Presto

10
P R E S T O-T I M E S
Gulbransert's Program of Progress
fect reception of the instrument to which they give
the name "Vertical Grand."
Summing up is to say that in the Gulbransen con-
sole is found a splendid specimen of the recently
adopted type of piano, "exquisite in appearance," as
a close observer has said, and as further accentuated
in the four paragraphs of description printed along
with the illustration of the piano in the Gulbransen
advertisement in this issue of Presto-Times.
Publication of important items and happenings in
the trade, particularly news and comments on large
shipments and big orders, are not only interesting to
The New Catalog
the general music trade but their publication is indica-
The'Gulbransen Company, Chicago, is sup- tive of renewed activity and constructive development
plying its dealers and others in the piano trade in the music trade generally. Permitting such pub-
a loose leaf portfolio catalog which contains in- lication by the parties named tends to aid in advanc-
dividual descriptive data on each of the Gul- ing business. The publication of unusually large ship-
bransen super-scale models, grands and up- ments of pianos by the Gulbransen Company is a
rights, and the Gulbransen Spinet type organ. case in point and one in which Presto-Times has been
This portfolio provides a convenient way of fold- one of the fortunate mediums for such dissemination
ing the loose-leaf page records together and for show- of trade revival propaganda.
It is worthy of repetition to mention shipments of
ing the customers on individual sheets any particular
instrument. Described in this series are the Stratfleld, two carloads of pianos by Gulbransen to Pacific coast
the Louis XV, the Aristocrat and the Sherboro grands points within the past two months, and another car-
in their several veneers and finishes; and the Briargate, load recently to Gene Redewell, Phoenix, Ariz., a Gul-
the Earlewood, the Wellwin and the Minuet up- bransen admirer, whose letters seem to become more
rights. The Spinet organ sheet, bearing the caption ardent with every new shipment that reaches him.
"The Charm of Real Organ Music in Your Home," Presto-Times is permitted to quote from a letter
gives illustration of three views of this instrument, recently received from Mr. Redewell, as follows:
closed, open with bench facing keyboard, and player
"The carload of Gulbransen Minuets you shipped
at the keyboard demonstrating an electric amplification on the 17 th received today. Find herewith settlement
audition.
for same.
The letter accompanying this catalog and the sales
"I don't see how you do it! In buying Gulbransen
kit which is also furnished to Gulbransen dealers, is pianos it seems that the lower the price the higher
the quality.
"These Gulbransen Minuets are the best values in
pianos I have ever received—at any time. Any dealer
failing to recognize this is merely swindling himself.
With all good wishes.
"Very truly yours,
"GENE REDEWILL."
An incident concerning the last carload shipment
to Los Angeles is suggestive of the upturn in the
piano business now at hand. Three days after this
carload left the tracks at the Gulbransen factories
and was at least two days on the road, a telegram
came asking that five more pianos be crowded in the
car and rush as they had immediate sales for them.
The belated supplemental order has since been aug-
mented so that a third Los Angeles carload shipment
is pretty sure to depart before the end of October.
New Gulbransen Catalog Folder: An-
nouncement On Gulbransen
Vertical Grand Console
Pianos and the GuU
bransen Spinet
Reed Organ
The first mid-day luncheon of the Chicago Piano
and Organ Association for the fall and winter season
is tentatively set for about Halloween time, the last
Thursday in October. One uppermost matter for
consideration is that of continued interest and prog-
ress of music in the schools, particularly piano in-
• THE GULBRANSEN SPINET ORGAN
struction. Committee chairman Adam Schneider will
have reports on this interesting matter.
signed by E. P. Williams, general sales manager of
Gulbransen Company, and accompanying the kit,
This meeting was changed to Thursday, October 24,
who gives in his letter valuable suggestions on Gul- and at which time Joel Lay, whose associates include
bransen sales promotion. Mr. Williams' wide expe- eminent members of the Chicago musical colony and
rience in marketing pianos and notably instruments who has been appointed regional director for this
of the high-grade class makes his advice valuable, district of the WPA, is announced to address the
and when his suggestions are carried out they bring association. This is an important event for the musi-
beneficial results to the recipient.
cian and everyone associated with the music industry.
The Spinet Organ.
Incidentally, Fred Ryder, who becomes president
through the death of Richard O'Connell, presided at
The Spinet organ, the newly developed reed organ
production of Gulbransen, which has jumped into this meeting.
popularity in such a rapid fashion, continues to be
Adam Schneider finds himself "in the pink of con-
a vital force in music trade sales, for it has proved
dition," says Ben F. Duvall, secretary of the associa-
itself a ready seller and featured by prominent music tion, on his return from his summer outing at Lake
houses. For the home this instrument has met a Beulah.
splendid reception. Among people who strive to
make home life more delightful, entertaining and more
A recent communication from an "occasional cor-
attractive, and everybody more musical, the instru-
respondent" at Des Monies, Iowa, speaks of activities
ment has had a warm welcome.
