Presto

January 12, 1924. PRESTO THINGS SAID OR SUGGESTED A Story of Dissolution. It is commonly said that no man is of so much weight in his place in affairs that his going could seriously affect the organization of which he may be an important factor. The great machinery of every business concern cannot be thrown out of commission by the slipping of a cog. That's the thought. But is it so correct as to be regarded as a rule? Absolutely not! There are exceptions. * # * One of the oldest of the Mid-West piano factories is undergoing the processes of dissolution. For more than a year past the industry has been quietly liquidating its business with a view to closing up. There is no consideration of good will which has been accumulating for more than fifty years. The fact that the industry has been in operation in the same city for about forty years has no credit as an asset. While some effort has been made to sell the concern, as a going plant, nothing has come of it because the schedule of material holdings has been excessive. And what is the why of it? * * * The decline of the fine old piano industry is due directly to the death of one man. He was the son of the founder of the house, and, succeeding his father, he had charge of the industry for more than a quarter century. And when he died the large industry began its slow but sure dissolution. * * * Of course the owners of the fine old piano industry sought for someone capable of taking the place of the man who had died. It did not seem a difficult thing to do. The men responsible for the business, and the interests of the stockholders, were themselves leaders in large affairs. They had their own successful organizations. They knew of men who could come into their offices and do good work. Why not also workers for the responsibilities of the old piano industry? * * * Biased Business Axiom. And right here may be evidence that another common business axiom may go wrong. For it is customary to declare that all business is the samethat no line is so different from all the rest that it cannot be readily conducted by a recruit from outside its experienced ranks. The owners of the oid piano industry did not tind an outsider who could till the place of the man who had died. Nor did they discover the right man within the piano lines who would take the responsibilities upon any basis of wages or other ordinary regulations. And why, again? * * * The fine old piano industry bad been permitted, like grandfather's clock, to run down. It had been making dividends for stockholders. They were satisfied. What more could be asked? But the trade did not share in the stock dividends and were making other demands in which they were interested. They wanted newer case styles. They wanted a small grand. They asked about a reproducing grand. In short, they wanted so many things that the factory management became dassed and helpless. And then trade fell away. As methods changed the old industry could not hold its customers. The trade paper advertising ceased to appear. The energies at headquarters were paralyzed. Nothing was done to keep life in the chilling industrial body. And then liquidation, by which the piano world loses a line line of instruments and a progressive little city loses one of its best assets. * * * There's a Difference. There are many valuable lessons in the true story of the fine old piano industry that is dying of inanition and lack of understanding of a special line of industry and business. Had the control of the piano company known just what any experienced piano man knows, the concern would not have gone to seed because of the passing of one man. It is a mistake, in the first place, for any important industry to place all of its dependence upon a single life. The uncertainties of man's existence make the risk too great. The man invests in life insurance only because he knows he can not govern his own stay on earth. The big industry, that takes the risk that the man himself will not assume, is too shortsighted to be secure. And the industry that depends upon the life of one man can not be doing its best, even while the man is alive. How can it do anything at all when he goes? * * * If the piano industry were just like all other'lines of business, the adjoining furniture factory or the automobile factory, or the shoe factoryany factory at allmight offer the right man to fill the void made by the death of the piano man. The piano is not like other things. It borders upon something more than the methods of putting things together, and the specifications of the expert designers and skilled mechanics. It is the no-man's land between the utilities and art. Not every man can conduct a piano factory, nor can any man sell pianos. * * * Geo. Foster's Wise Move. The return of the wave of industrial combinations seemed to have stirred the piano trade during 1923. There were rumors of mergers which failed to materialize, and one that proved true. The absorbing, by the American Piano Co., of the Mason & Hamlin was the big event of the end of last year. It was a matter of importance, not because of the fact itself, but because of the attainment of the Boston piano since its promotion by A. M. Wrighta thorough piano man in the best sense of the term. No other piano possessed more significance at the time of the merger. The keen sense of values which has made George G. Foster a historic character in the piano world was never so well illustrated as in the merger of the Mason & Hamlin with the other great instruments of the American Piano Co. line. And it's a good thing, too, that A. M. Wright continues to guide the destinies of the splendid Boston piano. * * * Reproducing Grands. If 1923 did anything more than might have been expected, it was in the development of the reproducing grand. It is said that millions of dollars have been invested in the comparative, or interpretative, concerts by great artists designed to illustrate the marvelous "re-enacting" powers of the reproducing grands. The greatest living pianists have been employed to display the imitative exactness of the modern