Presto
Issue: 1920 1754 - Page 5
THE PRESTO BUYERS'
GUIDE CLASSIFIES ALL
PIANOS AND PLAYERS
AND THEIR MAKERS
PRESTO
E.tabti.hed 1884 THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
CHICAGO'S BIG NEW
PIANO INDUSTRY
The Rex Piano Mfg. Company Is the Latest
Addition to the Lists of American Cor-
porations for the Quantity-Produc-
tion of Musical Instruments.
Chicago is to have one more live piano industry.
In fact, Chicago already has one more live piano in-
dustry. The temporary factory is now being
equipped with modern machinery and a force of
skilled workmen is ready to begin operations.
The new piano industry is the Rex Piano Mfg. Co.,
and its acting head is one of the most widely known
gentlemen associated with the trade. He is Lem
Kline, who lor many years past has been prominent
L.E1VL K L I N K ,
as a piano salesman and wholesale distributor. Mr.
Kline's name is aloce ample guaranty of the kind of
energy that will be put into the new Chicago piano
industry.
Factory Already Operating.
The temporary factory of the new industry is at
2048-2052 Larrabee street, Chicago. The building is
a large one, containing ample floor space for the
manufacture of good instruments—pianos and play-
erpianos—in quantities. While it is not yet fully
decided what names the instruments will bear, it is
certain that the names will be standardized and that
their quality will equal the best that have ever been
marketed by Mr. Kline.
Mr. Kline has been active in the piano trade for
a good many years, having been long associated
with the late Arthur J. King when that gentleman
was the head of the industry at Bluffton and Chi-
cago, which bore his name. Later Mr. Kline took
hold of the wholesale department of the H. C. Bay
Co. and made a record in that capacity. He has
also sold at wholesale other well known instruments,
and he probably has as many personal friends in the
trade as any man in the business.
Demand Is Imperative.
For several years piano industrial conditions have
been such that Mr. Kline has been unable to secure
instruments nearly as fast as his customers de-
manded them. Naturally that condition did not fit
his active nature, and he has for several months con-
templated the organization of an entirely new piano
industry. The result of the determination is the
Rex Piano Mfg. Company, as herein told.
Tn the new enterprise Mr. Kline has associated
with him some strong men, financially as well as
commercially. He had determined that the demand
for instruments which was coming to him in increas-
THE PRESTO YEAR BOOK
IS THE ONLY ANNUAL
REVIEW OP
THE MUSIC TRADES
/• Cent.; f2.00 a Year
ing volume should be met, and that his friends in
the trade should be supplied according to their
needs. To this end, too, the new organization has
enlisted a force of piano workers whose skill will
contribute largely to the end most desired by the
dealers. Tt will mean pianos and playerpianos of
distinctly reliable character and still possessing the
popular qualifications by which Mr. Kline has won
his place as a salesman.
Factory Head Well Known.
The factory head has already been secured and is
at work. He is a piano maker of force and with a
reputation of being able to "produce." In fact, he is
a piano maker who has been credited with the ca-
pacity of getting more work out of a given force
than almost any other factory man in the piano busi-
ness. His name is familiar everywhere and it would
here be mentioned but that he is also just now clos-
ing up his own industry, with a view to devoting his
entire energies to the new Rex Piano Mfg. Company.
Nor can it do any harm to say that while, as al-
ready explained, the names of the lines to be put
forth by the new company have not yet been fully
settled upon, the name chosen for the playerpianos
is "Rex-o-Tone"—the logical and substantial name
suggested by the corporate name. And a better
name could scarcely be conceived. Literally mean-
ing "the King of Tone," it is a strong and compre-
hensive name, which will quickly become familiar
and will easily win with trade and public.
Larger Factory Soon Ready.
As has already been told in this article, the new
Rex Piano Mfg. Company is now engaged in equip-
ping the factory on Larrabee street, Chicago. But
that factory, large as it is, is only the beginning and
the temporary home of the Rex Piano Mfg. Com-
pany. Land has already been secured on South
State street, Chicago—well along toward Washing-
ton Park—for an entirely new structure, to be built
and equipped with special reference to the most
modern requirements of piano manufacture on the
quantity basis, without sacrifice of the essential qual-
ities that guarantee satisfaction and insure perma-
nency.
It is expected that the new factory will be
ready for occupancy within four months from this
time. It will have a frontage on State street of 400
feet. That alone indicates the extent of the Rex
Piano Mfg. Co. and the plans of its organizers.
Further Particulars Soon.
The new location will be announced within a few
weeks, when the plans of the new and permanent
factory of the Rex Piano Mfg. Company will have
been completed by the architects.
