Music Trade Review

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The Music Trade Review
REVIEW
(Registered in the U. S. Patent Office)
Published on the First of the Month by
Federated Business Publications, Inc.
at 420 Lexington Avenue, New York
Publishers of Antiquarian, Automotive Electricity, India Rubber World, Materials
Handling & Distribution, Music Trade Review, Novelty News, Rug Profits, Sales Man-
agement, Soda Fountain, Radio Music-Merchant, Tires; and operates in association with
Building Investment, Draperies and Tire Rate-Book.
President, Raymond Bill; Vice-Presidents, J. B. Spillane, Randolph Brown; Secretary
and Treasurer, Edward Lyman Bill; Comptroller, T. T. Kelly; Assistant Treasurer,
Wm. A. Low.
NOVEMBER, 1930
other purpose or whether piano playing does not come within the
category of those who depend upon Tammany Hall for political
jobs, was not stated.
It appears that President McKee was particularly indignant over
a request for concert grand reproducing pianos at $2,086 each. He
was quoted by a number of newspapers as saying, "If that isn't
extravagance, I don't know what it i-s?" and when informed that
the instruments were needed to permit advanced students to hear
the works of the great masters, he replied, "If they're that ad-
vanced, they should go to a private conservatory."
We have no knowledge of Mr. McKee's musical training or
tastes, but he and his fellow members of the Board of Aldermen of
New York have offered a distinct challenge to the members of the
music industry of the country as well as to those who are working
so hard for musical training in the schools. Is the challenge going
to be taken up or ignored?
A Sound Message of Confidence
B.
BRITTAIN WILSON, Editor
CARLITON CHACE, Business Manager
F. L. AVERY, Circulation Manager
RAY BILL, Associate Editor
E. B. MUNCH, Eastern Representative
WESTERN DIVISION: FKAMK W. KIRK, Manager
333 No. Michigan Ave., Chicago. Telephone: State 1266
Telephone: Lexington 1760-71
Cable: Elbill New York
In order to insure proper attention all communications should
be addressed to the publication and not to individuals.
Vol. 89
A
NOVEMBER, 1930
11
Forwarding the Cause of Music
S The Review goes to press the announcement is made
that the committee in charge of the reorganization of
the National Bureau for the Advancement of Music,
namely Hermann Irion, chairman; Lucien Wulsin, Jr., and Alfred
L. Smith, have practically completed their labors and that the full
details of the reorganization plan will be made public in the very
near future.
Enough facts are known about the work of the committee to
lead to the belief that the Bureau will in the future be able to
function with even greater success than in the past, and certainly
in a manner to serve the cause of all music and free the organiza-
tion from any taint of commercialism.
The plan, as outlined, provides for the retention of C. M.
Tremaine as director, and a governing committee of nine, made up
of three members of the trade, three prominent music educators
and three representatives of general organizations interested in
the development of the art. The work will be carried on in accord-
ance with a definite program laid down in advance, which should
make for greater efficiency.
The trade will await the final details of the reorganization with
much interest, but meanwhile, can rest assured that the committee
has done a good job, as a result of long and careful thought and
study. The Bureau in the future seems designed to prove an even
more helpful factor to the trade and the profession than in the past.
I
HE REVIEW is privileged to publish this month the
address delivered before the Merchants' Association of
New York by Edward E. Shumaker, president of the
RCA-Victor Co. on October 23, in the belief that it is a message
that should add to the confidence of every business man who is
worried about conditions. Mr. Shumaker states frankly that he
is a pessimist and a doubter by nature—and he might have added,
by training, for he was for many years purchasing agent for the
Victor Co.—but he can find nothing in the business situation to
become discouraged about, and he gives facts and figures to support
his position. It is a message that should not be passed by without
careful reading.
Alderman McKee and the Piano
N President Joseph V. McKee, of the Board of Aldermen of
the City of New York, advocates of the piano and of piano
training certainly have no champion, judging from his atti-
tude last month when a proposal to appropriate $75,000 for pur-
chasing pianos for the public schools of the city came up for con-
sideration.
While many, if not a majority, of the leading cities of the country
have appropriated and are appropriating substantial sums for mu-
sical training and the purchase of musical instruments for their
public schools, the Board of Aldermen, who control the finances of
the metropolis of the nation, balked at an appropriation for a
similar purpose that under other circumstances and gauged by past
performances would be voted to a district leader without question.
Whether Mr. McKee and his cohorts wanted the money for some
P
Publicity for the Piano
IANO publicity these days is being watched closely, far
more closely than in the past, probably for the reason that
various members of the trade have seen fit finally to rise
up and protest against articles appearing some time ago attacking
the instrument. It is an interesting situation, for, although for
years there have been complaints that the piano received very little
newspaper publicity, even when piano advertising was generous and
widespread, little was accomplished in breaking into the newspaper
columns. Unfortunately, today, articles and news stories that re-
flect on the piano receive wide circulation, while those favoring the
instrument for one reason or another are mostly local in character.
Early last month much enthusiasm was aroused by a fiction story
in the Saturday Evening Post entitled "Business Piano," with that
instrument and its playing taking a leading place in the plot. Many
members of the trade commented upon the story and its value as
piano propaganda, but hardly had their enthusiasm really been de-
veloped when the Associated Press saw fit to send throughout the
country an interview regarding piano manufacturing methods almost
entirely fallacious, and distinctly harmful to the interests of the
industry. That the reporter had garbled the story was evident to
anyone even remotely informed regarding piano manufacturing
methods, but unfortunately the story had enough of the sensational
in it, right or wrong, to make a strong appeal to editors and the
result was nation-wide circulation under scare-heads. No story
actually helpful to the piano has ever had so much attention, and
it is unfortunate that no retraction could ever be expected to receive
the same publicity as the original item.
There are those who claim that any publicity is good publicity,
if it attracts attention to a product, which is one of the reasons why
producers of salacious plays are tickled pink when the police swoop
down and raid. Under present conditions, however, it is to be
doubted if questionable publicity helps our own industry, which
should prove an incentive to its members to put forth greater efforts
to have news and articles of the right sort appear in newspapers
and magazines.