Presto
Issue: 1923 1912 - Page 4
PRESTO
The American Music Trade Weekly
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT 407 SOUTH DEAR-
BORN STREET, OLD COLONY BUILDING, CHICAGO, ILL.
Editors
C. A. DANIELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234. Private Phones to all De-
partments. Cable Address (Commercial Cable Co.'s Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the Post Office,
under Act of March 3, 1879.
Chicago. Illinois,
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4. Payable In advance. No extra
charge in United States possessions, Cuba and Mexico.
Address all communications for the editorial or business departments to PRESTO
PUBLISHING CO., 407 So. Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
Advertising Rates:—Five dollars per inch (13 ems pica) for single insertions.
Complete schedule of rates for standing cards and special displays will be furnished
on request. The Presto does not sell its editorial space. Payment Is not accepted for
articles of descriptive character or other matter appearing in the news columns. Busi-
ness notices will be indicated by the word "advertisement" In accordance with the
Act of August 24, 1912.
Photographs of general trade interest are always welcome, and when used, if of
special concern, a charge will be made to cover cost of the engravings.
Rates for advertising in Presto Year Book Issue and Export Supplements of
Presto will be made known upon application. Presto Year Book and Export Issues
have the most extensive circulation of any periodicals devoted to the musical In-
strument trades and industries in all parts of the world, and reach completely and
effectually all the houses handling musical instruments of both the Eastern and West-
ern hemispheres.
Presto Buyers' Guide is the only reliable index to the American Pianps and
Player-Pianos, it analyzes all instruments, classifies them, gives accurate estimates
of their value and contains a directory of their manufacturers.
Items of news and other matter of general interest to the music trades are in-
vited and when accepted will be paid for. All communications should be addressed to
Presto Publishing Co., 407 So. Dearborn Street. Chicago, III.
SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 1923
PRESTO CORRESPONDENCE
IT IS NOT CUSTOMARY WITH THIS PAPER TO PUBLISH REGU-
LAR CORRESPONDENCE FROM ANY POINTS. WE, HOWEVER,
HAVE RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVES IN NEW YORK, BOSTON,
SAN FRANCISCO, PORTLAND, CINCINNATI, INDIANAPOLIS, MIL-
WAUKEE AND OTHER LEADING MUSIC TRADE CENTERS, WHO
KEEP THIS PAPER INFORMED OF TRADE EVENTS AS THEY HAP-
PEN. AND PRESTO IS ALWAYS GLAD TO RECEIVE REAL NEWS
OF THE TRADE FROM WHATEVER SOURCES ANYWHERE AND
MATTER FROM SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS, IF USED, WILL BE
PAID FOR AT SPACE RATES. USUALLY PJANO MERCHANTS OR
SALESMEN IN THE SMALLER CITIES, ARE THE BEST OCCA-
SIONAL CORRESPONDENTS. AND THEIR ASSISTANCE IS INVITED.
ADVERTISING INFORMATION
Forms close promptly at noon every Thursday. News matter for
publication should be in not later than eleven o'clock on the same
day. Advertising copy should be in hand before Tuesday, five p. m.,
to insure preferred position. Full page display copy should be in
hand by Monday noon preceding publication day. Want advs. for cur-
rent week, to insure classification, must be at office of publication not
later than Wednesday noon.
OLD PIANO NAMES
There are indications that even the men responsible for the pro-
motion of some pianos do not know much about the possibilities of
their offices. They have in charge pianos whose very names might
be made to work wonders ; names of traditional power, the magic of
which might be the basis of quick fortunes. But the men in charge
seem to have little understanding of the latent influences which may
have become obscured by the mold or the debris of a few inert or
neglected years.
On the other hand, there are instances wherein the lamps of
Aladdin have been polished, and pianos which had fallen to forgetful-
ness have been restored to power and attendant profits. The names
of such pianos are familiar to experienced dealers, and the public
knows them and readily adds to their value because the names are
there.
What is the commercial advantage of a great piano name? How-
does it happen to possess a value counted up in the thousands—per-
haps hundreds of thousands? It isn't always because the piano itself
is vastly better than all other pianos.
