The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1915)

64 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. COLUMBIA GRAPHOPHONE CO. ENTERTAINS OFFICE STAFF. Dance and Supper at the Hotel Bossert Proves a Most Enjoyable Affair — Company Executives Attend — Serves to Promote Good Fellowship Among Staff Managers. In The second annual dance and supper of the employes of the executive offices of the Columbia Graphophone Co., New York, was held on Friday night, November 12, at the Hotel Bossert, Brooklyn, N. Y., and was even a greater success than any members of the committee had anticipated. The Columbia Co. was the host at this gathering, and the hotel to enjoy a delicious buffet supper, formality and joviality were the keynote of this division of the program, and as the committee had prearranged every detail, large and small, the supper was carried through from start to finish without the slightest hitch. Incidental to the supper, several informal talks members of the sales staffs, stenographers and clerical workers become acquainted with one another in an informal, unconstrained spirit that is impossible to cultivate in business circles. Among the guests present in addition to those mentioned above were: H. B. Ray, advertising manager, and Mrs. Ray; John C. Ray, of the executive offices, and Mrs. Ray; G. C. Jell, general manager of the Columbia recording laboratory; George P. Metzger, Hanff-Metzger Co.; William S. Scherman and Paull F. Hayden, advertising de Gentlemen in Two Front Rows: Guests at Columbia Graphophone Co.'s Dance and Supper. First row (left to right) — George P. Metzger, G. C. Jell, Edward N. Burns, John A. Cromelin. Brooklyn, N. Y. ; Frederic Goodwin, H. B. Ray, J. C. Ray, A. E. Donovan (standing). Second row — E. B. Jordan, Jr., E. B. Jordan & Co., discharged its duties in a manner which gave keen pleasure to its hundred guests. The Van Eps Banjo Orchestra, one of the bestknown organizations in musical circles, was engaged to furnish the music for the evening's entertainment, and the program of dances prepared by the committee offered the orchestra an unusual opportunity to display its remarkable proficiency in playing fox-trot, one-step and waltz music. Extra dances were requested at frequent intervals, and the applause at the end of each dance became so insistent that the committee was obliged to issue a definite time limit to the various dances, or the first half of the program would have continued until dawn. Among the most active participants in the exhibition of the terpsichorean art were Edward N. Burns and John A. Cromelin, vice-president and general manager, respectively, of the Columbia Graphophone Co. Both of these gentlemen danced every number on the program, and evinced an active enjoyment in the evening's fun and a knowledge of the latest dance steps, which easily accounted for their being the most popular dancers on the floor. Mr. Burns and Mr. Cromelin entered into the spirit of the festivities in a whole-hearted, sincere way, which put the rest of the assemblage at their ease and started a feeling of sociability and good cheer which increased as the evening progressed. The first half of the dance program was completed by midnight, subsequent to which the guests adjourned to one of the private dining rooms of were given by the heads of departments and the committee members, both Mr. Burns and Mr. Cromelin declining to be included in the speechmaking activities on the plea that their minds were so exercised by the multiple requirements of their dance programs that any kind of a speech would render them hors de combat for the rest of the evening. They both, however, expressed their appreciation of the admirable way in which the dance and supper had been arranged and planned. Frederic Goodwin, head of the Columbia educational department, and A. E. Donovan and Lester L. Leverich, of the dance committee, delivered a few remarks in a cheerful vein, Mr. Donovan's talk being in the nature of a blank verse poem, in which the names of many of the officials of the company were opportunely interwoven. The Hotel Bossert, at which the dance and supper were held, is one of the most fashionable hostelries in Great New York, and, as it is admirably equipped to handle an affair of this kind, its choice by the committee was a happy one. Transit facilities to reach the hotel are ideal, and in short the committee, which consisted of Edmund F. Sause, Henry D. King, A. E. Donovan and Lester L. Leverich, well deserved the congratulations which they received from the individual guests and the company. The value of these annual dances as a means of promoting and fostering sociability and good fellowship among the employes of the Columbia executive offices is unquestioned, as executives, partment, and a bevy of pretty girls and matrons whose charm and sociability was a material factor in the evening's success. CHANGES IN ST. JOSEPH. MO. The Townsend & Wyatt Music Co. Disposes of Jobbing Rights of Pathephone to E. E. Trower, Who Organizes New Company. (Special to The Talking Machine World.) St. Joseph, Mo., December 1. — The Townsend & Wyatt Music Co. has bought the interest in the company of E. E. Trower and has disposed of its jobbing interest in the Pathephone talking machine to Mr. Trower, who no longer will be connected with Townsend & Wyatt. A new jobbing concern, to be known as the E. E. Trower Music Co., will be opened in St. Joseph as soon as quarters are provided. Articles of incorporation of the new company, capitalized for $25,000, have been filed in the office of the County Recorder. E. E. Trower holds 248 shares of stock and Lila Landis Trower and S. R. Trower hold one share each. The company will deal in musical instruments and talking machines and will transact only a wholesale business. The Townsend & Wyatt Music Co. will continue in the retail music business as heretofore. One promise broken will ruin the effect of a hundred promises kept. It is the broken promise that the customer remembers.