Music Trade Review
Issue: 1931 Vol. 90 N. 8 - Page 22
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
22
THE
M U S I C
THE PIANO IS COMING BACK, SAYS WEEKS
{Continued
from page 11)
way as 0 financial depression. During these
two years the radio has reached its highest
development and its lowest cost to the con-
sumer. The retail price of a radio touched
and is touching as low as $37.50 for instru-
ments made by manufacturers of standing,
which is only about a sixth of what one could
buy the cheapest piano. Therefore, the dif-
ference in price during this financial head-
ache period gave the radio a six-to-one ad-
vantage over the piano, which is big odds in
any race.
But we are a fickle people and with the
return of prosperity we are bound to have
what we want when we want it and as for
the cost—what boots it, as long as the fellow
himself foots it.
A lifetime ago the cottage organ was in its
heyday and our predecessor sold great num-
bers of them. There was not only competi-
tion among sellers of organs, but also com-
petition among buyers, that is, to see who
would have the largest or most ornate instru-
ment.
The ethical method of selling instruments
that is in vogue today was also not current
back there. An organ or piano was loaded
onto a wagon and a resourceful salesman
started out on an adventurous trip. When
he arrived at a prosperous-looking farm-
house, through some strange arrangement, the
wagon always broke down. "Could I leave
the instrument under the shelter of your roof
until I can get fixed up to take it away?"
was the salesman's pleading appeal. This
having been granted, anyone would be free
to play on it in return for the gracious
courtesy. When the supersalesman returned
in a week—well, you know what would often
be the accomplished result. Almost anything
in those days was taken in trade for an
organ or square piano which was current at
that time. Turkeys, chickens, wagons, horses,
or cattle were accepted in payment and a
salesman had to be a judge of all these in
order to have trades profitable.
It is sometimes darkest just before the
dawn.
We have got to continue to use our best
efforts and all the ingenuity at our command
to sell pianos. We must adapt ourselves to
the changing conditions. When I went to
Ostend to the International Rotary Conven-
tion and was chairman of entertainment
on the boat—the Carmania—that took us
over, I said to the English purseT that we
wanted to thus and so, to which he replied,
"Oh, sah, it's nevah been done, sah," the
"been" being pronounced like Boston's chief
Saturday night article of diet and in an in-
jured tone of voice.
When I passed through South Bend en
route to the Chicago convention, and saw the
great factory of the Studebaker automobile
industry, I recalled the fact that this con-
cern attained to fame through the manufac-
ture of wagons. Then along came, with the
trend of times, the demand for automotive
transportation. Had this corporation taken
the attitude of our English purser, the name
of Studebaker would now be only a memory.
Fifty years ago, when the wives were play-
ing organs, they were likewise wearing
waterfalls, hoop skirts and bustles. They
affected woolen stockings and ruffled muslin
underthings. They went to church on the
Sabbath and attended the missionary and
Ladies' Aid Society meetings on week-days,
made their own dresses and in the interim
reared goodly sized families. The men wore
whiskers, or, if not, had fancy shaving mugs
at the barber shops. They wore spring bot-
tomed trousers and big watch chains. They
went to the county fair once a year, and
now and then indulged in croquet and dom-
inoes. They did their courting in a buggy
and the best of them passed the collection
plate in church on Sunday. The music mer-
chant lighted his store with kerosene. He
opened his store at seven in the morning
and closed at ten at night. He bought his
year's stock in advance. He did most of the
selling himself. He raTely took inventory,
and never took a vacation and usually made
what was considered a fairly good living
at the time.
Today the women wear their hair bobbed.
They are garbed in spider-web hose and
silken undies. They paint their cheeks and
rouge their lips. Some of them smoke cig-
arettes and drink high balls. They play bridge
and contract and musical accomplishments
are often confined to turning on the Duo-Art
or the radio. The men use safety razors,
drive sixteen-cylinder cars, play the races,
the stock market and stud poker. They wear
wrist watches and knickers and play golf on
Sunday. The music stores burn electricity.
