The Edison phonograph monthly (Jan-Dec 1916)

EDISON PHONOGRAPH MONTHLY, MARCH, 1916 Doings of the Dealers — Continued EDISON PHONOGRAPHS AND THE PIANO THOSE who are half-hearted or doubt that the golden era of the phonograph is here need but watch the trend of popular preference and how it affects music houses that have been a long while in business. E. E. Taylor & Co., of Olympia, Washington, for twenty-five years engaged in a substantial piano business, recently sold out his entire stock of pianos at a special sale and went whole-heartedly and exclusively into the sale of Edison Phonographs and Records, convinced that in them lay the kind of a future that a business going quarter of a century could be satisfied with. And if there is any business in which salesmanship has been developed into an art, in the best sense, it is the piano business. They profited by the popular idea that no home could be complete without a piano, no matter how humble. All the conveniences of the deferred payment had been masterly developed and used in that line. They were strongly entrenched when the phonograph began to loom on the horizon. The piano dealers did not take it seriously for a long time. Then some of them began to take some phonographs into their stores. Even at this period the phonograph did not threaten the stability of the piano business in the sense of being a worthy rival. But then Mr. Edison brought out his perfection of the phonograph which made it a real musical instrument instead of a more or less feeble mechanical reproducer. This was the beginning of the Edison Phonograph taking its place side by side with one of the most perfect solo instruments ever perfected — the piano. But the Edison Phonograph had the evident and distinct advantage of furnishing at will, irrespective of the listener's performing ability or musical knowledge, the finest music of the world's music masters. The piano needed a performer, needed years of patient practice, needed the mood. It still stands high, and should so stand, as a wonderful instrument, but the Edison Phonograph has grown into deserved popular appreciation of its marvelous musical powers. If such an instrument has the power to rise to a position beside the piano, time-honored and crowned by compositions of brilliant composers for several hundred years, then the Diamond Amberola is worthy of the best efforts you can put into its promotion and sale. Not to do so is to discredit yourself, lose money-full opportunities, and the missing of a future that belongs to you. LONG DISTANCE SALESMAKING BEING hidden away nearly a hundred miles from the nearest railroad station — ninety miles to be exact — cannot dim W. A. Work's interest in, and enthusiasm for, the Edison Diamond Amberola. Far away out in Lovington, New Mexico, comes the query for the latest records, all the news about the artists, their photographs. Is Miss so-and-so dead? We haven't heard enough of her lately. My customers are interested in all these things. Mr. Work, perhaps living up to his name, finds time to run a thriving drug store and still keep up his interest in Amberolas to sales heat. Isn't there a world of suggestive force, for dealers more favorably situated in larger towns, in th example of this doer of a dealer? FROM ONE WHO KNOWS The Reverend J. J. O'Keefe, of Dalton, Mass., is the proud possessor of a Diamond Amberola, a $450 Edison Diamond Disc, and two other expensive sound-reproducing instruments. He also has a splendid library of records. Rev. O'Keefe is a gentleman of culture, especially in music, and with his array of sound reproducers he certainly is in a position to "judge for himself." In a recent letter to his dealer, The Meyer Store, Inc., of Dalton, he stated he had been consulted in regard to the purchase of instruments for the public schools of Dalton and advised the purchase of Edison Diamond Amberolas on account of tone, indestructible records and needing no change of needles. What do you think of that? AMBEROLA AND ENERGY— A WINNING COMBINATION D. Hogeboom, of Pittsburg, Kan., is an Edison dealer to whom we point with pride. Mr. Hogeboom has handled the Edison Diamond Disc since September, 1915. After familiarizing himself with the Diamond Disc Mr. Hogeboom was in an excellent position to judge the merits of the Amberol. It didn't take him long to realize that he was missing an opportunity for some mighty profitable business, and as a result he has taken on the Amberol line, which makes him an exclusive Edison dealer in the full sense of the term. The energetic methods of Mr. Hogeboom, coupled with the allaround excellence of the Amberola and Blue Amberol records, are sure to make him a success.