- Home
- Fine Furniture; 1936-12
Fine Furniture; 1936-12
- Notes:
- Issue of a furniture trade magazine published in Grand Rapids, Mich. It began publication in 1936. and DECEMBER • 1936
CHARLES ELMENDORF
. His friends helped celebrate.
(See page 28)
Two dollars a year
20 cents a copy
Grand Rapids,
M i c h i g a n
DISCRIMINATING DEALERS
KNOW
3 for DlSTINCTIVENESS
Founder member
G. E. Furniture
Makers' Guild
TRUE
GRAND
RAl'IDS
APID48
Wide range of decorative possibilities has been made avail-able
in the new Fleetwood group, manufactured by Mueller Furni-ture
Co. No discriminating demand will go unfulfilled if you
stock Mueller groups, for we offer the finest in selected uphol-stered
pieces in price ranges that insure customer satisfaction.
In its traditional lines, Mueller will continue to show the dis-tinctly
individualistic patterns which have made them recognized
as masters of design.
MUELLER FURNITURE CO.
6 0 0 M o n r o e A v e . , G r a n d R a p i d s , M i c h .
We appreciate your mentioning you saw this in FINE FURNITURE
f o r D E C E M B E R . 1936
A. Your inventory dollars/
TT h e l l / O U ^" ^°Ur ^°Pe °* pr0^itS/
• C. Your customer's satisfaction and influence,
i n V I £ ! > l • • • D. Your executive time,
E. Your salesmen's morale and earning power,
you will be alert to knowingly seek satisfactory evidence
of proven consumer interest which will be confirmed
when you contact Federal American dining room
ensemble, traditional of Colonial Virginia, consisting of
28 correlative pieces made of rare Cuban Mahogany.
THE WARWICK 18th Century Dining Room group of
21 correlative units exactingly reproduced from master-pieces
designed by those renowned artists, Chippen-dale,
Hepplewhite and Sheraton. Made of Cuban
Mahogany, finished in a rich brown color with a velvety
smoothness.
THE CHARLESTON Bedroom ensemble of 18 correla-tive
pieces, made of Cuban Mahogany, styled in the
most romantic period of the romantic South. This
group recaptures the gracious charm of Virginia Manor
Houses of the days preceding and just after the federa-tion
of the American Colonies.
The three groups possess outstandingly the same
fascination which a woman enjoys when she begins to
buy a fine set of china in open stock pattern. In choosing
the different units to furnish "her" dining room or bed-room,
she experiences the thrill of a creator.
This is fine furniture of the yesterdays, today and to-morrow
— priced to capture consumer interest and
desire to possess — today!
Founder member
G. R. Furniture
Makers' Guild
GRAND RAPIDS CHAIR COMPANY
Showrooms at the factory only—Take any yellow Cab
TRUE
GRAND
RAPIDS
A ?ID48
We appreciate your mentioning vou saw this in FINE FURNITURE
FINE FURNITURE
WHEN THEY^ASK FOR SOLID
~SHOW CHARLOTTE'S
MAPLE AND WALNUT
No. 217 dresser base and mirror in solid blonde maple,
solid wood dust-proofing, wood pulls with chromium bandl
Three pieces, $132. Four pieces, $192.
Enlightened customers, cognizant of the
importance of painstaking construction
and durable materials/ are demanding
the best in SOLID maple or SOLID
walnut. Keen merchants with an eye to
future profits based on customer satisfac-tion
carry Charlotte suites, recognizing
smartness of design and style as com-bined
with faultless construction. Com-fortable
stability is synonymous with
Charlotte furniture groups.
DISPLAYED IN
AMERICAN FURNITURE MART
CHARLOTTE FURNITURE CO.
Charlotte Michigan
FlN€ FURNITUR€
the Homefurnishing Magazine from
the Furniture Style Center or* America
VOLUME 1 1936 NUMBER 8
GEORGE F. MACKENZIE. President
PHIL S. JOHNSON. General Manager
ROD G. MACKENZIE. E d i t o r
K. C. CLAPP, Merchandising Counsel
DECEMBER-Boiling
Wake 6
Page Nine 9
Building vs. Trailers, by Rod Mackenzie 18
Merchandise Illustrations 19, 35, 37, 46
Customer's Viewpoint on Buying Linoleum,
by Ruth Mclnerney 20
Simplifying Stirs Sales, by J. J. Sherline 22
The Sketch Book, by William Hoffmann 24
Science Builds a House, by Virginia R. Ulrich . 26
Man on the Cover 28
Furniture Frolics, by Ray Barnes 29
Retailing Tips 30
Benbough's Remuneration 34
Why Veneers? by Harvey Kimerly 36
Your Ad Man Can Produce Business, By Joe Lynch 40
Shafer Confesses 42
Pageantry of Coronation 44
Metropolitan Pieces 45
Homefurnishing News and Reviews 50
New Stores 56
Published monthly by the Furniture Capital Publishing Co., 1S5
Ottawa Ave., N. W., Grand Rapids, Mich. Acceptance under
the Act of June 5, 1934, authorized April 30, 1936. FINE FURNI-TURE
copyright, 1936. Eastern office: 545 Fifth Ave., New York
City, phone Murray Hill 23909, S. M. Goldberg, representative.
Chicago office: 307 N. Michigan Ave., phone CENtral 0937-8,
Bassler & Weed Co., representatives. Subscription rates: $2 per
year in the United States and American Colonies; $3 in Canada
and foreign countries; single copies, 20 cents.
We appreciate your mentioning you saw tins in FINE FURNITURE
f o r DECEMBER, 1936
A. Your inventory dollars,
V T h e n # o u ^- ^our 'lope °^ pro^itS/
I C. Your customer's satisfaction and influence,
I I • w ^ l • • • D. Your executive time,
E. Your salesmen's morale and earning power,
you will be alert to knowingly seek satisfactory evidence
of proven consumer interest which will be confirmed
when you contact Federal American dining room
ensemble, traditional of Colonial Virginia, consisting of
28 correlative pieces made of rare Cuban Mahogany.
THE WARWICK 18th Century Dining Room group of
21 correlative units exactingly reproduced from master-pieces
designed by those renowned artists, Chippen-dale,
Hepplewhite and Sheraton. Kiade of Cuban
Mahogany, finished in a rich brown color with a velvety
smoothness.
THE CHARLESTON Bedroom ensemble of 18 correla-tive
pieces, made of Cuban Mahogany, styled in the
most romantic period of the romantic South. This
group recaptures the gracious charm of Virginia Manor
Houses of the days preceding and just after the federa-tion
of the American Colonies.
The three groups possess outstandingly the same
fascination which a woman enjoys when she begins to
buy a fine set of china in open stock pattern. In choosing
the different units to furnish "her" dining room or bed-room,
she experiences the thrill of a creator.
This is fine furniture of the yesterdays, today and to-morrow
— priced to capture consumer interest and
desire to possess — today!
Founder member
G. R. Furniture
Makers' Guild
GRAND RAPIDS CHAIR COMPANY
Showrooms at the factory only— Take any yellow Cab
TRUE
GRAND
RAPIDS
A 21
We appreciate your mentioning you saiv this in FINE FURNITURE
FINE FURNITURE
WHEN THEYJASK FOR SOLID
""'SHOW CHARLOTTE'S
MAPLE AND WALNUT
No. 217 dresser base and mirror in solid blonde maple,
solid wood dust-proofing, wood pulls with chromium band.
Three pieces, $132. Four pieces, $192.
Enlightened customers, cognizant of the
importance of painstaking construction
and durable materials, are demanding
the best in SOLID maple or SOLID
walnut. Keen merchants with an eye to
future profits based on customer satisfac-tion
carry Charlotte suites, recognizing
smartness of design and style as com-bined
with faultless construction. Com-fortable
stability is synonymous with
Charlotte furniture groups.
DISPLAYED IN
AMERICAN FURNITURE MART
CHARLOTTE FURNITURE CO.
Charlotte Michigan
FlN€ FURNITURC
the Homefurnishing Magazine from
the Furniture Style Center of America
VOLUME 1 1936 NUMBER 8
GEORGE F. MACKENZIE. President
PHIL S. JOHNSON. General Manager
ROD G. MACKENZIE, E d i t o r
K. C. CLAPP, Merchandising Counsel
DECEMBER-Boiling
Wake 6
Page Nine . . . . 9
Building vs. Trailers, by Rod Mackenzie 18
Merchandise Illustrations 19, 35, 37, 46
Customer's Viewpoint on Buying Linoleum,
by Ruth Mclnerney 20
Simplifying Stirs Sales, by J. J. Sherline 22
The Sketch Book, by William Hoffmann 24
Science Builds a House, by Virginia R. Ulrich 26
Man on the Cover 28
Furniture Frolics, by Ray Barnes 29
Retailing Tips 30
Benbough's Remuneration 34
Why Veneers? by Harvey Kimerly 36
Your Ad Man Can Produce Business, By Joe Lynch 40
Shafer Confesses 42
Pageantry of Coronation 44
Metropolitan Pieces 45
Homefurnishing News and Reviews 50
New Stores 56
Published monthly by the Furniture Capital Publishing Co., 155
Ottawa Ave., N. W., Grand Rapids, Mich. Acceptance under
the Act of June 5, 1934, authorized April 30, 1936. FINE FURNI-TURE
copyright, 1936. Eastern office: S4S Fifth Ave., New York
City, phone Murray Hill 23909, S. M. Goldberg, representative.
Chicago office: 307 N. Michigan Ave., phone CENtral 0937-8,
Bassler & Weed Co., representatives. Subscription rates: $2 per
year in the United States and American Colonies; $3 in Canada
and foreign countries; single copies, 20 cents.
We appreciate your mentioning YOU saw this hi FINE FURNITURE
To build (|ii;i!it\ in any product requires more Hum
intention*. .Mersman sets high standards— sin;!
meets them by caroful organization to check and <louhk<
check all drtails of materials smd manufacture.
All tables must pass rigid tests l>\ tlu> inspoclion de-partment
alter each operation, lint, in addition. Meisman
holds each plant foreimin fullj roponsihle for the quality
of every piece of work done in his department.
(heck and double check is the polic.\ that guards
Mcrsinsin Qualit\.
Mr. Herman Vielkind, Foreman Veneer Dept.
ERSM AN We cordially invite you to visit our displays at
the January Markets. We offer an unusually large
variety of beautiful new table patterns in 18th
Century and Modern. If you want quality tables at prices that only volume production can furnish,
the most profitable anwser is MERSMAN. In Chicago — Space 924. New York —Space 1110-1116. ->•,.
i •
Chippendale
Gallery Top
Coffee Table
No. 5469
with Glass.
Swirl Mahogany
Veneered Bed.
Duncan Phyfe
Gallery Top
Coffee Table
No. 5498% with
Butt Walnut
Veneered Bed.
Also in Mahogany
as No. 5498.
Both with Glass.
zu
FINE FURNITURE
QUALIFIED PRESTIGE
.. Leader in quality, the John Wid-dicomb
Company is synonymous
with the best in furniture endeavor
The acme of quality may be established
only by those who are equipped for the
distinguished art of cabinetmaking. Since
1865, we have built up our prestige by the
artistic beauty, exquisite craftsmanship and
enduring service which are embodied in
John Widdicomb pieces.
Illustrative of our aim to furnish the mer-chant
with profitable and creditable mer-chandise
is the bedroom group pictured.
The beauty and chastity of design is en-hanced
by the absence of ornament and by
rare handling of woods.
JOHN WIDDICOMB COMPANY
GRAND RAPIDS
Showrooms at factory, 601 Fifth St.
MICHIGAN
New York Showrooms, No. 1 Park Ave.
We appreciate your mentioning you sazv this in FINE FURNITURE
f o r DECEMBER, 1936
West Michigan of Holland will have the
Largest Exclusive Exhibit of Bedroom
Furniture at the Grand Rapids Market
Signs indicate that we may be headed for another seller's market.
With the memory of the last one fresh in the retail mind, the importance
of establishing connections with a strong, experienced firm which can
be relied on to maintain quality and keep goods flowing cannot be
over-estimated.
West Michigan has the resources and facilities to take care of the
requirements of its dealers. The reputation we have in the trade for
protecting our dealers is a source of pride.
Come in and see us in the Waters-Klingman building. We have a
broad line distinguished by a freshness of design and a smart use of
woods. It fits into those price levels where the bulk of your selling is
done.
The trademark found on
furniture in homc\
of good laste.
The Half Century Shop of Dutch
Craftsmen on the Shores of Lake Michigan
We appreciate your mentioning you saw this in FINE FURNITURE
FINE FURNITURE
THE BOILING WAKE
Prints Pull
In your November issue you show illus-trations
on page 26 of Currier & Ives
prints. We are interested in knowing from
what sources they can be obtained.
J. R. W., Auburn, N. Y.
Please advise us who publishes the Cur-rie
& Ives prints illustrated in your Novem-ber
issue. R. K., York, Pa.
Hed-Faced Pages
Bravo! Glad you had enough guts to admit
a mistake. Your reprinting of the merchan-dise
that was incorrectly priced in your
October post-market story was a most com-mendable
gesture. B. L. T., Davenport, la.
Just finished reading your "Red-faced"
pages in the November issue. Everyone
makes mistakes but few admit them.
D. K., Boston.
0
Shctfer Scores
Admire Chet Shafer's spirit. He's a man
of vigorous decisions. I'm proud of him—
that he defied us readers, and I hope he
goes down to Roody's when he gets damned
good and "roody."
C. S., Three Rivers, Mich.
Worth While
Congratulate you upon the good-looking
publication you are turning out, which I
read with interest. Grand Rapids certainly
needs a furniture paper and you are giving
them something decidedly worth while.
G. D. C, Chicago.
Ours is Readable . . .
I got a kick out of your page nine, Octo-ber,
where you referred to "furrowed brow
. . . weary eyes . . . blinding 8-point of a
pulp paper weekly." Took occasion recently
to write said paper suggesting that they
take pity on their readers and use a mechan-ical
set-up that we could read.
R. S., Oklahoma City.
Clever Cartoons
Ray Barnes' page is certainly very clever.
After such information on my qualifications
as a pianist has been disseminated, feel sure
that my services will be in great demand
for concert work.
C. C. R., Knoxville, Tenn.
4-Market Complaint
What are furniture markets for anyway
but primarily to show new designs? If a
buyer were not looking for something new
and different, he would only have to re-order
from his old stock; he certainly would
not be liable to visit a market just to see
what had been previously shown to him. It
is obvious when manufacturers have to
prepare new samples four times a year that
they cannot do as good a job — and it
is far too expensive a procedure for the
average manufacturer. If there were only
two major markets a year, there would be
time to prepare something really worth-while.
The designer would have time to do
some study and research work after which
he would confer with the manufacturer and
carefully lay out plans for the new line,
having ample time in which to make cor-rections
or improvements.
Probably the four markets a year, as now
conducted, has done more to cause "close
out" jobs and cut prices than any other one
thing. It is placing unnecessary expense on
both dealer and manufacturer, often making
a pattern bought at one market obsolete
before the dealer has it on his floor. When
furniture markets are primarily to show new
designs, why not make them worth while
style shows and not markets for job hunt-ers?