miracles. Of the instruments so promoted, the "Ampico" probably took the lead. There are very few names prominent in the pianistic world that have not been coupled with the "Ampico." What that means to the necessarily limited number of the costly instruments implied need not be discussed. It suggests the overworked word "prohibitive." And this is where the wonder of 1923,- in connection with the reproducing piano, comes in. * * * During the last two months the newspapers in some cities have contained illustrated advertisements of a reproducing piano to be retailed for $875. The price is startling, in view of the figures named for other instruments of similar construction and attainments. The price is less than average playerpianos were sold for at retail a few years back. It is less than the "straight" upright was sold for fifty years ago. And in the 'sixties the old squares were "cheap" at any such figures. $875 for a reproducing piano in which mechanism of dependability is guaranteed is sufficient to attract the public. What wonder that the industry that can supply the trade at a cost to permit of such a price at retail is rushed to the utmost possibilities of a twenty-four hour working day? * * * But even with the reproducing piano produced on a popular price basis, the sale of the playerpiano will be larger this year than lastlarger than before in several years. And there are signs that the "straight" upright will have a better call than before. There are large industries getting ready to meet that "straight" piano demand. And they will have no pianos left -ever at the end of the year. For, with all the wonder of the automatic pianos in their diversified powers to entertain, thousands of homes prefer the instrument in which there is the spirit of education and the development of digital, as well as intellectual, dexterity. :Ji ;Js jj: F. S. Cable's Daughter. There will be a good deal more than local interest in the announcement of Miss Gladys Cable's debut in concert next Sunday afternoon. The Studebaker Play House, in Michigan avenue, Chicago, should be filled by piano men and their families alone, with other crowds of music lovers to overflow the hall. Miss Cable is a soprano of clear, sweet voice and rare finish. It is a pity that her father, the late Fayette S. Cable, could not have lived to enjoy next Sunday's event. For he was a fond and proud parent, enthusiastic and possessed of the artistic temperament. Still more, he was a lovable personality whose friends were countless. He died just as his two brothers had died, of overwork, burning every ounce of energy in his determination to build up a great piano industry. * * * And how many of the piano manufacturers have gone the same way! All of the three Cable brothers should still be alive. But they were workers beyond human limitations. Herman D., founder of The Cable Company, went first; then Hobart M., the eldest brother, and last Fayette S. There was a saying of Hobart M. Cable's which was characteristic. "Every load must have a wheel-horse to pull it," he used to say, "and I'm a wheel-horse!" The Cables were all wheel-horses. GRAND PIANO PRODUCT OF C. KURTZMANN & CO. Great Growth of Buffalo Industry Evident Fact at Anniversary Celebration. Kurtzmann activities and progress were subjects of interest to the trade during the anniversary celebrations of the company in 1923. That the C. Kurtzmann Co. had four factory units was a fact commented upon and that a large factory will some day house all these units on a five-acre tract held for this purpose was an anticipated happening. The great proportion of Kurtzmann output is of grands. The company has a perfect model of grand piano factory which early in the autumn was practically filled with grands, some 700 or more on castors. They made, as a visitor put it, "a forest of grands." Christian Kurtzmann began manufacturing pianos 75 years ago in about as small a way as piano making could be started, and ended the seventy-fifth anniversary as one of the great industries in the music field. An estimate of the output of 1924 points to over 6,000 pianos, a third grands. GET=TOGETHER LUNCHEON OF THE KOHLER INDUSTRIES Enjoyable Annual Event Attended by Representatives of Various Interests Held at Hotel Astor. The annual get-together luncheon of the Kohler Industries, New York, held at the Hotel Astor, December 2i was a joyous concluding function to a memorably successful business year. All the interests of the institution were well represented and all phases of the business, manufacturing, selling and advertising were in evidence. The various interests and those representing them at the luncheon were as follows: Auto Pneumatic Action Co.W. C. Heaton, M. De Angelis, H. J. Lajoie, W. Reynolds, Dr. M. Davis, J. Douglas, W. J. Keeley. Standard Pneumatic Action Co.A. W. Johnston, Win. Mennie, A. R. Farmer, Adam Gutsohn. Autopiano Co.Corley Gibson, W. J. Behr, Emil Neff, Edw. Fitzgerald, Win. Bowles. Brambach Piano Co.M. P. Campbell, G. Campbell, E. Videaud, Chas. L. Baker, Henry Fry. Kohler & CampbellHerbert Simpson, J. White, G. Erbe, Jr., Win, P. Bacon, Jos. B. Schwarcz, J. Mahoney, H. S. Holmes, Wm. Newman, A. H. Kayton, Wm. Ostagen. Hazelton Piano Co.Thos. A. Perrot. Milton Piano Co.Geo. W. Allen, F. Martin, L. Potter, E. Forshay, W. Rachelle. Industries OfficeC. Thornton, H. Newton, H. Schoenberg, J. Holmes. Advertising DepartmentH. Lawrence, B. Gill, Jos. T. Davis. POSSIBLE PIANO PROSPECTS. There is a plain suggestion to the piano men of Chicago in some banking figures published last week. In fact, more than $71,000,000 was added to the savings accounts in Chicago banks despite the fact large amounts were invested in homes and property. In fact, the year brought an increase in combined commercial and savings deposits of more than $89,000,000. These conditions are shown in reports of condition, as of December 31, made by both national and state banks, in response to call for statements issued by the controller of the currency and the Illinois state auditor. 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/