Presto

PRESTO
CONVENTION WEEK DISPLAYS
Lines of Music Goods of Many Manufacturers Exhibited at the McAlpin
Hotel and Elsewhere Throughout New York
The displays of instruments by a great number
of piano manufacturers and other makers of music
goods here and there in New York during the week
of the annual trade convention is apart from the
official schedules of the convening associations but
there is no doubt about their importance in the minds
of the exhibitors and many dealers. An official ex-
hibit was discounted at the mid-year meetings of
the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce and the
Xational Piano Manufacturers' Association and a rul-
ing to forego the official exhibit was made.
Then the Protest.
But almost immediately the protests of manufac-
turers and dealers began to be received. They ar-
gued that the ruling was inadvisable; that the dis-
plays of pianos would not minimize the interest in
the meetings of the various associations. Then the
questionnaire of the National Piano Manufacturers'
Association was sent out to find out if the exhibit
feature of the convention was favored by a majority
According to an analysis of the returns, the greater
number of replies were opposed to exhibits. But the
findings seemed to have had no influence to prevent
exhibits. The Hotel McAlpin became available for
displays during the week of the convention and ap-
plications for space began to pour in. The group of
exhibits at the hotel is comparatively large and in
other places throughout the city manufacturers will
show their lines.
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The Cable-Nelson Piano Co., Chicago, will have a
special display of instruments at the Kimberlin Piano
Co., 117 East Thirty-fourth street, the company's rep-
resentative in New York. The Kimberlin Piano Co.
is located one block east of the Waldorf-Astoria
Hotel, and the Cable-Xelson Piano Co. extends an
invitation to all visiting dealers to visit there, where
they will be welcomed and shown the merits of the
line. John H. Parnham, president of the Cable-
Nelson Piano Co, will attend the convention, and a
number of the company's wholesale travelers will also
attend.
* * *
The Schaff Bros. Co., Huntington, Ind., will have
a display of its line of pianos and players at the
McAlpin Hotel, New York, during the convention.
And to show the instruments and meet and greet the
trade C. S. Miller, vice-president of the company, and
a notable force of assistants will be present. With
Mr. Miller will be Julius M. Martin, secretary and
treasurer; A. B. Hart, eastern representative, and
H. A. Griffin, traveler.
* * *
Representatives of the Baldwin Piano Co., who will
be present at the New York headquarters of the com-
pany during the days of the annual convention are:
H. C. Dickinson, Lucien Wulsin, George Wilson,
Walter Abel, P. Wyman, Win. B. Murray, J. B.
Thornton and H. Eadon. School special pianos,
small grands, and reproducing pianos are to be spe-
cial convention features in the Xew York warerooms
of the Baldwin Piano Co., 58 West Fortieth street.
Important facts about the Baldwin piano and the fac-
tory in which it is made are printed in a striking
folder serving as an invitation to stop off in Chicago
and Cincinnati, mailed to the trade last week.
* * *
Visiting piano dealers in Xew York during conven-
tion week will take advantage of the opportunity to
visit the piano warerooms of the P. A. Starck Piano
Co. on Forty-second street, near Sixth avenue, where
1
they will be enable to see the full line of the house.
* * *
The De Kalb Piano Company, De Kalb, 111., will
have an exhibit at the Hotel McAlpin during the
week of the piano conveention in Xew York, the
exhibit to consist of the De Kalb style "SE" Ex-
pression Baby Grand player, and one of the new
style "T" De Kalb Baby Grands in two-tone finish.
Those who will be in charge of the exhibit are E. S.
Rauworth, president; P. E. Mason, vice-president;
and the following from the sales department: M. H.
Mackey, Gordon Laughead, William Plaisted and
E. R. Jones.
* * *
The music dealers interested in a line of uprights,
grands, players, reproducing uprights and reproducing
grands of a character to satisfy the most exacting
trade will have an opportunity to see such an array
convention week in the display of the Haddorff Piano
Co., Rockford, 111., in the New York office of the
company on the twentieth floor of the Bush Terminal
Sales Building on Forty-second street, near Broad-
way.
