Presto

PRESTO-TIMES
The American Music Trade Weekly
Published Every Saturday at 417 South Dearborn
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
PRESTO P U B L I S H I N G CO., Publishers.
Editor
F R A N K D. A B B O T T
- - - - - - - - -
(C. A. DAN I ELL—1904-1927.)
J. FERGUS O'RYAN
_ _ _ _ _ Managing Editor
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 0234.
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, 111., under Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1.25; 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 correspondents, and
their assistance is invited.
Payment is not accepted for matter printed in the edi-
torial or news columns of Presto-Times.
Where half-tones are made the actual cost of produc-
tion will be charged if of commercial character or other
than strictly news interest.
When electrotypes are sent for publication it is re-
quested that their subjects and senders be carefully indi-
cated.
Tower, approaching completion at Fifth Ave-
nue and Forty-seventh Street.
In occupying the new warerooms the com-
pany was confronted with the problem of dis-
posing of a million dollars worth of high grade
pianos. Ordinarily the sale of that amount of
piano value within a reasonable time would
have been no baffling problem. But in the
time element was urgency. The company had
decided not to move a single piano into the
new quarters and thereat was presented the
opportunity of a test at selling a great num-
ber of high grade pianos against time.
How the company acted to evoke the inter-
est of the public and how the public reacted
are interesting things told by Mr. Neuer in his
interview. Sales of up to $107,855 on opening
clay of the sale provided a new high mark for
the trade. The interview is filled with sug-
gestion and cheer for piano dealers.
ANOTHER CHICAGO CONTEST
The meeting of Chicago piano manufactur-
ers and piano merchants held in Lyon & Healy
Hall last week, indicates the aggressive spirit
of a vigorous piano promotion day. It was
marked by the determination to hold another
piano playing contest in the city and to go
Address all communications for the editorial or business
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
about it in the manner assuring success. It
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
was estimated that the expenses would ap-
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1927.
proximate $20,000 and the willingness to pro-
vide that amount was intimated by the repre-
The last form of Presto-Times goes to press
at 11 a. m. Thursday. Any news transpiring sentative men present.
Several speeches made plain the close rela-
after that hour cannot be expected in the cur-
rent issue. Nothing received at the office that tion of piano study by children and piano sales.
is not strictly news of importance can have Every child who takes piano lessons today is
attention after 9 a. m. on Thursday. If they
concern the interests of manufacturers or a prospective piano buyer now or in the years
dealers such items will appear the week follow- to come. Mr. Pratt of the Chicago Herald and
ing. Copy for advertising designed for the Examiner, said he believed that 95 per cent of
current issue must reach the office not later the piano trade in Chicago during the last year
than Wednesday noon of each week.
was due to the piano playing contest held in
June.
The sporting character of the piano playing
AIDS TO PIANO CONTESTS
contests,
as carried out, make them most ef-
The potency of the piano playing contests is
fective.
They
are opportunities for the poor
acknowledged in a marked way by the creation
man's
child
as
well
as for the child of the well-
of a new department in the executive offices
to-do
man
or
the
very
rich man. The inter-
of the National Association of Music Mer-
esting
events
express
the
democracy of art.
chants, which will have for its objects the in-
A
movement
that
encourages
the playing of
crease of piano class instruction in the public
the
piano
by
the
youth
of
the
country
is cre-
schools and in music stores as well as the pro-
ating
the
assurances
of
future
sales.
motion of piano playing contests. The new
bureau will work in co-operation with the Na-
tional Bureau for the Advancement of Music.
PIANO BUSINESS IS SOUND
The necessary funds for the operation of the
The majority of people like to cherish a de-
department are being provided by the new pro-
lusion
about any broad subject in which they
motion stamps, which are used directly for the
are
not
directly and financially interested. In
purpose. The executive secretary will go to
the
slang
of the street, they like to "kid" them-
the assistance of groups of dealers at any point
selves
into
believing something which would
where a piano playing contest may be con-
prove
entirely
contrary to the facts under in-
sidered a possibility, when the bureau is asked
vestigation.
for his services.
