Presto

PRESTO
WHEN FALL OPENS
IS UNCERTAIN DATE
But the Music Merchant Who Plans Continu-
ously and Disregards the Calendar, An-
ticipates Season's Beginning Automat-
ically and Starts It with Spirit.
ACTIVITY INCREASES
By General Agreement End of Summer Means Be-
ginning of Fall and Time to Start Realizing
New Season's Hopes.
There is no fixed date for the opening of the fall
activities in the music business. Some dealers have
been preparing for the fall sale of 1924 since the
day they first opened their doors away back in a
hopeful past. Every day with them is a preparation
for the days to follow. Every business is the result
of yesterday's.
But most music dealers like to look forward from
the early summer days to a definite day ahead in
September on which they can formally inaugurate a
new season. It is an admirable rule and the ways
of observing it are various. The early fall is a season
when the opportunities for making exhibits of pianos
and other musical commodities are rather plentiful.
State fairs, county fairs, local municipal exhibitions,
furniture shows, fashion shows and other events
where people assemble in considerable numbers and
where onlookers may be impressed with the merits
of manufactured commodities, are most frequent in
fall.
Fianos at Furniture Shows.
As. usual pianos, piano benches and talking ma-
chines were exhibited at the eighth semi-annual fur-
niture market held recently under the auspices of
the Evansville, Ind., Furniture Manufacturers' Asso-
ciation. Retailers from all parts of the United States
and Canada. Mexico and Central and South Amer-
ica were registered among the visitors.
The music dealers of Canton, O., took a leading
iSk Enduring"
^tHardman
The &{ardman J^ine
is a complete line
It comprises a range of artisti-
cally w o r t h y instruments to
please practically every purse:
The Hardman, official piano of
the Metropolitan Opera House;
the Harrington and the Hensel
Pianos in which is found that in-
builtdurabilitythatcharacterizes
all Hardman-made instruments;
the wonderful Hardman Repro-
ducing Piano; the Hardman
Autotone (the perfect player-
piano); and the popular Playo-
tone.
c
1 ISAtI trilll>%Ari 1} r~^i*\/t\ \*J \*s\J,
part in the Autumn Exposition held this week and
eighty displays of music goods added to the attrac-
tiveness of the event. In addition to the displays of
music goods informal concerts were provided by
music houses.
Buyers' Week in Portland.
An annual event of great profit to the wholesale
and retail trade of Portland, Ore., is Buyers' Week,
the twelfth event of the kind being celebrated re-
cently. Buyers' Week is considerably advertised and
every year the number of merchants who atten^l it
shows an increase, and every year the visitors more
and more realize the value of the merchandising ex-
perience afforded by the annual event. The Bush
& Lane Piano Co., Sherman, Clay & Co., the Wiley
B. Allen Co., the Sieberling-Lucas Music Co., all
made Buyers' Week a time for special displays and
the extension of welcome courtesies to the visitors.
After Possible Buyers.
The official opening of fall in big cities like Chi-
cago is the occasion of the movement of families
from one apartment to another. It is a feature of
the season that provides an opportunity for piano
prospect finding by the keen manager of the Cable
Piano Company. The company advertises its willing-
ness to move the pianos of the flitting families free or
to store them if required and of course there are
provisions to the circumstances that are intended to
lead to sales of new pianos.
In San Francisco the music dealers see the way to
piano sales in an effective advertising scheme. The
opportunities are provided by a publication called
Shopping News, a weekly which consists of reprints
of the newspaper advertising of the music dealers
who are members of the Retail Merchants' Associa-
tion of San Francisco. The music dealers' ads are
made more effective by tie-ups with special window
displays in which instruments featured in the ad dis-
plays are also featured in the windows.
And of course these are the days when the piano
and playerpiano are being featured, or about to be
featured in the state or county fairs, to hold their
own with haughty porkers of rising selling prices and
sleek beeves, long of loin and tender in texture.
There are piano houses like the Weaver Piano Co.,
Inc., York, Pa., which continue to see the opportuni-
ties for effective advertising and sure sales in the
ever popular fairs.
NAME FOR NEW STRAUBE
PLAYER PIANO DESIRED
Contest for Most Suitable Announced by C. A. House
Co., Wheeling, W. Va.
