Presto

41
P R E S T 0-T 1 M E 5
May 28, 1927.
W. L. BUSH WRITES
LETTER TO FRIENDS
At His Complete Recovery from Effects of
Recent Accident, Piano Man Expresses
Appreciation of Trade Sympathy.
Editor Presto-Times: I desire to extend, through your
friendly columns, a message of sincere and heartfelt
gratitude, thanks and appreciation to the hundreds of
friends and acquaintances throughout the music trade
of the country who have by letters, telegrams, 'phone
calls, messengers and in every conceivable manner,
sent to me at the time of my accident in March or
during the serious illness following that almost fatal
mishap sincere expressions of sympathy, love, en-
couragement and good will and wishes. I have come
to realize the magnitude of the accumulated obliga-
tions that I have, up to the present time, been physi-
cally unable to properly acknowledge.
Now that I have regained to a surprising degree
much of my normal strength and confidence in com-
plete recovery, I realize that my greatest aid and
source of restored health and vigor has been the won-
derful, sustaining, compelling, encouraging effect, in-
fluence and benefit bestowed, and joy of living re-
vived, through the realization of and awakening to
the existence of this great boon and treasure, the
precious possession of a host of generous, loving,
sympathetic friends.
At Crucial Moments.
In the darkest moments, when doctors and nurses
trod with softened footsteps and spoke only in whis-
pers; with life hanging by a mere thread, the pene-
trating influence and sustaining effect of the magnetic
flood of loving friendship and human sympathy
touched the very soul and spirit of that fluttering
spark of life; did more than anything else to span the
crisis, and keep the heart and pulse beating in de-
termined response to that irresistible call. Now I
want this message to reach out to every friend, every
acquaintance, who by word or thought contributed
to my miraculous recovery. And at this time I also
wish to give expression to my everlasting gratitude
to that brave, self-sacrificing youthful hero, Alvin
Ott, who rescued me from inevitable drowning in
the final emergency.
Eager to Be Back.
Now I am coming back strong and will soon be
ready. I am impatient to resume active work as a
devoted, energetic, ambitious, loyal member of our
great music trade industry. I want every friend,
every acquaintance in the industry, and every mem-
ber of 'the industry, to know of my sincere gratitude,
and of the joy I experience in contemplating the re-
sumption of my activities in the great industry which
I love and take great pride in, and with which I have
been associated all of my business life, and in which
CHRISTMAN
UPRIGHTS, GRANDS, PLAYERS
AND REPRODUCING PIANOS
THE FAMOUS "STUDIO GRAND"
"The First Touch Tells"
I expect to enjoy many added years of vigorous and
loyal participation.
To the officers and members of the Chicago Piano
Club; to the members of the committee appointed,
and to the individual friends and members who de-
voted much time and energy to the first aid and re-
lief of a friend and fellow member in distress, I espe-
cially extend and express my sincere thanks and ap-
preciation for this labor of love and friendship.
I look forward with joyful anticipation to the com-
ing convention of the music trade industry in June,
when I expect to meet, greet and to be greeted by a
host of those for whom this message is intended.
I wish to thank you, your editorial department and
your excellent publication for the uniform and con-
tinued courtesies and kindly notices published dur-
ing my period of convalescence and also for the in-
sertion of this message to my friends, well wishers
and all members of the trade.
Yours sincerely,
W. L. BUSH.
OLIN HOTEL, DENVER,
HAS MASON & HAMLIN
Denver Music Company Supplies Grand to Beautiful
and Elaborately Planned Structure.
Denver's beautiful new residential hotel, the Olin,
one of the most elaborately planned structures of its
kind, has just installed a Mason & Hamlin in its taste-
fully decorated lounge. Luxurious though homelike
appointments and a unique situation give the Olin a
special distinction. For each department of its fur-
OLIN HOTEL, DENVER.
nishing the best has been sought by those interested
in the project. The Mason & Hamlin Grand pur-
chased of the Denver Music Company was selected
personalily by John Huntington, manager of the
hotel.
PROUD OF ROY S. DUNN.
The Port Byron, 111., Globe reprints a story from
Presto-Times of May 7 in which the opening of a
nation-wide expansion campaign for the Brinkerhoff
Piano Co., Chicago, was announced. Outside of the
importance of the news the paper, in using the item,
meant a personal compliment to Roy S. Dunn, new
sales manager of the Brinkerhoff Piano Co. Mr.
Dunn's home is in Port Byron, where everybody is
full of faith in his ability to greatly increase the es-
tablished prestige of the Brinkerhofif piano.
(Reg. U. S. Pat. Off.)
CHRISTMAN PIANO CO., Inc.
597 East 137th Street.
NEW YORK
KREITER
The Leading and Most Popular
Pianos and Players
Grands, Players, Uprights and
Reproducing Pianos
The Results of Over Forty Years'
of Experience.
Kreiter Pianos Cover the Entire Line
and no Piano Dealer who tries these in-
struments would supplant them by any
others. A trial will convince.
Kreiter Mfg, Co., Inc.
