Music Trade Review
Issue: 1927 Vol. 85 N. 14 - Page 11
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11
The Music Trade Review
OCTOBER 1, 1927
Hold Final Recitals in Melody Way
Campaign in Philadelphia This Week
What's the Matter With
the Piano Business?
Piano Dealers Who Participated Well Satisfied With the Results and the Prospects-
More Kimball Organs for Stanley Co. Theatres
children in these very homes. And in the
hearts of their parents burns the good old spirit
of self-sacrifice which would put pianos ahead
of washing and ironing machines—nevertheless
commendable in themselves—were the piano
put before them in its true light. To do so is
not meddling but constructive salesmanship.
Not All Pianos Designed for Mansions
Sales and advertising managers might well
concentrate on the restoration of the piano in
the life and happiness of mankind. A better
record of sales could not but follow as a natural
consequence. Human interest introduced into
advertising illustration would doubtless be a
constructive change. The piano that is made to
dwell in marble halls does not picture to the
workaday father something that belongs in
his cottage or flat. Much of the advertising
illustration we see makes the piano an exclusive
luxury instead of a vital factor in every home
where children are reared.
Our national association has done a yeoman's
work in promoting piano instruction by class
method. It could do an equally effective thing
by placing before the American public facts
about how the piano can hold the home to-
gether in spite of influences that tend to its
disintegration? Let it not be supposed for one
moment that much business has not been de-
rived from the advertising done in recent years
by great insurance companies who have used
the child appeal in word and picture—protec-
tion, education, good environment and all the
things that every parent holds dear with every
thought of the children.
Here is one who believes that the future has
great things in store for the piano business—
one of the many who is in the business of sell-
ing pianos not entirely for his livelihood, but
also because of the satisfaction he finds in mak-
ing a tangible contribution to human welfare
and the common good. He would not entertain
a thought of leaving his chosen field to sell
something else just because a readier market
might exist with greater possible financial re-
wards—if it involved a product that served only
convenience, superficial pleasure or advantages
purely material.
The great revival in the piano business, and
it is definitely well on its way, will be realized
when the piano interests themselves arise to
their opportunity, studying instead of berating
competition, introducing ideas into selling that
are based on. intelligent analysis rather than mere
tradition—not doing the thing the way it al-
ways has been done, for that reason and no
other. This new birth of a truly distinguished
line of business is dependent mostly on the
ability of those engaged in it to appreciate the
dignity of their calling whereby is it given them
to spread the good effects of music which is
ennobling in proportion as it is personally
rendered on the universally accepted medium—
the piano.
P H I L A D E L P H I A , PA., September 27.—With
the coming of Fall, local piano dealers are
much encouraged over the increased interest
held by the public in the products they have
to offer, particularly small grands and miniature
uprights. Period styles in fancy cases also have
a strong appeal. Dealers in small goods report
increased activity and there is 3 growing de-
mand for radio receivers following the show
held recently at the Commercial Museum.
During the coming week will be held the
final recitals that will wind up the Melody Way
campaign, which has been conducted co-opera-
tively by the local dealers throughout the Sum-
mer. The finals will be held at Witherspoon
Hall and prizes will be awarded to those chil-
dren who show the greatest results of their
training, the greatest efficiency as pianists. Sev-
eral thousand children have been taking group
instruction under the Melody Way Plan in the
stores of piano dealers in Philadelphia and
vicinity, and while actual sales have been largely
confined to cheaper makes and used instru-
ments, dealers have secured some excellent
prospects for the future and are well satis-
fied with the results of the campaign.
Philadelphia piano houses have been much in-
terested in a recent pamphlet issued by the Na-
tional Better Business Bureau having to do with
bait advertising in the piano trade. The ex-
posure of the practice, which includes specific
experiences of shoppers, has the hearty ap-
proval of the dealers who feel that it will prove
of real benefit in clearing up an annoying situ-
ation.
At the store of N. Stetson & Co. there is be-
ing shown the new Style M Baby Grand in
ebony finish, which has aroused much interest
among those who have inspected and tried it.
A recent visitor to the Stetson house was C. M.
Sigler, the well-known dealer of Harrisburg, Pa.
Upon the return from Europe last week of
Max Lang, head of the Lang Piano Co., which
conducts a number of stores in this city with
headquarters at 1204 Columbia avenue, it was
announced that still another store would be
dfcded to the chain, being at 1504 South street.
The Kimball organ, extensively favored by
the Stanley Co. of America, for its various mov-
ing picture houses, has been installed in two of
the newest theatres that have been added to
the Quaker City chain. The Waverly Theatre,
opened last week, has been equipped with a four-
manual Kimball while the Egyptian Theatre, at
Bala, has been opened with a similar type organ.
Both these houses also have been equipped with
Kimball reproducers to provide piano accom-
paniment to the moving picture attractions. The
local branch of the W. W. Kimball Co., Inc.,
3808 North Broad street, secured the contracts
for the new installations.
