Presto
Issue: 1924 1955 - Page 8
presto
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY.
Published Every Saturday at 417 South Dearborn
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
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.
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the
Post Office, Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4.
Payable in advance. No extra charge in United States
possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising on
application.
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if
of general interest to the music trade will be paid for
at space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen
in the smaller cities are the best occasional corre-
spondents, and their assistance is invited.
Forms close at noon every Thursday. News mat-
ter 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 current
week, to insure classification, must not be later than
Wednesday noon.
Address all communications for the editorial or business
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1924.
PRESTO
arrived and music rolls had become familiar.
But to have prophecied the reproducing piano,
as we now have it, would have courted
ridicule.
Of course, there were grand pianos. Even
the parlor grands had become familiar in the
stores. But the little grands of today had not
been thought of. As to prices—well, that's
another story!
Forty years is a long time in any modern
trade. Changes come quickly. They have
come to the music trade. But the workers in
the music trade and industry are no less eager
and pushing today than they were when this
old trade paper started, with, of course, the
added impetus of this day of advanced meth-
ods and vastly larger outlook and possibilities.
There are some aspects of this paper's long-
life which tempt indulgence in what might be
considered boastfulness. But it is easy to re-
sist any such tendency, and to merely extend
assurances of appreciation to the interests
which have loyally sustained us through the
years, in the hope that we may all be here to
say all this again when another forty years
shall have passed even more prosperously
T \
awav
TRADE INFLUENCE
In every line of retail business, in every
city, there are houses so organized and con-
FROM 407 TO 417.
ducted that they exercise an influence far be-
The offices of Presto Publishing Co. have bten re- yond the immediate interests for which they
moved just one door south of former location on
South Dearborn street, Chicago. The new number are specially designed. In all cities there are
is 417 South Dearborn street, and only change of the stores with such standing in the public mind
0 to 1 is required to have it correct. Presto has been that they are quoted as possessing the qual-
within fifty feet of its present location for nearly
thirty-five years. In its new and larger quarters it ities which, in the best sense, represent the
will be better than ever equipped to meet the require- valuable asset of good will.
ments of a steadily increasing business. Remember
It is so in the piano business perhaps to a
to change your records to—
PRESTO PUBLISHING CO.,
more pronounced degree than most others be-
417 South Dearborn Street, Chicago.
cause the instrument of music is still regarded
with something like mystery, due to lack of
technical knowledge c o n c e r n i n g its finer
OUR FORTIETH YEAR
points.
In a few weeks Presto will reach its forti-
Apply what has been said to any city. You
eth birthday. We regard this fact as a not- can easily name the larger business houses
able one because it suggests that this paper and, whether or not they are representative
has arrived at a place from which it can look of the best in quality or are great because of
back over a great stretch of the traveled their nondescript popularity, there will be
road. It can claim to have gained the ex- other and perhaps smaller concerns to which
perience that comes only by contact with men the mind reverts because of their recognized
who have made history in its particular field. dependability and the class of merchandise
It speaks of two score years of observation they persistently represent and recommend.
especially within the domain of the industry
Think over the prominent piano houses in
and trade to which it has been devoted. And
New
York, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis,
that implies a share in the progress of the
Cleveland—any
of the foremost centers of the
material side of music and the transcribing or
trade
in
all
of
the
great states. Why are they
a large part of its history.
conspicuous? Isn't it that the lines of instru-
When this forty-year-old trade paper be-
ments they represent are headed, consistently
gan there were a few large piano industries
and loyally, by some really great piano? And
in this country. Not large as compared with
isn't it equally true that the association of
some of the giants of today, but still large
piano and local house is an asset reciprocal in
in their ambitions and proportionately large
its-nature, benefiting both the industry and the
in their productiveness. And they were all in
retail house in more than a limited sense ?
the east, or nearly all. New York was by far
This allusion to a matter not often discussed
the most important piano point, with Boston
a good second. Chicago made few pianos, but in the trade press is suggested by the an-
nouncement of another advance in the affairs
was getting started.
In those days the square piano still persist- of the Chicago piano house of Grosvenor, Lap-
ed, though it was giving way to the upright ham & Co., whose persistent adherence to
and promised soon to disappear. The reed quality instruments, and to high-class meth-
organ was at the height of its popularity. ods of business is more than a local matter.
There were several large organ industries in It is always a good thing for the retail trade
the West, and their management had not yet everywhere when houses of the kind present
thought of making anything else, and least of evidence of the kind of progress that is in-
evitably suggested by the acquisition of in-
all, pianos.
creased
personal working strength, capital
The playerpiano was no more than a curi-
and
expansion.
Chicago has a number of in-
ous experiment. Automatic reed organs had
January 12, 1924.
fluential piano houses but none of them has a
better claim to success than that of Grosvenor,
Lapham & Company.
FAMILIAR PIANO
NAMES
A good many in the trade will be interested
in the little game of piano name poetic hide-
and seek which has place in this issue of
Presto. The possibility of capturing $100 in
good money may stir piano men to the pleas-
ant effort to discover the familiar names
which are concealed in the verses which are
scattered through the paper. And in this there
seems cause enough for the fluttering of
Pegasus to the point of breaking the speed
limit.