310-312 W, Water St., Milwaukee, Wis.
Factory: Marinette, Wia.
MOVES IN ATLANTA.
The Edico Piano Co., Atlanta, Ga., has moved from
the quarters occupied for several years in the Macy-
Davison-Paxon-Stokes department store to a three-
story building at Peachtree street, where a spacious
auditorium and studios for teachers add to the advan-
tages of modern warerooms. The company features
the Ampico and the Edison phonograph.
BALDWINS FOR MUSIC SCHOOL.
Twenty-five Baldwin and Ellington pianos are in
use in the Metropolitan School of Music at Indian-
apolis, affiliated with the Butler University. The
school is the largest and most active school in In-
diana, and its pupils are found in nearly every town
and county in the state, and have attained national
reputation and eminence.
MOVES TO LARGER QUARTERS.
The T. S. LaForte Music Co.. is the new name of
the business of T. S. LaForte in Monessen, Pa. The
store was established ten years ago at Third and
Schoonmaker street, handling the Lester and Leonard
pianos and talking machines, and the move this week
to 70 Donner avenue is in response to the necessity
for greater wareroom space.
SALARY AND BONUS
FOR PIANO SALEMEN
W. D. Albin, Sales Manager for Brook Mays
& Co., Dallas, Tex., Tells of His Own
Methods for Best Results.
There has been considerable interest manifested
generally in a series of articles by Elmon Armstrong
on the importance of salesmen to the piano industry.
Mr. Armstrong has insistently urged in all of his
articles that the piano business can be vitalized by
the proper procedure of the dealers. He has argued
that the salesmen are the soldiers that win the battles
of commerce, and that the best results are secured
where salesmen are employed on a basis of a nomi-
nal salary and an equitable, fair bonus for additional
business.
W. D. Albin, sales manager of Brook Mays & Co.,
Dallas, Texas, is a firm believer in that plan of em-
ploying salesmen. He works on that basis himself,
and last year his salary and monthly bonuses brought
him compensation of more than $5,000 in retail work,
which was confined mostly to the city of Dallas in
sales. Seven years ago Mr. Albin began work in the
office of Brook Mays & Co. as a clerk at a salary of
something like $15 a week. After quite an experi-
ence in the office he began to study sales work and
to prepare himself for a position that he desired with
Brook Mays & Co. He is a pleasing, affable
gentleman, and probably is without a peer for volume
business in the city of Dallas or north Texas.
When Mr. Albin was interviewed by a reporter for
Presto-Times he stated that he believed in employ-
ing salesmen on a nominal weekly salary with a
monthly bonus, and he believed in co-operating with
the sales organization and aiding it; that he believed
in words of encouragement to salesmen. Mr. Albin
said:
"I do not play the piano. I have sometimes thought
that this was a handicap, and then again I observe
that the musician often entertains the customer and
doesn't so often close the sale. I have noticed that
as a general rule the salesman who talks business,
transacts business. I have been more successful in
making a quick, brief business talk to my customer,
and I have found it advantageous to urge an early
close. I am inclined to the idea that many salesmen
talk too much and too long."
Mr. Albin has gradually grown from the "bottom
round" in the selling organization to the top, with the
splendid and large institution known all through the
southwest as Brook Mays & Co., "the reliable piano
house."
BIO PIANO EQUIPMENT
FOR SOUTHERN COLLEGE
Purchase by Virginia Intermont College, Bristol,
Includes Steinway Concert Grand for Auditorium.
Virginia Intermont College, Bristol, Tenn., has just
purchased 22 new pianos, the contract being awarded
to Clark-Jones-Sheeley Co. This is perhaps the larg-
est individual purchase of pianos ever made by any
Southern College.
The new equipment includes a Steinway—style
"B" Concert Grand to be used in the auditorium for
concert work of both students and artists; one Vose
Grand for one of the studios and 20 Laffargue pianos
for general college use. The music department under
the direction of Prof. Samuel T. Schroetter with his
associates, Dr. Frederick Martin, Mrs. Martin, Mrs.
Schroetter, Miss Pashley, Miss Sweeney, and Miss
Story, has grown to be as well known as any school
of music in that section of the United States.
With the new Steinway Concert Grand in the audi-
torium, recitals by the students and artists will be
made more of a feature than before.
PIANO IS LECTURE THEME.
L. O. Dunkin, of the Harding & Miller Music Com-
pany, Evansville, Ind., spoke on "The Development
of the Piano from Its Early States Until the Pres-
ent Time" at a recent meeting of the Olivet Booster
Club held in Evansville. Dunkin showed the various
developments of the piano by pictures, the first in-
strument having been made in 1511. The talk was
highly complimented by those who heard it.
BRANCH LEASE RENEWED.
A new two year lease on the building now occu-
pied by the Norwood, O., branch of the Otto Grau
Music Co. of Cincinnati, has been secured, George
Grad, manager, announced this week. For some
time rumor had been afloat that the store would
leave Norwood, but Mr. Grad had no trouble in get-
ting the lease. Mr. Grad and Miss Marie Curtis will
remain with the Norwood store.
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