Of course, a piano bearing a great name must be a good one ; it
must be so. good as to withstand comparison with the best. But the
commercial influence is in the fact that the name in itself is a guaran-
tee to the public of merit. Every piano salesman knows that a good
proportion of his prospects will at once consider an instrument of
established name. A few will have no other. The name is an abso-
March 17, 1923
lute sign and signal that the piano is a good one, or even an artistic
one. And in such cases the sale is assured and the profit is adequate.
The dealer may not pay a penny for the name, but it nevertheless has
a very considerable value.
And yet, as has been said, there are pianos today the value of
which is not realized by the men who promote them. They are put
forth by powerful industries with the bare statement that they are
well made and possess the requisite variety of case designs. They
may be announced, or coming through, in "uprights, Grands and re-
producing pianos," but beyond that little is said to stimulate trade or
public by making it clear that the instruments possess records of long
and ambitious strivings, and, possibly, of an origin so remote as to add
luster to the names they bear.
A good name "is a long way to success," wrote Chamfort about
people. It applies just as well to pianos. And the ancient Pope said
that the world is "ravished with the whistling of a name." If certain
of the promoters of pianos seemed to know more about the pianos
the progress of which is in their charge, they would do more and bet-
ter whistling about them.
SNOW PICTURES
A good many years ago a composer named Challoner wrote a
piano piece called "Snow Pictures." It was supposed to tell, in the
mystic language of sound, just what the fleecy particles suggested as
they came floating down, and the silhouettes on the frosted window
panes were also deciphered in the pretty melodies and dainty
arpeggios.
During the late brief blizzard in Chicago, the snow banks along
Lake Michigan's shore were utilized to tell other stories, much more
clearly. One of the messages of the snow is repeated elsewhere in
this issue of Presto. It is that of The Cable Company's representa-
tion of the Zenith Radio department. Accompanying the story, as it
came to Presto, was a photograph of the snow into which had been
traced, by many feet, in giant letters, the line that told at once of
The Cable Company's advertising enterprise and the location of the
Zenith supplies. It is to be regretted that the photograph was not
sufficiently strong to serve for the half-tone engravers' purposes,
else a reproduction of the huge sign in the snow would appear with
the story.
The incident of The Cable Company's snow sign of the Zenith
Radio presents one of the latest developments of advertising
ingenuity. Taken from the tall McCormick building, which faces the
lake, at Michigan avenue and Van Buren street, the sign in the snow
gave no intimation that it has been tramped out and not actually
drawn upon an immense white sheet—the sheet of the snow. It was
made by the walkers while the snow was still clean, the soot of the
I. C. R. R. just beginning to fleck the glistening blanket and affording
the needed color which by the tramping feet gave to it the dark
outlines of the great letters, forty feet in height.
Advertising, in this time of the world's progress, is the power that
makes things move. There are piano industries, and retailers, also,
from which issue promotion plans equal to the best of the other en-
terprises in whatever line. And the ingenuity employed with which
to present something absolutely new demands a strain as great in
its department as is the effort, in office and factory, to keep the pianos
themselves at the forefront by reason of beauty of design and per-
fection of musical results.
The piano has grown up out of the lesser things in advertising
into the broadest light of publicity in every possible form until it has
become a kind of guarantee of excellence. And the dissolving snow
is the very latest evidence of it.
SELLING BY SUGGESTION
As with everything else, .advertising changes in its methods no
less than its results. There was a time when advertising that did not
clearly tell what was for sale, and at what price, would not be con-
sidered profitable. Then came the alluring announcements of some-
thing for nothing—the advertising bait designed to pull people into
the stores where salesmen might do the rest. In the piano business
the next step was the publication of puzzle pictures, with large prizes
attached for the successful guessers. And then the coupon contests
which brought the business to the verge of a sort of commercial dis-
repute.
Most of those doubtful systems of printed promotion have passed.