W. L. K., Grand Rapids.
Market Habits
We are in favor of one market in Janu-ary
and one market in July and hope that
you will enter our "vote" accordingly. Our
opinion is based on long experience, and the
fact that it is a mighty difficult thing to
change "buyer habits." Here in New York
as well as in Chicago, we have been sub-jected
to any amount of experimentation
over the past 25 years. This seems to be
an age of experimentation anyway, so we
are not surprised that the National Furni-ture
-Manufacturers Assn. is trying to make
over human habits once more. Your maga-zine
is better than ever.
D. K., New York City.
Trade Masterpiece
Each month I look forward with much
interest to receiving FINE FURNITURE. It
is a masterpiece in trade journalism. I par-ticularly
like the profusion of photographs
of such splendid examples of fine furniture.
Such illustrations will help to train the eye
of the uninitiated in design and advance the
taste of the average consumer.
Another excellent feature which I note
you have added to the many others, is the
page of Metropolitan Museum examples of
fine furniture. This is a splendid idea and
I hope that it will be continued with ex-amples
from other American museums when
you have fully covered those m the Metro-politan
Museum. This feature offers an
opportunity to the dealer to sell more
readily the better style furniture on his
floor. Though a woman might know little
or nothing about period furniture, she is
bound to be more interested in the authentic
and adapted reproductions shown by the
furniture merchant, providing he can show
her museum specimens which inspired finer
things that he displayed. There is always
pride in owning anything which has a story
or history back of it and certainly faithful
reproductions as well as adaptations have
an interesting story.
P. F. C, Winnipeg, Canada.
Wanted: Spanish Oak
Please let me know where I can buy an
oak dining room suite in Spanish oak with
credenza buffet, refectory table and spring
seat chairs. Also where I can get a good
line of dinette suites in enamel finishes.
J. A. W., Lacon, 111.
Objects to Personalities
As a designer of furniture and a contrib-utor
to furniture magazines, I do not like
your designer's page — the Sketch Book. It is
all too terribly personal. L. M., New York.
Enjoys Ribbing
In reply to your communication of the
19th, will state that my attention has been
called to the drawing you made of me and
placed on one of your pages in the October
issue. Many thanks for your kindness in
this matter. H. C. C , Batesville, Ind.
»
More Bouquets
We acknowledge receipt of your splendid
magazine containing the article on Market
Centers of the West. We appreciate very
much the manner in which you covered the
story of our operations and of our impend-ing
expansion. The article, I think, was very
well written. We will keep you posted as
our program develops
H. J. M., San Francisco.
Supporting Salesmen
Thanks for coming to the defense of the
traveling salesman in your editorial on "Page
Nine" for November. For too long, and
especially during the past few lean years,
have we been buffeted about by high-hat
buyers, made to wait hours and then told
the big shot was too busy to see us. Your
anonymous manufacturer who realizes that
the peddler actually is a clearing house for
ideas, has every license in the world to be
successful. He deserves it if for no other
reason than appreciating the fact that his
competitor may be able to teach him some-thing.
Much obliged for the moral support.
H. J. M, Tulsa, Okla.
That's Our Aim
Certainly enjoyed Harry G. Corot's article
on building a medium-sized floor covering
department. This is the type of article that
really benefits the small fellow, or we who
have ideas of becoming store operators our-selves
some day. Material like this can be
filed and kept for future reference. There
are plenty swell ideas in your hook.
H. H. M., Los Angeles, Cal.
Picture Article Pleases
I was glad to see the article in your
November issue on pictures. This section
has been giving me a headache for some
time and I was glad to get a little dif-ferent
slant on the merchandising of this
article. By the way, who publishes the
Currier & Ives prints illustrated in this
article?
Q
Metropolitan Page Registers
For those of us who have not been for-tunate
enough to visit the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, your page of Metropolitan
pieces is of more than passing interest. It
furnishes the salesman with authoritative
ideas on correct furniture details.
J. V., Seattle, Wash.
Short and Snappy
Was much amused by your editorial,
"Pettifoggery," in the November issue, in
which you took the promotional tactics of a
certain big store for a ride. Such advertis-ing
certainly gives rise to little but scepti-cism
on the part of the customer and is
more than disturbing to the smaller mer-chant.
Your editorials are certainly short,
snappy and to the point. Keep on making
'em readable and "meaty."
V. R. M., Chicago, 111.
f o r DECEMBER, 1936
ecreating Wlictorian
No. 276 Chair, $74
base cover
No. 283 Chair, $115.30
base cover
I
No. 358 Setlee, $137.60, base cover
,HE swing of the pen-dulum
brings the
vogue for the ele-gance
that was Vic-torian.
Decorators, usually the
arbiters of furnishing styles,
are leading the trend in the
resurrection of this dignified
old style of a former genera-tion.
In the larger home-furnishing
stores throughout
the country complete Victorian
rooms are recreating the
atmosphere of this charming
period.
These designs are all reproductions
from originals in the possession of
the Michigan Furniture Shops.
Representatives:
A. L. Brackett E. C. Gamble
G. R. Gamble R. D. Thomas
W. C. Evans
No. 275 Rocker, $51.10
base cover
No. 273 Chair, $82.50
base cover
MICHIGAN FURNITURE SHOPS, INC.
GRAND RAPIDS MICHIGAN
Displayed at the Factory Show Rooms of Grand Rapids Chair Co.
We appreciate your mentioning you saw this in FINE FURNJTURE
•;*
OUTSTANDING FEATURE
ON RETAIL FLOORS
So enthusiastically has the new Berkey & Gay line been received on
retail floors . . . so featured in hundreds upon hundreds of dramatic,
aggressive retail newspaper advertising promotions . . . that active
production has been started in plant No. 3 (augmenting plants No. 2
and No. 5 which have been running to over-time capacity) in order to
assure for Berkey & Gay dealers large volume, prompt and satisfactory
shipments for the coming year.
New for January
New for January will be a selection of suites in merchandising price
brackets for volume promotion, as well as many others not shown in
November.
Promotion Program
and National Advertising
Presented, also, will be an outstanding promotion program backed
with aggressive national advertising in GOOD HOUSEKEEPING,
TIME, THE AMERICAN HOME, and HOUSE AND GARDEN, a dramatic
promotion and merchandising feature for Berkey & Gay Week,
April 10 to 17.
furniture's Proudest Coat-of-Arms
f o r D E C E M B E R , 1 9 3 6
NINE
PROSPERITY BOUND
It doesn't take a person with physicist power to read the
future of the furniture industry. Every home in America
needs new furniture and with over thirty million homes big
and little this constitutes an enormous potential demand.
New home building in 1937 and 1938 will equal if not exceed
this replacement demand according to all reliable predic-tions,
and with these two large demand factors literally upon
us, manufacturers should not find it difficult to keep the
wheels humming for several years to come. And remember,
there are only about 60% of the factories that were oper-ating
in 1929 that are set to supply this great prospective
demand. Statistics indicate that only about half of such
factories have a capital structure making it possible for them
to operate their plants to full productive capacity. If the
furniture industry does not enjoy an unprecedented pros-perity
for the next five years it will be the fault of the in-dustry
itself. The manufacturer who goes after it is going
to get all the production he can handle, but the tight and
timid ones who are afraid to let the trade know what they
manufacture, and try to remain incognito behind their rip
saws, will not share in the golden harvest. From now on fhe
assets and profits cannot be concealed and liberal spending
will be the order of the day. The manufacturer who puts
plenty of his dollars into sales promotions and advertising
publicity will find their brothers will roll back into his coffers
in droves.
QUALITY YEAR
ff
The most hopeful factor the furniture industry has experi-enced
since the beginning of the big wind some six years
ago, is the demand for better standards of quality by the
buyers. From now on, it won't be a matter of how cheap
we can make it and how low we can get our prices, but how
much quality we can inject and how far we can safely step
up our prices. This will prove the turning point of the indus-try
from profitless production and profitless merchandising,
dissatisfied customers and a general low morale, to profitable
manufacturing and merchandising. Ring in the new year at
the January markets by making 1937 a year of black ink,
with higher standards and more satisfactory returns.
12-MONTH'S PROMOTION
ff
Finally, retail members of the home furnishing industry are
awakening to the fact that securing an increased represent-ation
and a profitable portion of the consumer's dollar is not
achieved by pitch and toss promotional methods. Conse-quently,
and motivated primarily by the progressive thinking
of C. Niss of Milwaukee, past president of NRFA, a year
'round promotional program is in the formulative stage; a
program that will encompass the sales promotional efforts
of ALL allied homefurnishing units and concentrate them
under one banner carrying one word, "Home."
Considering the numerous "Naturals" throughout the year
in the line of homefurnishing events upon which the mer-chant
can hang his special promotional flag, a time-tested,
properly planned, twelve-month campaign, should pale past
promotional now-and-then activities. The volume of ammu-nition
released by such a program, simultaneously, in every
sector of the country, would have a cumulative effect bound
to result in attracting an increased flow of Johnny Q.
Public's bucks to the homefurnishing merchant's coffers.
Though other pages bare the minds
Of many men, the credit or
The blame I'll bear for what one finds
On this, Page Nine.—The Editor.
For unlike other industries of national importance, the
makers of furniture extend an almost negligible amount of
money on national advertising. This throws the burden of
promotional activity directly upon the retailer. Therefore, if
this weak link in furniture merchandising CAN be bolstered,
such a plan as that proposed by NRFA should go far in
doing the job.
ff
HAND-TO-MOUTH
Generally speaking, the furniture industry is behind on
deliveries. This situation is pathetically evident in the frantic
pleas for merchandise emanating from department and fur-niture
store buyers. A recent survey estimated that leading
retail stores will lose about fifty million dollars volume due
to the shortage of merchandise for Christmas selling. This
situation does not, however, preclude red figures for the
last quarter of 1936. To the contrary, profits for the latter
part of this year are reported as being the best since 1930.
However, this situation has a significance of great import to
those engaged in buying and selling merchandise. It means
that the period of hand-to-mouth buying that has existed
for the past few years is at an end. A seller's market is
inevitable.
Buying practices will have to change. In the first place
the rising power of consumer demand is just beginning to
gather momentum. On the strength of this condition price
increases will be accelerated. Continued and perhaps in-creasing
delay in delivery is a foregone conclusion. Accord-ingly
there is a definite tendency toward advanced buying
and increased size of initial orders. This situation naturally
gives rise to speculative buying which in turn creates a
desire and a necessity on the part of the merchant to estab-lish
a profit on his inventory. This is ever the picture in a
rising market.
This move from hand-to-mouth buying is naturally reflected
in the manufacturer's activities as well. Increased manufac-turing
programs have of necessity reduced cautious buying
habits enforced during the depression. Pertinently stated,
the National Association of Purchasing Agents recently said,
in part, to its members: "Inventories are being increased
whenever protection is needed against delays in delivery or
transportation and in some cases as protection against price
increases."
Obviously a new era is at hand. The old order changeth.
Prepare for a seller's market.
ff
SO WHAT?
Evidently we're going to have to eat our words on no
further editorializing on the W. K. market situation, because,
up pops two-thirds of the 42 members comprising the execu-tive
committee of NRFA with an endorsed resolution approv-ing
two furniture markets a year to be held in May and
November. Endorsements favoring the reduction of markets
had been supported previously by two manufacturing asso-ciations.
These groups, however, are championing the one-market
season extending from May to July. But due to the
fact that January and July have ever been the big markets
for the bulk of the furniture dealers, the resolution of
NRFA's executive committee is significant.
Where now?
ff
T r ' • " - • - r r ; • • ;
-1 ^ s •*' ?'
l o r DECEMBER, 1936 11
Imperial Furniture Company
cordially invites all of its
many friends to trie house
warming of its new
• • • modern snowroom all
during trie January market
in Orand Kapids
Imperial s complete new line or tables ror Spring 1937 will be on display
12 FINE FURNITURE
t *
1 !
\ 5
I .: 1
\ \ \
nta//tte,
a of
h OPPORTUIIITY
1937 will be a big year for furniture merchants. The
great forward sweep of national recovery is gaining
momentum every day. And with it, the desire to re-plenish
and refurnish homes with good furniture is
being translated into active, cash-on-the line demand.
That's why the kind of furniture for which the Grand
Rapids Furniture Exposition is traditionally famous, is
getting the call today. Thousands of progressive deal-ers
can substantiate that fact. Right now, a greatly
increased business in Grand Rapids exhibited furniture
is being done on a nation-wide scale. And accord-ing
to all reliable indications, this decided trend is
bound to continue with greater impetus during 1937.
At the January Market in Grand Rapids, you'll find
the creative styling and quality construction that defi-nitely
set the pace. And there will be an unprece-dented
array of good promotional merchandise . . .
furniture that will run your volume sales to new profit
peaks during 1937.
Attendance at the November mid-season Market in
Grand Rapids showed a 100% increase over the cor-responding
market for 1935. There must be a reason!
Come to the January Market and make the most of a
golden opportunity.
Jan. 4th to 16th inclusive
GRAI1D ROPIDS FURMTURE
k&ji4A/ni6ukjL \^af2Mal erf •vrvnjzAACCi. Exposmon associflTion
f o r D E C E M B E R . 1 9 3 6 13
invite you to see
this superb rendering of the
FRENCH
PROVINCIAL
January
Market
Bedroom
Group
Also in the
Same French
Provincial
THIS is but one of the new things we are adding for January to our assembly of hun-dreds
of historic oak pieces for the dining room, living room, bedroom, hall, library,
private office, studio and club.
A visit to the Carved Oak Galleries — and no trip to Grand Rapids is complete without
such a visit — will reward you with a new conception of its merchandising possibilities.
Thousands of families have an instinctive and inherited preference for Carved Oak. Its
historic past, its cultural background, the splendor of its carving and the integrity of its
mellow, fine-textured surfaces give it a matchless rating.
It looks like a big year for Carved Oak — and for those stores who carry representative
displays.
GRAND RAPIDS BOOKCASE AND CHAIR CO.
The Oak Masters of Hastings
We appreciate your mentioning you saw this in FINE FURNITURE
14 FINE FURNITURE
THE ROMWEBER INDUSTRIES
Products whose standard of excellence
are nationally recognized.
Quality and
style are
synonymous
with our
Productions
j^-t
Space 1722, Merchandise Mart, Chicago
One Park Avenue, New York
AMERICAN FURNITURE CO.
BATESVILLE CABINET CO.
BATESVILLE, INDIANA
We appreciate your mentioning you saw this in FINE FURNITURE
t o r DECEMBER, 1936 15
THE ROMWEBER INDUSTRIES
. . ':
'I
'..-• i
(* / ; m 11 11
. ' • ' ; •
• - .
Group of Scandinavian Masterpieces by Romweber on display in the Sterling & Welch Company store at Cleveland, Ohio.
MASTER MADE FURNITURE
by ROMWEBER
The SCANDINAVIAN line of The Romweber Company consists of
over 350 correlated pieces that offer a limitless opportunity for the most
critical individual selection.