There is little more to be said at this time, beyond
the fact that ample capital is at the command of the
industry of which Mr. Kline is the head, and which
will be pushed to a good place in the lists by the
energy and experience of that gentleman and his
staff of associates.
And so Chicago has one more piano industry, and
one that promises to quickly develop into a large
one. Presto is glad to give this first hand exclusive
information with such particulars as must interest
every retail piano dealer, and especially the large
number who know Mr. Kline and his part in keeping
them satisfactorily supplied with profit-making in-
struments.
SNOW RETARDS DELIVERIES.
J. D. McLean, manager of the Mason & Hamlin
Company At New York, was in Chicago on Monday
of this week and made his headquarters at The Cable
Company's offices. Mr. McLean said that business
was good in New York, many instruments being
sold at retail, but the deliveries were still far behind
on account of not being able to run trucks through
the snowbanks that are piled alongside of the streets,
or rather in the edges of the streets. New York
City is at least three weeks behind in its deliveries,
he said.
J. T. JORDAN RETIRES.
James T. Jordan, head of the Jordan Piano Co.,
Paterson, N. J., has retired from an active part in
the business, after a successful business career cov-
ering over a quarter of a century. With the Spikers
piano, at Broadway and Church streets, Mr. Jordan
first began his association with piano sales in Pat-
erson. Later he became associated with the Pat-
erson business of the F. C. Smith Piano Co. and
proved himself a most successful distributor of the
Bradbury piano in that section. In 1904 he estab-
lished the Jordan Piano Co.
NEW PACKARD AGENCY
FOR SPRINGFIELD, ILL.
Manager E. N. Paulding Makes Contract with Jesse
French House for Goods.
Ed. N. Paulding,
Chicago and Mid-
West manager for
the Packard Piano
Co.,
has returned
from an Illinois trip.
At Decatur, 111.,
lie spent some time
in outlining to the
piano department of
the Lynn & Scruggs
department s t o r e
the Packard adver-
tising and selling
plan for 1920.
"The salesmen at
ED. N. PAULDQNG.
that house are live
wires," said Mr. Paulding to a Presto representative
on Wednesday of this week.
On this trip Mr. Paulding also made a connection
for his house with Jesse French & Sons Piano Com-
pany's Springfield, 111., branch, which is now going
in for several high grade instruments, including
agencies for the Packard, the Chickering and the A.
B. Chase pianos and playerpianos.
MORE GULBRANSENS,
SAYS NEW FACTORY SIGN
Stack of Plant, 175 Feet High, to Declare Name
Aloft.
A new sign has been erected at the corner of
Kedzie avenue and Chicago avenue, Chicago, op-
posite the new factory of the Gulbransen-Dickinson
Company, reading, "More Gulbransen Player-
Pianos." The sign suggests that the great addi-
tional plant that is going up is due to the increasing-
demand for that particular make of player-pianos,
and it is timely. The letters are in red on a green
background.
Speaking of the Gulbransen factory signs, the
smokestack which is to be erected on the new fac-
tory will be 175 feet in height, and it will have the
Gulbransen name on its north and south sides. The
main building will also bear the Gulbransen sign
in large letters. The new smokestack is to be the
tallest tower in that section of the city, and its
signs will be visible for a long distance. The stack
is to be finished with paving brick.
Work has been started in building the new dry-
kilns that are to take care of the drying for the new
factory; they will more than double the present
kiln capacity.
Workmen are also busy laying the foundation for
switch-tracks on Sawyer avenue from the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad. An interesting fea-
ture in this construction is the necessity of building
a drawbridge through the elevated second-story
passage-way that connects the two Gulbransen old
factories. At first the Gulbransen management con-
sidered changing the passage-way to the third floor,
in order to give the cars room to pass beneath; but
this was impracticable, because the third floors are
not exactly on the same level; so the drawbridge
was the only way to solve the problem.
As the second floors are on the same level, the
shunting from one factory to the other will be con-
tinued without establishing a grade.
C. D. BOND ON COMMITTEE.
Official announcement of the appointment of C. D.
Bond, superintendent of the Weaver Piano Company,
York, Pa., as a member of the. vocational committee
of the National Piano Manufacturers' Association of
America, was received by Mr. Bond last week from
the secretary of that association. Superintendent
Bond believes that his appointment as a member of
this important committee is largely due to the fact
that the industrial educational system, now in use
in the York high school, has attracted nation-wide
interest among manufacturers. It is the desire of
the National Piano Manufacturers' Association to
promote and foster vocational education throughout
the country, he said. The vocational committee con-
sists of three members.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
GUIDE CLASSIFIES ALL
PIANOS AND PLAYERS
AND THEIR MAKERS
PRESTO
E.tabti.hed 1884 THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
CHICAGO'S BIG NEW
PIANO INDUSTRY
The Rex Piano Mfg. Company Is the Latest
Addition to the Lists of American Cor-
porations for the Quantity-Produc-
tion of Musical Instruments.