The great line of the Haddorff instruments makes a
show in itself and every Haddorff is a symbol of fine
piano making attainment. Haddorff pianos and play-
ers are recognized as models of piano artistry and the
opportunity to see the full array is always considered
a privilege by the piano dealers keen to see and study
the best.
W. B. Williams, the widely known Eastern repre-
sentative of the Haddorff Piano Co., will do the hon-
ors at the display in the Bush Terminal Sales Build-
ing. Mr. Williams is generally considered an interest-
ing talker, but when he makes the Haddorff piano his
theme he carries conviction to every listener.
* * *
The fine line of the Schumann Piano Co., Rockford,
111., will be on exhibition in Rooms -412-414, McAlpin
Hotel, New York, during the days of the annual con-
vention of the music trades from June 2 to 7. The
admirable showing of the instruments from the Rock-
ford factory will prove a foremost attraction for the
dealers interested in artistic pianos and players made
by a company of national reputation for producing
pianos of real merit.
W. N. Van Matre, Jr., president of the company,
and E. B. Mclntosh, traveler, will meet the dealers
in the Schumann Piano Co.'s display at the Hotel
McAlpin.
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A complete line of J. P. Seeburg electric and coin-
operated instruments will be shown at rooms 314-316-
318. This showing will be unusually attractive and
the dealer will be accorded the opportunity of viewing
the latest in automatics. The J. P. Seeburg com-
pany's instruments are among the leaders in the
automatic field and a fine exhibit has been arranged
by the company.
The following representatives will be present at
the McAlpin: N. M. Seeburg, Lee S. Jones and trav-
eling representatives.
* * *
Three large rooms at the Hotel McAlpin, New
York, have been engaged for convention display pur-
poses by the Bush & Lane Piano Co., Holland, Mich.
One of these will be devoted to the fine array of
grand pianos made by the company, another for up-
rights and playerpianos and the third for showing and
demonstrating the Bush & Lane Duo-Vox Phono-
graphs.
The company will be represented at the Hotel Mc-
Alpin by Mr. Lane, who is president; C. L. Beach,
secretary; William F. Clevey, sales manager; F. J.
Congleton, Eastern representative and Charles H.
ON THE WAY TO
CONVENTION CITY
(Continued from page 5.)
have sustained an unbroken career of ambitious de-
velopment in the quality of its products.
The Buffalo house will have a display of its up-
rights, grands, players and reproducing pianos at the
Hotel McAlpin during the days of the convention.
* * * *
To the piano man familiar with the old locations
of piano houses in Boston there seems something co-
incidental in the Mason & Hamlin building at 146
Boylston street. The visitor with a memory is re-
minded that the structure is one built for the Mason
& Hamlin Co. about twenty years ag-o. The space,
on the street level floor is now being made ready
for salesrooms. The company now uses the fourth
floor as a salesroom, with general offices on the fifth
floor. It will be one of the most attractive piano
stores of the piano section.
* * * *
The sight of the Steinway building at 14th street
usually starts the reminiscent train in the minds of
the piano trade veterans. It is a dear o'-d spot sug-
gestive of pleasant thoughts; a place of blessed mem-
ory. Steinway & Sons the last to go up town!
Seems like the company had remained there to see
that the others got safely away.
* * * *
Arthur L. Wessell, of Wessell, Nickel & Gross,
Xew York, is back at the factory after several days'
absence. Mr. Wessell is very busy as chairman of
the Golf Tournament Committee, and it is largely due
to his activity that prizes are coming in all the time.
There probably will be a hundred prizes. All the
supply houses, most of the trade papers and piano
manufacturers have already got in their prize
offerings.
May 31, 1924.
Kennedy and W. D. Montgomery, representing the
Bush & Lane line of phonographs in the east.