A great delusion is prevalent throughout the
It is a workable scheme and its application
will result in increased piano interest through- nation that radio is cutting the gizzard out of
out the country. Direct and practical methods the piano business, while the truth of the mat-
for furthering the interests of the piano in the ter is that radio is one of the greatest aids to
public schools, through the help of the national the cause of music and piano sales imaginable.
association of school supervisors and the Na- Piano business is on a perfectly sound basis,
tional Bureau for the Advancement of Music, and radio is its ally.
are also phases of the new department.
Similarly, people hug other delusions. About
Detroit being a one-line manufacturing city
for instance, while Detroit manufactures at
NOTABLY FINE PIANO SALE
least
150 other standard production; about
The concrete evidences of liveliness in the
Tennessee
being a backward state with notions
piano trade are sales. It is a natural belief
concerning
science, while except for a few
expressed this week in an interview with Mr.
mossback
politicians,
Tennesseeans are ad-
Berthold Neuer, vice-president of Wm. Knabe
vanced
thinkers.
Another
cherished delusion
& Co., Inc.. New York. Mr. Neuer gave an en-
is
that
Chicago
gunmen
are
numerous as flies
couraging account of a successful removal sale
and
that
it
is
unsafe
to
walk
abroad at night
of the company preparatory to the Knabe
Forms close at noon on Thursday. Late news matter
should be in not later than 11 o'clock on that day. Ad-
vertising copy should be in hand before Tuesday, 5 p. m.,
to insure preferred position. Full page display copy
should be in hand by Tuesday noon preceding publication
day. "Want advertisements for current week, to insure
classification, should be in by Wednesday noon.
December 10, 1927
in the Mid-West metropolis, while there is no
safer city in the world.
So why cherish a delusion that the piano
business is "all shot to pieces"? It is not true,
and every live dealer in the U. S. A. knows
that even to hint at such a condition is to
propagate an untruth.
BIDDING FOR FACTORIES
Mr. E. W. McCullough, manager of the De-
partment of Manufacture of the Chamber of
Commerce of the United States, this week
called attention to the fact that between five
and ten million dollars are spent annually by
cities in advertising campaigns to attract new
industries, and much more for survey and
other industrial expansion efforts. Too often,
he cautioned, industries which should not move
for sound economic reasons, are attracted by
this kind of community promotion.
"This whole enterprise of advancing the in-
dustrial side of a community," he concluded, "is
a worthy activity for a live chamber of com-
merce, but it should be dealt with in a calm,
dispassionate way, eliminating everything of
the jazz order, which too often surrounds it."
One good plant, he added, is worth more than
many prospects and pointed out that there has
never been a time when industry should con-
sider changing locations more carefully, nor
when chambers of commerce should investi-
gate more thoroughly the status of factories
offered them, particularly with a view to de-
termining whether the proposed industry is
advancing or receding in demand, or possibly
becoming obsolete.
* * *
The importance and value of the trade asso-
ciation is acknowledged in the action of the
Chamber of Commerce of the United States in
creating a new department to work with trade
organizations. The head of the department
will be Dr. Hugh P. Baker, an economist, who
as head of the American Paper and Pulp As-
sociation, has won recognition as one of the
country's leading authorities on trade associ-
ations. The purpose of this move is to co-
ordinate the expanding relations of the Na-
tional Chamber with the more than six hun-
dred trade associations in its membership and
to lend assistance to the many other industrial
groups now laying out their future program of
organization.
* * *
When a speaker at a recent meeting of the
Gramaphone Dealers Association, a British or-
ganization, said the talking machine was not
a musical instrument, he evoked a storm of
protest which has not yet subsided. "If the
gramophone is not a musical instrument, why
does the Federation of British Music Indus-
tries have so much to do with it, and why are
both the Gramophone Manufacturers' and
Dealers' Associations part of the Federation?
And again, why do all the leading musicians
eulogize, and record for, the gramophone if it
is not a musical instrument?" Editorially asks
the Music Trade Journal of London at the con-
clusion of a strong protesting article.
* * *
The National Association of Music Mer-
chants is desirous of including the Ohio Music
Merchants' Association in its membership, but
it appears the latter does not want to affiliate.
It has certain grievances that result in the pur-
pose to remain on the outside, and these were
printed recently in the official organ of the
body. Thereupon, President Roberts of the
national association, told his views of the situ-
ation in a letter printed in this issue.
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/