The methods of piano advertising are again clean and in keeping with
the character of the business. And another phase of it has recently
developed which has promise of good results. It is the advertise-
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/
The American Music Trade Weekly
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT 407 SOUTH DEAR-
BORN STREET, OLD COLONY BUILDING, CHICAGO, ILL.
Editors
C. A. DANIELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234. Private Phones to all De-
partments. Cable Address (Commercial Cable Co.'s Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the Post Office,
under Act of March 3, 1879.
Chicago. Illinois,
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4. Payable In advance. No extra
charge in United States possessions, Cuba and Mexico.
Address all communications for the editorial or business departments to PRESTO
PUBLISHING CO., 407 So. Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
Advertising Rates:—Five dollars per inch (13 ems pica) for single insertions.
Complete schedule of rates for standing cards and special displays will be furnished
on request. The Presto does not sell its editorial space. Payment Is not accepted for
articles of descriptive character or other matter appearing in the news columns. Busi-
ness notices will be indicated by the word "advertisement" In accordance with the
Act of August 24, 1912.
Photographs of general trade interest are always welcome, and when used, if of
special concern, a charge will be made to cover cost of the engravings.
Rates for advertising in Presto Year Book Issue and Export Supplements of
Presto will be made known upon application. Presto Year Book and Export Issues
have the most extensive circulation of any periodicals devoted to the musical In-
strument trades and industries in all parts of the world, and reach completely and
effectually all the houses handling musical instruments of both the Eastern and West-
ern hemispheres.
Presto Buyers' Guide is the only reliable index to the American Pianps and
Player-Pianos, it analyzes all instruments, classifies them, gives accurate estimates
of their value and contains a directory of their manufacturers.
Items of news and other matter of general interest to the music trades are in-
vited and when accepted will be paid for. All communications should be addressed to
Presto Publishing Co., 407 So. Dearborn Street. Chicago, III.
SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 1923
PRESTO CORRESPONDENCE
IT IS NOT CUSTOMARY WITH THIS PAPER TO PUBLISH REGU-
LAR CORRESPONDENCE FROM ANY POINTS. WE, HOWEVER,
HAVE RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVES IN NEW YORK, BOSTON,
SAN FRANCISCO, PORTLAND, CINCINNATI, INDIANAPOLIS, MIL-
WAUKEE AND OTHER LEADING MUSIC TRADE CENTERS, WHO
KEEP THIS PAPER INFORMED OF TRADE EVENTS AS THEY HAP-
PEN. AND PRESTO IS ALWAYS GLAD TO RECEIVE REAL NEWS
OF THE TRADE FROM WHATEVER SOURCES ANYWHERE AND
MATTER FROM SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS, IF USED, WILL BE
PAID FOR AT SPACE RATES. USUALLY PJANO MERCHANTS OR
SALESMEN IN THE SMALLER CITIES, ARE THE BEST OCCA-
SIONAL CORRESPONDENTS. AND THEIR ASSISTANCE IS INVITED.
ADVERTISING INFORMATION
Forms close promptly at noon every Thursday. News matter for
publication should be in not later than eleven o'clock on the same
day. Advertising copy should be in hand before Tuesday, five p. m.,
to insure preferred position. Full page display copy should be in
hand by Monday noon preceding publication day. Want advs. for cur-
rent week, to insure classification, must be at office of publication not
later than Wednesday noon.
OLD PIANO NAMES
There are indications that even the men responsible for the pro-
motion of some pianos do not know much about the possibilities of
their offices. They have in charge pianos whose very names might
be made to work wonders ; names of traditional power, the magic of
which might be the basis of quick fortunes. But the men in charge
seem to have little understanding of the latent influences which may
have become obscured by the mold or the debris of a few inert or
neglected years.
On the other hand, there are instances wherein the lamps of
Aladdin have been polished, and pianos which had fallen to forgetful-
ness have been restored to power and attendant profits. The names
of such pianos are familiar to experienced dealers, and the public
knows them and readily adds to their value because the names are
there.
What is the commercial advantage of a great piano name? How-
does it happen to possess a value counted up in the thousands—per-
haps hundreds of thousands? It isn't always because the piano itself
is vastly better than all other pianos.