* * *
The Packard Piano Co , Fort Wayne, Ind., will be
well represented at the convention at the Waldorf-
Astoria, New York, June 1 to 7. A. S. Bond, presi-
dent; Alexis Mahan, sales manager; Richard Hill,
H. B. Harris and Ralph Sperry will be the genial ami
eloquent delegation to be encountered by the dealers
at the convention headquarters.
* * *
- The Hallet & Davis Piano Co., Boston, will have
its headquarters during the National Music Indus-
tries Convention, week of June 1, at the Waldorf-
Astoria, with H. E. Morrison, the New York city
wholesale representative in charge. In addition there
will be a display at the New York offices of the com-
pany, 18 East Forty-second street, also under the
direction of Mr. Morrison.
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r
The Kreiter Mfg. Co., Inc., Milwaukee, will be
represented at the convention in Xew r York,
June 2 to 7, by Conrad Kreiter, president and treas-
urer of the company. Mr. Kreiter will be registered
at the Waldorf-Astoria and will be glad to meet old
friends and make new ones. The old friends of the
Kreiter Mfg. Co. are many and a strong representa-
tion of them is usually encountered at the national
convention. The list is daily growing, but the great
production capacity of the plant at Marinette, Wis,,
which covers seven acres, is equal to caring for the
wants of a big clientele.
The B. K. Settergren Co., Bluffton, Ind., will have
an exhibit of its baby grand pianos in Room 479,
McAlpin Hotel, New York, during the music trades
convention from June 1 to 7. B. K. Settergren, presi-
dent of the company, and Gust A. Anderson, vice-
president, will be in charge and delighted at all times
to show the merits of the line to visiting dealers.
The B. Settergren Co. makes small grand pianos
exclusively and the name of the instrument is that of
an expert piano builder who has had thirty-five years'
experience at the practical work of piano making in
some of the foremost industries. Mr. Settergren's
purpose was to create high grade instruments upon
(Continued on page 12.)
LIVE MEETING OF CHICAGO
PIANO CLUB AT THE SHERMAN
F n e Program and Dinner Is Enjoyed by 136, Which
Was Largest on Record.
The meeting of the Chicago Piano Club, in the
Tiger Room of the Hotel Sherman, at 7:30 p. m.,
Tuesday, May 27th, was a success from every stand-
point. A record attendance was had, the number
being 136, which is 11 more than at any previous
meeting.
The event, which was one of the added member-
ship meetings, had a variety of entertainment and
talks that pleased the audience. Axel Christensen,
well known pianist, entertained with some of his lat-
est hits. Max Kortlander, manager of the Q R S
composing laboratories and author of "Tell Me,"
played some of his recent compositions. Margaret
Bayer, diminutive singer, pleased the audience with
several songs, and a party of five yodelers completed
the entertainmnt.
?\latt Kennedy, secretary of the Xational Associa-
tion of Music Merchants, gave a very interesting talk
on the convention in New York next week. Mr.
Kennedy suggested a resolution on the death of Vic-
tor Herbert, famous composer, which was met with
approval. The resolution will be sent to Mrs. Her-
bert Mr. Kennedy described the late Mr. Herbert
as being one of the world's greatest .artists.
William L. Bush made a very live talk on the value
of organization and co-operation. John McKenna,
president of the club, announced that since the mem-
bership drive was launched on May 9th, ninety-two
new members had been received and that a total of
396 had been reached.
A PERFECTION BENCH DISPLAY.
Frank A. Meter, for many years with Lyon &
Healy, is now associated with A. S. Seville, with
sample room at 900 Republic Building, Chicago,
where they will show a complete line of the products
of the Perfection Piano Bench Mfg. Co., including
piano benches, player roll and radio cabinets. They
will also show the Ottawa Cushion Co. line of bench
cushions and piano scarfs and represent in a general
way the Geib & Schaefer Co. musical instruments.
Mr. Meter has been in the piano bench and scarf
business for over 30 years. He will be glad to meet
his friends in Xew York at the convention. He will
have a complete line of samples of the firms he repre-
sents at the McAlpin all next week.'
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