Local piano dealers extended a warm wel-
come to the new emissary of the Laffargue Co.,
Edward DeRochemont, the son of Max De-
Rochemont, treasurer of the company. Among
his stopping points in this city was the store of
G. C. Ramsdell & Son, 127 South Twelfth street,
local representative of Laffargue pianos. An-
other Philadelphia visitor was G. Hulder, of
Winter & Co., New York.
The former music store of Harry Stolfa, lo-
cated at 612 South Ninth street, has been pur-
chased by Giuseppe Russo and removed to
Eighth and Christian streets.
Samuel Chadwick, of the Cunningham Piano
Co. staff who has been summering at his old
home in Nelson, Lancashire, England, has re-
turned to his duties here with the firm. He
toured England, Ireland, Scotland and Belgium
during his ten weeks' itinerary abroad.
Lit Bros, piano department, under Manager
Milton Cohen, has been exhibiting the high
light cased baby grands, recently introduced by
the Brambach Piano Co. of New York.
Gorley Go. Fire Victim
The Corley Co., dealing in musical instru-
ments in Richmond, Va., has taken temporary
quarters at 205 North Second street, as a result
of the fire, which damaged its building at 213
East Broad street. The East Broad street
structure will be rebuilt.
You Will Be Interested
in Ludwig Period Qrands
UDWIG Period Grands have won
unstinted praise from dealers and
L
music lovers alike. The famed Ludwig
tone finds a fitting complement in case
work of surpassing beauty.
True to
perioa, expressive of the highest skill of
Ludwig Grand
cabinet craftsmen, Ludwig Period
Style S
Grands carry an ever-inspiring message
to both eye and ear. You'll be interested
in these grands because your customers will be even more in-
terested. To show a Ludwig Period Grand is to create in the
mind ot your prospect an unforgettable impression.
Ludwig & Co*
Willow Ave. and 136th Street
New York
(Continued from page 9)
Exhibit at County Fair
CANTON,. ()., September 19.—Music dealers of
Canton figured prominently in the exhibits at
the annual Stark County Fair which was held
last week and which attracted more than 75,000
patrons. '
In the main exhibit hall the William R. Zol-
linger Co. displayed talking machines and
radios, the Willis Co. presented an attractive
display of radios, while the J. H. Johnson's Sons
Co., well-known Alliance music house, had a
very attractive display of talking machines and
radios.
The Webster Piano House, of Glens Falls, N.
Y., has been opened recently in new quarters at
FJm and Main streets, handling a full line of
r
pianos.
11
The Music Trade Review
OCTOBER 1, 1927
Hold Final Recitals in Melody Way
Campaign in Philadelphia This Week
What's the Matter With
the Piano Business?
Piano Dealers Who Participated Well Satisfied With the Results and the Prospects-
More Kimball Organs for Stanley Co. Theatres
children in these very homes. And in the
hearts of their parents burns the good old spirit
of self-sacrifice which would put pianos ahead
of washing and ironing machines—nevertheless
commendable in themselves—were the piano
put before them in its true light. To do so is
not meddling but constructive salesmanship.
Not All Pianos Designed for Mansions
Sales and advertising managers might well
concentrate on the restoration of the piano in
the life and happiness of mankind. A better
record of sales could not but follow as a natural
consequence. Human interest introduced into
advertising illustration would doubtless be a
constructive change. The piano that is made to
dwell in marble halls does not picture to the
workaday father something that belongs in
his cottage or flat. Much of the advertising
illustration we see makes the piano an exclusive
luxury instead of a vital factor in every home
where children are reared.
Our national association has done a yeoman's
work in promoting piano instruction by class
method. It could do an equally effective thing
by placing before the American public facts
about how the piano can hold the home to-
gether in spite of influences that tend to its
disintegration? Let it not be supposed for one
moment that much business has not been de-
rived from the advertising done in recent years
by great insurance companies who have used
the child appeal in word and picture—protec-
tion, education, good environment and all the
things that every parent holds dear with every
thought of the children.
Here is one who believes that the future has
great things in store for the piano business—
one of the many who is in the business of sell-
ing pianos not entirely for his livelihood, but
also because of the satisfaction he finds in mak-
ing a tangible contribution to human welfare
and the common good. He would not entertain
a thought of leaving his chosen field to sell
something else just because a readier market
might exist with greater possible financial re-
wards—if it involved a product that served only
convenience, superficial pleasure or advantages
purely material.
The great revival in the piano business, and
it is definitely well on its way, will be realized
when the piano interests themselves arise to
their opportunity, studying instead of berating
competition, introducing ideas into selling that
are based on. intelligent analysis rather than mere
tradition—not doing the thing the way it al-
ways has been done, for that reason and no
other. This new birth of a truly distinguished
line of business is dependent mostly on the
ability of those engaged in it to appreciate the
dignity of their calling whereby is it given them
to spread the good effects of music which is
ennobling in proportion as it is personally
rendered on the universally accepted medium—
the piano.