Of course, a piano bearing a great name must be a good one ; it
must be so. good as to withstand comparison with the best. But the
commercial influence is in the fact that the name in itself is a guaran-
tee to the public of merit. Every piano salesman knows that a good
proportion of his prospects will at once consider an instrument of
established name. A few will have no other. The name is an abso-
March 17, 1923
lute sign and signal that the piano is a good one, or even an artistic
one. And in such cases the sale is assured and the profit is adequate.
The dealer may not pay a penny for the name, but it nevertheless has
a very considerable value.
And yet, as has been said, there are pianos today the value of
which is not realized by the men who promote them. They are put
forth by powerful industries with the bare statement that they are
well made and possess the requisite variety of case designs. They
may be announced, or coming through, in "uprights, Grands and re-
producing pianos," but beyond that little is said to stimulate trade or
public by making it clear that the instruments possess records of long
and ambitious strivings, and, possibly, of an origin so remote as to add
luster to the names they bear.
A good name "is a long way to success," wrote Chamfort about
people. It applies just as well to pianos. And the ancient Pope said
that the world is "ravished with the whistling of a name." If certain
of the promoters of pianos seemed to know more about the pianos
the progress of which is in their charge, they would do more and bet-
ter whistling about them.
SNOW PICTURES
A good many years ago a composer named Challoner wrote a
piano piece called "Snow Pictures." It was supposed to tell, in the
mystic language of sound, just what the fleecy particles suggested as
they came floating down, and the silhouettes on the frosted window
panes were also deciphered in the pretty melodies and dainty
arpeggios.
During the late brief blizzard in Chicago, the snow banks along
Lake Michigan's shore were utilized to tell other stories, much more
clearly. One of the messages of the snow is repeated elsewhere in
this issue of Presto. It is that of The Cable Company's representa-
tion of the Zenith Radio department. Accompanying the story, as it
came to Presto, was a photograph of the snow into which had been
traced, by many feet, in giant letters, the line that told at once of
The Cable Company's advertising enterprise and the location of the
Zenith supplies. It is to be regretted that the photograph was not
sufficiently strong to serve for the half-tone engravers' purposes,
else a reproduction of the huge sign in the snow would appear with
the story.
The incident of The Cable Company's snow sign of the Zenith
Radio presents one of the latest developments of advertising
ingenuity. Taken from the tall McCormick building, which faces the
lake, at Michigan avenue and Van Buren street, the sign in the snow
gave no intimation that it has been tramped out and not actually
drawn upon an immense white sheet—the sheet of the snow. It was
made by the walkers while the snow was still clean, the soot of the
I. C. R. R. just beginning to fleck the glistening blanket and affording
the needed color which by the tramping feet gave to it the dark
outlines of the great letters, forty feet in height.
Advertising, in this time of the world's progress, is the power that
makes things move. There are piano industries, and retailers, also,
from which issue promotion plans equal to the best of the other en-
terprises in whatever line. And the ingenuity employed with which
to present something absolutely new demands a strain as great in
its department as is the effort, in office and factory, to keep the pianos
themselves at the forefront by reason of beauty of design and per-
fection of musical results.
The piano has grown up out of the lesser things in advertising
into the broadest light of publicity in every possible form until it has
become a kind of guarantee of excellence. And the dissolving snow
is the very latest evidence of it.
SELLING BY SUGGESTION
As with everything else, .advertising changes in its methods no
less than its results. There was a time when advertising that did not
clearly tell what was for sale, and at what price, would not be con-
sidered profitable. Then came the alluring announcements of some-
thing for nothing—the advertising bait designed to pull people into
the stores where salesmen might do the rest. In the piano business
the next step was the publication of puzzle pictures, with large prizes
attached for the successful guessers. And then the coupon contests
which brought the business to the verge of a sort of commercial dis-
repute.
Most of those doubtful systems of printed promotion have passed.
The methods of piano advertising are again clean and in keeping with
the character of the business. And another phase of it has recently
developed which has promise of good results. It is the advertise-
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).