In these lines will be found furniture for the living room, dining
room, bedroom, hall, boudoir and rathskeller in a selection of charming
suites and pieces that instantly get customer attention.
A group of these Scandinavian Masterpieces in your store will prove
a distinct consumer attraction.
Space 1727, Merchandise Mart, Chicago
One Park Avenue, New York
THE ROMWEBER COMPANY
BATESVILLE, INDIANA
We appreciate your mentioning you saw this in FINE FURNIT
16 FINE FURNITURE
A GOOD CHAIR LINE
by A GOOD CHAIR MAKER
B. R. Smith, president and general manager of the
B. R. Smith Chair Co. has been making good chairs
for over fifty years and is thoroughly conversant
with what constitutes good chair construction, finish
and fabrics.
"In my long years of experience in chair production,"
says Mr. Smith, "I have never produced a line that
equals the new line of the B. R. Smith Chair Co.
All frames are of solid mahogany and walnut, no
substitute woods being used. No-Sag spring con-struction
is used throughout the line and no more
solid and comfortable spring units can be secured."
The line is complete with occasionals, office chairs,
rockers, diners, chairs for the bedroom and hall.
;
1—Martha Hixon rocker. No.
700, may be had in mahog-any
or walnut, priced
$25.90, 23.90 respectively.
2—Reception room chair No.
511 in solid walnut priced
at $11.90.
3—"Magic Posture" hinged
back swivel. No. 1936, in
walnut, $63.
4—No. 506 in solid walnut is
priced at $12.
1708 MERCHANDISE MART
CHICAGO
AT THE JANUARY MARKET
SMITH CHAIR COMPANY
INCORPORATED
We appreciate your mentioning you saw this in FINE FURNITURE
f o r DECEMBER, 1936 17
THE FURNITURE INDUSTRY
WILL GREET NATION'S BUYERS
AT THE MERCHANDISE MART
FURNITURE MARKET
JANUARY 4-16 INCLUSIVE
T
tr
V(
P1
Pi
tt
N
hi
m r
INTERNATIONAL HOMEFURNISHINGS MARKETS JAN. 4-16
„ THE MERCHANDISE
MART • CHICAGO
THE GREAT CENTRAL MARKET • WELLS ST. at the RIVER
We appreciate your mentioning you saw this in FINE FURNITURE
Unloading part of the 200 truck-loads
and 12 carloads of furniture
that will be shown at this great event.
18
! isbeing set for another
of X I mauk e t ' b u t t h e tempo
of the show has been accelerated
?mce January, 1936, and in m a !
^stances roles have been r e V fW
^'here last year the merchant told
he manufacturer that he wanted
his or that suite, the manufacturer
tins market will tell the merchant.
,uL i 1S a Vltahzing condition. It
stimulates imagination, incentive
and promulgates confidence in the
popular belief that business i bet-off
t h l Y ,? t h e r u b b e r b a n d
oft the bank roll and indulging in
longest-due necessities, even a ^
Buying Surge . A great t J b bi
BUILDING
vs.
TRAILERS
By ROD MACKENZIE
Editor, FINE FURNITURE
FINE FURNITURE
t i « J Uy/S beinS leased
tice the crowds on the streets In
the stores. And economic i
Zll to
f
a c T n u e d and
surge of purchasing
Of maj0r i n t e r e s t t o t h g m e r c h
of homefurmshmgs are the echoino-repom
of a building boom, £ the Sanmgf a C r ° S S ^ count tfte tune of an estimated 25™0 0'0o0
residential units in 1936 Predic
- it comes to furnishing
than sitting tight until the
1' Vi v^aS r e a t0 turn on the
ngnts, the modern-geared merchant
architect J ° b . a b o u t a? s o ° * as the
Madame on the advisabilitylof
having two windows on that wall
or runnmg a bank of them around
the corner. In fact, manv progres-sive:
dealers have instituted advisory
bureaus, complete with architectural
advice, decorators' service, et "l
•I his service is of particular value
i l l°-lt u COntemP1ate remodel-mj;
with subsequent refurnishing, in
• upon shooting the works in ^
complete new home" Such a s rvice
estabhshes i n the minds of the p o-
Ple thus served the dominant fact
ino- }^°AT S t°r e 'S t b e homefurnish-t,
leader in your immediate mm
munity. ""
Results Real . Sponsoring mcxH
(s°eUeSeS
^ee _ pDaagee^ C12r 6^ of t^hi s ^ivssiudeu) a f s
housing concerns such as General
Houses, lnc., A r c y c ^
others has proven beneficial to par-ticipating
merchants. Many a r e the
sales of furniture, draperies, floor
coverings, accessories and appli-ances
that are traced directly 0
such combined promotions. '
Minus Furniture . An interesting
and unusual demonstration house
event was that of Frederick & Nel
son Seattle, Wash., wherein the
model home Was shown minus fur
mshings for a limited time; first
reason to permit study of architec-tural
features; major reason to
emphasize the fact that hom°
aacctutaullayt Ttra' ns7foUr-mc h0as ehno. uaser ei ntwo haa\
withnd 1° k gOeS' T h e m e r c h a n t
with f keen sense of promotional
possib.ht.es in the home-boom tie'
up, supplying complete home-makers
service, is grabbing the bulk
of this business. He is contacting
owners persuing building contrac-tors
and architects, rather than
s.tt.ng m the back office, bewilder-mg
himself with housing statistics.
Johnny's Bucks . A terrific conflict
!S bei,nf, waged for Johnny Q Pub-uc
s dollar and the home'furnishin-merchant
,s soon to discover, provicf-o
t h ^ - r y a W a r e o f i t ^ h a t
othei mdustr.es are equally deter-mined
to secure their share In this
respect, the proposed resolution of
1NK1A t0 consolidate all home-turnishing
industries under one ban-
S f
extend,:ng Promotional activ-ties
from the scattered efforts now
m vogue, to a concentrated 12-
month p anned campaign, is timely
andmevrtable. For ovef the h o S
cl H T " m a k m g b u s i M s s looms
a cloud. It, too ls a form Of home,
Challenging Chariots .
that within 20 years more t h a n S
h population Of the United States
will be hvmg m trailers, Roger W
BabSon, nationally known economist
and analyst, hurls a challenge at
the home urnishing industry and £
younger brother, the prefabricated
home. Asserting that his predictSn
« not idle chatter but based on s u r
K T of
D
n
L
atlonal conditions, Fore-boder
Babson says: "The e x X
from the American home creates a
new manufacturing industry."
? f . Onf * J^t how severe a
rthTis UinfranCt ifndlufsthry will be on
homefurmshing industry is
difficult to ascertain at this stagi
Obviously, thousands of dollars are
pounng into trailers at the present
T [ 3 t ° ; d m a r l l y WOuld have
Furniture Out . As far as the
eqUlpment itself is concerned, small
opportunity is afforded the home-
™ f ? ^duS,t ry t 0 benefit, aside
trom the development of studio
couches, bedding arrangements po"
'bly apphances. Fabricated after
the m a n n e r of automobiles and
Yachts, interior trim constitutes the
nearest relationship to the manu-facture
of furniture. Yet the popu-larity
of the trailer presents a def-inite
problem to the merchant and
manufacturer of fumiture a n d a £
Z dr - R e " n t automobSe
shows with great public interest in
rolling homes, amazing increase in
Srert6- °f ^ ^nSaS turers, obviate the slightest let-up
ot relaxing of merchandising actiV ; i e s r ? p a r t of deai ^ me
? i n d u?t r i e s inevitably emerge
depressions. The trailer, obvi-ously
tracing its heredity to the ^ d f ^ t „ , ui ^uuuimi. travail
rbbis?c
SOrat°aUofaS-aChallengeto
home.
for DECEMBER, 1936 19
1 — Popular blond
mahogany bedroom
group featured by
Tomlinson of High
Point in their mer-chandise
Mart dis-play.
2 — Modern walnut
cocktail table with
cigarette compart-ments
at each end,
by the K r o e h l e r
Mfg. Co., is display-ed
at the American
Furniture Mart.
3 — Buffet, No. 315,
by the Penn Table
Co., Huntington, W.
Va., is shown at the
American Furniture
Mart.
4 — Twin studio
couch. No. 42, de-signed
by F r e d a
Diamond for Sleep-er,
r e t a i l i n g at
$52.50.
5 — Dinette in naut-ical
d e s i g n is a
charming group by
Luce Furniture Co.,
Grand Rapids, and
is displayed in their
showrooms at the
Merchandise Mart.
6 — Modern maple
chair by Heywood-
W a k e f i e 1 d Co.,
Gardner, Mass., and
Modern maple table
by Sandel Mfg. Co-
Chicago, a r e dis-played
at the Amer-ican
Furniture Mart.
7 — Louis XV bed-room
suite by Win-nebago
Mfg. Co.,
R o c k f o r d. 111., is
shown at the Amer-ican
Furniture Mart.
8 — China cabinet,
manufactured by the
Penn Table Co., is
exhibited at the
American Furniture
Mart.
i l i M; : i
20 FINE FURNITURE
CUSTOMER'S VIEWPOINT ON BUYING LINOLEUM
by RUTH McINERNEY
•"PHE lady was trying to buy linoleum. At least the
X signs were unmistakable. She had said to the sales-man:
"I'd like to buy a linoleum rug for my dinette."
Therefore, we can assume that she wanted to buy
linoleum.
But the salesman was not as simple-natured. He had
a choice set of obstacles which he always made it a
point to place before each customer who tried to buy
linoleum. If they hurdled these hazards, then he was
ready to take them seriously. If they walked out, dis-couraged
— well, the old law of the survival of the
fittest customers may be a hard one, but it's all in the
red among ledgers. Why waste time on a customer
who didn't have the stamina to stand up and fight for
the right to spend money in his store?
So the lady asked, "What do you think would go
nice in a dinette?"
Sales Stops • The salesman led her to a department
that was just a few degrees removed from an out-and-out
stockroom. Rolls of linoleum stood around in a
glum group on a bare wooden floor. There was a dusty
piece of promotion on a post, "Newest patterns of
1935," but it hung on one tack, and the buyer's desk
—well, was even more buyerish than usual, cluttered
and frantic.
"For a dinette? Oh, any of these patterns—marble,
floral, Persian, blocked, modernistic."
Said the lady, "Well, the room is furnished in rather
modern style, blond woods and vermilion dado with
beige upper walls. Would a russet rug be appropriate?"
"If you like russet," replied the salesman. "Russet's
nice. Sell a lot of it."
"I wonder how vermilion and russet would look
together?" she asked. "Is there any way you have for
helping me tell how they would look together?"
"They'll look all right."
She questioned, "Maybe I ought to select a cooler
color. Should I?"
"Cool colors are nice. Sell a lot of them. Sell a lot
of greens this year."
"Why do some floor coverings cost more than
others?" the lady wondered. "They all look the same."
"Some are better quality," he replied.
"Oh. Wear better?"
"Yes. Wear better," said the salesman.
"Oh. Do you think I ought to select inlaid instead
of printed linoleum?"
"It's up to you, lady. We sell a lot of inlaid."
The lady trying to spend money, tried another ave-nue,
one that looked as though it might be better
lighted.
"How do you think I ought to take care of linoleum
in order to make it stay beautiful longer?" she asked.
"Like ordinary floors," he replied. "Wax it or
varnish it if you want."
"Which is better?"
But the salesman was too good an international dip-lomat
to be cornered in an admission.
f o r D E C E M B E R , 1936 21
"We sell a lot of both."
And so the lady went home and painted the old floor
over instead of buying a new floor covering.
Display Appeal • Why one must have a warehouse
feeling when one enters a linoleum department, re-mains
one of the mysteries of the business. We are
supposed to form a judgment of the goods as it stands
upright in its narrow, close rolls. A man, purchasing
a suit, usually trys it on for fit. How many linoleum
rugs are tried on for desirability?
To judge a piece of linoleum, a good-sized strip of
it should be placed on the floor, next to a panel colored
to resemble as closely as possible the walls of the room
at home. It's very difficult to compare colors mentally;
most of us need to have the colors right on hand to
inspect. Sets of screens, painted in leading key colors
used on rooms, could be shuffled around to aid the
customer to visualize wall and floor combinations.
Even before the customer thinks of price, she is
puzzled about correct interior decoration technique.
She wants smartness and correctness, with individu-ality.
When in doubt, darker floors prevent a room
becoming off-balance. Also, figured rugs for plain walls,
plain rugs for figured walls are safe rules. To make a
room look larger, and most customers want this, a wall
to wall rug does the trick—also helps sell a larger rug.
Rug-ed Individualism • People who sell linoleum
floor coverings are now in the unique position of being
able to offer custom-tailored rugs. Personalized floors
is the biggest news buzz of the moment, one which
dealers have yet to turn to real profit. We see the
monogramed floors, the personal design of individual
home-makers, at the home shows. We see a recreation
room planned with a floor containing scudding sail-boats,
flying fish and backgammon board designs—the
particular hobbies of this home-owner. But we shrug
and say, "Not for those of us with limited budgets. A
personalized floor—why, it must be the ground floor
of luxury!"
And, of course, you dealers know it isn't at all, that
we may have individual floor patterns of our own crea-tion
with only moderate additional cost, that designs
may be cut and set in the floor, neatly, fascinatingly.
Tell us more about it. Make it the thing that will auto-matically
out-date all the mediocre linoleums on our
floors.
New walls, too, of the linoleum type materials may
be had. Square corners become round, dustproof; walls
are different, easily kept immaculate, will not crack nor
fade, always look fresh and come in such interesting
patterns as knotty pine, natural wood, marble. We've
been looking at them yearningly in model home shows.
It's up to the dealers of the nation to put the informa-tion
about new floor and wall personalities into every
home.
Dura-Beauty • The modern Scientific Shopping house-wife
searches for dura-beauty. The old-fashioned
housewife was contented with something that "lasted."
But the present home-maker shops for beauty which
lasts. We buy good inlaid linoleum because the pat-tern,
going straight through to the back, mellows with
age, grows old gracefully, will not chip off and harbor
unlovely soil, will not make scrubbing harder, always
looks better through the years. We buy good printed
linoleum because its heavier weight resists tearing, be-cause
its colors last longer, because its smooth surface
will not harbor soil, because keeping it clean is easier.
Poor linoleum is not only expensive, it is unbeautiful
and a continual nuisance to have around. It tears
easily, the colors wear off soon, soil collects in cracks,
disfiguring the surface and making scrubbing more fre-quent
and fruitless.
A housewife will put up with a little extra cleaning
effort if the work is repaid in aesthetic satisfaction.
But no amount of scrubbing can restore poor linoleum;
it is thankless. It makes your next sale of linoleum
harder. It's part of the sales resistance of the indus-try.
One rug of cheap linoleum is enough to under-mine
linoleum good will in an entire family and its
branches. Good inlaid and good printed types are the
ask-the-woman-who-owns-one of the industry.
