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Issue: 1929 2235 - Page 11

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September 15, 1929
OHIO CONVENTION
(Continued from page 6)
years and who speaks English with a decided for-
eign accent. He has spent much time in Germany.
He proved to be a master both in eloquence and at
the piano. He said the piano is king of musical in-
struments. He was really surprised that the people
of this country would forego the pleasure of owning
a piano and then go and buy a piece of junk in the
shape of an auto to get killed by using it. "Eighty
per cent of this country is jazz crazy," said the pro-
fessor. "It is the music dealer's duty now to get the
people back to common sense about the use of the
piano. When you've lost music, you've lost every-
thing. Here you have the most wonderful country
in the world. If you want to test the truth of that
statement, just go away from it for a while and see
how much worse conditions exist elsewhere. Jazz
hounds are losing the very essence of life."
Dr. Valera then stepped down to the Steinway piano
at the foot of the rostrum and played as only masters
of music can play.
Moral Support to Musicians.
The association for a year past has been giving
moral support to the musicians in their disturbed
condition, due to the talkie-movies.
President Alford made a strong plea for work
from everybody in getting new members.
Treasurer's Report.
Treasurer A. L. Maresh reported total expenditures
of $6,679; balance in treasury, $62.
Secretary Hyre's Report
Mr. Hyre said that this year had been more trying
than any other in the ten years he had been secre-
tary. He urged the advantages of organization. Agi-
tation was now on to bring the radio men into the
association.
Prominent Ones Died.
The death list included Henry Dreher, George
Sundberg, Gust Ad. Anderson, and a few days ago,
Herman Wolf, of Cleveland.
The subject of piano advertising was handled by
Carl E. Summers, of Jackson, Ohio.
F. B. Beinkamp, of Cincinnati, was not present to
speak. Homer Harrison, the insurance man, was in
attendance, and Chairman Harbaugh delivered an
address on insurance.
The Legislative Division had no report.
Present Membership 358.
Clark S. Rhodes, Membership Committee chair-
man, reported the membership at present to be 358.
Parham Werlein's Address.
President Parham Werlein, ol the'- National Asso-
ciation of Music Merchants, New Orleans, % La., said
the trade needed more Yahrtings, more Heatons, more
Will Smiths. These Round Table discussions gave
practical benefit to the individual member. :>
Arthur L. Wessell Wins at Golf.
Arthur L. Wessell, of Wessell, Nickel & Gross.
New York, won the golf game on Monday. A. M.
Koch, of the Music Trade Indicator, Chicago, lost by
a point or two, coming out second.
J. H. Shale Attends.
J. Harry Shale, of New York, was at the conven-
tion. He has been on the road for two weeks. Mr.
Shale says the boat business is going very well.
Letters and Telegrams of Regret.
Regrets came in from A. B. La Motte, San Diego,
Calif.; J. Edwin Butler, Marion, Ind.: Jay Grinnell,
Detroit; E. H. Droop, Washington; F. A. Geissler,
California; William Braid White, Chicago; C. J. Rob-
erts, Baltimore; E. H. Uhl, Los Angeles; President
Dunham, of Lyon & Healy, Chicago; S. Ernest
Philpott, Miami, Fla.; E. R. Weeks, Binghamton,
N. Y., and others, for their inability to attend.
FILLERS
A. H. Grim, Chicago, associate member, well-
known piano stool and bench traveler, was in at-
tendance, as was also Chas. Deutschmaun, vice-
president of the National Association of Piano
Tuners.
Columbus Courtesy Unequalled.
Never has this reporter seen so much courtesy
shown to visitors as at the recent visit to the capital
city of the highly advanced state of Ohio. Like
Chicago or New York, Chicago has slums and tough
characters—what large city has not?—but the classes
in control of the destinies of Columbus are of the
real American type that distinguishes this country
from any other nation on earth—real people, not
pretenders with claws beneath the veneer. Every
courteous act shows its basis of kind intention, and as
attention never can be disguised as intention, the
visitor to Columbus senses the welcome and the good-
will in the reception.
The ladies of the big party sensed this welcome,
too, while seeing the city Tuesday afternoon under
11
PRESTO-TIMES
the direction of Miss Irma Noethlich, of the Cham-
ber of Commerce. Both the men and the women
enjoyed the free theater entertainment at the Loew
Ohio Theater, the finest in Columbus, on Tuesday
night.
