Presto

PRESTO
The American Music Trade Weekly
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT 407 SOUTH DEAR-
BORN STREET, OLD COLONY BUILDING, CHICAGO, ILL.
C. A. DANIELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT
Editors
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 Pianos 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, APRIL 14, 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.
INSTRUMENT OF IMMORTALS
Whether it came as the suggestion of one of the numberless
pianists who have expressed their admiration for the Steimvay piano,
or whether it was an inspirational flash of the publicity department,
it is certain that "The Instrument of the Immortals" perfectly fits the
famous piano from New York. Any one interested in pianos may
easily realize just why the descriptive phrase seems to belong- to the
Steinway. The list of great artists who have flashed across the mus-
ical firmament seems to embrace a majority of such as have left
undying" memories. From Liszt to Godowsky, from Rubinstein to
Paderewski, on through the list of immortals, past and present, there
is the entwining- of the name of Steinway. It is a marvelous record,
and one in which every possessor of a Steinway piano has a share, and
every piano dealer a substantial interest.
"The Instrument of the Immortals"—the term would seem al-
most grotesque if applied to some other pianos. The piano manu-
facturers themselves will admit that. There are- many fine instru-
ments produced in this country, by progressive and successful in-
dustries. Some of them have gained descriptive symbols and phrases
not unlike that of the Steinway, and yet not just like it. "The In-
strument of the Immortals" is based upon the facts that are unde-
niably associated with the artists whose lives and genius entitle them
to immortality, as we mortals recognize it. Follow the names of the
great pianists by that of a piano by which the interpretative genius
was given expression. What piano is it? There is the test of the
April 14, 1923
fitness of the suggestive, almost daring Steinway phrase. It has be-
come so closely associated with the Steinway piano as to seem almost
a part of it and inseparable from it.
The Steinway piano is not yet quite three-quarters of a century
old. But it is probably the most famous instrument in the world, and
years do not always make a man or his works great. But years do
build up experience, and the accumulated results of seventy-six years
in the perfecting of the Steinway piano is what we have today in
"The Instrument of the Immortals." And a really fine consideration in
this connection is that the Steinway has no jealous rivalries, and no
competitors who would refuse their indorsement or withhold their
approbation.
CONVENTION FEATURES
The June convention will be marked by several unusual features.
One will be the High School band contests. It will draw an im-
mense number of people from outside the immediate ranks of the in-
dustry and trade. Another is the advertising contest. Nothing has
deeper interest to business than advertising.
The style of piano advertising has changed greatly of late years.
The old time schemes for winning publicity have passed, and a better
system now prevails. Today many bright minds and able executives
are busy with exclusive problems of piano publicity. Mr. Dennis, who
largely fashions the enterprises of the National Bureau of.Music In-
dustries, is a former advertising man.
He knows what is needed to draw public attention. Mr. Byrne,
of the largest "combination" of piano "divisions" in New York, is a
trained advertising expert. He has "made" more "artists" in a public
way than any impressario. Mr. Vogel, the advertising man of the
Kohler Industries, is one of the recognized experts in publicity work.
Mr. Stein is doing the publicity work for several New York pianos,
including the Hardman, the Premier Grand and the Jacob Doll lines.
He knows all about the convention work, also.
In Chicago several of the foremost piano industries have advertis-
ing specialists who know what the trade and public need. Mr. C. E.
Byrne and Mr. Murphy of the Steger interests; Mr. Hadley, of The
Cable Company publicity department; Mr. Kiehn, of Gulbransen-Dick-
inson Co.; Mr. John Rayborne Bayley, of the Story & Clark Piano
Co. publicity; Mr. Jones, of the j . P. Seeburg Piano Co., and a num-
ber of others, represent good examples of what the large manufactur-
ers are doing.
The retailers usually prepare their own "copy." It is for them
that the advertising feature has been injected into the Convention
programme. And there are other good special features which will
help to brighten things at the Drake, in Chicago, the first week in
June. Any piano dealer—any member of any branch of the trade who
can get to Chicago, and doesn't, will make a big mistake.
OLD PIANO INDUSTRIES
There are no really old piano industries in this country, in the
sense of things that are old in lands across the sea. England has in
active operation today piano industries the beginnings of which date
back two hundred years. By a coincidence the Broadwood piano, of
London, celebrates its two hundredth anniversary this year, making
a record just twice that of the dickering, of Boston, which, on the
very day of this Presto's issue, passes its one hundredth birthday.
The Broadwood is by far the oldest of all existing piano indus-
tries. The next in line is also an English instrument—that of Collard
& Collard, founded in 1760 and still an active reality.
In Germany there is a record running back to 1794—that of the
famous Ibach & Sohn piano, and in France the proud record of the
Erard dates back to 1779.
So that, like the nation itself, we of the piano can not make much
of a boast of running back into the centuries. And it is this fact that
prompts the Boston industry to consider this a red-letter year, and to
celebrate its passing with rather elaborate demonstrations. For, if
all the records are correct, the Boston instrument may date back to,
with a'single exception, the earliest beginning of all existing Ameri-,
can pianos. The exception, if the traditions and historical researches
of experts are reliable, is the Bacon piano, of New York. For that
instrument has been credited with having been established in 1789, or
just thirteen years after the birth of the nation.
However correct, or otherwise, the records of American piano
making may be, it is certain that the Chickering has made history, not
only for longevity but in the inventive spirit by which its career has
been marked. Its founder is given credit for the introduction of the
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