Presto

PRESTO
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
Published Every Saturday at 407 South Dearborn
Street, Old Colony Building, Chicago, 111.
C. A. DANIELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT
- Editors
Telephones. Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234.
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
mercial Cable Co.'s Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
and extensive piano industries will soon
change hands, become the property of new
owners, and then move much faster than they
have been doing.
That is progress. When a concern becomes
clogged by too much wealth on the part of
the control, it may be worse than as if there
were not enough money in sight to keep the
wheels going. That's the condition in some
instances, possibly. It may be that the man-
agement grows weary and new blood is need-
ed to "get the move on" that is essential in
this busy day. And if the change comes and
the new red blood is injected into the depleted
arteries, that is progress.
The things suggested are going to happen
in the piano industry east and west. Change
is a good thing, very often. The piano is a
live thing. Its manufacture is attractive to
capital. It isn't possible, at this time, to sup-
ply the dealers' demands. Why, then, suppose
that no change is possible?
August 4, 1923
WAYS TO CELEBRATE
GRAND OPENING
Suggestions for Celebrating the Important
Event in Charleston, W. Va., Submitted
to S. H. Galperin, the Progressive
Dealer There.
The Galperin Music Shop, which carries "every-
thing musical," at 21 Capital street, Charleston,
W. Va., is about to celebrate an important event, and
S. H. Galperin, its progressive owner, desires sug-
gestions for effective means to make the celebration
. Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4.
Payable in advance. No extra charge in United States
of general interest. In a letter to Presto this week
possessions, Cuba and Mexicq. Rates for advertising on
he says:
application.
"Gentlemen: We will appreciate if you will ad-
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if
vise us what sort of an entertainment, prizes, etc.,
of general interest to the music trade will be paid for
can be used for an opening night. We are about to
at space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen
move into our new four-story building. Any infor-
in the smaller cites 2re the best occasional corre-
mation that you may be able to give us will be very
spondents, and their assistance is invited.
much appreciated."
Frrms c'ose at nocn every Thursday. News mat-
Conventional Way.
ter should be in not later than eleven o'clock on the
The conventional way is to engage a local orches-
same day. Advertising copy should be in hand before
Tuesday, five p. m., to insure preferred position. Full
tra which may possess any one of the three degrees
page display copy should be in hand by Monday noon
of proficiency—be good performers, indifferent play-
preceding publication day. Want advs. for current
Have you ever noticed: That the biggest ers or bad ones. To the accompaniment of the
week, to insure classification, must not be later than bargain in the store window is some other fel- music the invited adult public saunters through the
Wednesday nocn.
or remodeled warerooms, admires the pianos, or
low's piano ;that the ad of the mail order house new
listens to the phonographs, in the intervals between
Address all communications for the editorial or business
tunes by t,he orchestra. Or the visitors, if they are
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 407 So. piano reads like poetry while the piano itself
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
sounds like blankety-blank verse; that the staid and decorous, may meet the owner and con-
man who gives himself airs is windy; that gratulate him; if they are natural, light-hearted girls
they may flirt with the handsome salesmen; if young
SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 1923.
the knocker invariably calls himself a critic; men they may have a joshing bout with the pretty
that an obstinate man doesn't hold opinions, saleswomen, but no matter how they proceed an
but they hold him; that many a bright pros- enjoyable time will be had by all.
MOUTH HARPS
But even without suggestions from anybody Mr.
For the first time in the history of the trade, pect is queered by too much chin music; that Galperin is too progressive a music merchant to be
, the humble little "harmonica'' is being pro- the knock of the envious competitor is only satisfied with anything conventional or commonplace.
a lively advertiser he will possibly see the way to
moted as an instrument of music. The old- the echo of the public's applause; that every As
provide features for his opening night that will draw
conspicuous
piano
is
not
necessarily
great;
est music dealer alive cannot recall the time
particular attention to the various departments. Right
so remote that "mouth-harps" were not in the that some piano purchasers are happier for to hand are the means to stimulate interest in his
pianos. Conn band instruments, Ludwig drums and
show windows and countercases. And from a lot of things they don't learn; that, although other things in his musical merchandise line.
it
sounds
paradoxical,
working
on
the
level
is
the beginning, so far as the oldest music
Local Amateur Talent.
an uphill fight, and that there's always room
dealer can remember, "Hohner" has been a
at the top in the piano business, but the ele-
A drum rehearsal 1 y the Boy Scout drummers
familiar name.
would prove an event that would give stimulating
vator doesn't run all the way?
