos and players,
and carries all the standard foot motors for
trade use. The new department will be exten-
sively developed in the coming year and with its
extension the company will be able to render
a complete service to manufacturers, dealers
and repairers with shipments made on the day
the orders are received. In order to take care
of the expansion the company has secured ade-
quate floor space in the L-shaped building with
an additional floor taken over on the Jefferson
street side to give larger warehousing facili-
ties for the parts of the mechanical equipment
stocked.
The roll department of the Cunningham
Piano Co., LU2 Chestnut street, is now in charge
of Miss Nina Longo, who is in direct super-
vision of the retail distribution of the line of
rolls sold in connection with the Cunningham
pianos, and including the Q R S, Imperial and
Columbia makes. Assisting Miss Longo is Miss
Katherine McGonigal, just added to the sales
organization, coming to its forces from the Gim-
bel Bros.' department store. The music-roll de-
partment is now assembled on the second floor
of the large and very modern building which
the Cunningham Co. erected for its own use
and to which it removed last June.
The radio department of the Ludwig Piano
Co. has been extended under the management
of Charles O. Ludeke, head of the talking ma-
chine section, and there now are more than ten
different styles of radios carried in stock.
Having postponed the meeting of the Phila-
delphia Victor Dealers' Association which was
to have been held this week with the annual
election of officers, the President, Walter G.
Linton, of the Linton Co., announces that it will
be held on February 12. It has not yet been
decided just where the meeting will be held
but the most favored place is that of the Cafe
L'Aiglon, where the previous meetings have
taken place.
JANUARY 24,
Nick
1925
Lucas, Broadcast Star,
Brunswick Artist
Exclusive
First Recordings for Brunswick Co. Made by
Popular Radio Entertainer
Announcement has just been made by the
Brunswick Co. of its first recordings of "My
Hest Girl" and "Dreamer of Dreams," by Nick
Lucas, who is prominent because of his excel-
lent banjo and guitar work as a soloist of the
Oriole Orchestra. It is predicted that the vocal
records by Lucas will prove quite a sensation.
His style of singing and interpretation, along
with his own guitar accompaniments, are differ-
Chicago Plant of Willey Go.
is Destroyed by Fire
Plant and Stock of Big Veneer Concern Goes
Up in Flames Causing Loss of About $400,000
—Much Fine Lumber Is Lost
CHICAGO, I I I . , January 17.—The huge veneer
plant of the C. A. Willey Co., 2558 South Robey
street, which supplies many of the leading piano
and phonograph manufacturers of the country,
was ravaged this week by a severe fire which
caused a total loss of about $400,000. The fire
is said to have originated in the band-saw sec-
tion of the plant, supposedly from a hotbox.
The flames spread quickly through a stockroom
and then to all parts of the building, fed by
veneers and varnishes. The flames were first
noticed shortly after 7 o'clock, when about 123
employes were about to begin work. The Willey
plant makes a specialty of fine mahogany
veneers and is one of the largest plants of its
kind.
Landay Plays Winter Golf
Max Landay, of Landay Bros., New York,
has been attending the Winter Golf League
Tournament at Pinehurst, N. C, and reports
that he won the first prize in the sixth sixteen
after some thrilling matches.
Nick Lucas
cut from any other vocal records ever issued
by the Brunswick Co. For some time past Mr.
Lucas has been heard from the broadcasting
station WEBH, Edgewater Beach Hotel, Chi-
cago, and he is quite a favorite with the radio
fans. In his recording work Mr. Lucas has
been coached by Walter Haenschen, musical
director of the Brunswick recording laboratories,
and his first record shows that this training has
been of great value, for it is a perfect reproduc-
tion in every sense.
Gressey & Allen of Portland, Make
Window Display with Brambach
/ ~ \ N E of the. striking booths of the recent
^—^ radio show in Portland, Me., was that of
Crcssey & Allen, the well-known music house of
that city which has had some successful expe-
rience in handling radio apparatus and pre-
pared an exhibit of dignified character, in which
are represented various types of talking ma-
chines, including those combining radio features.
In the display one of the features was a
Brambach baby grand, which attracted a large
amount of attention during the course of the
show and reflected the regard held for that
instrument by the Cressey & Allen house. The
exhibit itself was under the auspices of Donald
Allen, a member of the firm, and drew a large
amount of attention.
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