Presto
Issue: 1920 1769 - Page 29
PRESTO
June 19, 1920.
RECALLS AN EVIL
OF THE TRADE
The Contest and Puzzle Sale, Admittedly a
Thing of the Past, Viewed in Compari-
son with the Legitimate Effort
in Retailing
It is only a short time ago that the puzzle and
guessing contest sales were so common they gave
a very undesirable character to the piano business.
Of course at the same time there were regular sales
conducted on a legitimate basis and these helped to
nullify the harmful effects of the guessing kind.
Some of the latter were so dishonest it dignifies
them to rank as sales. A stronger and uglier word
has frequently been used to characterize them.
But there were varieties in the guessing sale. It
had no standard, but it was possible to grade it. One
dealer said, "They're all wrong, but some of 'em
are damn wrong.'' These were graded by the ca-
pacity of the promoter for deception and misrepre-
sentation. In each sale of the kind the dealer was
particeps criminis and his bit was a share of the
ill-gotten gains.
Job for Historian.
Some interesting chapters will be written about
the contest sale when someone gets down to write a
history of the piano trade. Able men like Alfred
Dolge have set down the surprising facts in the
6 7 Years of Improved Effort Are
Behind Every Piano Turned Out by
CABLE&SONS
THE OLD RELIABLE
ESTABLISHED 1852
Factory and Offices:
550-552 West 38th Street
NEW YORK
history of the piano manufacturing industry. Of
course someone will do a similar job for the retail
trade and in that the "dark age," the puzzle contest
era of hornswoggling episodes will necessarily be ex-
tensively treated. The contest days did not cover
so much time, but they created an effluvia that makes
them memorable.
In the highly ethical age that the Better Business
Bureau is building, the conscientious salesman or
dealer will read the puzzle contest chapters of the
history with amazement. He will be shocked to
learn that the honorable business to which he is
commercially wedded was once a game played with
a cold deck. Perhaps he will consider coincident
episodes; will conclude that the free lunch of the
saloon in the reign of Demon Rum had an allure-
ment similar to that of the something-for-nothing
hand-out of the piano trade. The student will read
in his general history of times we now may call
recent, how the boss or the bartender frequently
observed the sociable function of "setting 'em up."
It was, the student will be told, one of the ways the
customers were lured to the demonrumeries.
Parallel Cases.
The incidents of the wet days in the old United
States set forth in one book will be duplicated by
stories and descriptions of the guess days in the
same old realm in another book. And the reader
will marvel at the unwisdom of piano dealers who
encouraged a weakness in human nature by adver-
tising the free stool, bench, scarf hand-out. That
was bad, but it was harmless compared to the puzzle
and contest sales in which every deal was a doubt- •
ful asset.
Of course one cannot compare the puzzle and
guess contest sales which we now regard as past
and the legitimate ones necessary in certain circum-
stances. One represents an obsession of the trade:
the other its normal wisdom. For the trade will
always have its special sales. The special sale ap-
peals to the people who appreciate the value of
money, and while looking for a chance to save some
are nevertheless not anxious to practice false econv
omy by overlooking piano values. When that kind
buy, the instrument may be considered finally sold
when it is delivered. The chances that they will fail
in their payments are small.
The puzzle and other kinds of contests for encour-
aging piano sales were contrary to the fundamen-
tals of good business. They aroused an hysterical
desire to get a piano on a gambling chance. They
appealed to those whose only hope of getting a piano
lay in getting it for nothing, or next to nothing.
The dealer usually took chances in selling to pros-
pects discovered by the guess contest means.
29
TRADE HAPPENINGS
ARE TOLD IN BRIEF
Views and Beliefs of Live Piano Merchants Ar«
Presented,
Fred J Lanshe has bought out his partner, Frank
D. Hartman, in the music house of Hart & Lanshe,
Allentown, Pa.
The Robelen Piano Co., Wilmington, Del., has be-
gun extensive alterations and improvements in the
store at 710 Market street.
L. D. Marsh has bought out the talking machine
department of the Ritter Music Shop, Spokane, Wash.