The plan of the diversion is explained on
another page. And in order that there may
be no disappointment to the rough riders who
may not be able to stay to the finish, minor
prizes will be awarded to all who discover at
least six of the familiar piano names and pull
them from their poetic concealment.
It is an original divergence from the cus-
tomary style of trade paper entertainment.
It is instructive. It will afford exercise of the
acquired knowledge of the salesmen, and oth-
ers who think they know all of the famous
piano names. They must all be curious to dis-
cover the names of the instruments they rec-
ommend and sell almost daily. And perhaps
some of the veterans may be surprised to real-
ize that, after all, the familiarity with piano
names is not so thorough but that a few lines
of more or less lilting verse may serve to de-
feat it.
Anyway, it will be worth something to
know how many in the trade will search suc-
cessfully for the hidden names of their favor-
ites. W r e do not expect that very many will
find all of the names, though we may be mis-
taken in this. But the first to find them all
will be ahead just $100, and all who find only
six of them will receive a souvenir well
worth while.
And so "go to it." as almost any modern
poet would say ! Let us have the results of
your research and your familiarity with the
names of the beautiful instruments, some of
which, at least, you must be selling if you are
making any money in your business.
OLD YEAR REVIEWED.
The American people produced more, spent more
and saved more in 1923 than in 1922, the federal re-
serve board said this week in its review of economic
conditions. "A national income larger than in 1922,
arising both out of increased earnings of factory
w r orkers and larger proceeds from the sale of farm
products," the review continued, "furnished the buy-
ing power to absorb the year's increased output of
goods. The income of industrial workers, as the re-
sult of a volume of employment approximately 13 per
cent larger than in 1922 and of wage advances, greatly
exceeded that of the previous year. The year was
characterized by the large industrial output, practi-
cally full employment, a sustained demand for goods,
and a level of prices more stable than in any year
since 1915."
CHARLES PALMER SALES DIRECTOR.
Charles Palmer is the new sales director of the elec-
tric department of the Smith, Barnes & Strohber Co.,
1872 Clybourne avenue. Chicago. Mr. Palmer is an
experienced piano man and has had wide experience
in the coin-operated line, having been associated with
one of the foremost industries of the kind for a long
time.
A. F. ADAMS IS DEAD.
Avon Franklin Adams, head of the Wolfsohn
Musical Bureau since 1910, and before that well
known in the piano trade, died in New York Monday
of this week. He was at one time connected with
Lyon & Healy and with the John Church Company.
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 417 South Dearborn
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
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.
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the
Post Office, Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4.
Payable in advance. No extra charge in United States
possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising on
application.
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if
of general interest to the music trade will be paid for
at space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen
in the smaller cities are the best occasional corre-
spondents, and their assistance is invited.
Forms close at noon every Thursday. News mat-
ter 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 current
week, to insure classification, must not be later than
Wednesday noon.
Address all communications for the editorial or business
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1924.
PRESTO
arrived and music rolls had become familiar.
But to have prophecied the reproducing piano,
as we now have it, would have courted
ridicule.
Of course, there were grand pianos. Even
the parlor grands had become familiar in the
stores. But the little grands of today had not
been thought of. As to prices—well, that's
another story!
Forty years is a long time in any modern
trade. Changes come quickly. They have
come to the music trade. But the workers in
the music trade and industry are no less eager
and pushing today than they were when this
old trade paper started, with, of course, the
added impetus of this day of advanced meth-
ods and vastly larger outlook and possibilities.
There are some aspects of this paper's long-
life which tempt indulgence in what might be
considered boastfulness. But it is easy to re-
sist any such tendency, and to merely extend
assurances of appreciation to the interests
which have loyally sustained us through the
years, in the hope that we may all be here to
say all this again when another forty years
shall have passed even more prosperously
T \
awav
TRADE INFLUENCE
In every line of retail business, in every
city, there are houses so organized and con-
FROM 407 TO 417.
ducted that they exercise an influence far be-
The offices of Presto Publishing Co. have bten re- yond the immediate interests for which they
moved just one door south of former location on
South Dearborn street, Chicago. The new number are specially designed. In all cities there are
is 417 South Dearborn street, and only change of the stores with such standing in the public mind
0 to 1 is required to have it correct. Presto has been that they are quoted as possessing the qual-
within fifty feet of its present location for nearly
thirty-five years. In its new and larger quarters it ities which, in the best sense, represent the
will be better than ever equipped to meet the require- valuable asset of good will.
ments of a steadily increasing business. Remember
It is so in the piano business perhaps to a
to change your records to—
PRESTO PUBLISHING CO.,
more pronounced degree than most others be-
417 South Dearborn Street, Chicago.
cause the instrument of music is still regarded
with something like mystery, due to lack of
technical knowledge c o n c e r n i n g its finer
OUR FORTIETH YEAR
points.