P H I L A D E L P H I A , PA., September 27.—With
the coming of Fall, local piano dealers are
much encouraged over the increased interest
held by the public in the products they have
to offer, particularly small grands and miniature
uprights. Period styles in fancy cases also have
a strong appeal. Dealers in small goods report
increased activity and there is 3 growing de-
mand for radio receivers following the show
held recently at the Commercial Museum.
During the coming week will be held the
final recitals that will wind up the Melody Way
campaign, which has been conducted co-opera-
tively by the local dealers throughout the Sum-
mer. The finals will be held at Witherspoon
Hall and prizes will be awarded to those chil-
dren who show the greatest results of their
training, the greatest efficiency as pianists. Sev-
eral thousand children have been taking group
instruction under the Melody Way Plan in the
stores of piano dealers in Philadelphia and
vicinity, and while actual sales have been largely
confined to cheaper makes and used instru-
ments, dealers have secured some excellent
prospects for the future and are well satis-
fied with the results of the campaign.
Philadelphia piano houses have been much in-
terested in a recent pamphlet issued by the Na-
tional Better Business Bureau having to do with
bait advertising in the piano trade. The ex-
posure of the practice, which includes specific
experiences of shoppers, has the hearty ap-
proval of the dealers who feel that it will prove
of real benefit in clearing up an annoying situ-
ation.
At the store of N. Stetson & Co. there is be-
ing shown the new Style M Baby Grand in
ebony finish, which has aroused much interest
among those who have inspected and tried it.
A recent visitor to the Stetson house was C. M.
Sigler, the well-known dealer of Harrisburg, Pa.
Upon the return from Europe last week of
Max Lang, head of the Lang Piano Co., which
conducts a number of stores in this city with
headquarters at 1204 Columbia avenue, it was
announced that still another store would be
dfcded to the chain, being at 1504 South street.
The Kimball organ, extensively favored by
the Stanley Co. of America, for its various mov-
ing picture houses, has been installed in two of
the newest theatres that have been added to
the Quaker City chain. The Waverly Theatre,
opened last week, has been equipped with a four-
manual Kimball while the Egyptian Theatre, at
Bala, has been opened with a similar type organ.
Both these houses also have been equipped with
Kimball reproducers to provide piano accom-
paniment to the moving picture attractions. The
local branch of the W. W. Kimball Co., Inc.,
3808 North Broad street, secured the contracts
for the new installations.
Local piano dealers extended a warm wel-
come to the new emissary of the Laffargue Co.,
Edward DeRochemont, the son of Max De-
Rochemont, treasurer of the company. Among
his stopping points in this city was the store of
G. C. Ramsdell & Son, 127 South Twelfth street,
local representative of Laffargue pianos. An-
other Philadelphia visitor was G. Hulder, of
Winter & Co., New York.
The former music store of Harry Stolfa, lo-
cated at 612 South Ninth street, has been pur-
chased by Giuseppe Russo and removed to
Eighth and Christian streets.
Samuel Chadwick, of the Cunningham Piano
Co. staff who has been summering at his old
home in Nelson, Lancashire, England, has re-
turned to his duties here with the firm. He
toured England, Ireland, Scotland and Belgium
during his ten weeks' itinerary abroad.
Lit Bros, piano department, under Manager
Milton Cohen, has been exhibiting the high
light cased baby grands, recently introduced by
the Brambach Piano Co. of New York.
Gorley Go. Fire Victim
The Corley Co., dealing in musical instru-
ments in Richmond, Va., has taken temporary
quarters at 205 North Second street, as a result
of the fire, which damaged its building at 213
East Broad street. The East Broad street
structure will be rebuilt.
You Will Be Interested
in Ludwig Period Qrands
UDWIG Period Grands have won
unstinted praise from dealers and
L
music lovers alike. The famed Ludwig
tone finds a fitting complement in case
work of surpassing beauty.
True to
perioa, expressive of the highest skill of
Ludwig Grand
cabinet craftsmen, Ludwig Period
Style S
Grands carry an ever-inspiring message
to both eye and ear. You'll be interested
in these grands because your customers will be even more in-
terested. To show a Ludwig Period Grand is to create in the
mind ot your prospect an unforgettable impression.
Ludwig & Co*
Willow Ave. and 136th Street
New York
(Continued from page 9)
Exhibit at County Fair
CANTON,. ()., September 19.—Music dealers of
Canton figured prominently in the exhibits at
the annual Stark County Fair which was held
last week and which attracted more than 75,000
patrons. '
In the main exhibit hall the William R. Zol-
linger Co. displayed talking machines and
radios, the Willis Co. presented an attractive
display of radios, while the J. H. Johnson's Sons
Co., well-known Alliance music house, had a
very attractive display of talking machines and
radios.
The Webster Piano House, of Glens Falls, N.
Y., has been opened recently in new quarters at
FJm and Main streets, handling a full line of
r
pianos.
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