The Adora Phonograph Company, Detroit, opened
its tenth retail store in that city last week.
The Fulton Music Shop, 303 Bergenline avenue,
Hoboken, N. J., has been opened.
Schrader's Music Store, Escanaba and Ishpeming,
Mich., has purchased the talking machine business
of P. H. Sperry, Marinette.
The Hawthorne phonograph, made in Los An-
geles, Calif., is handled by the Southern California
Hardwood & Manufacturing Co., 1430 S. Alameda
street, in that city.
The Vit talking machine has been added to the
line of J. K. Morgan in the Leiter Building Store, in
Chicago.
Columbia Grafonola dealers of New Orleans
and vicinity met recently at the Grunewald Hotel.
About fifty dealers were present. The following
spoke: O." F. Bertz, A. B. Creel, H. P. Wise, W. W.
Quaid, E. L. Estes and J. B. Lillybridge.
The Willers Co., phonograph manufacturers, Chi-
cago, recently moved from 550 West Lake street to
728 West Madison street. The company makes the
Wilier Baby Grand phonograph.
SELLING BY 'PHONE.
EVERY MAN. WHETHER
Directly or Indirectly Interested in
Pianos, Phonographs or the General
Music Trade
Should have the three booklets compris-
PRESTO TRADE LISTS
No. 1—Directory of the Music Trades—
the Dealers List.
No. 2—The Phonograph Directory—the
Talking Machine List.
No. 3—Directory of the Music Industries
(Manufacturers, Supplies, etc., of
all kinds).
Price, each book, 25 cents.
The three books combined contain the
only complete addresses and classified
lists of all the various depart-
ments of the music indus-
tries and trades.
Choice of these books and also a copy of
the indispensable "Presto Buyer's Guide,"
will be sent free of charge to new sub-
scribers to Presto, the American Music
Trade Weekly, at $2 a year.
You. want Presto; you want the Presto
Trade Lists. They cost little and return
much. Why not have them?
Published by
Presto Publishing Co.
407 So. Dearborn St.,
CHICAGO, ILL.
The advanced methods of selling phonograph rec-
ords in Terre Haute, lnd., are described by the
Kansas City Journal for the benefit of dealers there:
"By means of a novel mechanical attachment patrons
of a large music firm in Terre Haute, lnd., are
enabled to sit at home and listen to phonographic
records being tried out for their benefit by a clerk
in the store. Upon the arrival of a new consign-
ment of records the clerk rings up his regular cus-
tomer in the city or surrounding territory by tele-
phone and together they go over the titles until
they come to one which the customer believes he
would like to add to his collection. At his request
the clerk tries it out on the phonograph, which is
connected, through the new device by telephone
wire with the customer's home."
WOOL SUBSTITUTES.
Tests are being conducted at the textile institute at
Leeds, England, in manufacturing by a chemical
process artificial wool from cellulose derived from
cotton waste. These efforts are said to have been
very successful, and although the substance is only
a substitute for wool it is said to have great wearing
possibilities, especially if used with other fabrics.
There was no difficulty in using the substitute on
woolen machines with 50 per cent natural wool or
working the machinery with wholly artificial wool.
Experiments in dyeing the new material are also
said to have succeeded very well.
FOR INLAID EFFECTS.
Here is a hint for piano manufacturers and per-
haps also furniture manufacturers who may contem-
plate making inlaid goods, says the Kansas City
Journal. Good lines and nicely figured woods ap-
pear to be sufficient decoration, which is as it should
be. It is foolishness to try to paint the lily, and
it is hard to imagine any person craving for any-
thing more handsome than a nicely figured piece of
walnut or mahogany.
HIGH G R A D E
CHANGE AT FRANKLIN, IND.
Dealers' Attention Solicited.
J. T. Phillips has sold his Ideal Music Co., at
Franklin, lnd., and is temporarily out of business.
Mr. Phillips has been in ill health for some time and
decided to dispose of his business and recuperate.
Folding Organs
School Organs
Practice Keyboards
A. L. WHITE MFG. CO.
315 West 6£4 Place, CHICAGO* ILL.
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/
June 19, 1920.
