Presto
Issue: 1925 2044 - Page 3
Presto Buyers' Guide
Analyzes and Classifies
All American P i a n o s
and in Detail Tells of
Fheir Makers.
PRESTO
E.tabu,hed 1884. THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
Presto Year Book
The Only Complete
Annual Review of the
American Music In-
dustries and Trades.
to c*nt. s $2.00 « Y«*
CHICAGO, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1925
VISIT TO A GREAT
PIANO INDUSTRY
A Hurried Hour "Going Through" the Busy
Factory of the Jesse French & Sons
Piano Co. Factory at New
Castle, Indiana.
TALK WITH JESSE FRENCH
Business of a Kind to Promise One of the Best
Winter Seasons in Years with Demands for
Grands Steadily Increasing.
If there is any benighted piano man who has been
talking about slow business, as is, it would do him
good to take a flying trip to New Castle, Indiana,
and trot out to the factory of the Jesse French &
Sons Piano Co.
The great building spreads along one of the city
streets where, when the plant was built, there was
little else in sight. Today the surrounding land-
scape is cluttered with other industries, sloping away
into cottages of the workers and, at last, into hand-
some residences. For New Castle has changed very
rapidly, until it is now one of the most active little
cities in the middle west, and a credit to the progres-
sive and intellectual Hoosier State.
A "Piano Town."
How much the progress and increased population
of New Castle, during the past quarter-century, may be
credited to Jesse French and the great piano industry
which he and his sons have developed, no one can
say. It is certain, however, that the credit is all that
could possibly pertain to any single enterprise. The
number of piano workers there comprise a small
army, and many of the homes by which the plant is
framed belong to those workers, and are due largely
to the spirit of Jesse French and his associates in the
big piano factory.
But, to return to the suggested visit to New Castle
of any of the doubting or depressed in the piano
business, there is a lesson there in how pianos are
made, how sold, and why. A few minutes of the busy
time of General Manager H. Edgar French would
fill a book on Improved Conditions in Trade, or Sys-
tem in a Large Piano Industry, or any similar sub-
ject of a kind that popularize the books and maga-
zines devoted to business affairs.
An Interesting Interview.
And the interview would disclose a condition that
foretells a very active winter season and a renewal
of whatever energies may have been lost in the
months of heat and alleged dullness. And no doubt
it has been dull in some locations where pianos are
made. The demand is always shifting, and the de-
gree of activity must, always depend upon conditions
which may be governed in a large sense by individ-
ual force and the results of that personal energy.
"We are about as busy as we can be," Mr. French
declared. "If you care to go through the factory you
will see that our departments are filled with men, and
our shipping book here shows that we have missed
no day in which the instruments could be pushed
through without risking the mark of 'Quality First,'
which has become our trademark., or slogan."
Through the Factory.
The "going through" verified it all, and more. For
it showed that even the giant engines, and the
boiler which had blown up several weeks before, had
been replaced with remarkable speed, the finishing
work being still in process, without stopping the
wheels of the factory for an hour. And the work in
the Jesse French & Sons Piano Co. factory proceeds
at night, as well as through the day. That fact alone
tells the story, and it should serve to give heart to
any manufacturers who have nursed the notion that
piano trade is dull and may continue so for any
length of time.
"But," said Mr. French—and the "buts" are usually
apt to be somewhat sinister—"we find that the call
for the lower priced instruments has been increas-
ing. Large buyers cry for them and in this factory
we haven't catered to the commercial demand which,
as is generally understood, has kept some of the
factories going actively. We do not turn away trade
that is good, but try to meet any reasonable proposi-
tion. There is, however, a limit, and if we can not
reach it we still seem to find all the business that our
large facilities can comfortably handle. And, as
you have seen, we are constantly increasing our pos-
sibilities of output, and we expect soon to be pre-
pared to turn out more instruments, especially
Grands, than ever."
The demand for Jesse French & Sons Grands is
a large feature in the New Castle business at this
time. And the call for the Lagonda line has never
been at all comparable with that of the present time.
Jesse French at Home.