The Big Photograph.
Very good work was done by the photographer
who took the group picture of the entire convention,
or as many as were present at the time, Tuesday
afternoon. The place chosen was at the steps of
the state capitol building and the sun was shining,
so the picture is a most excellent one. After the
photographing, the ladies of the big party took a
complimentary automobile sight-seeing trip.
A Lady Dealer.
Carrie B. Glass, piano merchant at 121 South Sixth
street, Coshocton, Ohio, was among the dealers at the
convention.
Some Prominent Members of the Trade.
Among prominent members of the trade and its
alliances in attendance were Mark P. Campbell, pres-
ident of the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce;
Delbert L. Loomis, executive secretary of the Na-
tional Association of Music Merchants; Parham Wer-
lein, of New Orleans, La., president of the National
Association of Music Merchants.
Other Conventions at the Hotel.
Although the music men had a fairly enthusiastic
convention, they were completely drowned out by the
noise and laughter and applause of the immense
throng that gathered for the Hoover Sweeper con-
vention in the same hotel. "Ours is a small article
and it sells easier than a piano," said L. O. Nichols,
of Youngstown, Ohio, one of the Hoover rooters.
Another big convention in the same hotel at the
same time was the Motion Picture Theater Owners'
Association, and still another was the convention of
the Columbus Restaurateurs' Association.
First Sunlight in Three Days.
The first sunlight seen in Columbus for more than
three days came Monday afternoon, Sept. 9. It had
poured hard at raining all day Sunday, and on Mon-
day morning it was so sticky that one's clothes were
damp all the time. The golf grounds were muddy,
but it takes more than ordinary slop to dishearten
an ardent golfer, as has often been noted by those
watching the performance of those devoted to the
sport of chasing wee balls all over a big field.
Heaton's Aeolian Ads.
Otto Heaton's Music Store advertised extensively
in the Columbus dailies during the convention—full
pages at a time, telling about the products of The
Aeolian Company of New York.
Bonfires of Old Pianos.
....
Parham Werlein, of New Orleans, advocated the
destruction of "junk" pianos by fire. "We disposed
ot 14 or 15 in New Orleans last week," he said.
"Any old piano that can't be sold for $100 ought to
be junked."
Mark Campbell's Talk.
"Although they look upon me purely as a manti-
facterer," said Mr. Campbell, "yet my fondest mem-
ories are of the days when T was a retail merchant."
He said Ohio was the Keystone State in the piano
trade of America—a rich and powerful state. He
disagreed with Mr. Yahrling's statement that only
100.000 pianos were manufactured in the last year.
Mr. Campbell thought statistics showed at least
150.000.
Delbert Loomis on Schools.
Delbert L. Loomis, executive secretary of the Na-
tional Music Merchants' Association, said 598 public
schools now had piano playing in regular operation
as class work.
Resolutions thanking everybody for what they had
done for the convention, including the trade press,
were adopted.
It was decided to admit to membership in the asso-
ciation the music merchants of West Virginia, pro-
vided 100 signified their intention to join.
One of the resolutions provides that radio dealers
may be admitted to membership and speeches were
made urging the members to get them to join.
AMONG THE EXHIBITS
Sixteen Exhibitors.
Visitors were invited to visit the exhibits on the
third and fourth floors of the hotel. There were
only fifteen or sixteen exhibitors, but these included
some of the most prominent manufacturers in the
United States.
The Gulbransen Show.
J. S. Cooper, Al. Lucas and Howard Weber, all
from Chicago, were present at the Gulbransen ex-
hibit. This exhibit was a display of six instruments—
that is, six pianos and three radios. "We have had
a good many calls," said Mr. Cooper. The piano
styles shown were a De Luxe model, some of the
regular styles and a Minuet piano.
C. G. Conn, Ltd., Exhibit.
C. G. Conn, Ltd., was represented in its exhibit at
the convention by C. J. Fairchild and Richard Stross
in cooperation with the Otto Heaton Music Store of
Columbus. Mr. Stross used to be with Sousa's Band
as a trumpeter.