RECALLS AN EVIL
OF THE TRADE
The Contest and Puzzle Sale, Admittedly a
Thing of the Past, Viewed in Compari-
son with the Legitimate Effort
in Retailing
It is only a short time ago that the puzzle and
guessing contest sales were so common they gave
a very undesirable character to the piano business.
Of course at the same time there were regular sales
conducted on a legitimate basis and these helped to
nullify the harmful effects of the guessing kind.
Some of the latter were so dishonest it dignifies
them to rank as sales. A stronger and uglier word
has frequently been used to characterize them.
But there were varieties in the guessing sale. It
had no standard, but it was possible to grade it. One
dealer said, "They're all wrong, but some of 'em
are damn wrong.'' These were graded by the ca-
pacity of the promoter for deception and misrepre-
sentation. In each sale of the kind the dealer was
particeps criminis and his bit was a share of the
ill-gotten gains.
Job for Historian.
Some interesting chapters will be written about
the contest sale when someone gets down to write a
history of the piano trade. Able men like Alfred
Dolge have set down the surprising facts in the
6 7 Years of Improved Effort Are
Behind Every Piano Turned Out by
CABLE&SONS
THE OLD RELIABLE
ESTABLISHED 1852
Factory and Offices:
550-552 West 38th Street
NEW YORK
history of the piano manufacturing industry. Of
course someone will do a similar job for the retail
trade and in that the "dark age," the puzzle contest
era of hornswoggling episodes will necessarily be ex-
tensively treated. The contest days did not cover
so much time, but they created an effluvia that makes
them memorable.
In the highly ethical age that the Better Business
Bureau is building, the conscientious salesman or
dealer will read the puzzle contest chapters of the
history with amazement. He will be shocked to
learn that the honorable business to which he is
commercially wedded was once a game played with
a cold deck. Perhaps he will consider coincident
episodes; will conclude that the free lunch of the
saloon in the reign of Demon Rum had an allure-
ment similar to that of the something-for-nothing
hand-out of the piano trade. The student will read
in his general history of times we now may call
recent, how the boss or the bartender frequently
observed the sociable function of "setting 'em up."
It was, the student will be told, one of the ways the
customers were lured to the demonrumeries.
Parallel Cases.
The incidents of the wet days in the old United
States set forth in one book will be duplicated by
stories and descriptions of the guess days in the
same old realm in another book. And the reader
will marvel at the unwisdom of piano dealers who
encouraged a weakness in human nature by adver-
tising the free stool, bench, scarf hand-out. That
was bad, but it was harmless compared to the puzzle
and contest sales in which every deal was a doubt- •
ful asset.
Of course one cannot compare the puzzle and
guess contest sales which we now regard as past
and the legitimate ones necessary in certain circum-
stances. One represents an obsession of the trade:
the other its normal wisdom. For the trade will
always have its special sales. The special sale ap-
peals to the people who appreciate the value of
money, and while looking for a chance to save some
are nevertheless not anxious to practice false econv
omy by overlooking piano values. When that kind
buy, the instrument may be considered finally sold
when it is delivered. The chances that they will fail
in their payments are small.
The puzzle and other kinds of contests for encour-
aging piano sales were contrary to the fundamen-
tals of good business. They aroused an hysterical
desire to get a piano on a gambling chance. They
appealed to those whose only hope of getting a piano
lay in getting it for nothing, or next to nothing.
The dealer usually took chances in selling to pros-
pects discovered by the guess contest means.
29
TRADE HAPPENINGS
ARE TOLD IN BRIEF
Views and Beliefs of Live Piano Merchants Ar«
Presented,
Fred J Lanshe has bought out his partner, Frank
D. Hartman, in the music house of Hart & Lanshe,
Allentown, Pa.
The Robelen Piano Co., Wilmington, Del., has be-
gun extensive alterations and improvements in the
store at 710 Market street.
L. D. Marsh has bought out the talking machine
department of the Ritter Music Shop, Spokane, Wash.