It will please members of the trade to know that
President Jesse French has wholly recovered from
his recent severe illness. He was found sitting on
the porch of his beautiful home, in New Castle, lis-
tening to a scientific discourse which was being read
by his wife.
Mr. French visits his office at the factory at inter-
vals, and passes much time riding about the country.
He is also doing some writing—a pastime with him
that affords endless pleasure. And his interest in the
Jesse French industry is as keen as it ever was, and
the concern of his friends everywhere in the trade
never fails to prove the topic of discourse. He ex-
pects to be at his office regularly after a brief time
for entire recuperation.
All about the factory of the Jesse French & Sons
Piano Co. it is "Quality First," and the same spirit
pervades homes of the Frenches, father and son, and
even seems to extend throughout the pretty and pro-
gressive little city of New Castle itself.
TREASURER A. E. JOHNSON, OF
'HADDORFF,' AT CHICAGO OFFICE
Cuts Vacation Short in Order to Be in Rockford for
Next Week's Convention.
A. E. Johnson, treasurer of the Haddorff Piano
Co., of Rockford, 111., was in Chicago on Tuesday, in
consultation with Salesmanager E. W. Furbush. Mr.
Johnson visited the new warerooms on the fifth floor
of the Fine Arts Building, Michigan avenue, where
the only lack seemed to be that too few of the new
grands were in evidence. But Mr. Furbush promises
that lack will soon be overcome.
Mr. Johnson has been combining business with a
long delayed and somewhat extended vacation trip.
He cut it short in order to be in Rockford during the
Illinois trade association convention, at the Hotel
Nelson next week. Haddorff business was never
better than at this time. Mr. Furbush left on
Wednesday noon for a week's trip—and more orders.
HOW ONE MUSIC TRADE
ASSOCIATION GROWS
Activities of the Men Who Have Developed
the Ohio Organization and Appreciation
of Those Who Secure Members.
Secretary Hyre, of the Music Merchants' Associa-
tion of Ohio, gives the following figures about the
convention recently concluded at Cincinnati:
New members secured at Cincinnati convention, 81.
Total membership at convention's close, 463. Total
new members secured this year, 142. Net gain in
members this year, 97.
There was an attendance of 288 at the convention
made up as follows: 3' tuners; trade press, 5; guests
of outside trade, 8; ladies not connected with dealer
members, 34; manufacturers, jobbers and travellers,
110; retail music merchants, 125. There were 163
members of the association present, made up as fol-
lows: 60 associate members and 91 active members.
Otto Muehlhauser, newly elected president, leaves
Cleveland this week for a business trip to New York.
Rex Hyre, secretary of the association, leaves the
first of the week for Rockford, Illinois, to attend
the Illinois Music Merchants' Convention as repre-
sentative of President Muehlhauser.
The following members of the Ohio Music Mer-
chants' Association were presented with beautiful
fountain pens in token of appreciation of their efforts
in securing new members for the association:
Otto Grau, Cincinnati, 12 new members; C. M.
Alford, Canton, 12; O. H. Boyd, Marion, 9; L. Elsie
Alford, Canton, 8; R. E. Taylor, Cleveland, 6; H. C
Wildermuth, Toledo, 6; Howard L. Chubb, Cincin-
nati, 6; Otto Muelhauser, Cleveland, 5; De Vere
Kaufman, Woodster, S; M. Lindeman, St. Louis, S.
FINE CLEVELAND
CHICKERING DISPLAY
The Robert L. White Co. Takes on the A. B.
Chase Piano, and Music Merchant Frai-
berg Has a Robbery.
The Kurtzmann piano has been purchased by Mine.
Emi de Bidoli, prominent concert and oratorio singer,
for her beautiful new studio at Carnegie Hall, New
York City.
Mme. Emi de Bidoli was formerly of Cleveland,
Ohio, where she has a large following. She is a
member of the faculty of the Conservatory of Music
in Brno, Czecho-Slovakia. She sang before the Queen
of Spain some time ago and received warm praise.
In a letter to Muehlhauser Bros, of Cleveland, who
handle the Kurtzmann pianos in that city, and which
letter was published in last Sunday's "Plain Dealer,"
Mme. de Bidoli highly recommends the well known
instrument of Buffalo.
