The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1917)

THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD 45 TALKING MACHINES ARE REAL ESSENTIALS IN MILWAUKEE At Least They Appear to Be So Classified by Buying Public — Many Machine and Record Outfits Being Supplied to Boys in Camps — Co-operative Advertising Campaign Brings Results Milwaukee, Wis., December 10. — Any one who doubts that the talking machine is an "essential," as distinguished from a "non-essential" in the classification of manufactures for the purpose of wartime economy, needs only to come to Milwaukee and note how the people of this city consider the phonograph a necessity, both for the enjoyment and entertainment of the soldier and sailor boys in active service or training, and the maintenance of the spirits of those who remain at home. A comparatively huge volume of business that stamps the talking machine as a wartime necessity has been transacted by local dealers during the last month or more, and it is conservatively figured that an equal or even greater amount of business connected directly with the requirements of the war will be done during the present month, with its annual holiday season. The cry of the boys in the military camps, at home and abroad, for more music has been answered, both by dealers and by relatives and friends of the soldiers. Scores of machines, thousands of records, and many thousands of needles have gone forth in a steady stream to satisfy the hunger for music. Many more are now being sent, and a great many more will go forward during the next two or three weeks as Christmas offerings from the folks at home. To the everlasting credit of the talking machine trade "in Milwaukee and elsewhere, it must be said that out of this huge volume of business dealers have asked practically no profit, feeling that the purpose is so noble that they are willing to do more than their just share to help those who are fighting in their behalf. The contributions made by dealers, if figured in the equivalent of cash, would amount to a very large sum.' All of this has proven beyond any shadow of doubt that music is one of the greatest necessities of the times, and that to curtail the production of musical instruments of all kinds, more especially the talking machine, would be a grave mistake and sooner or later would result unfavorably and create a most regrettable situation. As Christmas approaches, it becomes more and more apparent that the supply of talking machines, records and supplies is wholly inadequate to supply the demand. As early as December 1 many dealers reported that their unfilled orders were the largest in number they have ever known, and the hope that they can catch up on deliveries by Christmas Eve seems wholly futile when it is considered that the factories cannot hope to manufacture anywhere near the quantity required. To this is added an acute shortage of cars and congestion of freight transportation. Dealers resort to express shipments at much extra expense, but even through this channel they are unable to obtain the machines required. Even those dealers who anticipated their wants as early as June and July and were able to obtain large stocks are rapidly approaching the day when they will be obliged to put off holiday customers until after January 1. Warehouses which were filled to the brim three months ago practically are vacant. The production of records also is far below requirements, and many disappointments have resulted from the inability of dealers to fill orders. Needles are very scarce, although the local situation is less unfavorable than that in many other large cities by reason of the fact that the Record Needle & Mfg. Co., of Milwaukee, is now getting under full headway and producing needles in large quantities. The Badger Talking Machine Co., Victor jobber, reports that in all its long experience it has never seen a situation like that existing to-day. Dealers are crying for stocks of machines, records, needles, etc., but only a part of their demands can be filled. A similar situation is reported by A. G. Kunde, Columbia jobber, who states that the shortage of records is especially acute. Jobbers in the Pathe, Brunswick, Sonora, Aeolian-Vocalion, Premier and other leading makes fear that Christmas week will witness one of the wildest scrambles for goods that the industry has ever known. The Phonograph Co., Edison jobber, earlier in the year laid in the largest stock of machines and records that it has ever collected to meet holiday demands, but at the beginning of December its sales already had been so large and the requirements of its dealers so broad that it may have serious difficulty in making deliveries of more than a part of the machines and records wanted by its customers. Talking machine business has been stimulated to a wholly unusual extent through the medium of a co-operative advertising campaign now being conducted by the Milwaukee Association of Music Industries at a cost of about $3,000. All of the leading talking machine jobbers and retailers in Milwaukee are members of the association and contributed liberally to the special fund raised by the organization to make the campaign possible. A series of ten full-page advertisements calculated to promote musical advancement generally, and the growth of the music industries commercially at the same time, is being published on Friday evenings in the Milwaukee Journal, the largest newspaper of the city, with a circulation of 120,000. For