Music Trade Review

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FEBRUARY 19, 1927
The Music Trade Review
Piano Playing Contest Will Be Feature
of Annual San Francisco Music Week
Final Test to Be Held in Civic Auditorium on the Evening of May 4—Harald Pracht
Joins Sherman, Clay & Co.—Gercovich With Wiley B. Allen Co.
CAN FRANCISCO, CAL., February 10.—
Conditions and prizes for the piano-playing
tournament have just been announced. It is
being held in connection with San Francisco
Music Week, this particular feature of the many
Music Week activities being under the direct
charge of a San Francisco evening newspaper,
the Call. A long list of Music Week commit-
tees has also been made public. James J.
Black, treasurer of the Wiley B. Allen Co., is
chairman of the Finance Committee of Music
Week, and Shirley Walker, of Sherman, Clay
& Co., is chairman of the Committee on Public
Schools. Chester Rosekrans, of the San Fran-
cisco Civic Association, is director of Music
Week activities, and the Board of Supervisors,
the Board of Education and other organiza-
tions are actively behind Music Week, as are
all the leaders in the music trades.
Valuable Pianos Offered as Prizes
The final tests to determine the best piano
players among the boys and girls of San Fran-
cisco, in the primary, intermediate and high
school grades, will be held in the Civic Audi-
torium, Wednesday night, May 4. Judges of
the final tests will be Alfred Hertz, conductor
of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra;
Gaetano Merola, general director of the San
Francisco Opera Association, and Dr. Hans
Leschke, director Municipal Chorus. The tour-
nament is open to every boy and girl in San
Francisco, from the first grade to the last year
in high school: First Division—Boys and girls
of the elementary grades, first to sixth; Second
Division—'Boys and girls of intermediate grades,
seventh, eighth and ninth; Third Division—
Boys and girls of high school grades, tenth,
eleventh and twelfth.
Preliminary tests will be held in each school
or neighborhood, semi-finals in eight districts
of the city and the winners of the three divi-
sions in each of these districts will participate
in the finals on May 4.
The boy or girl declared by the judges to
be the champion piano player of all competing
in the final contest will be privileged to select
any one .of the following mahogany grand
pianos at the following music houses in San
Francisco. All pianos, with bench to match,
to be delivered to homes of the winners free
of any charge:
Baldwin, Style A—Baldwin Piano Co.; Chick-
cring, Style F—Lee S. Roberts, Inc.; Emerson,
Style 40—J. Raymond Smith Co.; Knabe, Style
O—Kohler & Chase; Mason & Hamlin, Style
T—Wiley B. Allen Co.; Steinway, Style M—
Sherman", Clay & Co.; Stieff, Style 137—H. C.
Hanson Music House; Wurlitzer, Style D3—
Rudolph Wurlitzer Co.
The second prize consists of a Cable-Nelson
piano, Syle L—Cable-Nelson Piano Co., and
the third prize is a Brambach piano, Style B,
Brambach Piano Co. All those entering the
final test will receive sterling silver trophy
cups. There are also gold emblem pins and
certificates.
Harald Pracht Joins Sherman, Clay & Co. Force
Sherman, Clay & Co. have sent out cards
and have also advertised in the press announc-
ing the appointment of Harald Pracht as sales
manager of the piano and Duo-Art departments,
San PVancisco. Mr. Pracht is now installed
in the retail store at Sutter and Kearny streets.
It was a move next door for him. because for
the past eight years Mr. Pracht was sales man-
ager in San Francisco for the Wiley B. Allen
Co. He is one of the very well-known mem-
bers of the trade here.
Charles A. Ericsson, president of Ludwig &
Co., is visiting the Wiley B. Allen Co., and
James J. Black, treasurer of the Allen Co.,
stated to-day that representatives of the Ameri-
can Piano Co. in San Francisco are expecting
C. A. Wagner, president of dickering & Sons,
and G. C. Kavanaugh, of the Rochester divi-
sion, here before the close of the month. Henry
Mason, president of the Mason & Hamlin Co.,
is expected about March 1, to visit the Wiley
B. Allen Co., and George J. Dowling, president
of the Cable Company, will visit the Coast
about March 15.
John G. Gercovich New Sales Manager
John G. (Jack) Gercovich is now San Fran-
cisco sales manager for the Wiley B. Allen
Co. Speaking of this, James J. Black, of the
company, stated that Mr. Gercovich's new
position and the promotion which led to it
are well merited, for he is regarded as one of
the most competent among the younger men in
the trade. His wide acquaintance with business
New Tudor Model Latest
Addition to Bay Go. Line
Handsome Instrument Designed by Decorative
Specialist and True to the Period Represented
—Other Period Cases Ready Soon
CHICAGO, III., February 14.—One of the sig-
nificant and cheerful features of the public's
attitude towards pianos is the widespread in-
terest in period models, and the success already
attained by those makers who have offered
experimental models has inspired others to build
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New Tudor H.
pianos conforming to the various schools -of
domestic decoration. The grand naturally
affords the best opportunity to show the ele-
ments which make the Adam, Hepplewhitc,
Sheraton, Jacobean, Empire, Gothic, Tudor,
the Louis XVI and various other schools so
popular in home decoration.
A particularly good Tudor model is the new
H. C. Bay grand, shown herewith. It is four
feet eight inches in length and finished in
mahogany. The designer is one of the most
successful specialists in the field of interior
makes him a valuable asset to the Wiley B.
Allen Co., with which he has been connected
for years.
Sales Manager Takes Trip East
Earl Small, sales manager of Kohler & Chase,
is visiting his parents in the State of Maine.
During his absence E. E. Searles, of the piano
division of the store, is acting piano manager.
Mr. Searles says that the piano sales in January
and February are proving successful.
Finley Now With New Connection
F. Morton Finley, formerly buyer for the
H. C. Hanson Music House, who resigned some
weeks ago to join the force of Sherman, Clay
& Co., is now with the retail small goods de-
partment of the Kearny street store. Mr.
Finley is still connected, as vice-president, with
the Hanson Music Co., Inc., of 1604 San Pablo
avenue, Oakland.
Piano Men Pay Brief Visits
Max J. de Rochemont, vice-president of the
Laffargue Co., paid a brief visit to the city this
week and called on members of the trade. He
has left to continue his Coast trip. John H.
Parnham, president of the Cable-Nelson Piano
Co., is making a visit to Sherman, Clay & Co.
Another visitor is G. C. Mansfield, representing
C. Kurtzmann & Co.
decoration and his designs are characterized by
an intelligent selection of the best features in
the architecture of the Tudor period, as exeiti'
plified in the buildings erected and the furniture
used during that period.
The H. C. Bay Co. has had such an encourag-
ing response from their previous period models
that the 1927 line will include a large number
of grands, each designed by a specialist in the
decorative art. This new Tudor grand is one
of the representatives of English art, and the
Bay plant, in addition, is preparing examples
of the best of the French, Spanish, Italian,
Flemish, German and other schools. This im-
C. Bay Grand
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portant move and its corresponding determina-
tion to raise the quality-.of its^ output has
resulted in the permanent additions to the H.
C. Bay Co. personnel of a number of experts
in case design and the addition of much special
machinery and equipment.
A new front is being constructed in the Stran-
burg Music Store, located in the First National
Bank Building, Oil City, Pa. When completed
the store will be afforded a single entrance with
show windows on both sides of the d.oor.