The Adora Phonograph Company, Detroit, opened
its tenth retail store in that city last week.
The Fulton Music Shop, 303 Bergenline avenue,
Hoboken, N. J., has been opened.
Schrader's Music Store, Escanaba and Ishpeming,
Mich., has purchased the talking machine business
of P. H. Sperry, Marinette.
The Hawthorne phonograph, made in Los An-
geles, Calif., is handled by the Southern California
Hardwood & Manufacturing Co., 1430 S. Alameda
street, in that city.
The Vit talking machine has been added to the
line of J. K. Morgan in the Leiter Building Store, in
Chicago.
Columbia Grafonola dealers of New Orleans
and vicinity met recently at the Grunewald Hotel.
About fifty dealers were present. The following
spoke: O." F. Bertz, A. B. Creel, H. P. Wise, W. W.
Quaid, E. L. Estes and J. B. Lillybridge.
The Willers Co., phonograph manufacturers, Chi-
cago, recently moved from 550 West Lake street to
728 West Madison street. The company makes the
Wilier Baby Grand phonograph.
SELLING BY 'PHONE.
EVERY MAN. WHETHER
Directly or Indirectly Interested in
Pianos, Phonographs or the General
Music Trade
Should have the three booklets compris-
PRESTO TRADE LISTS
No. 1—Directory of the Music Trades—
the Dealers List.
No. 2—The Phonograph Directory—the
Talking Machine List.
No. 3—Directory of the Music Industries
(Manufacturers, Supplies, etc., of
all kinds).
Price, each book, 25 cents.
The three books combined contain the
only complete addresses and classified
lists of all the various depart-
ments of the music indus-
tries and trades.
Choice of these books and also a copy of
the indispensable "Presto Buyer's Guide,"
will be sent free of charge to new sub-
scribers to Presto, the American Music
Trade Weekly, at $2 a year.
You. want Presto; you want the Presto
Trade Lists. They cost little and return
much. Why not have them?
Published by
Presto Publishing Co.
407 So. Dearborn St.,
CHICAGO, ILL.
The advanced methods of selling phonograph rec-
ords in Terre Haute, lnd., are described by the
Kansas City Journal for the benefit of dealers there:
"By means of a novel mechanical attachment patrons
of a large music firm in Terre Haute, lnd., are
enabled to sit at home and listen to phonographic
records being tried out for their benefit by a clerk
in the store. Upon the arrival of a new consign-
ment of records the clerk rings up his regular cus-
tomer in the city or surrounding territory by tele-
phone and together they go over the titles until
they come to one which the customer believes he
would like to add to his collection. At his request
the clerk tries it out on the phonograph, which is
connected, through the new device by telephone
wire with the customer's home."
WOOL SUBSTITUTES.
Tests are being conducted at the textile institute at
Leeds, England, in manufacturing by a chemical
process artificial wool from cellulose derived from
cotton waste. These efforts are said to have been
very successful, and although the substance is only
a substitute for wool it is said to have great wearing
possibilities, especially if used with other fabrics.
There was no difficulty in using the substitute on
woolen machines with 50 per cent natural wool or
working the machinery with wholly artificial wool.
Experiments in dyeing the new material are also
said to have succeeded very well.
FOR INLAID EFFECTS.
Here is a hint for piano manufacturers and per-
haps also furniture manufacturers who may contem-
plate making inlaid goods, says the Kansas City
Journal. Good lines and nicely figured woods ap-
pear to be sufficient decoration, which is as it should
be. It is foolishness to try to paint the lily, and
it is hard to imagine any person craving for any-
thing more handsome than a nicely figured piece of
walnut or mahogany.
HIGH G R A D E
CHANGE AT FRANKLIN, IND.
Dealers' Attention Solicited.
J. T. Phillips has sold his Ideal Music Co., at
Franklin, lnd., and is temporarily out of business.
Mr. Phillips has been in ill health for some time and
decided to dispose of his business and recuperate.
Folding Organs
School Organs
Practice Keyboards
A. L. WHITE MFG. CO.
315 West 6£4 Place, CHICAGO* ILL.
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).