They open at nine o'clock and close at five-
thirty. The proprietors go to Florida in the
Winter and to Europe in the Summer. They
give their clerks two weeks' vacation with
pay during the warm spell and a bonus at
Christmas. They buy one day's supply of
goods at a time and take inventories semi-
weekly. They have Anniversary Sales,
Basement Bargains and Dollar Days. They
figure their profits in red ink, they curse the
government, they say pianos are dead, and,
in fact, that the whole music business is
going to the bow-wows.
But it isn't. B. Brittain Wilson in his
address before our association at the conven-
tion made the statement that the survey of
his magazine, the Music TRADE REVIEW, in-
dicated that there were about 4,500 music
dealers in the United States. And I must
pause here to pay tribute to Mr. Wilson and
his magazine for the consideration given to
the Chicago convention. From the time since
I first met him at the State convention in
Binghamton down to the present time I have
been aware of his splendid spirit of co-opera-
tion, and I am starting the year with the feel-
ing that I can lean on him at all times.
What I started to say is that could these
4,500 music merchants put forward in con-
certed form the propaganda of our paper's
editorial, that the piano is coming back;
could all these attend the annual convention
and become inspired as we are who do
attend, and these inspirations were added
to those put forward by the Bureau of Ad-
vancement of Music, soon could we change
our national slogan "The piano is coming
back" to "The piano has come back," then
would you lift up your voices in a paean of
praise.
TRADE
REVIEW,
August,
1931
GROUP PIANO INSTRUCTION
AT WILMINGTON COLLEGE
Group instruction in piano, a new method
designed to provide the opportunity for Wil-
mington, O., boys and girls of grade school
age to study music, has been instituted at
Wilmington college, according to President
B. O. Skinner. The classes will be conducted
by Miss Ethel Simcox, a graduate of the Cin-
cinnati College of Music and instructor in
piano at the college here. The classes will
be held twice a week and the cost to the
pupils will be twenty-five cents the lesson.
The Baldwin Co. has issued a new folder
illustrating and describing the new Model 1+
Monarch upright, an attractive instrument
in William & Mary design.
GRAND
Piano Keys
and
Actions
High Quality
Fine Workmanship
and
Materials
PRATT READ
PRODUCTS
Oldest and Best
Write us NOW
PRATT, READ & CO.
Established 1806
Deep River, Conn.
22
THE
M U S I C
THE PIANO IS COMING BACK, SAYS WEEKS
{Continued
from page 11)
way as 0 financial depression. During these
two years the radio has reached its highest
development and its lowest cost to the con-
sumer. The retail price of a radio touched
and is touching as low as $37.50 for instru-
ments made by manufacturers of standing,
which is only about a sixth of what one could
buy the cheapest piano. Therefore, the dif-
ference in price during this financial head-
ache period gave the radio a six-to-one ad-
vantage over the piano, which is big odds in
any race.
But we are a fickle people and with the
return of prosperity we are bound to have
what we want when we want it and as for
the cost—what boots it, as long as the fellow
himself foots it.
A lifetime ago the cottage organ was in its
heyday and our predecessor sold great num-
bers of them. There was not only competi-
tion among sellers of organs, but also com-
petition among buyers, that is, to see who
would have the largest or most ornate instru-
ment.
The ethical method of selling instruments
that is in vogue today was also not current
back there. An organ or piano was loaded
onto a wagon and a resourceful salesman
started out on an adventurous trip. When
he arrived at a prosperous-looking farm-
house, through some strange arrangement, the
wagon always broke down. "Could I leave
the instrument under the shelter of your roof
until I can get fixed up to take it away?"
was the salesman's pleading appeal. This
having been granted, anyone would be free
to play on it in return for the gracious
courtesy. When the supersalesman returned
in a week—well, you know what would often
be the accomplished result. Almost anything
in those days was taken in trade for an
organ or square piano which was current at
that time. Turkeys, chickens, wagons, horses,
or cattle were accepted in payment and a
salesman had to be a judge of all these in
order to have trades profitable.
It is sometimes darkest just before the
dawn.
We have got to continue to use our best
efforts and all the ingenuity at our command
to sell pianos. We must adapt ourselves to
the changing conditions. When I went to
Ostend to the International Rotary Conven-
tion and was chairman of entertainment
on the boat—the Carmania—that took us
over, I said to the English purseT that we
wanted to thus and so, to which he replied,
"Oh, sah, it's nevah been done, sah," the
"been" being pronounced like Boston's chief
Saturday night article of diet and in an in-
jured tone of voice.