The Baldwin Exhibit.
A Baldwin Grand, the popular Style G, was shown
and a Howard Model Upright in the Baldwin Piano
Company's exhibit. E. P. Hagemeyer, one of the
directors of the company, was present, as well as
Phil. Wyman, advertising and publicity manager and
William E Brown—all from Cincinnati. Mr. Brown
is general traveling representative for the northern
part of Ohio. Large paintings from Chicago dec-
orated the rooms occupied by the company in the
hotel—one of Maria Carreras and another of William
Bachaus. Calls were numerous at these rooms.
The M. Schulz Company's Exhibit.
Henry D. Hewitt and Mark Mayer were the repre-
sentatives of the M. Schulz Company's show at the
Hotel Deshler-Wallick. M. Schulz and Brinkerhoff
pianos were shown. A style Colony grand, Schulz
style 30, a beautiful instrument in walnut; style 12
Werner, in hilite finish; and Brinkerhoff style 8 and
Mayfair grands were among the exhibits at this
pretty display.
Schiller Company Makes First Sale.
The first sale made at the convention was consum-
mated by Edgar B. Jones, president of the Schiller
Piano Company, when he disposed of the Louis XV
Grand that the company had on exhibition at the
hotel. This is a most beautiful instrument in walnut,
a six-foot grand, the same instrument that was shown
recently in the Sherman House, Chicago, at the
National Association of Piano Tuners' Convention.
Mr. Jones and Frank M. Hood were in attendance
at the exhibit. The Schiller management is highly
pleased at the call it has been having for its large
grands. Several have been sold in Chicago and other
cities within the last few weeks.
Band Instruments Demonstrated.
When the reporter called at the demonstration
feature of the convention Tuesday afternoon, an ex-
pert at the horn was demonstrating the correct and
the erroneous ways of playing different horns pro-
duced in the C. G. Conn factories at Elkhart, Ind.
He had a fair-sized audience which included players
as well as dealers who handle new band instruments
in their stocks.
Francis Handles Radios.
Walter W. Francis was met. He handles phono-
graphs and records, and says "records are selling well,
no matter what some may say to the contrary." An
acquaintance of Mr. Francis asked "What can I sell
to make some money?" "Man, you're not selling
what you've got," replied Mr. Francis. "Stick to
what you've set up to do, and I know you'll succeed."
Mr. Francis' place of business is in Columbus.
Bugeleisen & Jacobson Exhibit.
Morris Baer, of New York, was in charge of the
Bugeleisen & Jacobson exhibit. The general line of
small goods that Bugeleisen & Jacobson handle was
in evidence.
The Bush & Lane Exhibit.
Bush & Lane, Holland, Mich., were represented at
the exhibits by Carl Dickman, of Columbus, repre-
sentative of the radio end of the business; J. W.
Albertson, of Toledo, the piano end of it, and James
DePree, general sales manager from the factory at
Holland. Mich.
Stradivara Company's Exhibit.
J. A. Compton, of Coshocton, Ohio, and his son,
Fred B. Compton, were in the Deshler-Wallick Hotel
with an exhibit of their lines of manufactures. Mr.
Comptou is the head of the Stradivara Company,
which makes the benches, player-roll and sheet music
cabinets. The new Stradtop is a bench with music
compartment. Classification of music is facilitated
by using the cabinets of this company. "Business
has been fair," said Mr. Compton, Sr. Coshocton is
a manufacturing town.
The Majestic Exhibit.
Majestic Radio of Chicago was represented in an
exhibit at the Deshler-Wallick Hotel. This show
was under the Columbus Distributing Branch. J. W.
Tracy was in charge. "Majestic is having a very
good business in our territory," said Mr. Tracy.
Brunswick-Sonora Dealer.
President Fisher, of Fisher Music House, 22 West
Main street, Norwalk, Ohio, was seen at the con-
vention. He handles pianos and players, the Bruns-
wick and Sonora talking machines and records, the
Sparton, Crosley and Philco and Majestic radio sets
and supplies. And he says trade is not dead in any
of these lines.
An Importing House Exhibit.
Grossman Bros. Music House, Cleveland, W. J.
Sanborn, proprietor, was represented by an exhibit.
(Continued on page 14)
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