Linoleum Lingo • How shall linoleum be laid? The
selling job isn't over with the making out of the sales
check. Besides, here is an opportunity to sell us dead-ening
felt and waterproof cement. For what kinds of
situations are the new adhesive-backed linoleums advis-able?
Why bother with special laying methods? Be-cause
if properly laid, the linoleum floor will be given
greater resiliency with regard to the shrinking and
swelling of the wood; it will not work loose or buckle
or curl at the corners; greater quietness is added; its
beauty is under-written by proper laying.
Embossed pattern
5460, in canary yel-low
and black, offset
by plain walls, makes
an attractive and liv-able
room of this attic
corner on the right.
The copper kitchen
on the left is en-hanced
by a linoleum
of dura-beauty in
pattern 5520.
*
• - >'
22 FINE FURNITURE
And Protection • How shall the
linoleum be cared for? To avoid
come-backs, to encourage renewed
sales, help us to treat linoleum cor-rectly;
explain the necessary avoid-ance
of abrasive and alkali cleansing
agents which scratch or destroy the
linseed oil content; stressing the
importance of using mild suds, rins-ing
thoroughly, drying completely,
and following with two thin coats
of wax. The wax facial is necessary
once a month for kitchens, every
two months for other rooms. Rest-ing
chair legs in bakelite cups, cuts
down cleaning time and preserves
the charm of the surface.
A floor can take on a new uplook
on life with intelligent sales help
directing a customer's purchase.
Dramatized Displays
ON the opposite page are six
floor covering and drapery
ensembles, dramatizing ways in
which retailers can stimulate holi-day
business. The attractive corner
setting, No. 1, is a diagonal cut
upholstery, irregular striped velvet,
made by Collins & Aiken Corp.
No. 2 features yellow and white in
the make-up table and modern chair
by the Vogue Mfg. Co. "Put a price
on the whole as a gift package with
small budget payments," is the plan
suggested for the modern bedroom
ensemble. No. 3 emphasizes blond
maple furniture with texture rug in
mulberry color. Another novel dis-play
is No. 4 in which a nautical
setting by W. J. Sloane is featured.
No. 5, a bedroom display, shows
the Gainsborough pattern, recently
developed by Witcombe, McGeachin
& Co., in draperies and bedspread
of DuPont rayon. The attractive
Christmas packaging of rugs is par-ticularly
well demonstrated in dis-play
No. 6, in which a large rug in
modern design serves as a striking
background, furniture pieces pro-viding
a home atmosphere.
SIMPLIFYING STIRS SALES
'T'HE Globe Furniture Co., San
i. Diego, CaL, has attempted to
simplify their display methods by
enlarging and rebuilding their floor
covering department. According to
manager J. J. Sherline, the)' now
have 180 rug arms for displaying
stock of large rugs, of which they
carry over 360 patterns. In addi-tion
to 16 broadloom racks of the
roller type, a long platform is em-ployed
for displaying approximately
1000 samples.
Said Manager Sherline, "These
samples are of the standard rug size
•—27 x 54 inches, and give customers
a better idea of patterns and color
combinations than can be gained
from smaller swatches. After these
patterns are discontinued, we sell
them as rugs, for, being standard
rug size, they lend themselves nicely
to small settings where we wish to
show the rug with a piece or two of
furniture and a drapery treatment."
Samples are marked with full roll
prices, cut order prices, and the
widths in which they are available.
All samples of a given brand are
kept together, care being taken to
keep all samples clean and neatly
stacked. Salesmen may take sam-ples
out to homes to aid in selection
of pattern or color combination,
signing for samples when taking
them out, and being credited with
them when they are returned.
Added Sherline. "When a saks-man
takes an order for one or more
rugs, he immediately consults our
Pacific Coast distributor's stock
sheet—which we keep up to date—
and finds if the rug is in stock on
this coast. If it is not, he refers to
Typical floor covering display at Globe Furniture Co.. San Diego, Cal.
J. J. SHERLINE
. . . Making rug selection easy for the
customer eliminates lost sales.
the mill sheet and finds if the rug
can be secured at that point —
usually it can. By doing this before
the customer leaves the store, he
can tell her whether or not he can
secure immediate delivery or if it
will be necessary for her to wait IS
days for delivery from the mill.
This enables her to make another
selection, or, if not desiring this, it
prepares her for waiting, and ex-plaining
the delay thus, makes
pleased customers and eliminates
lost sales."
By these methods, Manager Sher-line
believes that they have invited
the furniture salesman to the rug
department by cooperating with him
in putting every effort into the plan
of helping him to make sales, and
excellent results have thereby been
obtained.
f o r D E C E M B E R , 1936 23
24 FINE FURNITURE
FAMILIAR DESIGNS, INTERPRETED
By F A M O U S DESIGNERS
Totnpeiian Wrought Metal
by WM. HOFFMANN
POMPEIIAN design and decoration lends itself ad-mirably
to the fabrication of modern and traditional
furniture in wrought metal. The artistry of the Pom-peiians
and the early Egyptians has never been
excelled. This is particularly true in metal work.
Recognized as one of the foremost centers of Roman
culture and basking in luxury, their artistic senses
were highly developed.
Discovery of the Roman city of Pompeii in 1754
stimulated an artistic interest that had a definite effect
on 18th Century English furniture designers. The
Adam brothers in England incorporated many of the
Pompeiian motifs in their architectural renderings and
furniture adaptations. In France the Pompeiian influ-ence
was not discernable until the Louis XV period
when people tired of the sensuous lines of this feminine
style and sought a more enduring form of line.
With the advent of modern manufacturing methods
such as die-casting and the bending and shaping of
tubular and flat chrome-plated steel, metal furniture
embodying Pompeiian influence is being re-created, and
production methods have brought this type of furniture
within the reach of the average consumer's pocketbook
and desires.
The illustrations of the chair and the plant-stand on
the opposite page, designed by William Hoffmann, are
exquisite examples of modern adaptation of Pompeiian
design. Furtherance of modern metal furniture devel-opment
has been possible through the introduction of
contemporary materials. New accents are permitted in
a combining of wood, glass, copper, cork and chrome
steel, and new discoveries in the fabrication of light
weight metals allows many unusual and interesting
forms to be developed.
CAMOUFLEUR TO MEDALIST
OOMEONE has said that it
k_) isn't what men take in that
makes greatness, but what they
exude. Being a bashful soul,
William "Bill" Hoffmann will
probably not okay this brief
biography. As a matter of fact,
it's his retiring disposition that
is responsible for the absence of
his portrait, thus breaking a
precedent established over a
period of eight months with The
Sketch Book.
Beginning his career with
architectural aspirations, Hoff-mann
enrolled in the Cooper
Union Institute, New York, in
1916. From there he moved to
the Beaux Art Institute, and in
1920 and '21 achieved the dis-tinction
of being a Beaux Art
medalist. His experiences in the
realm of furniture designing had
their inception with that foun-tain
head of furniture craftsmen,
W. & J. Sloane.
Following several years of in-tensive
training in the designing
of interiors and furnishings, Hoff-mann
migrated to Grand Rapids,
and for over a decade produced
successful designs for Robert W.
Irwin Co. Severing his connec-tions
as staff designer with Irwin
four years ago, "Bill" has since
created designs for such concerns
as Johnson, Handley, Johnson
Co. and Berkey & Gay of Grand
Rapids, and Saginaw Furniture
Shops of Saginaw, Mich.
Versatile, talented and tech-nical,
Hoffmann is equipped with
an understanding and knowledge
of furniture design as related to
modern production methods and
merchandising perception, only
possible to one thoroughly found-ed
in design fundamentals.
Hoffmann offers a rare sense
of enthusiasm to any subject be-ing
discussed, has a sense of
hilarious humor, except at times
when he draws to an inside
straight — which he frequently
does—unsuccessfully.
Occupying his time with con-stant
efforts to produce well-styled,
saleable merchandise,
"Bill" does manage to devote a
few hours to his family, and his
hobby, which is a cottage on the
shores of Lake Michigan. How-ever,
his work more than often
follows him to his lakeside re-treat
and it is with difficulty that
his friends are able to secure his
services in a horseshoe foursome,
a sport at which he is particu-larly
adept. During the war
"Bill" exhibited his artistic wares
in the creating of camouflage for
the protection of AEFers, a serv-ice
which substantiates our con-tention
that Hoffmann is a retir-ing
soul.
l o r DECEMBER, 1936 25
PoMpFJAN
).•:
I-To
R
u
H.
- - *
MF •"
'~ ': ff»- '
i
'-IV
26 FINE FURNITURE
SCIENCE
BUILDS A HOUSE
THEN WURZBURG'S BUDGET PLAN
TURNS IT INTO A HOME FOR $1300
by
VffiGINIA RUTH ULRICH
IN 22 states, General Houses, Inc., is erecting model
"over-the-counter" houses. In practically every in-stance,
furniture merchants and homefurnishing de-partments
of department stores are aligning themselves
with the builder in some form of promotion. That
homefurnishing stores are planning to take advantage
of Federal forecasts predicting the erection of six mil-lion
new homes in the next ten years, is evidenced by
promotions of this nature being staged throughout the
country. Macy's built a $9000 house, completely fur-nished,
on its furniture floor; Wanamakers. Phila-delphia,
furnished 17 model homes resulting m an
approximate attendance of 500,000. Numerous other
establishments are conducting similar enterprises with
highly encouraging increases noticed in their furniture,
drapery, floor-covering and accessory departments.
Low-cost Homes • In the medium-priced class, the
product of General Houses, Inc., appears to have the
field to itself with prices ranging from $3500 to $9000,
houses being available in arrangements adaptable to
even the most Modern-minded home-maker. However,
even a structurally modern house can have a tradi-tionally
furnished interior, as is the case of a model
recently erected in East Grand Rapids, Alich.
Built by William D. Tucker, furniture designer and
architect, and furnished in collaboration with Wurz-burg's
(Grand Rapids department store), the house
was furnished originally in contemporary tempo. Fol-lowing
a two-week public display period, Tucker in-stalled
his own furnishings which are completely
traditional, effecting a transition so complete that the
entire appearance of the house was altered.
Said Tucker, "This house is not a house of the
future. It is not a visionary ideal to be hoped for at
some future day; it is a reality and can be had in this
community by anyone who is seeking a modern, uo-to-
date house. The unusual changes embodied are the
Grand Rapids Lounge
Co. supplied the dav-enport,
r e t a i l i n g at
$149.50; H a s t i n g s
Table Co., the modern
coliee table at $24,
end table priced at
$18; and the Thomas-ville
Chair Co. manu-factured
the walnut
dining room suite.
buffet retailing at
$52,50; table. $29.50.
for DECEMBER, 193b 27
Blond bedroom suite by West
Michigan Furniture Co., retail
price, four pieces, $193, has proved
immensely popular.
result of scientific application of present day materials
to present day living standards. One of the outstand-ing
features of the house is the almost complete elim-ination
of waste space."
In this respect the house, which is 48 x 32 feet,
effects a saving of space equal to one large bedroom
and two closets when compared to an ordinary struc-ture
built of traditional materials. Asbestos cement
board walls, sound-proof, insulated against winter cold
and summer heat, prefabricated into panels that d fy
time and labor in construction, account for the fact
that only five weeks ensued between the time the first
framework was erected until the decorator hung the
last curtain. At a cost under $6000 for actual con-struction,
including a complete heating unit with air-conditioning,
water heater and double laundry tubs.
and, in the kitchen, a cabinet-based sink, and including
furnishings such as draperies, floor coverings, furniture,
appliances, totaling slightly under $1300, the house is
an inducement to the potential home-maker of mod-erate
means. Financed under the Federal Housing
Administration plan this type of residence is expected
to figure prominently in the building boom now under
way in many sections of the country.
Decorator Maude Miller avers, "We have found a
definite increase in sales in the homefurnishing depart-ment
since the opening of the House of Science, many
of them directly traceable to this promotion. This has
been true, not only in direct sales from the furnishings
displayed, but because seeing Wurzburg's name in
connection with the decorating, has perceivably put me
in the minds of people who desire an interior decora-tor.
The first two days after the opening when several
thousand visitors viewed the house, we had calls for
various lamps which we had used and a goodly num-ber
of draperies were sold, while the furniture depart-ment
reported sales and inquiries regarding merchan-dise
of that nature.
Decoration • Credit should be given to Wurzburg's in
their presentation of a charming and delightful interior
in this five-roomed house, which has still been kept
well within the limits of the average budget. The
living room ceiling is beamed, breaking the severe wall
effect and adding to the length of the combination
living and dining room. Walls are a pastel pmk and
the furnishings range from ivory to a deep rich brown
with an occasional touch of green for contrast. The
floors, which are cement throughout, have been covered
by two layers of felt over which Amhaco Broadfelt
Carpets (Clinton Carpet Co., Chicago), in a soft dull
green have been laid. The davenport, Grand Rapids
Lounge Co., is a coffee brown and beige curly mohair,
in front of which stands a low coffee table manufac-tured
by the Hastings Table Co. Opposite, is a mirror-flanked
Benjamin Franklin fireplace, on one side of
which stands a modern knee-hole desk (Charles R.
Sligh Co.), and in the cozy corner of the other side, a
light wine and beige chair from the Grand Rapids
Lounge Co. is sided by an end table in modern style.
Neither shades nor glass curtains are necessary at the
corner windows in that sufficiently heavy embroidered
casement cloth in brown and ivory has been employed.
The decorative lamps, modern contrasts in dead white,
green, and soft brown were manufactured by Max
Horn & Bros.; Lightolier Co.; Rosenfield & Co.; Art
Lamp Corp., and the Arton Studios, $50 covering all
lamps in the house. Squared off from the living room
is the dining room in which identical drapes have been
used at the corner window and the carpet has carried
through so that all can be converted into one large
room if so desired. The Thomasville Chair Co. are the
manufacturers of the modern dining room suite used,
including buffet, table and chairs in light walnut.
Blond Bedroom • In the master bedroom, the popu-lar
blond furniture, West Michigan Furniture Co., has
been used in a three-piece suite, including a full-sized
bed, vanity and chest. The rug is modern in two-tone
brown and pink beige, and pure white sheer drapes at
28 FINE FUBNITURE
the corner windows increase the
light effect of the room. A white
tiled bathroom adjoining, is opposite
the other bedroom which has been
furnished in maple, the bunk-tiered
beds made by the Grelick Mfg.
Co., the vanity and chest having
been manufactured by Jennings
Furniture Co. The two beds plus
a Cape Cod lamp, cost about
$26.50 complete and many sales
have been made on this attractive
but economical room. Gray carpet
forms an interesting contrast to the
maple, and color has been em-ployed
in the yellow, brown and
gray of the drapes and in a wing
chair spring rocker from the Thom-asville
Chair Co., which is offered
for $16.50.
Kitchen Clicks • One of the most
commented-on rooms in the house
is the kitchen, which room has be-come
increasingly important to the
modern home-maker who seeks to
combine both utility and beaut}*.
