The talking machine world (Jan-June 1923)

78 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD May 15, 1923 S_AN_FRAN^CISCO Records in Fine JVindow Displays Resulting in Sales — Unusual Tie-up Ulth Artist — Kohler Chase Get-together — The News San Francisco, Cal., May 5. — Merchants who are complaining that business is not increasing as fast as it should in view of the rapid increase of population in California are in the same class as the farmer who counts his chickens before they are hatched. Every new settler in a community means a proportionate increase in business sooner or later, but naturally the new settlers are not inclined to buy a talking machine and records before they have acquired a cook stove. Have patience, Mr. Music Merchant, the best is yet to come. As a speaker at a large banquet the other night expressed it, "success is sure to the man who studies the future in the light of past experience." It takes no prophet to see ahead far enough to know that a growing family will need more clothes to wear next year than it does this year. If Spring business is not exactly rushing at present, in reality there is no just reason to complain. Leading concerns in San Francisco all report that the sales volume for April this year was greater than for the same month last year. The ov-erhead costs in business have increased somewhat, notably rents, yet this is offset by the fact that there are more people to make an appeal to. Also, in many cases, merchants have added lines which afford larger profits than some of their old lines. Dealers Featuring Records in Windows Most of the San Francisco talking machine dealers are featuring record hits in their show windows this month. Dance records are .goingstrong, especially the waltz and slow dance music of the latest type. Business on portables is heavy and the outlook is for a bigger sale of this type of machines than last Summer. Flattop machines are in the most popular demand in the large cities, though in some districts out of town the uprights are holding their own about as well as ever. Columbia Tie-up With Rosa Ponselle The Coast concert tour of Rosa Ponselle is being handled in a manner which must be highly gratifying to the artist, at least from the publicity standpoint. Huge posters of Miss Ponselle are to be seen on every hand and in connection with much of this advertising mention of the Columbia Ponselle records is made. Manager Kanter, of the local Columbia Graphophone Co., has engineered a co-operative publicity campaign which enlists the good will of all the Columbia dealers. Mr. Kanter has arranged for fifty separate Ponselle window displays in San Francisco and vicinity. The singer's greatest concert will be held at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on May 13. The Kohler & Chase Get-together It was some party, the Kohler & Chase gettogether gathering in Knabe Hall in the Kohler & Chase Building on the evening of April 4. This event marked the first of a series of meetings by the company's employes. The life of the party was Leon Lang, vice-president and general manager, who, in one year, has developed an esprit de corps which promises great things for the future of the company. Preceding the dance and refreshments there was speaking by George Q. Chase, president; Leon Lang, William H. H. Davis, R. H. Blake, C. E. Gorham, F. P. Corcoran and others. Mr. Corcoran, Pacific Coast sales manager of the Brunswick Co., made an address in which he outlined the history of the Brunswick machine and explained its special selling poifits. Kohler it Chase have just taken on an exclusive agency for Brunswick phonographs and records, and the talking machine departments of the various stores in . central California are being enlarged and remodeled in order to handle the business to best advantage. Robert Bird Ends Tour of Branches Robert Bird, manager of the wholesale Victor department of Sherman, Clay & Co., has returned from a visit to the company's establishments in the Northwest. He visited Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma and Portland, and found business in all these places ahead of last year. Mrs. Bower, who formerly was secretary to Andrew ^McCarthy, but who has been out of the talking machine game for a few years, has accepted the position as secretary to Mr. Bird. Lectures on "Music Appreciation" Miss Donzella Cross, of the musical educational department of Sherman, Clay & Co., is at present giving four afternoon lectures a week to the school teachers of San Francisco and Oakland on the subject of "Music Appreciation." Trade Golfers in Tie Match The golf experts of Sherman, Clay & Co. and the Wiley B. Allen Co. played a tie match at the Presidio course this month. The tie is to be played off at the Lakeside links. George Bates, Shirley Walker and A. D. Duclos represented Sherman, Clay & Co., and J. J. Black, Harold Pracht, Mr. Lindsay and Harry Lawrence defended the honor of the Wiley B. Allen Co. in the hotly contested match. Edison Demand Grows Edison Phonographs, Ltd., Edison distributor, is receiving very substantial proofs of the increased interest in Edison phonographs and records in the vast territory which it controls, including San Francisco, Los Angeles and Portland. The new console models have attained a great vogue, while the latest issues of Edison records are winning increased favor. Successful Demonstrations of Exercise Records A most successful demonstration of the Wallace reducing records was held this month in the talking machine department of the City of Paris, San Francisco. Miss Doris Quigley, as I Sherman . May & Go. |i 1 ;^ , T\^^ < I ¥1 L/istrilJiitors II ^ictrolas Victor ^^^ords Victor cAccessories Main Wholesale Depot r 741 Mission Street, San Francisco, Cal. Branch V/holesale Depots: 10th and Santee Streets, Los Angeles, Cal. N. W. Corner 13th and Glison Streets, Portland, Oregon Oceanic Bldg., Cor. University and Post Streets, Seattle, Washington 330 West Sprague Ave., Spokane, Washington II ^^^^ iiJ ii I ; Jsv^v VXXXVVVV^SVVVXVN^ i ^ S.x~ ~ i I «x«.^ 5 DISTmBUTING DEPOTS YOUR CONVENIENCE