A Chickering grand piano is getting a great deal
of line publicity in the May Co.'s furniture depart-
ment. The company has recently erected a brick
bungalow, in their furniture department, which oc-
cupies practically the entire fifth floor of their new
building, and the rooms of this bungalow are fur-
nished as models of all that is desirable in a home.
Under a softly shaded lamp, in the living room, is
the Chickering grand, and a large number of the
visitors seemingly cannot resist the temptation to
stop and play upon the attractive instrument The
May Company's piano department is on the floor
below, and a large number of Chickering's are on
display.
M. Glick, manager of the Robert L. White Music
Co., has announced that the firm has taken the
agency for three counties for the A. B. Chase line of
pianos, and that a large shipment of them is expected
shortly. This makes the second line of pianos they
now handle, the Poole being the other. The com-
pany have also added the Q R S line of music rolls.
Frank Fraiberg, well known music merchant, of
5606 Fleet avenue, is of the opinion that the music
business is a lot safer than the jewelry business, a
line of which he also handles. He was in the office
of Max Stein, a diamond jobber, last Monday when
two bandits entered and tied him and Stein to chairs
and took Mr. Fraiberg's diamond stick pin, worth
$150, and looted Stein's safe of close to $24,000 worth
of jewelry.
Miss Rae Taylor, who has charge of the music
department of the S. S. Urfer Co., of New Philadel-
phia, Ohio, visited the Cleveland branch of the
Columbia Co. this week.
Willard Van Matre, of the Schumann Piano com-
pany, is at present in California, where he will remain
for a week or ten days longer before returning to
Rockford.
O. Messier of the Messier Piano Company,
Worcester, Mass., Seeburg dealer, paid a visit to the
factory of the J. P. Seeburg Piano Co., Chicago,
recently.
DISTINGUISHED SINGER
BUYS KURTZMANN PIANO
Emi de Bidoli Purchases a Grand of the Famed Buf-
falo Make for Carnegie Hall Studio.
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/
Analyzes and Classifies
All American P i a n o s
and in Detail Tells of
Fheir Makers.
PRESTO
E.tabu,hed 1884. THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
Presto Year Book
The Only Complete
Annual Review of the
American Music In-
dustries and Trades.
to c*nt. s $2.00 « Y«*
CHICAGO, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1925
VISIT TO A GREAT
PIANO INDUSTRY
A Hurried Hour "Going Through" the Busy
Factory of the Jesse French & Sons
Piano Co. Factory at New
Castle, Indiana.
TALK WITH JESSE FRENCH
Business of a Kind to Promise One of the Best
Winter Seasons in Years with Demands for
Grands Steadily Increasing.
If there is any benighted piano man who has been
talking about slow business, as is, it would do him
good to take a flying trip to New Castle, Indiana,
and trot out to the factory of the Jesse French &
Sons Piano Co.
The great building spreads along one of the city
streets where, when the plant was built, there was
little else in sight. Today the surrounding land-
scape is cluttered with other industries, sloping away
into cottages of the workers and, at last, into hand-
some residences. For New Castle has changed very
rapidly, until it is now one of the most active little
cities in the middle west, and a credit to the progres-
sive and intellectual Hoosier State.
A "Piano Town."
How much the progress and increased population
of New Castle, during the past quarter-century, may be
credited to Jesse French and the great piano industry
which he and his sons have developed, no one can
say. It is certain, however, that the credit is all that
could possibly pertain to any single enterprise. The
number of piano workers there comprise a small
army, and many of the homes by which the plant is
framed belong to those workers, and are due largely
to the spirit of Jesse French and his associates in the
big piano factory.
But, to return to the suggested visit to New Castle
of any of the doubting or depressed in the piano
business, there is a lesson there in how pianos are
made, how sold, and why. A few minutes of the busy
time of General Manager H. Edgar French would
fill a book on Improved Conditions in Trade, or Sys-
tem in a Large Piano Industry, or any similar sub-
ject of a kind that popularize the books and maga-
zines devoted to business affairs.