Light and airy with many windows,
it is completely white from the
Magic Chef range, gas refrigerator,
to the metal built-in cupboards. The
only color accent is in the Kirsch
\ enetian blinds which are taped in
brilliant red. and in the floor-cover-ing
of Armstrong linoleum. Con-veniently
small, and with built-in
equipment, this kitchen has been de-signed
for step-saving economy. The
utility room adjoining the kitchen,
is conveniently handy, has built-in
laundry tubs, modern gas heater
and air-conditioner inclosed in a
light green metal cabinet; may also
be used as a store room. This room
has been greatly discussed by house-wives
and is making great appeal to
them in that they feel it is a
time and energy saver to have the
"heart" of the house so conveniently
located.
A BIRD'S-EYE JUBILEE
{The Man on the Cover)
FLOWERS and blonds (with the
blond being made of bird's-eye
maple) constitute an appropriate
background for a man who has
spent the major part of his long
and very active life in the manufac-ture
of maple furniture. Charles
("Charlie" to you) Elmendorf, gen-eral
manager of the Manistee Mfg.
Co., Manistee, Mich., rates the cover
position this month, because, during
the Fall Style Show in Grand Rap-ids,
fellow exhibitors in the Waters-
Klingman Bldg. learned through
the market grapevine that "Charlie"
turned the three-quarter century
mark November 7. With congratu-lations
the order of the day, his
friends staged a congratulatory re-ception
in the Manistee space, pre-sented
Elmendorf with a beautiful
autumn bouquet. Wrapped in the
stems of the flowers was an object
that tinkled—but that's supposed to
be a secret!
"Charlie" Elmendorf for a num-ber
of years has been regarded as
the last of the Mohicans when it
came to manufacturing bird's-eye
maple furniture for the bedroom.
Tomlinson of High
Point made this
bedroom suite,
naming it for Su-sanna
Allen who
conducted one of
the early taverns
at Williamsburg,
Va., in 1715. The
architectural treat-ment
is of espe-cial
interest due to
its marked Wil-liamsburg
charac-ter.
Displayed in
the Merchandise
Mart.
In recent years, however, he has
branched out and his line now in-cludes
modern and traditional solid
maple bedroom groups. His blond
suites were outstanding features of
the recent mid-season market.
Long a hard worker, attentive to
details, Elmendorf at 75 can review
his business career with satisfaction,
having directed its course in a sane
and profitable manner. A great out-door
enthusiast, playing a fine game
of golf, "Charlie" expects to carry
on indefinitely and die with his
boots on.
Breslaw's on the Air
'"PHAT commercial radio adver-
X tising had a future was realized
by Jacob Breslaw, president of
Breslaw Bros. Furniture, N. Y., in
1929, when he began an intensive
radio campaign which has helped
to make them one of the largest and
strongest retail furniture stores.
It was among the early concerns
to sponsor a program over WGY,
pioneer station in Schenectady,
reaching an audience in up-state
New York and western New Eng-land,
Breslaw agreeing to a one-year
contract, being willing to gam-ble
on the results, necessarily un-certain
at that time. His gamble
was well founded. One announce-ment
on the modest program with
which they started the radio adver-tising
drive, sold 87 porch gliders.
Another sold 57 sets of dishes.
Customers began to drive in from
many miles away and patrons in
certain sections became so numerous
that additional stores were added.
When the campaign began, the
Breslaw organization had three
stores doing the proverbial "nice
little business;" today, it embraces
seven stores doing a million dollar
business.
This phenomenal growth cannot
be attributed entirely to radio ad-vertising,
of course, but the fact
that Breslaw Bros, not only re-mained
on the air in a continuous
seven-year campaign but gradually
increased the amount of time pur-chased,
is evidence of the impor-tance
of this form of merchandismg.
On all Breslaw broadcasts, specific
items of merchandise and their
prices are listed and repeated; three
"radio specials" each week are usu-ally
offered and frequently a "free
offer" campaign is begun. Topical
and timely slants are given to the
advertising such as, "Get Your
Bonus at Breslaw's" and "Buy at
a £2,000,000 Merger Sale to Beat
the Rising Market."
J o r DECEMBER, 1936 29
FurnitureFrolics
JOSEPH
D&AH Of
H.y, FUP-NITUP-E
HE SHOWED HIS FAITH
IN THE FUTUP-E B /
OPEHIHO HI9 STOR-E THE
MOP-NING OF 1HIOAY
WHEN ALL £>ANK&
THROUaHOUT THECOUHTli/
\A/£P-£ CLOSED - -
ED.H.
&EEN
AT C E . M N A . C ' H I O . FOP-TIRELESS
- FISHERMAN AND
HUNTE.R-- • HE LOVES THE
OUTDOORS, ESPECIAU.y IK
HoRTHEP-M A/1)CH!6AN, DUP-lNCT
THE HAY FEVE-R-LJR/
tnu t^APlDS „„
ANO C i v i c LEADER-. ACTIVE, IN
ESTADLISHlNCi P&SIDN PIP-AC1/
PP-OTE-G-nON. . OUTDOOP-EN-THUSIAST.
/4S A PU&LIC3PEAV-EP-HIS
P-AN^INO IS H(OH -
.DAVID L."PRETTY Boy'
E-VAN5, FUP-HITURE D t -
SIONER. ONE OF THE
OUTSTANDING CP-EATOP-S
OF THE PP-OFESSION. £-X- PP-ES. 6 . P ^ .
FUP-HITUP-E CBSI6NER-S /45SN. HAS CREATED
SUCH FAMOUS LINES AS C ENTURy AND
"OUlDDlCCMB, EVEN FASHIONED SOME FURNITURE
IN HIS HOME.
" E.MCHAMAPA.
BUYER- FOR THE
MILWAUKEE BOSTON
5TORP. NATIVE OP
CONNECTICUT. PLAYS
LOTS OF CJOLF AND
SOME z,P-\oot. WANTS TO
PLAY MORE CiOL-F WHEN HE
RETIP-ES.
30 FINE FURNITURE
Designed by Robert Heller for A.
C. Gilbert Co., this chrome-plated,
black enameled base toaster re-tails
for about $3.
Low-Cost Posters
T IBERAL use of multi-colored
J i posters for furniture promotions
is possible at low cost if the silk
screen process is utilized in produc-tion,
according to Robert S. Leo-pold,
display manager at H. Leh &
Co., Allentown, Pa. Leopold's strik-ing
poster designs have done much
to develop sales volume during
special furniture promotions.
Said Leopold, "When poster costs
run too high, the display depart-ment
is inclined to economize to the
point that it does not get its mes-sage
across. For a recent furniture
sale we produced 100 seven-color
posters in four hours with our silk
screen equipment at a cost of less
than $10. A year ago we had 100
similar posters made for us by a
printing plant at a cost of $91. The
screen method facilitates the use of
a greater number of posters which
results in better response to store
promotions."
Leopold uses a strong wood frame
over which the screen silk is stretch-ed
with thumb tacks. The silk used
is very sheer with great tensile
strength and a very fine mesh
through which paint can be
squeezed. The frame is hinged to
a flat board of equal size and blank
cards are later inserted between the
screen and the board. The design
outline is drawn on the silk, the
space outside is covered with paint-impermeable
glue, after which paint
is applied over the design. The
poster card having been inserted, a
squeegee roller is employed whxh
forces the paint onto the card.
In the production of multi-colored
posters, the same procedure is fol-lowed,
one color being impressed on
the poster card at a time; it being
RETAILING TIPS . . .
Low-cost Posters Possible—Valuable Names—Appliances
Segregated-—Shack Spawns Sales—Unique Remuneration
Plan—How Do You Say Frise?
necessary to block out all remaining
parts of the design with glue each
time a color is added. The glue and
pamt are removed with turpentine
from the succeeding parts of the de-sign
on the screen each time the
new color is applied. This pro-cedure
is followed until the design
has been completely transferred.
Leopold finds it convenient to
have three different sized screens;
the one used most frequently for
store posters is about 30 by 50
inches; the larger screens are used
for extra large cards and c.oth
banners.
Discounts in a Name
ANOVEL, yet practical and
profitable method of increasing
sales for popular-price instalm nt
furniture stores in reviving inactive
accounts, was recently originated
and copyrighted by Charles E.
Coykendall, direct mail specialist in
Chicago. This plan is in the form
of a letter to be sent primarily to
customers who have not been using
their charge accounts as freely as
might be wished.
Letter Specialist Coykenda'il has
worked out a percentage value of
all the letters of the alphabet on a
scientific basis and in his form letter
asks the customer to figure the
purchasing value of his last name
according to this scale. A special
discount is offered by the store
according to what his last name is
worth when computed on this basis.
To figure the purchasing value of
his name, the customer is first asked
to figure the percentage value of
each letter; secondly, to divide the
total percentage by the actual num-ber
of letters in his last name. The
result will give the special discount
entitled to the customer on any
merchandise. Assuming, for in-stance,
that the letters in the name
"SMITH" have the following values
—"S" 8%, "M" 13%, "I" 2%,
"T" 9%, "H" 7%—the total would
be 39%. The name "SMITH" con-tains
five letters; thus, 39% is
divided by five and "SMITH" will
have a special discount of 7%.
Fractions over equal divisions are
not to be counted according to this
plan. The customer is, of course,
asked to bring his letter with him
to serve as identification.
A promotion of this type if used
primarily as a direct mail propo-sition
has the virtue that it re-
- • • • • : • - ; : £ •
This Modern dining group by the Grand Rapids Chair Co. is featured in the
Masonite House at the Texas Centennial, Dallas. Decorative accessories and
dining service by Arthur A. Evarts Co. carries out the simple dignity of this
modern dining room.
for DECEMBER, 193S 31
quires no large additional advertis-ing
expenditure. When making in-quiries,
the maximum discount
which the merchant is willing to
offer to a group of inactive cus-tomers
should be stated.
Further information concerning
this plan can be obtained by writing
FINE FURNITURE Magazine. — Ed.
Note.
Double-Store Plan
SEPARATION of its appliance
department in another store
brought an increase of 40% in elec-trical
sales to Chalker's Furniture
Co., Huntington Park, Calif. At the
same time furniture sales jumped
25%.
"Furniture, we found," explains
H. Vanderhook, manager of the
appliance department, "detracted
from appliances and appliances from
furniture. Most larger stores have
their electrical departments closely
related to the furniture division.
"Theoretically, this should pro-duce
feeder business both ways.
But for us it didn't. The furniture
customer would see a new electrical
appliance and waste our time and
hers looking at it when she had not
the slightest intention of buying it.
The same principle worked in re-verse
with electrical customers. Now
there are no distractions."
Vanderhook also points out that
by having a seperate shop, appli-ances
can constantly have window
display space all their own. "They
assume more importance than when
displayed as mere accessories."
A location near the main store is
Blond mahogany bedroom suite by Tomlinson. with blended, hand-waxed lacquer
finish which preserves natural beauty of the wood.
necessary for success in this two-store
selling, Vanderhook believes.
It is only a half block from Chalk-er's
main store to the appliance
location so it is no task to exchange
customers.
Several large rugs hang m the
appliance store, creating sales in
that item. Small, occasional pieces
of furniture take away the usual
appliance store bareness and tie the
store in with the parent furniture
store.
Shack Spawns Sales
AN old shack remodeled as a
. model home, set up in the busi-ness
section of Salt Lake City, was
visited by 63,000 people during the
Bed by John Widdi-comb
Co., with all
carvings and mould-ings
gold burnished,
the head board cov-ered
with blue silk.
first ten days it was open to the
public.
A'lanager George A. Williams,
Williams-Nibley, Inc., said, "We
completely furnished the little house
and it was the finest publicity we
ever received. Total cost of reno-vating
each room and cost of each
item—furniture, rugs, drapes—was
listed separately, so that whether a
person wished to completely re-furnish
a room or merely purchase
a single article, the exact cost was
immediately available. Explanatory
folders were presented visitors as
they departed.
"Since we cater to a most exclu-sive
trade in Salt Lake City and
vicinity (one of our recent home
refurnishing jobs amounted to
$9000) many people were reticent
in consulting us on small jobs for
simply furnished homes, and it was
to appeal to our citizens as a whole
that the folder was issue. We said:
'Because this firm is patronized by
people of distinction throughout the
State, it is believed by many to be
high-priced, exclusive, and catering
only to a wealthy clientele. This is
an erroneous idea. Many patrons
have only limited incomes, but know
that here they can have their homes
decorated attractively at no great
cost. Consider the furnishings in this
house. The curtains in the bedroom
cost only $8.75 per pair; the rug $15.
The two-piece suite in the living
room is covered in blue crushed
mohair. This covering will last for
years, and the suite is only $173.50.'
Radio, sparingly, and newspaper
advertising were employed in at-tracting
attention of both old and
new customers."
32 FINE FURNITURE
heather i s
BUT BE SURE IT'S
EAGXE-OTTAWVl leather £as this
quality. It is good leather because over
a period of years the Eagle-Ottawa
Leather Co. has kept apace of changing
trends, they have given initial tests to
new methods of production, tanning,
coloring. When found practical they
have been incorporated in the manu-facturing
of BETTER leather . . . Mer-chants,
leather-wise, INSIST upon
Eagle-Ottawa's product because it
insures customer-satisfaction and re-peat
business.
Leather today is unlimited in its scope
when hand Jed by master designers.
1 raditional or Contemporary furni-ture
finds the use of good leather ac-ceptable.
Because it is more than a fad.
GOOD leather is enduring, comforta-ble,
stylish, practical.
Top, leather Chippen-dale
chair, by Baker
Furniture Factories,
Inc.; dining chair,
Chippendale leather-seated
by Century
Furniture Co.; occa-sional
leather chair
(left), by Barnard <S
Simonds and modern
chair, covered with
leather, by Mueller
Furniture Co.
EAGLE-OTTAWA LEATHER
We appreciate your mentioning you saw this in FINE FURNITURE
f o r DECEMBER. 1936 33
IN DEMAND
Good LEATHER
Originally found only on seating
pieces, furniture merchants visit-ing
the various furniture market
centers of the country find leather
on head and footboards of beds,
table tops, chairs and davenports,
drawer and case fronts of dressers,
chests, bookcases, desks, buffets.
In a wide range of colors and tex-tures,
the buyer is afforded unsur-passed
opportunity for injecting
eye-appeal into his furniture dis-plays.
"There is nothing like leather . . .
providing it is GOOD leather."
Bridge set (at top), by Sikes Co., chairs leather covered;
modern bed employing leather on head and loot boards, by
Berkey <£ Gay Furniture Co.; leather top, drum table by Fine
Arts Furniture Co. and leather covered bed by Grand Rapids
Bookcase & Chair Co.
if-Atti
Main Office:
GRAND HAVEN, MICHIGAN
Tanneries:
GRAND HAVEN, WHITEHALL,
MICHIGAN
Branches:
912 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago
2 Park Avenue, New York City
1602 Locust Street, St. Louis
1012-14 Broadway Place, Los Angeles
615 Howard St., San Francisco
Phillips-Davis, Inc., High Point, N. C.
