The talking machine world (Jan-June 1918)

June is, 1918 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD 103 DOEHLER DIE -CASTINGS for tone arms, sound boxes and talking machine attachments are STANDARD throughout the industry. Of the many instruments produced to-day from the most prominent makes down, the greater number, by far, are equipped with Doehler die-cast tone arm and sound box. The enormous output of our three large plants permits of advantages to the users of die-castings, as regards prices and deliveries, not otherwise possible. MAIN OFFICE AND EASTERN PLANT WESTERN PLANT B ROOKLYN. Y» NEW JERSEY PLANT TOLEDO. OHIO. NEWARK. N.J. STEADILY IMPROVING CONDITIONS PREVAIL IN PORTLAND Dealers Make Excellent Reports Regarding Business Prospects — Labor Conditions Are More Settled in Various Lines — Stock Shortage Is the Only Serious Worry Prevailing in the Trade Portland, Ore., June 4. — That labor conditions are growing more stable in Portland is apparent from a visit to the various talking machine houses in the city where there have been almost no important changes in the sales staffs in the last month. Dealers attribute this largely to the tone of the business, which is such as to make the salesmen want to stay with their positions. The approach of summer, however, has found a start of the vacation period and this has somewhat disrupted some of the staffs. May business in the talking machine field was more than satisfacto'ry and dealers all have excellent comparative reports showing a big increase in sales and a remarkably better condition in collections than at this time last year. Collections are reported to be even better now than they were a month ago and this end of the business is declared to have been never healthier. Sales were not quite as large in May as in the earlier months of the spring, when Portland experienced a real boom in the talking machine field, but they were large enough to cause satisfaction to the dealers. Dealers are a unit in declaring that shortage of stocks is the one and only cause for falling off in sales in machines, many customers" refusing to await deliveries which cannot be made on the spot and finally not buying at all. Taylor C. White, manager of the Victrola department of Sherman, Clay & Co., says that his firm could not ask for any better business than that of the past month. Three electric Victrolas were sold in one day by F. D. Addis, of the department, and this was only a sample of the business being done by the firm. The visit of Galli-Curci to Portland did much to stimulate the sale of her records. The Victrola department of the G. F. Johnson Piano Co. reports even better business in May than in April. R. F. Callahan, manager of the department, says they cannot get enough Victor machines and he attributes the growing business of his department as> much to the popularity of the line as to the methods which he has put forth to get business. Paul B. Norris, manager of the talking machine department of the Wiley B. Allen Co., handling a large line of Victrolas and Edisons, said: "We didn't get business in big bunches in May as we did in April, but compared with last year at this time business is away up." Mr. Norris' business has been so good that he has just bought a new automobile truck to deliver machines. The show windows of the Wiley B. Allen Co. have recently presented some unusual and attractive scenes arranged by Mr. Norris and his assistants. The excellent location of the store on a corner of two principal streets makes these windows well known and admired by Portlanders. L. D. Heater, manager of the Portland branch of the Columbia Graphophone Co., says that the freight congestion is very much lessened and that his firm is now receiving shipments in from thirty to forty days after they leave the factory. Part of a carload of Columbias is now on the way from Seattle and several carloads are due any day from the factory. One unusual demand which Mr. Heater notes is for military trunks for holding Grafonolas. These come from soldiers at Camp Lewis, Wash., and Vancouver Barracks, Wash. Mr. Heater says the soldier trade is a big one. He recently sold 235 Columbias to Camp Lewis in one order. Soldiers at Vancouver are also buying a great number of Columbia records at the local Columbia stores. The Wakefield Music House reports excellent sales of Brunswick machines. C. Guy Wakefield, manager, says that many new handsome styles have recently been received and that these have added materially to sales. When $9,000 worth of Sonora machines arrived at the Bush & Lane house recently the firm congratulated itself on the fact that at last it had a complete line of Sonoras — all lines and finishes — on hand. Under the excellent management of James Loder, manager of the talking machine department, many sales have been made of all machines handled. L. E. Gilham, manager of the Stradivara Talking Machine Co., says that business is very good and that the out-of-town trade has been very brisk. New record rooms have been added. The Johnson Phonograph Co., of Astoria, Ore., has sold out its entire business, carrying the Columbia and Victor lines, to the Owl Drug Store, of Astoria, of which John L. Ray, formerly of Lewiston, Idaho, is proprietor. J. H. Dundore, general manager of the Portland branch of Sherman, Clay & Co., has gone to Washington, D. C, on governmental business. Mr. Dundore is connected with the food conservation movement. Absolute confidence in the Edison phonograph was displayed by E. B. Hyatt, of the Hyatt Talking Machine Co., where he presented Madame Florence Ferrell, who sings for the Edison Co., in a most successful concert before a large and fashionable audience last month at the White Temple here. "I was greatly surprised," says C. R. Cordner, manager of the phonograph department of Eilers Music House, "to find how little effect the recent Liberty Loan and Red Cross drives had on the talking machine business. For a week it was rather dull, but the interval between the two drives was so lively and we have been so busy that it has more than offset the lack of business throughout the drives. A new method for finishing checked talking machine and piano cases has been invented by Joe Baker, of the Harold S. Gilbert Piano Co. It is of such value that since its inception Mr. Baker's time has been fully occupied in finishing checked machines for the various talking machine houses of Portland. The Victrola department at the Lipman, Wolfe & Co. store is well supplied with both machines and records. While some popular records have been entirely sold out, Miss Florence Isaacs, in charge of the record department, shows her good salesmanship by persuading customers to listen to other records and always with good results. DON'T YOU KNOW WHERE TO GET THAT MOTOR— OR THAT TONE ARM— OR CABINET? Why Not Let Us Find It For You ? DIRECT REPRESENTATIVES OF ALL LEADING MANUFACTURERS WE CAN GIVE YOU MERCHANDISE, SERVICE AND ADVICE NO CHARGE FOR THE LAST TWO THE PHONOGRAPH CLEARING HOUSE, Inc. 51 EAST 42d STREET, NEW YORK CITY