the purposes of the campaign and the future development of the business the association has adopted a trade-mark based on "Quality Products; Genuine Service and Honest Dealings to Every Patron." The names of all memberhouses are published in each advertisement, effectively linking the newspaper campaign with the trade-mark and the membership. The campaign is original in every way and already has had a tremendous influence upon trade among dealers belonging to the association. The work of the Milwaukee association is regarded as the most effective ever undertaken by a local organization in support of the National Association of Piano Merchants and the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce and is attracting nation-wide attention. In every respect the talking machine is being "played up" as strongly as the piano or player-piano in the Milwaukee campaign and the attention of consumers is being focused no less intensively upon the talking machine as upon its big brother, the piano. An important change in the distribution of the Pathe in Milwaukee and Wisconsin has recently been made. Lawrence McGreal, 183-185 Fourth street, who has been Pathe jobber for this territory for about two years, has relinquished the connection and expects to take up another leading line. The Chicago Pathe branch PERSONAL SERVICE The members of our Company are always available and will gladly see you personally or write you at any time we can possibly serve you. Why not communicate at once with us? BADGER TALKING MACHINE CO. SMsS"~ WIS. VICTOR DISTRIBUTORS has' added Wisconsin and Upper Michigan to its territory and is serving dealers in the district formerly handled by the Milwaukee house. In a retail way, the Pathe is undergoing a rapid growth in Milwaukee. During the past week three new Pathe stores have been established here. These are connected with the three big department stores operated by Kroeger Bros. Co., at First and National avenues; Fourth avenue and Mitchell street, and Eighteenth street and Fond du Lac avenue. The Kroeger business was established in 1853 and the stores recently celebrated their sixty-fourth "birthday." The stocks of machines and records in the Kroeger organization are among the largest in the United States. The opening of The Music Shop at 312 Grand avenue by Miss Helen Gunnis, one of the bestknown women engaged in the talking machine trade of the Middle West, was held November 17. It probably is the only store in this part of the country that is operated by a woman. The Music Shop is featuring the Columbia and Starr machines, and as a special feature carries a large stock of Universal music rolls. Miss Gunnis has been connected with several large institutions in Milwaukee and has had an unusually wide experience in retailing the Columbia. The store has been accorded splendid patronage and is destined to be one of the most successful talking machine shops in the city. The recent appearance of John McCormack, the noted Irish tenor, in this city created an extraordinary demand for his Victor records, and up to this time dealers have not been able to fill more than a part of their orders. The Edison Shop has been blazing the trail to bigger business by an energetic sales campaign during the last month or two. During November alone the Edison Shop presented three noted artists, Marie Rappold, Julia Heinrich and Betsey Lane Shepherd, in public recitals, the main purpose being to demonstrate the wonderful achievement embodied in the New Edison and to prove that it actually "re-creates" the work of the artist with the strictest fidelity. The Milwaukee Association of Music Industries, at its regular monthly meeting of November 22, decided to incorporate under the laws of Wisconsin as a non-stock corporation. At the same time it authorized the creation of a board of censors of music advertising, consisting of L. C. Parker, manager of Gimbel Bros.'s Victrola department; Charles J. Orth, Sonora dealer; Henry M. Steussy, Magnola and Pathe dealer, and Leonard E. Meyer. Mr. Steussy is secretary of the association and like Mr. Orth is one of the leading piano dealers of the city. The object of the committee is to make music advertising clean and to keep it so. Strict adherence to the principles enunciated by the association will be demanded of all advertisers. The Barron Victrola Shop, opened recently in Superior, Wis., by E. T. Barron, is an establishment that has numerous features that are out of the ordinary. One of these is the large stock of Scandinavian, Finnish, Polish, German and Slavonian records which it carries. Superior is truly a "melting pot" and the population contains so many representatives of different nationalities that the Barron Shop carries nearly as many foreign-language records as those in English. Fred W. Albright, retail jeweler, Antigo, Wis., has enlarged his store to provide for a talking machine department. The Sonora is now handled exclusively in Madison, State capital of Wisconsin, by Wiley L. Ballinger, jeweler, 17 West Main street. Fred E. Yahr, president of the Yahr & Lange Co., 207 East Water street, distributors of the Sonora in this city, recently was elected to membership in the Milwaukee Association of Music Industries to represent his house in the jobbers' division. Paul F. Seeger, manager of the Aeolian-Vocalian department of the Edmund Gram Music House, is one of the most enthusiastic talking machine men in the city, due to the remarkable growth of Vocalion business in Milwaukee.