Mosehart-Schleeter, 211 Caroline St.,
Houston, Texas
J. J. Smith, 123 8 N. W. Glisan St.,
Portland, Oregon
>
COMPANY WORLD'S LARGEST TANNERS
OF UPHOLSTERY LEATHER
We appreciate your mentioning you saw this in FINE FURNITURE
34 FINE FURNITURE
BENBOUGH'S REMUNERATION
Plan Is Unique, Practical
APLAN of sales remuneration
which is not only unique and
interesting but practical as well, has
been devised by H. L. Benbough
who established a furniture store in
San Diego, Cal., 30 years ago on a
capital of $500. He has prospered
and grown until today his store
occupies six floors and basement of
a building 100 feet square; he em-
H. L. BENBOUGH
. . . "Our plan seems to average for
salesmen and store in satisfactory
manner."
ploys 115 people, 14 of whom are
furniture salesmen.
Convinced that cooperation be-tween
the employees of his various
departments would be the keynote
to success, Benbough has planned
always with this end in view. The
store is divided into five depart-ments,
namely: Furniture, Carpet,
Office Equipment, Drapery, and
Electrical Equipment. The only de-partment
in which the furniture
sales force makes direct sales other
than in its own is the Carpet De-partment.
In the event of a furni-ture
customer being interested in
the purchase of merchandise in any
of the other three departments,
namely: Office Equipment, Drapery
or Electrical Equipment, the cus-tomer
is introduced by the furniture
salesman to a member of the sales
force in the particular department
in whose merchandise he is inter-ested,
and the salesman in that par-ticular
department carries on. If a
sale is made, both men receive full
credit for the sale in volume.
At the present time, Benbough
has 14 furniture salesmen, each of
whom is rated and re-rated accord-ing
to the volume of his sales per
month. Number 14, the lowest in
the scale, is paid $100 a month;
each succeeding man up to the top
receives $12.50 more than his pre-decessor
so that Number 1 receives
$262.50 per month. When an addi-tion
is made to the sales force it
automatically increases every sales-man
on the floor $12.50 a month
as the low man still receives $100
and each man is increased as shown
by the following schedule:
Sales Remuneration
Present
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14-.
Schedule
$262.50
250 00
237 50
225 00
212 50
200 00
187.50
175.00
... 162.50
... 150.00
13750
. 125.00
112.50
100.00
Add
1 .
?
3
4
5..
6
1 ...
89
10 .
11
12 .
13..
14....
15
ing One Man
$275.00
262.50
.. 250.00
237 50
225 00
212.50
200.00
187.50
175.00
. .. 162.50
150 00
. 137.50
125.00
112.50
1.0.00
If it became necessary to cut
down on the staff, each salesman's
pay would likewise be decreased
$12.50 a month. Hence the incentive
to aid new men in making sales.
Says Benbough, "We find our
present system to be working out
in a highly satisfactory manner and
all of our furniture salesmen are on
their toes in an effort to either be
top man for the month or as near
to the top as possible. Wh'le our
present plan benefits the salesmen
when business is poor, the store
benefits when business is good, so it
seems to average satisfactorily."
While this plan is not intended to
be a competition, yet the salesmen
consider it so and work hard to
attain high ranking each month.
Salesmen are paid twice a month.
For the first half of the month each
salesman receives $50. At this time
the salesmen's ranking is posted so
that each salesman may see where
he stands and thus know his ap-proximate
pay for the month. They
are eager to help each other in the
different departments due to the
benefits received if a sale is made.
The worry of repossessions is
eliminated as Benbough believes
that it is the duty of the credit de-partment
to determine a customer's
rating, not the salesmen's.
Say What You Mean
FRISE (pronounced "free-zay")
is a fabric having a loop pile
surface. The word is a French
adjective indicating yarns looped,
curled, or frizzled As applied to
upholstery fabrics, common usage
gives the term acceptance as the
name of a cloth.
Frieze (pronounced "freeze") is
not a looped pile fabric but is a
heavy woolen fabric having a nap
produced by teazling, and is exten-sively
used for overcoatings.
Friezette is a flat weave and
should not be confused with "frize."
Friezette is a rep fabric, the rep
weave being used so that when the
fabric is woven, small ridges are
formed.
Benbough's store in the days of horse and
and Golden
carriage, "speedy" brass-lamped autos
Oak sets.
for DECEMBER. 1938 35
1 — Sofa. No. 1350.
is made by Ralph
Morse Furniture Co.
and is shown at the
Keeler Bldg.. Grand
Rapids.
2 — One of Coch-ran's
line of chair
specials. No. 2808.
in silk damask, is
shown at the Wat-ers-
Klingman Bldg.,
Grand Rapids.
3 — This charming
Early American
maple group by W.
F. Whitney Co.. Inc.,
South Ashbumham,
Mass., is shown in
the Waters - Kling-man
Bldg., Grand
Rapids.
4 — 18th Century
wing chair by the
S. J. Campbell Co..
Chicago; Duncan
P h y t e mahogany
table, A m e r i c a n
Furniture Novelty
Co.; and ivory table
lamp, mahogany
floor lamp by the
Rembrandt Lamp
Co., Chicago, are
all displayed at the
American Furniture
Mart.
5 — Blond sectional
pieces. No. 4587, in
Modern s t y l e are
manufactured by
Weiner & Co., Mil-waukee,
and are
exhibited at the
American Furniture
Mart.
6 — Fireside chair.
No. 40, made by
the Grand Rapids
Lounge Co., is ex-hibited
in the Wat-ers-
Klingman Bldg.,
Grand Rapids.
7 — M a h o g a n y
couch, by Schoon-beck
Furniture Co.,
is shown in the
showrooms of the
Imperial Furniture
Co.. Grand Rapids.
36 FINE FURNITURE
WHY VENEERS?
HOW often have your customers asked the ques-tion,
"Is this furniture solid or veneered?" And
upon being told that the flat surfaces are veneered,
make some disparaging remark as if their intelligence,
as a furniture buyer, had been insulted? The truth of
the matter is that many of the buying public are
obsessed with the idea that veneered construction is a
sign of cheap, inferior furniture. One of the most dif-ficult
problems confronting a retail salesman is that of
reasoning with a customer who has already convinced
himself that lamination is just another term for
subordination of quality. They do not seem to realize
that the salesman on the floor is trying to help and
advise them in making the best possible selection for
their money, rather than brow-beat or cajole them into
purchasing an inferior grade of merchandise. They
seem more inclined to take the word of an uninformed
friend rather than that of an experienced manufacturer
with years of study and experiment behind him. There-fore
the entire issue narrows down to the fact that the
salesman understands the conditions leading to the de-velopment
and use of veneer, and that it is his job to
convey that understanding to the consumer.
Confidence vs. Cockiness • To gain the confidence
of a customer in your ability and knowledge of furni-ture
is of major importance in making a sale. They
should be made to feel that they are talking with a
person who has a thorough understanding of the busi-ness,
rather than a robot merely repeating memorized
words.
by
HARVEY KIMERLY
How often have customers asked you, "Is this suite made of solid wood
or is it veneered?" And immediately upon mentioning the word veneer
have the prospect launch into a tirade censoring your establishment and
everyone in it for handling such an inferior line of merchandise? Such
a situation narrows down to the salesman's own ability to comprehend
the use of veneer, and also the fact that certain types of furniture are
more in keeping with their character and period when done in solid
wood. Conveying this understanding to a veneer-complexed customer is
an important part of your job as purveyor of furniture.
Imagine, for example, the consternation of the young
salesman just breaking into the game who, upon the
arrival of a large, luxurious-looking sofa at the store,
asked the question, "What style is that?"
When told, with apparent seriousness, that it was a
genuine Aphrodisiac, he decided to incorporate the term
into his sales talk.
Several days later a stately old couple entered the
store, became interested in the piece and asked its
style. Hoping to make an impression with his knowl-edge
of furniture the young man stepped forward, and
with a sweeping gesture said, "This is a GENuine
Aphrodisiac." The story is old, but illustrates the ad-visability
of using original and intelligent sales talk.
Veneer—1000 Years B. C. • The arguments for the
use of veneer are many, without disparaging fine fur-niture
that is made of solid woods. Veneer itself is not
a new development. It was known to the early Egypt-ians
a thousand years before Christ, and those pieces
of veneered furniture have stood the test of centuries.
The eighteenth century masters, such as Chippendale
and Sheraton, were also advocates of this laminated
construction and their choice has never been bettered.
The reasons for the use of plywood are not complex.
Throughout the world are found many types and
species of wood which may be used as a furniture
material. However, only a few have all the properties
desirable. The value of some woods lies in their char-acteristic
color, figure and beauty of grain. Other types
are valuable because of their physical requisites rather
than decorative qualities. Therefore, combinations of
these woods are used in order to produce furniture
having both strength and beauty. It is the same
method employed in the manufacture of fine jewelry.
Platinum, for example, a very soft, ductile metal, is
blended with irradium, which is known for its tough,
durable qualities, thus producing an alloy with all the
beauty and brilliance of platinum plus the service-ability
of irradium.
Consumer Skeptical • The method is the same in fur-niture.
Hickory and ash both make excellent shovel
handles or, in furniture, excellent frames for chairs and
davenports. On the other hand, burl walnut and crotch
mahogany, while unsuitable for shovel handles and
frames, have beautiful figures suitable for smooth, flat
surfaces where a fine texture is paramount. For this
reason the practice is made of cutting the finely figured
and more valuable woods into thin sheets of veneer,
for DECEMBER, 1936 37
1 — Combination
book-stand and
table. No. 5-116,
and the hanging
bookrack. No.
5-103, are made
by the Romweber
Industries, shown
in the Merchan-dise
Mart.
2 _ No. 415 buffet
is by the Bates-ville
Cabinet Co.
and is displayed
in the Merchan-dise
Mart.
3 — The American
F u r n i t u r e Co.
manufactured the
modern bedroom
group, twin-beds.
No. 945V2- vanity
No. 9451/4, which
are shown at the
Merchandise Mart.
-rj
4 — Vanity, No.
221, retails at $40;
mirror priced at
$18, are made by
the Charlotte Fur-niture
Co. and are
shown at the
American Furni-ture
Mart.
5 — No. D 785
chair, retailing at
$58, by the Mich-igan
Seating Co.,
is displayed in the
Fine Arts Bldg.,
Grand Rapids,
Mich.
6 — Modern chair
No. 1284, outside
width 33 inches, is
by the Wolverine
Upholstering Co.
and is exhibited
in the Waters-
Klingman Bldg..
retailing at $63.
Un-numbered mo-dem
combination
desk and cabinet
by the B. P. John
Furniture Corp.,
Portland, Ore.
4-
38 FINE FURNITURE
which are then glued onto the less attractive but
stronger wood.
Obviously enough the consumer has probably never
given thought to this line of reasoning and ma}- be
satisfied with the explanation offered. However, a great
many are unduly skeptical and suspicious.
Why Veneer? • Of great importance to the buyer of
household furniture is the lasting service made pos-sible
with three- five- or more ply veneer. As an illus-tration,
take a panel faced with a highly figured veneer.
To begin with there is the core stock—a thoroughly
dried piece of some tough, sturdy wood; then comes
a layer of glue, and a layer of cross-banded veneer with
the grain running at right angles to that of the core;
there follows another layer of glue then the face
veneer with its grain superimposed over that of the
preceding strip. Cross-banding, or the superimposing
of succeeding sheets of plywood gives the desired
strength, as it tends to prevent the panel from warp-ing
or changing its shape due to the absorption or
giving off of moisture, for wood will naturally shrink
or expand in varying degrees throughout the grain. The
gluing together of the various sections with the grain
running in different directions prevents distortion, for
as one sheet starts to warp it is automatically checked
by the cross grain of its adjacent sheets. This method
of construction is especially valuable in the changing
atmospheric conditions of the modern home.
There is still another pertinent physical factor in
favor of glued stock. Since the World War glues have
been evolved which are as strong if not stronger than
the wood itself. Quite often glued stock, when sub-jected
to severe strain, will fail in the wood rather
than the glue. A properly laid veneer panel is approx-imately
80% stronger than a strip of solid wood of
equal thickness.
To illustrate this point take two strips of plywood
and place them together with the grain of each running
in the same direction; they can be easily broken. Now
superimpose these strips and you will find that twice
the strength is required to break them.
In late years a casein glue, made of sour skimmed
milk, has been produced and has proved superior to
the vegetable glue in that it is waterproof. The vege-table
glue made from tapioca, is soluble in water if
left submerged over a period of time; the casein glue
is unaffected by water, retaining its original strength
and preventing the veneer from springing apart.
$15,000 per Log • To the manufacturer, and indirectly
to the consumer, lamination offers yet another saving.
Quite often wood, valued because of its beauty of fig-ure,,
is too costly to be used in making solid furniture,
for veneer logs have been known to sell on the London
market for as much as $15,000. Therefore, the utility
of these logs is greatly enhanced by cutting them into
thin sheets rather than into lumber. Trees producing
really excellent logs of this type are rapidly becoming
scarce.
The use of laminated construction also proves eco-nomical
to the customer in that it helps save a great
deal of breakage in small, finely built pieces. Also, in
using other than veneered construction on a curved
surface, the joints or ends may be exposed, thus spoil-ing
the effect of a smooth flowing line.
From the artistic or aesthetic point of view the use
of veneer is responsible for many beautiful and unusual
decorative effects, as it is possible to secure patterns of
intricate design by the use of mottles, bird's-eyes and
curly grains. The veneer may be cut as thin as 1/30
of an inch, enabling the strips to be matched accord-ing
to grain and producing the exquisite swirls and
crotches so treasured by manufacturers.
"GO-GUTTER" SALESMAN
HARVEY KIMERLY
. . . believes that home portrays char-acter,
personality oi individual.
^ 1 HATTING with a couple of re-
\ / tail furniture salesmen recently,
the subject arose of how to handle
customers who believed that veneer-ed
merchandise was inferior to solid
wood pieces. Long a topic of dis-cussion
on retail floors, we asked
one of the salesmen to express his
views. Hence this article by Harvey
Kimerly, associated with Klingman
Furniture Co., Grand Rapids.
"Kim," with a background of fur-niture,
based on his father's and
brother's long activity as furniture
designers, while he himself served
an apprenticeship in a designing
studio, is qualified to write intelli-gently
on the subject.
Deserting the production end of
the business for the retail sales, Kim-erly
feels that his former training
is a genuine asset, as his thorough
knowledge of historical influence on
style changes equipped him with
ammunition that should be included
in retail salesmen's vernacular.
Diversifying his hobby of collect-ing
old coins by hunting and read-ing,
versatility is exhibited in his
musical selections, running the scale
from the melodious waltzes of
Johann Strauss, Jr., to the rousing
"Song of the Vagabonds" and the
inspirational religious march, "On-ward
Christian Soldiers;" is an ad-mirer
of Edward VIII; has covered
the U. S. from coast to coast; and
when retirement time arrives, wants
to raise chickens.