It is a worthy achievement in the career of a man- at the McMackin Piano Service shops and refers
ufacturing concern to have put on the market or to especially to a new ivory cement that Mr. McMackin
re-establish an article which is needed everywhere is placing on the market. Our correspondent says
that it is "snow-white, drys quickly, is waterproof and
in civilization and that that article at once meet with
stays on." Mr. McMackin is selling this glue to many
favor such as the success accorded this Gulbransen
tuners and they are all enthusiastic about it. He
Spinet organ.
tells our correspondent that "tuners cannot get ivory
The Gulbransen Console Model
heads such as they used to obtain and are using my
Keeping apace with the times in the production
synthetic ivory heads which cost very little, and the
of the console type piano, Gulbransen has adhered
cement which is adaptable for these ivory heads." Try
closely to its stand of quality and reliability which
the McMackin service. It is sure to be satisfactory.
has always been a tradition of the house.
Thus when the first Gulbransen restyled creations
Speaking- of the Story & Clark combination desk
were placed for inspection and for the verdict of the
piano recently put on the market, the Chicago Herald
valued critic, the dealer—for he is the best critic of
and Examiner recently had this item:
the piano, musically as well as in selling power and
satisfaction-giving strength—lie found in this Gul-
"Furniture dealers can now supply you with a beau-
bransen a paramount satisfaction, and it did not take tiful desk—-one that can be changed by a mere turn
long for his estimate of a truly and beautiful piano of the wrist into a fine piano. It's a piece of furniture
to be accepted and verified by the buying public. This equally useful for music or letter writing."
unanimity of sentiment and action from manufacturer
Accompanying the story was an illustration show T -
to dealer on to buyer has resulted in a well-nigh per- ing Miss Betty Silagi seated at the desk piano.
Oct.-Nov., 1935
Tunes, Sings, Plays, and Is a Good Listener
O. W. Moran. who has developed a remarkable
clientele of patrons in piano tuning and other divi-
sions of piano and organ repair and reconstruction
work since he located in Boston some fifteen years
ago, lias quite a remarkable record aside from that
gained in his trade profession as piano tuner. Mr.
Moran has been a church organist, a ballad singer,
played in orchestras and brass bands and has traveled
professionally and otherwise extensively in the United
States. Mr. Moran is devoted to music and delights
in great productions in opera, the symphony orchestra,
and has a good word for the ballad singer and even
a crooner, if crooning will be a stepping stone to
getting into music, for Mr. Moran, like many others,
cannot understand why crooning should be put down
in a category of things musical. While he admits that
some of the crooners do well in reciting verses pitched
on a few notes of the musical scale and could be
listed in a classification of reciters, they do not belong
under a classification embracing singers, vocalists or
ballatlists. Mr. Moran, who is now located at 16 Gray
street, Boston, Mass., will be delighted to hear from
any of his old-time friends in the West.
The S. & C. Windsor Console Attracts
The prominence which was given the Windsor
model Story & Clark console piano by Lyon & Healy
in their daily newspaper advertising indicates that
this special model of the S. & C. consoles is a drawing-
card for the piano department and at the same time
a prime seller itself.
In an unusually attractive display of new styles
and re-styles in pianos shown in the great Lyon &
Hcaly show window recently this Windsor model and
another Story & Clark console were a central figure
grouped with other modified vertical models.
Among several resolutions adopted at the annual
convention of the American Federation of Musicians
at Asbury Park, N. J.. was one requiring the presi-
dent of the A. F. of M. to appoint a committee or
commission to evolve plans to form a non-profit or
mutual corporation or society similar in structure to
corporations now controlling the copyright field and
calculated to give the composers and authors their
just share in the financial accrements, and to cut off
the exorbitant fees now charged by these corporations
or to their profits between the composer and the user.
The music publishing house of Harms, Inc., con-
solidates its two main offices in New York City with
headquarters in the K. C. A. building, Rockefeller
Center. Harms, Inc., was organized in 1895 and for
many years maintained executive offices at 62 West
45th street and professional offices at 1674 Broadway.
Numerous branch establishments are located in lead-
ing cities.
Another concern which gives publicity to the new-
model upright through their home newspaper is the
Biddle Music House, Reading, Ohio, which tells of
a supply of these new "spinet" pianos put in stock.
'Once in a lifetime a sensational departure from ortho-
lox design occurs in the manufacture of most any
product. Such a radical change has been made in
the piano," says Arthur Biddle.
Fred P. Watson, proprietor of the Fred P. Watson
Piano Co., Mt. Vernon, 111., who extended his vacation
well into September but is now "back in the harness"
in good shape, says that he finds there are more in-
quiries in musical instruments this fall than there
have been for a number of years past. "I cannot help
but feel," says Mr. Watson, "that conditions with
music merchants will improve quite materially with-
in the next few months."
R. P. Roseiigarten is now in charge of the radio
and electrical appliance department of the United
Music Company, 422 St. Clair street, Toledo, Ohio.
Foreign & Domestic Music Corporation has been
incorporated for music publishing at New York City
by Ross Chatkin and others; location, 410 E. 32nd;
capital stock, $10,000.
J. D. Mariner, Mariner Music House, Reno, Ncv.:
"We had orders in for the new vertical type piano
for a long time before getting any in stock. Do not
know yet how they will go in this territory but be-
lieve they may sell all right. Small grands and the
'bungalow' type uprights seem to be the best sellers
at the present time."
When in doubt refer to
PRESTO BUYERS GUIDE
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