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.
F R A N K D. A B B O T T - - - - - - - - - -
Editor
(C. A. DANIELL—1304-1927.)
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.
January 7, 19_g
represent, which are about fifteen. 1 feel that
the piano industry has been more fortunate
when I hear the lamenting of other business
men." And he mentioned clothing, toys, mill-
ers, grain dealers, tires and rubber goods, as
well as paper dealers, and he did not omit to
mention the increasing' work of the corn
borer.
of the performance of a poor radio set under
most unfavorable conditions.
"Both piano and radio are needed in Amer-
ican homes and all manufacturers of musical
instruments, and merchants dealing in them,
should co-operate in re-establishing the Amer-
ican home life through making it more attrac-
tive—mainly through music.
THE YEAR AHEAD
WHAT ARE YOU?
A great many opinions of prominent men in
At this period for good resolutions and re-
Entered . as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the
the
music trade, printed in last week's issue of form-manufacturing, a good thing to ask your-
Post Office, Chicago, LI., under Act of March 3, 1879.
Presto-Times, are cheering and conducive of self is : Is your piano a "futurist" or a "past-
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1.25; Foreign, $4.
Payable in advance. No extra charge in United States
a
greater degree of energy and courage in the ist"? In forming your answer it is well to
possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising- on
application.
trade for 1928. And a great means to those de- distinguish the difference between futurist as
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if of
sirable forces are the helpfulness and activity applied to a peculiar form of art and futurist
general interest to the music trade will be paid for at
space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen in the
of the national association of the trade.
smaller cities are the best occasional correspondents, and
with a piano application. The futurist in art
their assistance is invited.
The Music Industries Chamber of Commerce is freakishness aiming at distinction. It is the
Payment is not accepted for matter printed in the edi-
which has proven its worth and value to every effort of the loony faddist to handicap prosaic
torial or news columns of Presto-Times.
Where half-tones are made the actual cost of produc-
phase of the trade and industry in the past, merit. The futurist piano is one which has be-
tion will be charged if of commercial character or other
than strictly news interest.
may be relied on to be equally alert in 1928. gun its life sanely and which elects to travel
When electrotypes are sent for publication it is re-
quested that their subjects and senders be carefully indi-
This assurance is conveyed by Mr. Hermann by the merit route. It is on its way and knows
cated.
Irion, president of the Chamber, in the follow- its destination.
Forms close at noon on Thursday. Late news matter
should be in not later than 11 o'clock on that day. Ad-
ing statement:
vertising copy should be in hand before Tuesday, 5 p. m.,
And pastist! The term conveys its meaning
to insure preferred position. Full page display copy
"As far as the outlook for the year to come only too well. Is your piano one with a good
should be in hand by Tuesday noon preceding publication
day. Want advertisements for current week, to insure
is concerned I may confidently say that the or fair past, an inconsequential present and a
classification, should be in by Wednesday noon.
work will go along in the future as it has in future that promises little? Are you a stand-
Address all communications for the editorial or business
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
the past. The organization is there to solve patter in absolute methods of selling your
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
the problems of the industry that may come piano? Are you blind to the necessity of pub-
SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 1928.
before it from time to time, and if any major licity in retaining your piano's character for
problems should arise during the coming year worth and guaranteeing security in patronage
NEW PRESTO BUYER'S GUIDE
I feel quite certain that they will be ably dealt for the years to come ? In short, are you
The 1928 Edition
with."
snailing along through the clays, trusting in a
The widely expressed interest of piano deal-
Equally suggestive of cheer in the future is melancholy way in the breezes that are past to
ers and salesmen in PRESTO BUYERS' an anticipation by Mr. W. E. Guylee, presi-
return and boost you? If so, you are a
GUIDE, following the announcement of prep-
aration of the new edition for 1928, is a tribute dent of the National Piano Manufacturers' As- "pastist."
to the usefulness of the book, owing to the sociation, who bases his forecast on actual con-
Another question for the piano maker at this
dependable character of its statements. The ditions that show enhancement of the piano in beginning of a new year is : Are you a realist
attitude of the trade in expecting absolute cor- the opinion of the public.
or an idealist ?