In listing his most interesting ex-perience
with a customer "Kim"
admits being somewhat of a "go-gutter"
salesman. Having conducted
some New York sophisticates on a
tour of local exhibitions, the party
was returning to the visitors' auto-mobile,
when a traffic tie-up enforc-ed
a temporary delay. Kimerly,
while standing in the gutter, took
advantage of the blockade, sold the
party a bedroom suite they had
just seen.
f o r D E C E M B E R , 1 9 3 6 39
Done by Dutch Craftsmen
ASSURES RELIABILITY OF
WORKMANSHIP AND STYLE
REPRODUCTIONS . . . Our line of 18th Century living room repro-ductions,
exquisitely interpreted from carefully selected authentic sources,
guarantees your most discriminating customers' accurate replicas of New
England furniture.
MERCHANDISING . . . "Biographical" sketches of historical interest
have been attached to each individual piece, thus affording your salesmen
assistance in selling this merchandise.
DINING ROOM . . . New dining room groupings shown for the first
time in November have been augmented and now include a comprehensive
selection of Modern and traditional ensembles.
DISPLAY IN WATERS-KLINGMAN BLDG.
The 18th Century buffet above, Suite No. 87, is of mahogany veneer, mahogany
construction. The cocktail table below, No. 125, of mahogany, is 44"x21", 17"
high; the drum table, No. 120, also being of mahogany, is 30" x 30" across
with a height of 29".
DUTCH WOODCRAFT SHOPS, INC.
ZEELAND MICHIGAN
We appreciate your mentioning you saw this in FINE FURNITURE
FINE FURNITURE
. . . Says Joe Lynch
YOUR AD MAN CAN PRODUCE BUSINESS IF—
7\ RETAIL merchant cannot ex-x
i . pect his advertising manager
to produce business-getting adver-tising
unless it is based on a solid
understanding of store arrangement,
stock arrangement, advertising
mediums, sales resistance and, most
important of all, a thorough under-standing
of buying nature. In order
to create productive retail advertis-ing
there must be co-operation from
the president of the concern down
to the delivery man. The entire
organization must be sold on the
idea of what the advertising is de-signed
to accomplish and the part
each one is to play in making the
sales of the advertised merchandise
successful.
Buy Through Eye • A retail store
advertisement may be beautiful to
look at, it may carry an appearance
of dignity, it may tickle the mer-chant's
vanity, but, if it lacks the
proper selling assets the advertising
expenditure is wasted. Of what we
learn, 95% comes through the eye;
95% of what we buy, we buy
through the eye. The first aim of
an advertisement must be to attract
the eye. When that has been done
the remaining selling assets that
should go into it are as follows:
Arouse curiosity, drive home econ-omy,
create desire, use the proper
merchandise in the advertisement
and build up store prestige.
Display Supports Ads • The next
step is to back up the advertising
by the proper display of the adver-tised
merchandise, making it easy
for the customer to buy and reduc-ing
responsibility of inexperienced
or indifferent sales people. Many
good advertising men who have
written excellent copy have been
blamed unjustly because results did
not come up to expectations, not due
to the advertisement at all, but be-cause
the organization itself was not
properly sold on it, and because the
merchandise was not properly dis-played
in the store so as to get a
volume of sales in accordance with
the advertising expenditure and the
possibilities of the advertisement.
False Dignity • Few of our retail
merchants are advertising and mer-chandising
men. In contact with
stores throughout the United States
and Canada, we find that in too
he has cooperation irom the president o£ the store on down, if the entire organi-zation
is completely sold on his campaign. He can produce results if his adver-tising
program is supported by a cooperative display scheme. He CAN'T build
volume if the boss insists upon high-class advertising for cheap merchandise thus
creating an atmosphere cf high-hattishness and establishing a definite sales
resistance. Finally, says Lynch, "I would spend one month every year visiting as
many retail stores in the same business as I possibly could, exchanging ideas,
absorbing policies and methods."
many cases the merchant dictates
the advertising policy with no
thought of building a large volume
of business, but rather, in hiding
behind a false dignity. In many of
the stores that we operate, we find
that the merchant in years gone by
has been very successful, built up a
large volume of profitable business
in price lines and has arrived at a
point where he is considered finan-cially
and socially a leader. Then
the thought occurs to him that his
business is not in keeping with his
social position, and immediately he
installs new fixtures, new front and
insists on so-called high-class adver-tising
that is lacking in all selling
elements, buys high-priced mer-chandise
and attempts to compete
with stores selling higher priced
merchandise and practically, though
wholly unintentionally, decides that
the customers who built his busi-ness,
made him his money and
made his social position possible
are not good enough to trade in his
high-class store. In fact, he buys
the type of merchandise that they
cannot afford to buy, his overhead
is increased, slack months come
along, and he wonders what has
happened to his business.
91 7/10% on D. P. Plan • He for-gets
that the store using so-called
high-class advertising with no selling
assets, that buys and displays the
highest priced merchandise rather
than medium-priced and cheap
merchandise, creates the impression
of being a high-priced store, caus-ing
a very strong sales resistance
which is hard to live down even
after the policy of lower priced
merchandise has been adopted. He
forgets that there are ten thousand
buyers of cheap and medium priced
merchandise to one of high-priced
merchandise. If he happens to be
in the furniture business he decides
that he is going to do a thirty- or
sixty-day charge account business.
Here, again, he forgets that statis-tics
show that actually 91 7/10%
of the furniture business in the
United States is done on a deferred
payment plan of from nine to eigh-teen
months. By actual analysis the
long deferred payment plan is more
satisfactory than the short thirty or
sixty day charge account.
4-point Merchandising • Success-ful
merchandising means, first, the
writing of newspaper advertising
that attracts the eye and advertis-ing
merchandise of such a price that
attracts the great mass of the lower
and medium class of buyers; sec-ond,
creating an atmosphere of
friendliness in the store and dis-playing
the merchandise so that it
is easy for the customer to buy;
third, adopting a policy of money
refunded on any article that does
not give satisfaction and fourth,
selling of every advertisement and
what it is to accomplish to the entire
organization itself first.
The advertising should be delib-erately
designed to bring people to
the store in great numbers for cer-tain
advertised items. Experience
has demonstrated time and time
again that they will in addition,
purchase items other than those ad-vertised.
For instance, in a sale
that we conducted for Brushaber's
furniture store in Detroit, we used
a double truck as a merchandise ad
but did not advertise floor, bridge
or junior lamps. Regardless of this,
and because of the great number of
people who came to the store for
advertised items, and the fact that
the lamps were properly displayed,
we sold 268 lamps in one day.
Visit— for Ideas • Finally, if I were
a retail merchant, I would spend
one month every year visiting as
many retail stores in the same line
of business, as I possibly could,
absorbing as much of the different
methods and policies as possible.
Then I would return to my own
store and make an analysis of my
own business, based on what I had
learned.
TDWERinG ABOVE
16 • 1937
S\ \ !•. I i m i - . U H I i n f • 1 1 1 - \ | i \
r n i i c c / i i r ; i l i i i i r \ u i i r l u i \ i 11_•_•
i n l l i i " \ i u c r i c . i M I- u M M i i i ! ' • • M ; i i l
. . . l ) 1 | M T r c t i l o ! l l i i " i w i l i i n i ' . -
I "II V <"I"r- t i n .
I > u \ I I O I I I i h f i i m r c i l i i i n T'lil
r \ h i l i i i m > w h o i p d i i i | i r i r - r iht-w
o r l d r ; i i c ; i l c > l h o m e l i i n i i » l i -
i iiu— m a r k i ' l .
// rilr n.iii lur icliiiillniK <•
I ' i i r n i t i i i c . . . l l d i i r r i i \ c r i i i i ; - . . .
I it. • 11 [ »=— . . . l n \ - . . . i i | i | i l i . i i i n ' -
. . . h d i i - r I u r i i i - h i i i u - . ; i l l 1 !•• — = -
m i l l I M ; I N \ u l l i r r - w i l l l i e n i l i | ' ~ -
I In U>
P^^^^^^^^^^B:V-~ -•-^ -:'-9|
isii
42 FINE FURNITURE
SHAFER CONFESSES
"LAZIEST HUMORIST IN THE WORLD"
ADMITS DOWNRIGHT ORNERINESS
Three Rivers, Mich., Dec. (Special
dispatch to FIXE FURNITURE). I
just got to thinking that maybe I
did wrong in the November issue—
by defying the Readers. After all
— (I'm thinking out loud, now)—a
reader has some rights — even if
they ought to be of the last, sad
variety . . . (spelled "rites").
It was a dull autumnal afternoon
up here in the palatial, semi-arabesque
headquarters of the City
News Bureau & The Big-Link
Sausage Company—when I got to
thinking like this. What sky I could
see through my window overlooking
the back end of Mallabone's Hard-ware
& Impl'm't Store was gray.
The radio down in the Wittenberg-
Boys' Newsstand — (advt) — was
providing a sad orchestration of
"Long, Long Ago."
Sob Stuff • So a lump came up in
my swan-like throat and I grew re-morseful
and tears started to course
down my case-hardened cheeks. I
kept on thinking about how abrupt
I had been—and how crude—and
how downright ornery I still am—
and probably always will be.
And then in the gloaming I had
a vision of all the stunned and
bereft readers of FIXE FURXITURE
—all the 480,000 Readers—and I
leaped to my feet in a sudden re-solve
to undo my wrong — and to
henceforth lead a cleaner, purer and
more upright life.
Not only that, Mr. EDcutter, I
determined that—come what may!
—irrespective of the result of your
nation-wide Scoop Poll on how the
readers feel—regardless of any con-clusion—
Do Tell • I WOULD GO DOWN
TO ROODY CULVER'S! As I
made my decision the patch of gray
sky that I could see seemed to be
suddenly a-glow.
My step — though firm — was
lighter.
I breathed freer of the crisp air.
My shoulders were back further
than at any time since the signing
of the Armistice—I fairly fled down
the main street—down past the Old
Snug Restaurant—down past Fred
Rohrer's Cigar Store!
At Last • Roody's sign, on its rusty
hmges, was creaking on the iron
standard out over the sidewalk. My
goal was in sight! At last, I was
nearing the end of my journey.
I fairly ran. I surged up against
the front door. I pressed down on
the latch! But, Mr. Wooditor, the
door didn't give a whit—NOT SO
MUCH AS A HALF-WHIT!
I peered inside—for the first time
noting that the interior was dim.
Just one one-fingered lamp was
burning—back in the office—beyond
the shadowy heaps of furniture.
That was all. I rattled the door.
"Hey, you. in there—ROODY!"
There was no response.
Foiled • I was about to crash my
weight against the glass when I
heard a still, small voice. I had
heard the voice before. It was
the voice of Nightwatchman Earl
Houghtaling—one of six brothers—
Earl being the oldest and the one
who was thrown out of the surrey
that time his mother drove up from
where they lived down on Badger
Island when their horse—Old Kit
—shied at a chicken-wagon.
"What's the idea?" asked Earl.
"I want t' see Roody," says I.
Then Earl said: "You'll have to
wait until tomorrow. Roody don't
keep open on Sunday."
Tsk] Tsk! Chet . Now, Mr. Wood-seth,
if you ask me, I'd say this was
a pretty lousy piece of copy to send
in for your December issue. If I
was an edismith, I'd toss it back to
its proud parent on its father's side.
But there's no telling now how your
vote will come out—and if there are
more readers who would rather see
me not go down to Roody's than
there are who favor the trip—it is
just as well that it was Sunday.
yrs (sgd) CHET SHAFER.
With another Hey-Nonny-Nonny!
But not quite so much sody this
time!
The tabulation of balloting in the nation-wide Roody Culver poll was nearing a
decision when word was received that Shafer had confessed—"The readers HAVE
some 'rites.' I'll go to Roody's." With the strain of the eight months' campaign end-ing
so dramatically, FINE FURNITURE'S staff relaxed, burned the ballots, indulged
in a game of chess and a skittle of beer.
f o r DECEMBER, 193 6 43
GRAND RAPIDS' MOST POPULAR EXHIBITION BUILDING
Here you will see the lines that represent the cream of the furniture
industry. In the Waters-Klingman Building are housed FIFTY PER-CENT
of all the exhibits in the Grand Rapids Market. EVERY
BUYER who has attended the last two Grand Rapids markets has
paid at least ONE VISIT to the Waters-Klingman spaces. Why ?
Because only in the Waters-Klingman Building can he find a complete
assortment of decorative home furnishing merchandise to meet his every
requirement.
«YOU'LL FIND IT /iV—
THE WATERS-KLINGMAN BUILDING"
EXHIBITORS^ 5655*
ALLEN CHAIR CO.
ARCADIA FURNITURE CO.
AMERICAN AUTO-FELT CORP.
BARTON FURNITURE CO.
J. BART UPHOLSTERY CO.
BECHTOLD BROS. UPH. CO.
BOBB FURNITURE CO.
BROWER FURNITURE CO.
BROWN BROTHERS CO.
COCHRAN CHAIR CO.
CONANT-BALL COMPANY
CUYAHOGA FURNITURE &
LAMP CO.
DA VIES FURNITURE CO.
DOEZEMA FURNITURE CO.
DUTCH WOODCRAFT SHOPS
EAGLE-OTTAWA LEATHER CO.
ESTEY MFG. CO.
FALCON MFG. CO.
FICKS REED CO.
FINE ARTS FURNITURE CO.
GRAND LEDGE CHAIR CO.
G. R. FANCY FURNITURE CO.
G. R. BEDDING CO.
GRAND RAPIDS LOUNGE CO.
GUNN FURNITURE CO.
HART MIRROR PLATE CO.
HEKMAN FURNITURE CO.
HERRMANN LAMPS, INC.
HOLLAND FURNITURE CO.
ICOVE MFG. CO.
JAMESTOWN LOUNGE CO.
KOZAK STUDIOS
KUCHINS FURN. MFG. CO.
LENTZ TABLE COMPANY
LOEBLEIN, INC.
McKIM & COCHRAN FURN. CO.
MANISTEE MFG. CO.
MENTZER REED COMPANY
MURRAY FURNITURE CO.
F. A. NICHOLS CO.
O'HEARN MFG. CO.
A. S. PAYNE, INC.
PIAGET-DONNELLY CO.
RAND-McNALLY & CO.
RED LION FURNITURE CO.
RED LION TABLE CO.
ROCKFORD CHAIR & FTJRN. CO.
SHAW MFG. CO.
SKANDIA FURNITURE CO.
CHARLES R. SLIGH COMPANY
STICKLEY BROS. CORP.
THANHARDT-BURGER CORP.
U. S. FURN. SHOPS, INC.
WARSAW FURN. MFG. CO.
WEST MICHIGAN FURN. CO.
W. F. WHITNEY CO.
WILLIAMS-KIMP FURN. CO.
WOLVERINE UPHOLSTERY CO.
WOODARD FURNITURE CO.
We appreciate your mentioning you saw this xn FINE FURNITURE
44 FINE FURNITURE
PAGEANTRY OF CORONATION
COUPLED WITH EDWARD'S CONNUBIAL COUP
PRESENTS KEEN MERCHANDISING OPPORTUNITIES
DESPITE ABDICATION, CROWNING OF YORK
NOW that the pressure is off
David Windsor is no longer
the unaatainable masculine ideal of
several continents, secretly adored
in numberless feminine hearts, erect-ed
upon a hidden shrine as the epi-tome
of perfection and acceptance
in the eyes of the world's women,
rich or poor, international calm and
fine furniture will rule again.