An Interesting Interview.
And the interview would disclose a condition that
foretells a very active winter season and a renewal
of whatever energies may have been lost in the
months of heat and alleged dullness. And no doubt
it has been dull in some locations where pianos are
made. The demand is always shifting, and the de-
gree of activity must, always depend upon conditions
which may be governed in a large sense by individ-
ual force and the results of that personal energy.
"We are about as busy as we can be," Mr. French
declared. "If you care to go through the factory you
will see that our departments are filled with men, and
our shipping book here shows that we have missed
no day in which the instruments could be pushed
through without risking the mark of 'Quality First,'
which has become our trademark., or slogan."
Through the Factory.
The "going through" verified it all, and more. For
it showed that even the giant engines, and the
boiler which had blown up several weeks before, had
been replaced with remarkable speed, the finishing
work being still in process, without stopping the
wheels of the factory for an hour. And the work in
the Jesse French & Sons Piano Co. factory proceeds
at night, as well as through the day. That fact alone
tells the story, and it should serve to give heart to
any manufacturers who have nursed the notion that
piano trade is dull and may continue so for any
length of time.
"But," said Mr. French—and the "buts" are usually
apt to be somewhat sinister—"we find that the call
for the lower priced instruments has been increas-
ing. Large buyers cry for them and in this factory
we haven't catered to the commercial demand which,
as is generally understood, has kept some of the
factories going actively. We do not turn away trade
that is good, but try to meet any reasonable proposi-
tion. There is, however, a limit, and if we can not
reach it we still seem to find all the business that our
large facilities can comfortably handle. And, as
you have seen, we are constantly increasing our pos-
sibilities of output, and we expect soon to be pre-
pared to turn out more instruments, especially
Grands, than ever."
The demand for Jesse French & Sons Grands is
a large feature in the New Castle business at this
time. And the call for the Lagonda line has never
been at all comparable with that of the present time.
Jesse French at Home.
It will please members of the trade to know that
President Jesse French has wholly recovered from
his recent severe illness. He was found sitting on
the porch of his beautiful home, in New Castle, lis-
tening to a scientific discourse which was being read
by his wife.
Mr. French visits his office at the factory at inter-
vals, and passes much time riding about the country.
He is also doing some writing—a pastime with him
that affords endless pleasure. And his interest in the
Jesse French industry is as keen as it ever was, and
the concern of his friends everywhere in the trade
never fails to prove the topic of discourse. He ex-
pects to be at his office regularly after a brief time
for entire recuperation.
All about the factory of the Jesse French & Sons
Piano Co. it is "Quality First," and the same spirit
pervades homes of the Frenches, father and son, and
even seems to extend throughout the pretty and pro-
gressive little city of New Castle itself.
TREASURER A. E. JOHNSON, OF
'HADDORFF,' AT CHICAGO OFFICE
Cuts Vacation Short in Order to Be in Rockford for
Next Week's Convention.
A. E. Johnson, treasurer of the Haddorff Piano
Co., of Rockford, 111., was in Chicago on Tuesday, in
consultation with Salesmanager E. W. Furbush. Mr.
Johnson visited the new warerooms on the fifth floor
of the Fine Arts Building, Michigan avenue, where
the only lack seemed to be that too few of the new
grands were in evidence. But Mr. Furbush promises
that lack will soon be overcome.
Mr. Johnson has been combining business with a
long delayed and somewhat extended vacation trip.
He cut it short in order to be in Rockford during the
Illinois trade association convention, at the Hotel
Nelson next week. Haddorff business was never
better than at this time. Mr. Furbush left on
Wednesday noon for a week's trip—and more orders.
HOW ONE MUSIC TRADE
ASSOCIATION GROWS
Activities of the Men Who Have Developed
the Ohio Organization and Appreciation
of Those Who Secure Members.
Secretary Hyre, of the Music Merchants' Associa-
tion of Ohio, gives the following figures about the
convention recently concluded at Cincinnati:
New members secured at Cincinnati convention, 81.