When I passed through South Bend en
route to the Chicago convention, and saw the
great factory of the Studebaker automobile
industry, I recalled the fact that this con-
cern attained to fame through the manufac-
ture of wagons. Then along came, with the
trend of times, the demand for automotive
transportation. Had this corporation taken
the attitude of our English purser, the name
of Studebaker would now be only a memory.
Fifty years ago, when the wives were play-
ing organs, they were likewise wearing
waterfalls, hoop skirts and bustles. They
affected woolen stockings and ruffled muslin
underthings. They went to church on the
Sabbath and attended the missionary and
Ladies' Aid Society meetings on week-days,
made their own dresses and in the interim
reared goodly sized families. The men wore
whiskers, or, if not, had fancy shaving mugs
at the barber shops. They wore spring bot-
tomed trousers and big watch chains. They
went to the county fair once a year, and
now and then indulged in croquet and dom-
inoes. They did their courting in a buggy
and the best of them passed the collection
plate in church on Sunday. The music mer-
chant lighted his store with kerosene. He
opened his store at seven in the morning
and closed at ten at night. He bought his
year's stock in advance. He did most of the
selling himself. He raTely took inventory,
and never took a vacation and usually made
what was considered a fairly good living
at the time.
Today the women wear their hair bobbed.
They are garbed in spider-web hose and
silken undies. They paint their cheeks and
rouge their lips. Some of them smoke cig-
arettes and drink high balls. They play bridge
and contract and musical accomplishments
are often confined to turning on the Duo-Art
or the radio. The men use safety razors,
drive sixteen-cylinder cars, play the races,
the stock market and stud poker. They wear
wrist watches and knickers and play golf on
Sunday. The music stores burn electricity.
They open at nine o'clock and close at five-
thirty. The proprietors go to Florida in the
Winter and to Europe in the Summer. They
give their clerks two weeks' vacation with
pay during the warm spell and a bonus at
Christmas. They buy one day's supply of
goods at a time and take inventories semi-
weekly. They have Anniversary Sales,
Basement Bargains and Dollar Days. They
figure their profits in red ink, they curse the
government, they say pianos are dead, and,
in fact, that the whole music business is
going to the bow-wows.
But it isn't. B. Brittain Wilson in his
address before our association at the conven-
tion made the statement that the survey of
his magazine, the Music TRADE REVIEW, in-
dicated that there were about 4,500 music
dealers in the United States. And I must
pause here to pay tribute to Mr. Wilson and
his magazine for the consideration given to
the Chicago convention. From the time since
I first met him at the State convention in
Binghamton down to the present time I have
been aware of his splendid spirit of co-opera-
tion, and I am starting the year with the feel-
ing that I can lean on him at all times.
What I started to say is that could these
4,500 music merchants put forward in con-
certed form the propaganda of our paper's
editorial, that the piano is coming back;
could all these attend the annual convention
and become inspired as we are who do
attend, and these inspirations were added
to those put forward by the Bureau of Ad-
vancement of Music, soon could we change
our national slogan "The piano is coming
back" to "The piano has come back," then
would you lift up your voices in a paean of
praise.
TRADE
REVIEW,
August,
1931
GROUP PIANO INSTRUCTION
AT WILMINGTON COLLEGE
Group instruction in piano, a new method
designed to provide the opportunity for Wil-
mington, O., boys and girls of grade school
age to study music, has been instituted at
Wilmington college, according to President
B. O. Skinner. The classes will be conducted
by Miss Ethel Simcox, a graduate of the Cin-
cinnati College of Music and instructor in
piano at the college here. The classes will
be held twice a week and the cost to the
pupils will be twenty-five cents the lesson.
The Baldwin Co. has issued a new folder
illustrating and describing the new Model 1+
Monarch upright, an attractive instrument
in William & Mary design.
GRAND
Piano Keys
and
Actions
High Quality
Fine Workmanship
and
Materials
PRATT READ
PRODUCTS
Oldest and Best
Write us NOW
PRATT, READ & CO.
Established 1806
Deep River, Conn.
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