With the new king, George VI,
a homelike family man, the pagean-try
of the coronation, its attendant
glamour, color and romance, will
revive the spring promotional activi-ties
in retail homefurnishing estab-lishments
throughout the United
States. The poignant drama of Ed-ward's
abdication, his betrothal to
Mrs. Wallis Simpson, American
commoner, King George VI's pre-cipitous
ascendancy to the throne,
will all lend drama to merchandis-ing
activities, opportunities to those
able and eager to capitalize on
them.
Marketing Natural • Visualizing
this intense interest in the corona-tion
of the new King of England
..V
The Gainsborough bedroom of the Berkey <£ Gay Coronation group. This, No. 1001.
and its companion Coronation dining room. No. 2019, will be given powerful pro-motional
push in newspapers and national magazines between now and next
Spring. Both will be shown for the first time at the January market in Grand Rapids.
Top, adaptation by Berkey & Gay of
the true Prince of Wales plumes (be-low).
This design motif embellishes
both suites of the Coronation group.
next spring, Berkey & Gay of Grand
Rapids has consummated one of the
marketing ten-strikes of the decade
in its timely introduction of its
Coronation suites . . . dining and
bedroom. Seldom in the memory of
merchandisers has such a "natural"
fallen into the laps of furniture re-tailers,
and it is expected these two
groups, with any sort of advertising
effort on the part of merchants will
establish all-time selling records.
Individual dealer-effort behind
the groups is to be buttressed by
substantial advertising in national
publications, and stores will be fur-nished
plenty of tie-in material such
as suggested ad layouts, window
cards and other aids.
The suites comprising the group
are the Coronation dining room and
the Gainsborough bedroom, both all
mahogany. A choice of two tables
and two sideboards is available in
the former. Spiral turnings on the
legs of both the dining and the bed-room
group are distinctive, special
machines having been purchased by
Berkey & Gay just to make them.
In order to give the retailer an
attractive profit, Berkey & Gay pur-posely
has priced both suites to fall
in medium rather than low or pro-hibitively
high ranges.
f o r D E C E M B E R , 1 9 3 6 45
HISTORIC EXAMPLES from the METROPOLITAN
WITHOUT fear of contradiction
we can state that there is no
subject in the realm of furniture
history that bears such a paucity of
information as bedsteads. In fact,
authorities state that 17th Century
early American bedsteads have com-pletely
disappeared.
Reserved for the lord of the man-sion,
beds were often built into the
walls, placed in alcoves; frequently
they had boarded sides and ends,
with tiled roofs, indicating use out-of-
doors. The wooden sides were
replaced with tapestries and other
fabrics, eventually being scaled to
present day proportions.
The bedsteads illustrated are (1)
an English Charles II bed, about
1685, known as the Rushbrooke,
made of oak, upholstered in velvet
and embroidered in satin; (2) an
American about 1800 from Salem,
after the style of late Sheraton,
with tester, carved and decorated
with gilt and paint; (3) an early
American bedroom in Haverhill,
Mass., about 1818; (4) an early
American bedroom from Hampton,
N. H.
•:.M
(1)—Sofa No. 892, by the Lakeside
Upholstering Co., Chicago, down-filled,
all fine horsehair, covered with
antique-figured velvet, with adjust-able
arms, retailing for $220.
(2)—Maple desk and chair No. 6012,
by the H. T. Cushman Mfg. Co., N.
Bennington, Vt., displayed in the
American Furniture Mart. Desk re-tails
for $59.50.
(3)—Early American maple bedroom
suite by Sikes Co., shown in the
Merchandise Mart.
(4)—A French provincial dining
group, the "Picardy." by the Grand
Rapids Bookcase & Chair Co., Hast-ings,
Mich. This group marks a de-parture
in form or style of the firm's
customary popular XVI and XVII
Century English oak groups. Receiv-ing
its inspiration from an imported
French provincial table, the group-ing
appears verbatim in motives
and line. Shown in the Keeler Bldg.
(5)—A mahogany 18th Century Eng-lish
bed fashioned in the expert
manner of John Widdicomb Co.,
displayed in the factory showroom.
(6)—A commodious and fine piece of
18th Century English furniture, by
the Colonial Mfg. Co., Zeeland,
Mich., displayed in the Keeler Bldg.
a ss
HG»
f o r D E C E M B E R , 193S 47
WINTER MARKET
G. R. Entertainment Set
Changing the pace of former market
entertainment programs, the Grand Rapids
Furniture Salesmen's Club, under the chair-manship
of Edward Ransom, has scheduled
a diversified ten-night show for visiting fur-niture
buyers' amusement.
Included m the round of festivities will be
amateur boxing and professional wrestling,
an old-time smoker with free lunch an i beer
to lubricate throats long since rusted, but
joining the famous Schubert Club in never-forgotten
melodies. Sophisticates will find a
well-balanced professional show equal in cal-iber
to past market performances.
Saturday evening, January 9, the annual
Furniture Frolics Ball will hold the spot of
honor, with dancing in the Pantlind Hotel
supplemented by additional orchestration in
the Black and Gold room of the Civic
Auditorium. Ten door prizes will be awarded,
including a bedroom suite, a dining room
suite, living room ensemble and other pieces
of furniture.
Assistnig Ransom in directing various com-mittees,
is Clark Beiriger, chairman in
charge of the combined furniture industry
and civic ball. Official opening of the mar-ket
and greeting of the visitors will be con-ducted
by civic officials and leaders in the
furniture industry.
McKay Obtains Englander
Payments were made at a New York
meeting early in December to all classifica-tions
of creditors of the Englander Co. un-der
a re-orgamzation plan so that the com-pany
is now in a cash position. Thus did
Frank D. McKay and his business associ-ate,
Abe Dembinsky, complete details of the
EDWARD HANSOM
. . . Directs tun-making ior Furniture
Frolics.
acquisition of the Englander Spring Bed
Co., Brooklyn, N.Y.
Xewly elected officers and directors were:
president, Max Englander; vice-presidents,
Ben B. Englander, E. A. Kann and Joseph
B. Englander; secretary, Abe Dembinsky;
treasurer, PVank D. McKay; assistant secre-tary
and treasurer, Benjamin Bachrach.
The board of directors includes: Max and
Ben Englander, McKay, Dembinsky, Bach-rach,
Ivan E. Hull and 0. F. Beemer.
A financing program essential to the man-agement's
plans for expansion and national
distribution was completed. Part of the
plan includes a national advertising pro-gram
and the return to national distribu-tion.
Sales during 1936 totaled more than
£1,000,000. Business in excess of £5.000,000
is anticipated by the management with the
launching of the new expansion program.
Present operations are concentrated in
Brooklyn but as volume warrants, the
firm's plant in Boston will be re-opened.
McKay announces that the new line will
be also displayed in Grand Rapids at the
January market.
The Englander Co. produces springs,
mattresses, studio-couches, metal beds,
porch and sunroom furniture, metal hospi-tal
beds and institutional merchandise. The
company has been in continuous operation
since it was established in 1885.
Witman Joins Bechtold
Charles T. Witman, Grand Rapids free-lance
furniture designer, recently announced
his association as staff designer with Bech-told
Bros. Upholstering Co. of Grand Rap-ids.
In addition to his duties of developing
the line, he will be in charge of sales in
the company's exhibition space in the
Waters-Klingman Bldg.
Landstrom Resigns from B. & G.
Edgar A. Landstrom presented his formal
resignation as general manager of the Ber-key
& Gay Furniture Corp., to officials of
the company on December 4th.
As Landstrom has been with the com-pany
since it started operations under the
new reorganization by Frank D. McKay
and Abe Dembinsky, his resignation came
as a decided surprise to furniture circles
throughout the country.
When questioned concerning his future
plans, Landstrom said, "I have three very
definite propositions. I am considering and
expect to be in position to make an an-nouncement
within the next thirty days.
I will probably remain in Grand Rapids."
Thornquist Heads Designers
Russell Thornquist, designer for the
Grand Rapids Fancy Furniture Co., End
Aulsbrook Jones Co., Sturgis. Mich., was
elected president of the Grand Rapids Fur-niture
Designers Ass'n. at a dinner meet-ing
of 25 members in the Mertens Hotel
Dec. 8. Mr. Thornquist succeeds David L.
Evans.
Other officers elected were: vice-president.
Henry Warren, Hans Berg Studios; secre-
EDGAR A. LANDSTROM
. . . Resignation surprise to industry.
tary, Lambert Mulder, Kirkpatrick & Kirk-patrick
Studios; and treasurer, William
Kimerly, associated with the Wolverine Up-holstery
Co.
Committee chairmen appointed were:
Clayton Hawks and A. Bevelacqua, enter-tainment;
Charles T. Witman, memberships
and Rod Mackenzie, exhibits.
Plans were discussed for the second fur-niture
designers exhibition which would be
a feature of the July furniture market.
A
Waters-Klingman Bldg. Filled
The following new exhibitors in the
Waters-Klingman Bldg., Grand Rapids, will
make their initial showing in the Winter
Market January 4th to 16th inclusive:
Cuyahoga Furniture & Lamp Co., Cleve-land,
Ohio; Icove Mfg. Co., Cleveland, Ohio;
McKim & Cochran Furniture Co., Madison,
Ind.; O'Hearn Mfg. Co., Gardner, Mass.;
A. S. Payne, Inc., North Bennington, Vt.;
U. S. Furniture Shops, Inc., Hoboken, N.J.
H. H, Masten, manager of the building,
reports all space will be occupied in the
forthcoming market, and that record sales
were recorded in the Fall Style market in
November.
0
Bethlehem in Keeler Bldg.
The Keeler Bldg., Grand Rapids, Mich.,
through its manager, James J. Ryskamp,
announces that J. S. Goodman, of the Beth-lehem
Furniture Corp., Bethlehem, Pa., has
leased footage on the third floor of their
building for the January market. They will
show a high grade line of bedroom and din-ing
room furniture during the coming win-ter
market season.
B & G Personnel Changes
With the opening of plant No. 3, the
early part of December, the activity of
Berkey & Gay has been enlarged. Due to
48 FINE FURNITURE
Homefurnishing News and Reviews
re-allocation of personnel responsibilities
Frank D. McKay, chairman of the board,
avers a sincere and intense interest in build-ing
steadily for the furniture success of the
business.
Arthur Gommesen has been appointed
head of the B & G designing staff, will be
responsible for the creation and styling of
the line. Augmenting the staff will be Wil-liam
Hoffmann and Leonard Fuller. From
time to time other prominent free-lance de-signers
will contribute.
Arthur Bowen, experienced in B&G cost
and production, will have charge of these
departments. Veteran superintendent,
George Vander Laan, will have charge of all
manufacturing, assisted by Frank Berquist
as superintendent of re-opened plant No. 3.
In charge of merchandising activities will
be experienced Walter Fulton, also man-ager
in direct charge of sales.
''Extensive plans have been developed for
1937," states W. J. Wallace, president.
"Xot only will shipments be greatly accel-erated
by expanded production facilities but
our national advertising program will stimu-late
the demand for Berkey & Gay furni-ture."
A
Western Exchange Grows
Members of the Western Furniture Ex-change
Assn. are unanimous in anticipating
that they will act as hosts to an even larger
group of dealers and buyers of the West at
the Spring Market, San Francisco, Feb. 1
to 6, 1937, than that which attended the
record-breaking market of last August. This
belief is based on the fact that in recent
weeks business has surged forward in all
sections of the country; a booming stock
market, wage increases, year-end bonuses.
and extra dividend payments being released
by the nation's leading industries, which
assures a greater purchasing power in 1937
than has been enjoyed for many years.
The Spring Furniture Market will be the
42nd consecutive semi-annual event of its
kind, again to be enhanced by the ever
improving Floor Covering Opening, Radio
and Appliance Show, Curtain and Drapery
Show and Lamp and Giftwares Show.
Educational events of proven value will
also be provided for Market visitors.
Auerbach Heads Furn. Club
Designated as president of the Furniture
Press Club, which will hold its annual meet-ing
Jan. 4, is Alfred Auerbach, editor of
Retailing, Home Furnishings edition.
Southern. Retail Assn. Meets
Taxation as applied to the furniture store
was the subject of a speech given at a
dinner meeting of the Charlotte, N. C, Re-tail
Furniture Assn., by John A. Gilmore,
secretary of the Southern Retail Furniture
Assn. Following an informal discussion of
the Social Security Act, problems of the
retail furniture trade were studied at the
monthly meeting at which 75 furniture
dealers were present. The next meeting will
be in High Point, N. C, in January.
Bigger Buyer Attendance
Considerable increase in buyer attendance
at the Los Angeles Furniture Mart for the
first ten months of this year as compared
to the same period for 1935 is shown by
the records, according to A. V. MacDonald,
managing director. Among October buyers
were listed foreign retailers who had made
their initial visit. Max Levy, buyer for
Quigley. Ltd.. Auckland, New Zeeland,
showed considerable interest in chrome fur-niture
which, he said, has not been popu-larized
in Xew Zeeland. A. Baird, manager
of Hudson's Bay furniture department, Van-couver,
B. C, and J. S. Adair, manager of
the furniture department for Hudson's Bay,
Victoria, B. C, were interested in Early
California furniture, wishing to introduce it
in their respective stores.
United Reorganized
Recently, B. C. Philpott and associates,
former owners of the United Furniture Co.,
Lexington, N. C, which was destroyed by
fire on May 1, announced the purchase of
the Elk Furniture Factory, Lexington, which
will go into operation under the United
Furniture Corp. banner on Dec. 1. An
entire new line of bedroom furniture will be
shown at the American Furniture Mart in
January.
Philpott has been connected with the fur-niture
industry 32 years and was president
of the United Furniture Co. from 1921
until the time of the liquidation this year.
Two sons. H, C. and B. C, Jr., who were
connected with the old company, will also
be members of the new organization.
"Stuffed Flats" Out
Through the efforts of the Chicago Retail
Furniture Assn. and the Chicago Better
Business Bureau, leading Chicago news- Izolin Process
papers have agreed that all ''stuffed flat"
advertising must be designated by the word
"dealer.'' Use of such terms as ''Home
Furniture Sales" or other misleading descrip-tions
of the "stuffed flats" will be pro-hibited.
Herman Schoonbeck upholstery line, also
contains foyer, oak-paneled 17th Century
English tavern dining room, pantry, kitch-en,
lavatories, coat rooms, powder room for
ladies. The fourth floor is entirely storage
space.
Other facts concerning the new exhibition
building: Air conditioned and heated by
Carrier Co.; ten-inch well, 326 feet deep,
supplying 32S gallo
- Date Created:
- 1936-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Rapids Public Library (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
- Collection:
- 1:8
- Subject Topic:
- Periodicals and Furniture Industry
- Language:
- English
- Rights:
- © Grand Rapids Public Library. All Rights Reserved.
- URL:
- http://cdm16055.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16055coll20/id/72