Chicago is to have one more live piano industry.
In fact, Chicago already has one more live piano in-
dustry. The temporary factory is now being
equipped with modern machinery and a force of
skilled workmen is ready to begin operations.
The new piano industry is the Rex Piano Mfg. Co.,
and its acting head is one of the most widely known
gentlemen associated with the trade. He is Lem
Kline, who lor many years past has been prominent
L.E1VL K L I N K ,
as a piano salesman and wholesale distributor. Mr.
Kline's name is aloce ample guaranty of the kind of
energy that will be put into the new Chicago piano
industry.
Factory Already Operating.
The temporary factory of the new industry is at
2048-2052 Larrabee street, Chicago. The building is
a large one, containing ample floor space for the
manufacture of good instruments—pianos and play-
erpianos—in quantities. While it is not yet fully
decided what names the instruments will bear, it is
certain that the names will be standardized and that
their quality will equal the best that have ever been
marketed by Mr. Kline.
Mr. Kline has been active in the piano trade for
a good many years, having been long associated
with the late Arthur J. King when that gentleman
was the head of the industry at Bluffton and Chi-
cago, which bore his name. Later Mr. Kline took
hold of the wholesale department of the H. C. Bay
Co. and made a record in that capacity. He has
also sold at wholesale other well known instruments,
and he probably has as many personal friends in the
trade as any man in the business.
Demand Is Imperative.
For several years piano industrial conditions have
been such that Mr. Kline has been unable to secure
instruments nearly as fast as his customers de-
manded them. Naturally that condition did not fit
his active nature, and he has for several months con-
templated the organization of an entirely new piano
industry. The result of the determination is the
Rex Piano Mfg. Company, as herein told.
Tn the new enterprise Mr. Kline has associated
with him some strong men, financially as well as
commercially. He had determined that the demand
for instruments which was coming to him in increas-
THE PRESTO YEAR BOOK
IS THE ONLY ANNUAL
REVIEW OP
THE MUSIC TRADES
/• Cent.; f2.00 a Year
ing volume should be met, and that his friends in
the trade should be supplied according to their
needs. To this end, too, the new organization has
enlisted a force of piano workers whose skill will
contribute largely to the end most desired by the
dealers. Tt will mean pianos and playerpianos of
distinctly reliable character and still possessing the
popular qualifications by which Mr. Kline has won
his place as a salesman.
Factory Head Well Known.
The factory head has already been secured and is
at work. He is a piano maker of force and with a
reputation of being able to "produce." In fact, he is
a piano maker who has been credited with the ca-
pacity of getting more work out of a given force
than almost any other factory man in the piano busi-
ness. His name is familiar everywhere and it would
here be mentioned but that he is also just now clos-
ing up his own industry, with a view to devoting his
entire energies to the new Rex Piano Mfg. Company.
Nor can it do any harm to say that while, as al-
ready explained, the names of the lines to be put
forth by the new company have not yet been fully
settled upon, the name chosen for the playerpianos
is "Rex-o-Tone"—the logical and substantial name
suggested by the corporate name. And a better
name could scarcely be conceived. Literally mean-
ing "the King of Tone," it is a strong and compre-
hensive name, which will quickly become familiar
and will easily win with trade and public.
Larger Factory Soon Ready.
As has already been told in this article, the new
Rex Piano Mfg. Company is now engaged in equip-
ping the factory on Larrabee street, Chicago. But
that factory, large as it is, is only the beginning and
the temporary home of the Rex Piano Mfg. Com-
pany. Land has already been secured on South
State street, Chicago—well along toward Washing-
ton Park—for an entirely new structure, to be built
and equipped with special reference to the most
modern requirements of piano manufacture on the
quantity basis, without sacrifice of the essential qual-
ities that guarantee satisfaction and insure perma-
nency.
It is expected that the new factory will be
ready for occupancy within four months from this
time. It will have a frontage on State street of 400
feet. That alone indicates the extent of the Rex
Piano Mfg. Co. and the plans of its organizers.
Further Particulars Soon.
The new location will be announced within a few
weeks, when the plans of the new and permanent
factory of the Rex Piano Mfg. Company will have
been completed by the architects.