In a few weeks Presto will reach its forti-
Apply what has been said to any city. You
eth birthday. We regard this fact as a not- can easily name the larger business houses
able one because it suggests that this paper and, whether or not they are representative
has arrived at a place from which it can look of the best in quality or are great because of
back over a great stretch of the traveled their nondescript popularity, there will be
road. It can claim to have gained the ex- other and perhaps smaller concerns to which
perience that comes only by contact with men the mind reverts because of their recognized
who have made history in its particular field. dependability and the class of merchandise
It speaks of two score years of observation they persistently represent and recommend.
especially within the domain of the industry
Think over the prominent piano houses in
and trade to which it has been devoted. And
New
York, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis,
that implies a share in the progress of the
Cleveland—any
of the foremost centers of the
material side of music and the transcribing or
trade
in
all
of
the
great states. Why are they
a large part of its history.
conspicuous? Isn't it that the lines of instru-
When this forty-year-old trade paper be-
ments they represent are headed, consistently
gan there were a few large piano industries
and loyally, by some really great piano? And
in this country. Not large as compared with
isn't it equally true that the association of
some of the giants of today, but still large
piano and local house is an asset reciprocal in
in their ambitions and proportionately large
its-nature, benefiting both the industry and the
in their productiveness. And they were all in
retail house in more than a limited sense ?
the east, or nearly all. New York was by far
This allusion to a matter not often discussed
the most important piano point, with Boston
a good second. Chicago made few pianos, but in the trade press is suggested by the an-
nouncement of another advance in the affairs
was getting started.
In those days the square piano still persist- of the Chicago piano house of Grosvenor, Lap-
ed, though it was giving way to the upright ham & Co., whose persistent adherence to
and promised soon to disappear. The reed quality instruments, and to high-class meth-
organ was at the height of its popularity. ods of business is more than a local matter.
There were several large organ industries in It is always a good thing for the retail trade
the West, and their management had not yet everywhere when houses of the kind present
thought of making anything else, and least of evidence of the kind of progress that is in-
evitably suggested by the acquisition of in-
all, pianos.
creased
personal working strength, capital
The playerpiano was no more than a curi-
and
expansion.
Chicago has a number of in-
ous experiment. Automatic reed organs had
January 12, 1924.
fluential piano houses but none of them has a
better claim to success than that of Grosvenor,
Lapham & Company.
FAMILIAR PIANO
NAMES
A good many in the trade will be interested
in the little game of piano name poetic hide-
and seek which has place in this issue of
Presto. The possibility of capturing $100 in
good money may stir piano men to the pleas-
ant effort to discover the familiar names
which are concealed in the verses which are
scattered through the paper. And in this there
seems cause enough for the fluttering of
Pegasus to the point of breaking the speed
limit.
The plan of the diversion is explained on
another page. And in order that there may
be no disappointment to the rough riders who
may not be able to stay to the finish, minor
prizes will be awarded to all who discover at
least six of the familiar piano names and pull
them from their poetic concealment.
It is an original divergence from the cus-
tomary style of trade paper entertainment.
It is instructive. It will afford exercise of the
acquired knowledge of the salesmen, and oth-
ers who think they know all of the famous
piano names. They must all be curious to dis-
cover the names of the instruments they rec-
ommend and sell almost daily. And perhaps
some of the veterans may be surprised to real-
ize that, after all, the familiarity with piano
names is not so thorough but that a few lines
of more or less lilting verse may serve to de-
feat it.
Anyway, it will be worth something to
know how many in the trade will search suc-
cessfully for the hidden names of their favor-
ites. W r e do not expect that very many will
find all of the names, though we may be mis-
taken in this. But the first to find them all
will be ahead just $100, and all who find only
six of them will receive a souvenir well
worth while.
And so "go to it." as almost any modern
poet would say ! Let us have the results of
your research and your familiarity with the
names of the beautiful instruments, some of
which, at least, you must be selling if you are
making any money in your business.
OLD YEAR REVIEWED.
The American people produced more, spent more
and saved more in 1923 than in 1922, the federal re-
serve board said this week in its review of economic
conditions. "A national income larger than in 1922,
arising both out of increased earnings of factory
w r orkers and larger proceeds from the sale of farm
products," the review continued, "furnished the buy-
ing power to absorb the year's increased output of
goods. The income of industrial workers, as the re-
sult of a volume of employment approximately 13 per
cent larger than in 1922 and of wage advances, greatly
exceeded that of the previous year. The year was
characterized by the large industrial output, practi-
cally full employment, a sustained demand for goods,
and a level of prices more stable than in any year
since 1915."
CHARLES PALMER SALES DIRECTOR.
Charles Palmer is the new sales director of the elec-
tric department of the Smith, Barnes & Strohber Co.,
1872 Clybourne avenue. Chicago. Mr. Palmer is an
experienced piano man and has had wide experience
in the coin-operated line, having been associated with
one of the foremost industries of the kind for a long
time.
A. F. ADAMS IS DEAD.
Avon Franklin Adams, head of the Wolfsohn
Musical Bureau since 1910, and before that well
known in the piano trade, died in New York Monday
of this week. He was at one time connected with
Lyon & Healy and with the John Church Company.
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).