Total membership at convention's close, 463. Total
new members secured this year, 142. Net gain in
members this year, 97.
There was an attendance of 288 at the convention
made up as follows: 3' tuners; trade press, 5; guests
of outside trade, 8; ladies not connected with dealer
members, 34; manufacturers, jobbers and travellers,
110; retail music merchants, 125. There were 163
members of the association present, made up as fol-
lows: 60 associate members and 91 active members.
Otto Muehlhauser, newly elected president, leaves
Cleveland this week for a business trip to New York.
Rex Hyre, secretary of the association, leaves the
first of the week for Rockford, Illinois, to attend
the Illinois Music Merchants' Convention as repre-
sentative of President Muehlhauser.
The following members of the Ohio Music Mer-
chants' Association were presented with beautiful
fountain pens in token of appreciation of their efforts
in securing new members for the association:
Otto Grau, Cincinnati, 12 new members; C. M.
Alford, Canton, 12; O. H. Boyd, Marion, 9; L. Elsie
Alford, Canton, 8; R. E. Taylor, Cleveland, 6; H. C
Wildermuth, Toledo, 6; Howard L. Chubb, Cincin-
nati, 6; Otto Muelhauser, Cleveland, 5; De Vere
Kaufman, Woodster, S; M. Lindeman, St. Louis, S.
FINE CLEVELAND
CHICKERING DISPLAY
The Robert L. White Co. Takes on the A. B.
Chase Piano, and Music Merchant Frai-
berg Has a Robbery.
The Kurtzmann piano has been purchased by Mine.
Emi de Bidoli, prominent concert and oratorio singer,
for her beautiful new studio at Carnegie Hall, New
York City.
Mme. Emi de Bidoli was formerly of Cleveland,
Ohio, where she has a large following. She is a
member of the faculty of the Conservatory of Music
in Brno, Czecho-Slovakia. She sang before the Queen
of Spain some time ago and received warm praise.
In a letter to Muehlhauser Bros, of Cleveland, who
handle the Kurtzmann pianos in that city, and which
letter was published in last Sunday's "Plain Dealer,"
Mme. de Bidoli highly recommends the well known
instrument of Buffalo.
A Chickering grand piano is getting a great deal
of line publicity in the May Co.'s furniture depart-
ment. The company has recently erected a brick
bungalow, in their furniture department, which oc-
cupies practically the entire fifth floor of their new
building, and the rooms of this bungalow are fur-
nished as models of all that is desirable in a home.
Under a softly shaded lamp, in the living room, is
the Chickering grand, and a large number of the
visitors seemingly cannot resist the temptation to
stop and play upon the attractive instrument The
May Company's piano department is on the floor
below, and a large number of Chickering's are on
display.
M. Glick, manager of the Robert L. White Music
Co., has announced that the firm has taken the
agency for three counties for the A. B. Chase line of
pianos, and that a large shipment of them is expected
shortly. This makes the second line of pianos they
now handle, the Poole being the other. The com-
pany have also added the Q R S line of music rolls.
Frank Fraiberg, well known music merchant, of
5606 Fleet avenue, is of the opinion that the music
business is a lot safer than the jewelry business, a
line of which he also handles. He was in the office
of Max Stein, a diamond jobber, last Monday when
two bandits entered and tied him and Stein to chairs
and took Mr. Fraiberg's diamond stick pin, worth
$150, and looted Stein's safe of close to $24,000 worth
of jewelry.
Miss Rae Taylor, who has charge of the music
department of the S. S. Urfer Co., of New Philadel-
phia, Ohio, visited the Cleveland branch of the
Columbia Co. this week.
Willard Van Matre, of the Schumann Piano com-
pany, is at present in California, where he will remain
for a week or ten days longer before returning to
Rockford.
O. Messier of the Messier Piano Company,
Worcester, Mass., Seeburg dealer, paid a visit to the
factory of the J. P. Seeburg Piano Co., Chicago,
recently.
DISTINGUISHED SINGER
BUYS KURTZMANN PIANO
Emi de Bidoli Purchases a Grand of the Famed Buf-
falo Make for Carnegie Hall Studio.
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).