The talking machine world (Apr-June 1921)

128 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD April 15, 1921 of View iiiiiiiiiii Western Division of The World, Chicago, III., April 8, 1921. The Big Show has come and gone. It luas a Big Show. In fact, it was pre-eminently THE Big Show of the year from the educational standpoint. We refer, need we say, to the Educational Conference conducted by representatives of the Victor Talking Machine Co. and ten of the most prominent W^estern Victor distributors. Not introduced with any flourish of trumpets, yet big with significance, this three-day exhibit, discussion and lesson (for it was alL of these and more ) impressed most profoundly those who took part in it. To the representatives of the Talking Machine World it was, literally and seriously, a most inspiring event. Without any suggestion of commercial interest, without direct reference to sales or promotion, the Educational Director of the Victor Co., with her talented and enthusiastic associates, made an exposition, thriiling in its high points, profoundly interesting in even its most ordinary aspects, of the marvelous work which is being done by her great department in bringing to the schools of the United States the blessings of immediate contact with the best that has been thought and written, played and sung, in the art of music. As the wonderful story was unfolded, one question came uppermost and hnally took first place in the mind of the writer of these lines. It was this : You Victor dealers, do you half realize what all this means to you? Are you establishing a liaison between your business and the magnificent influence for music and for the talking machine which the \Tctor educational work is steadily developing? That is the biggest question which the Conference has yet suggested to the writer. What is the dealer doing to bring this great power into working for him? The Victor Co. is ready to show its dealers how they can connect with this high-power circuit of sales-influence. Will they take advantage of the chance and cut in on the line? The answer should be in the affirmative. The Brunswick Co. has both good hard sense and imagination as well. Elsewhere in this paper the reader will find a description of the highly ingenious scheme whereby the Brunswick sales forces have captured ''Mother's Day" and made it their own. They tell us, do the wise ones, that the florists of this country have multi "Say It With Music" plied their sales over and over again since some genius arose to create the slogan, "Say it with flowers." And now the Brunswick folks are telling us to "say it with music," and have linked up this pretty saying with the idea of Mother's Day, that day in every sweet Spring when men and women, boys and girls, have learned to wear in their buttonholes or their corsages a sprig of flowers in honor of that human bringer of all good things — mother. By means of a very clever advertising campaign of helps to the Brunswick dealer this Mother's Day is being linked up with the sale of Brunswick phonographs. We shall not spoil a very good thing by giving too many details. But those who want to know what the mystic number 112 really means, or how "mother's heart" may be "kept singing," are respectfully referred to that page of this magazine on which the story is told. Even then there is a great deal more to learn, and some of the most interesting points are not revealed at all. For them, let the reader go to the fountain-head and ask the Brunswick phonographers to tell their story to him in their own way. He will be a surprised and an admiring reader when he has learned it in all its ingenious and practical beauties. "Say it with music" is an inspiration. Good for Brunswick ! President McNamar.^, of the Empire Phono Parts Co. of Cleveland, was in the city the other day and seemed to be in a very cheerful mood. Of course, we asked him "What about business?" Wherever, today, two or three are gathered together, in the words of John the golden-mouthed, business is the subject of discus Cycle and Business through the same period of reaction from hilarious prosperity which the East experienced a short time ago. As we understood him, he was pointing the moral of the fact, which all students of economics well know, that prosperity and its opposite may be compared with the crest and trough, respectively, of a wave, which comes and goes, moving through the entire sea of industrial society, and at every point having its motion in one direction exactly balanced by a reaction in the other direction. The great war-time prosperity, for instance, started in the East and worked its way gradually to the midWest, and thence to the Pacific Slope. By the time that it had reached the Chicago territory and was in full swing there it had already begun to recede on the Atlantic Coast. Then, when the wave changed its direction, the depression was felt in the Eastern States long before the mid-West was affected. At the moment, that last direction of the wave is in full motion in the mid-West, while already there are signs that the turn has come in the East. Great \\-aves move slowly and large tidal movements are very gradual. It will take quite some time for our Atlantic Coast friends to realize that the turn is actually passed, and, of course, we out here shall have to wait just a bit longer. But President McNamara is right. There are true signs, not to be disregarded, that the Eastern situation is changing for the better. Let us be patient. We have, after all, not very much cause for complaint. We might be much worse off. What One Store Is Doing There is a big department store downstate, in the thriv-ing city of Decatur, a store known all over the contiguous region, the Linn & Scruggs store. That institution boasts a music department which is worth while, and especially a talking machine department which is most distinctly worth while. The head of the talking machine department of this big store reports to The World that he and his assistants sold $4,000 worth more goods during February this year than they sold during the same period last year. This is worth considering. There has been very much whining about the state of business in the farming and small-industrial-town regions throughout the middle West, and, to a certain extent, there has been reason for the complaints. But in point of fact there is no reason to be alleged for this remarkable experience of the Decatur department store, save the simple reason of good hard work. The ladies and gentlemen who run that talking machine department simply worked hard : and the results show in the figures. This time last year the orgy of spending was in full swing, and as yet no sign of a turn had appeared or, indeed, was to appear for three months more. Nor was there any terrible shortage of machines and records. There was some difficulty in getting enough stock, but that does not, for a moment, explain the facts we set forth here. The true explanation is that a year ago salesmanship was a dead art. Today salesmanship is alive again, alive and highly respected. In fact, everyone is calling for salesmanship. It is being paged all up and down the line, and hard work, salesmanship's father, is entertaining company day and night. Nuff sed. Will Be Great Gathering sion. Our Cleveland friend, answering the usual question, immediately pointed out that, in his judgment, the mid-West is just going ^^'^HEN the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce and the various national associations affiliated therewith selected the Drake Hotel in Chicago as convention headquarters for the big meetings to be held during the week of May 9 they chose wisely, for not only is Chicago the natural business center of the country, but the Drake Hotel is declared to be one of the finest in the world and environment has much to do with the making of a successful convention. During the conventions there are going to be offered to members of the music industries generally, including the talking machine men, many opportunities for studying trade conditions at first hand, discussing the business situation and the prospects and studying the various exhibits to be made, in order that they may carry back home witii tlieni new ideas to help them meet, with greater success, the business problems in their own localities.