rectness about the newer forms of grands,
These are apart from the successful efforts
Somebody has said that the difference be-
playerpianos and reproducing pianos makes
the responsibilities attending the preparation of the National Piano Promotion Plan in- tween an idealist and a realist is that the
of the new edition for 1928 greater than ever augurated by the National Piano Manufactur- word "Bermuda" always suggests lilies to
before in thirty-one years of publication.
ers' Association. Mr. Guylee shares the belief
The established considerations of tonal and that success in the piano trade is in equal ratio one and onions to the other. There are lots
of people who persist in calling this a realistic
structural merit will govern statements in the
new book. It is designed primarily for the to the number of piano sales, so he recognizes age in which the onion thought, as you might
use of retail merchants and their salesmen in the importance of the promotion plan in his call it, is suggested by everything; the ma-
the guidance of customers who may be in published statement:
chinery age in which everything is made in
doubt as to the merits of any particular piano
"Looking ahead to 1928, I see the National quantities and the onions planted, cultivated
which may be drawn to their attention.
PRESTO BUYERS' GUIDE has been Piano Manufacturers' Association extending and harvested by labor-saving implements in
relied upon by thousands of intelligent piano and expanding its scheme for the promotion of big ranches by thousands of tons in a profit-
buyers and a large proportion of piano mer- piano sales. Doing so will be the main activity able commercial way.
chants employ it for reassuring their custom- of the organization. And everything prom-
But in this grand old garden of the world
ers and sustaining just claims set forth by ises to aid our efforts. Leading economists
it
is the lilies, the little things grown with
their salesmen. Every statement in PRESTO
BUYERS' GUIDE is sincere and estimates of foresee active conditions for the coming- year heart and hands and brains that count—really
the qualities of the pianos, playerpianos and for commerce generally. Everything points to count more than all the vast products of ma-
reproducing pianos are based on the personal the piano business as a sharer in the desirable chinery, according to the idealist.
knowledge of experts in the piano industry.
conditions. But for the best results it will
And talking of pianos, as we will persist in
need courage and energy in every phase of the doing, quality still triumphs over quantity.
A MARK TAPLEY COMFORTER trade."
Not from the realist's viewpoint, but from the
Older people who have read and enjoyed the
Mr. C. J. Roberts, president of the National viewpoint of those who consider life a garden
optimistic philosophy of Mark Tapley, the Association of Piano Merchants, in a state- where people work with brain and heart and
body servant of Martin Chuzzlewit in Dickens' ment pointed out the potency of radio in in- the love that produces the lilies.
novel, "Martin Chuzzlewit," are taking com- creasing the musical interests of the public
Another thing that differentiates the idealist
fort in a year like this that there are other men and commented on its effects on the piano and realist is the understanding of the word
much worse off than those in the piano busi- trade:
"success."" The idealist in the piano trade, for
ness. Mark Tapley was made } famous by
"When people again acquire the home en- instance, is proud of his success while making
Dickens for his irrepressible jollity and optim- tertainment habit, then will more pianos be a limited number of pianos, but doing so in a
ism which he expressed when the affairs of purchased. A radio does not take the place way worth while, beautifully and thoroughly.
himself and his traveling master were at their of a piano; neither does a piano take the place The realist in the piano trade hears music in
worst—and this was Dickens' most sarcastic of a radio. As long as the human hand, with the buzz of machinery and gets joy in the
book, the one in which he roasted the Amer- its five fingers, retains its form ; as long as the whirr of the nervous rush of big lots.
ican backwoodsmen to a fare-ye-well.
natural musical scale, which never has and The idealist goes along patiently working,
One of Presto-Times' correspondents is a never can be improved upon, appeals to the according to his own ideals, turning out the
Mark Tapley comforter. He represents us in ear, and as long as the keyboard invented to things he considers worth while. And he does
the metropolis of a great Middle West State. accommodate these creations of the Almighty so happily, while the realist across the wav
He says: "I have just returned from some of exists, pianos will be made. Thank God there turns out lots and lots and lots of goods and
the best industrial centers in the state, and find is no 'static' in a good piano, though some perhaps makes lots and lots and lots of dollars.
that all lines of business are complaining. of the poor ones, or the very old ones, when But anyway, each walks in his vale of con-
There is nothing 1 doing in any of the lines I played upon emit sounds frightfully suggestive tentment.
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