publicity to the drum and traps line. Mr. Galperin
But that even the venerable Hohner mouth-
* * *
could, invite all the fiddlers, the old-fashioned bow-
harp should ever be advertised as the source
wielders in Kanawa County to come in some day or
Economy, in its broadest sense, involves the evening to scrape an acquaintance with Charleston
of "haunting, heart-throb harmonies," the
early music dealers could not have dreamed. highest kind of judgment, level-headedness folk and show them the importance of loose-jointed
elbow work in sawing out lively dance music. All
To have foreseen the time of large invest- and breadth of vision in the man with a far- for
the glory and profit of the violin department.
ment in publicity to advise the public to "own reaching piano business. With him the wisest
There must be some good banjoists in Charleston
your own Hohner" would have been impos- economy often requires very lavish advertising and thereabout, and certainly the saxophone bug has
spared the place. And when the ukulele fever
sible. But the time has come. Still more, expenditure, because there may be thousands of not
swept the country it is remembered that Charleston
"the famous Hohner Free Instructor" is now dollars depending on the spending of hundreds. was a!l "het up" over the Hawaiian music. There
featured, and the "monarch of mouth-organs" A certain wise western dealer is one of the need be no lack of materials for features in the Gal-
store and Mr. Galperin is a well known
is urged upon the art-loving public as an in- biggest advertisers in the trade. This spring perin
organizer.
dispenable adjunct to the "front porch" there was the possibility of politics affecting
To Increase Prospect L'st.
piano sales, but he saw his remedy to anything
equipment.
Anything that conduces to the increase in the
And so the little self-taught instrument is retarding progress in piano selling. He doubled prospect list in any music store is good to use on an
no longer the sole interpreter of youthful in- his advertising appropriation for the three occasion of celebration. Offer a reward for the
name and address of the owner of the oldest upright
spiration. It has passed from its comrade- months in which polities were hottest. It is piano
in the neighborhood; for the name and address
ship with the pocket-knife and spinning top, curious to study the different notions of econ- of the owners of old squares and reed organs and
and is no longer the object of juvenile solici- omy of men with pianos to sell. With one facts about their history. Therein are possible wel-
come human interest stories for the newspapers with
tude and barter. It has always been a "good kind it means pinch, with another it means incidental Galperin Music Shop publicity. Many of
r
seller" in all well-appointed music stores. It push. The advertising manager for this W est- the old instruments are closely associated with the
and romantic history of the state. The number
is today more of an item in the music trade ern piano man, strange to say, protested early
of square pianos and reed organs may be few, but
than ever. And whether the greater demand against the increased expenditure at that time. usually there is a sentimental story connected with
them.
for the "harmonica" is evidence of an inferred It was throwing away money, he said.
Sales of new talking machines may be stimulated
musical taste, or a more general music love,
by offering a reward for locating the poorest sound-
doesn't matter at all if the profit in its sale INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE COURT. ing
phonograph and for locating every phonograph
The International Chamber of Commerce has an- purchased more than fifteen years ago.
is as large as it ought to be.
nounced the inauguration of the Court of Commer-
This has been used, but it is always good pub-
cial Arbitration, which took place in Paris on Janu- licity: Offer a prize, open to school children, for
ary 19, 1923. The following sections are in operation: the best essay on the Galperin Music Shop, its his-
CHANGES AND NEW=COMERS
United States, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, tory, growth and influence on the musical culture of
It is common to hear it said that the piano France, Great Britain, Indo-China, Italy, Hungary, Charleston and its surroundings.
Luxemburg, Norway, Netherlands, Poland,
industry is changing. Of course, it is. Noth- Japan,
Sweden, Switzerland, and Czecho-Slovakia. The
PICNIC IN DECATUR, ILL.
ing that stands still is worth much if it is Court of Commercial Arbitration of the International
Chamber
of
Commerce
has
provided
the
nucleus
for
Seventy-five of the employes of the Bruce Piano
supposed to be alive. The piano is a live
the world-wide extension of arbitration facilities and company, Decatur, 111., both from the surrounding
thing and belongs to a live industry.
marks a tremendous advance in the settlement of
cities and from the house in Decatur went to Nelson
It is true that some of the changes impend- trade disputes by amicable means. The president of park last week for a chicken and picnic dinner. They
ing may not at first seem progressive. But the court of arbitration has addressed a letter in came to Decatur for the picnic because of the lake.
he recommends the inclusion in all contracts This will probably be an annual affair and in all prob-
they are, or will prove so in the near future. which
and invoices, as well as conditions of sale, of a clause ability will be held in Decatur each year, is the state-
It is true that one or two of the verv old providing for arbitration.
ment of the Company.
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the
Post Office, Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879.
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