The C. A. House Co., Wheeling, W. Va., is one
of the active music firms who takes advantage of
the clever and widespread publicity of the Straube
Piano Co., Hammond, Ind. The Wheeling firm is
representative there for the fine line of pianos and
players made by the Hammond industry and last
week announced the terms of a contest promoted in
the interests of a new Straube player for which the
first prize is one of the new players. In announcing
it the C. A. House Co. said:
"The Straube Piano Co. has just completed a new
model playerpiano, and is offering one of these in-
struments as a prize to the person who suggests the
most suitable name for it.
"Persons desiring to enter this contest may do so
by calling at the C. A. House Music Store, 1141
Market street, Wheeling. There is positively no obli-
gation involved; anyone may enter the contest, and
all have an equal chance of winning. Three promi-
nent judges will select the winning name, and the
winner will be announced soon after the close of the
contest."
September 20, 1924.
JAMES & HOLMSTROM
"STYLE 5" PLAYERPIANO
New Instrument Just Produced a Noteworthy
Addition to a Fine Line of Pianos
and Players.
The James & Holmstrom Piano Co., Inc., Alex-
ander avenue and 132nd street, New York City, has
introduced a new style playerpiano, "Style 5," in
the line of James & Holmstrom instruments. It is
a playerpiano in which excellence in tone, fine ma-
terial and efficient workmanship is combined and
economics in quantity manufacture enable the manu-
facturer to sell it at a price alluring to the dealer
keen for dependable instruments throughout his en-
tire line.
To such a buyer James & Holmstrom quality is
manifest in every feature of the new playerpiano.
The careful dealer insisting on quality plus reason-
ableness in price is certain to be interested in
"Style 5."
The height of the new playerpiano is four feet
seven inches, the length five feet, one and one-half
inches, and the depth two feet, four inches.
The scale is perfectly co-ordinated throughout and
the tone is full, rich and exceedingly sonorous.
The case is classic in style and artistic in design
and is made in mahogany, walnut or oak. Mission
or special finishes to order, and the finish may be
ordered satin or bright.
The equipment: Full bronze plate, copper bass
strings, bushed tuning pins, brass hardware. Special
repeating piano action, patent re-enforced waterproof
hammers. Equipped with the standard pneumatic-
player action, which contains all those refinements
requisite in a perfect playerpiano, including automatic
tracker, metal tubes, and divided hammer rail, which
enables the operator to soften the bass or treble to
bring out the melody.
The electric form is furnished when desired, with
electric motor as a combined electric and foot player;
or with electric motor expression device that "plays
with the soul of the artist" and reproduces his art.
GALESBURG MANAGER RESIGNS.
Charles L. Day has recently resigned as manager
of the Music Shop, Galesburg, 111., operated by
Kellogg, Drake & Co., and is leaving for Florida this
week, where he will enter the real estate business.
Fire recently damaged conetnts of the Main Furni-
ture Co. in Main street, Buffalo, N. Y., with a loss
estimated at $6,000.
The Best Yet
Graceful lines, rugged construc-
tion, moderately priced. It's the
very best commercial piano from
every standpoint.
IN OLD KENTUCKY.
"I am bringing a fresh stock of playerpianos from
the factory to Lebanon this week," says C. H.
Bohannon, of Lebanon, Ky. "These pianos can be
sold on the installment plan with very easy payments.
Have in stock one high-grade straight piano that
has been used some. This can be purchased very
reasonably. Its original price was $450. I also have
one large church organ which if bought today would
cost not less than $300. This can be had now for
less than one-third its actual cost. Don't forget I
am in business opposite the Citizens Bank."
NEW PADUCAH DEALER.
The Harry Edwards Music Co. is the title of a
new music business at 120 South Third street, Padu-
cah, Ky., which handles the line of pianos and players
made by the Jesse French & Sons Piano Co., New-
castle, Ind. The new company will also handle a
complete line of talking machine records and player
rolls, and its expressed aim is to be one of the best
equipped music stores in the city. Mr. Edwards has
had broad experience in music store salesmanship.
He has been engaged in this business for the last
seventeen years.
Style 32—4 ft. 4 in.
WESER
Pianos and Players
- Sell Readily—Stay Sold
Send to-day for catalogue, prices and
details of our liberal financing plan
Weser Bros., Inc.
520 to 528 W . 43rd St., New York
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