There is little more to be said at this time, beyond
the fact that ample capital is at the command of the
industry of which Mr. Kline is the head, and which
will be pushed to a good place in the lists by the
energy and experience of that gentleman and his
staff of associates.
And so Chicago has one more piano industry, and
one that promises to quickly develop into a large
one. Presto is glad to give this first hand exclusive
information with such particulars as must interest
every retail piano dealer, and especially the large
number who know Mr. Kline and his part in keeping
them satisfactorily supplied with profit-making in-
struments.
SNOW RETARDS DELIVERIES.
J. D. McLean, manager of the Mason & Hamlin
Company At New York, was in Chicago on Monday
of this week and made his headquarters at The Cable
Company's offices. Mr. McLean said that business
was good in New York, many instruments being
sold at retail, but the deliveries were still far behind
on account of not being able to run trucks through
the snowbanks that are piled alongside of the streets,
or rather in the edges of the streets. New York
City is at least three weeks behind in its deliveries,
he said.
J. T. JORDAN RETIRES.
James T. Jordan, head of the Jordan Piano Co.,
Paterson, N. J., has retired from an active part in
the business, after a successful business career cov-
ering over a quarter of a century. With the Spikers
piano, at Broadway and Church streets, Mr. Jordan
first began his association with piano sales in Pat-
erson. Later he became associated with the Pat-
erson business of the F. C. Smith Piano Co. and
proved himself a most successful distributor of the
Bradbury piano in that section. In 1904 he estab-
lished the Jordan Piano Co.
NEW PACKARD AGENCY
FOR SPRINGFIELD, ILL.
Manager E. N. Paulding Makes Contract with Jesse
French House for Goods.
Ed. N. Paulding,
Chicago and Mid-
West manager for
the Packard Piano
Co.,
has returned
from an Illinois trip.
At Decatur, 111.,
lie spent some time
in outlining to the
piano department of
the Lynn & Scruggs
department s t o r e
the Packard adver-
tising and selling
plan for 1920.
"The salesmen at
ED. N. PAULDQNG.
that house are live
wires," said Mr. Paulding to a Presto representative
on Wednesday of this week.
On this trip Mr. Paulding also made a connection
for his house with Jesse French & Sons Piano Com-
pany's Springfield, 111., branch, which is now going
in for several high grade instruments, including
agencies for the Packard, the Chickering and the A.
B. Chase pianos and playerpianos.
MORE GULBRANSENS,
SAYS NEW FACTORY SIGN
Stack of Plant, 175 Feet High, to Declare Name
Aloft.
A new sign has been erected at the corner of
Kedzie avenue and Chicago avenue, Chicago, op-
posite the new factory of the Gulbransen-Dickinson
Company, reading, "More Gulbransen Player-
Pianos." The sign suggests that the great addi-
tional plant that is going up is due to the increasing-
demand for that particular make of player-pianos,
and it is timely. The letters are in red on a green
background.
Speaking of the Gulbransen factory signs, the
smokestack which is to be erected on the new fac-
tory will be 175 feet in height, and it will have the
Gulbransen name on its north and south sides. The
main building will also bear the Gulbransen sign
in large letters. The new smokestack is to be the
tallest tower in that section of the city, and its
signs will be visible for a long distance. The stack
is to be finished with paving brick.
Work has been started in building the new dry-
kilns that are to take care of the drying for the new
factory; they will more than double the present
kiln capacity.
Workmen are also busy laying the foundation for
switch-tracks on Sawyer avenue from the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad. An interesting fea-
ture in this construction is the necessity of building
a drawbridge through the elevated second-story
passage-way that connects the two Gulbransen old
factories. At first the Gulbransen management con-
sidered changing the passage-way to the third floor,
in order to give the cars room to pass beneath; but
this was impracticable, because the third floors are
not exactly on the same level; so the drawbridge
was the only way to solve the problem.
As the second floors are on the same level, the
shunting from one factory to the other will be con-
tinued without establishing a grade.
C. D. BOND ON COMMITTEE.
Official announcement of the appointment of C. D.
Bond, superintendent of the Weaver Piano Company,
York, Pa., as a member of the. vocational committee
of the National Piano Manufacturers' Association of
America, was received by Mr. Bond last week from
the secretary of that association. Superintendent
Bond believes that his appointment as a member of
this important committee is largely due to the fact
that the industrial educational system, now in use
in the York high school, has attracted nation-wide
interest among manufacturers. It is the desire of
the National Piano Manufacturers' Association to
promote and foster vocational education throughout
the country, he said. The vocational committee con-
sists of three members.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).