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The Florists^ Review 



January 29, 1920 



RETAIL STORE MANAGEMENT 



WHAT THE LEADERS IN THE TRADE ARE DOING 



JVIETCALF'S FLOWEB QIBL. 



During a recent week L. E. Metcalf, 

 of La Crosse, Wis., had a local singer, 

 dressed as a flower girl, carrying a 

 basket in which were small corsage 

 bouquets, sing the "Say It with 

 Flowers" song written by Mrs. F. H. 

 Traendly and Mrs. C. Schenck, of New 

 York, on the stage of one of the lead- 

 ing moving picture theaters in La Crosse 

 at each performance during the entire 

 week. The song was put on immedi- 

 ately after the comedy was run. When 

 she came to the words, "Say It with 

 Flowers," in the song, she would throw 

 ■out a corsage into the audience. Dur- 

 ing the song she would throw from 

 six to eight bouquets. When she 

 finished the second chorus, the words 

 would be thrown on the screen and 

 sung again by the young lady and the 

 audience. When this was finished the 

 advertisement of Metcalf 's Flower 

 Shop was thrown on the screen, in which 

 was stated that copies of the song could 

 be purchased at the shop. The song 

 never failed to bring hearty applause 

 from the audience. Attached to each 

 bouquet thrown to the audience was a 

 tag which read, "Compliments of Met- 

 calf 's Flower Girl." 



This advertisement was effective in 

 advertising the national slogan, "Say 



The cost of this advertisement was 

 not great, as the theater management 

 charged nothing to allow it to be put 

 on. Mr. Metcalf, of course, had to 

 pay the singer and furnish the flowers. 

 He also furnished a vase bouquet for 

 the box office during the week and 

 flowers for the ushers and ticket sellers 

 to wear. 



The success of an advertisement of 

 'this kind depends largely upon getting 

 ii nice-appearing girl who is a good 

 singer and having her dressed properly. 

 The girl used by Mr. Metcalf was small 

 in stature, making a better flower girl, 

 had a sweet voice, not too loud, was 

 dressed in a plain but neat dress, well 

 fitted, and she wore a wreath of flowers 

 in her hair and a small corsage. The 

 flower basket was an ordinary 14-inch 

 plateau with ribbon woven in and a 

 ribbon sling over her shoulder. 



F. T. D. TEI.EGBAPH TOIiLS. 



Apropos of the striking growth of the 

 telegraph delivery business, Philip 

 Breitmeyer stated, in the discussion of 

 the proposed growers' organization at 

 the meeting of the American Carnation 

 Society in Chicago, that the bill from 

 the telegraph companies for J. Breit- 

 meyer 's Sons, Detroit, for the month of 

 December was $290. That sum repre- 



Church Wedding DecoratJon by George Rye, of Fort Smith, Ark. 



It with Flowers," and also connected 

 this slogan firmly with Metcalf 's 

 Flower Shop. It was also a good ad- 

 vertisement for Mr. Metcalf and sold 

 a number of the songs. And now all 

 La Crosse is singing, "Say It with 

 Flowers," which will give continued 

 results. 



sented the telegraph charges on the 

 wire orders sent by that one firm to 

 other cities during last December. Fol- 

 lowing the same line, Carl Hagenburger 

 stated that in the telegraph office at 

 Akron, O., were 465 orders on file, none 

 for less than $4, which had been tele- 

 graphed from that town by one retail 



firm between December 20 and Decem- 

 ber 30. 



These figures were, of course, for a 

 period covering one of the biggest 

 flower days in the year, Christmas, but 

 nevertheless they created some surprise. 

 Betail florists who have enjoyed similar 

 telegraph business as the result of their 

 advertising have known how large a 

 volume it added to their sales, and they 

 are pushing that branch of their service 

 more than ever in preparation for still 

 bigger business. And other retailers, 

 as they learn of the aggregate sums 

 that wire orders contribute to fellow 

 florists' incomes, are taking steps to de- 

 velop such trade for themselves. Con- 

 sequently, telegraph business has grown 

 by leaps and bounds during the last 

 autumn and winter and bids fair to 

 progress at the same rate during the 

 spring. 



aORLY'S FLOWEB CAIiENDAB. 



Persistently advocating the adoption 

 of a calendar of flowers, naming one for 

 each month of the year, Vincent J. 

 Gorly, of St. Louis, has revised some- 

 what the list he presented at the F. T. 

 D. meeting in Buffalo. To ascertain how 

 well such a list would satisfy the re- 

 quirements in various parts of the coun- 

 try, he sent out to 100 florists scattered 

 in all parts of the United States in- 

 quiries as to whether the flowers select- 

 ed would be available in the month set 

 in each one's locality. He received 

 sixty-five replies, which Mr. Gorly re- 

 gards as a good percentage. Of these, 

 ninety-five per cent could supply each 

 flower in its month as indicated. His 

 revised list is as follows: 



January Carnations 



February Violeta 



March Daffodils 



April Sweet peas 



May Lilies of the valley 



June Rosea 



July Larkspur 



August Gladioli 



September Asters 



October Dahlias 



November Chrysanthemums 



Ppcember Narcissi 



PROTECTIVE DECORATINO. 



Many occasions for the use of flowers 

 are of a kind that call forth the utmost 

 ingenuity to meet the particular re- 

 quirements with the resources immedi- 

 ately available. The perplexing ele- 

 ment that George Eye, of Fort Smith, 

 Ark., recently met in a church wedding 

 decoration was the fact that the Bap- 

 tist church, in which the wedding was 

 to take place, was at that time being 

 rebuilt, so that the pulpit was torn up 

 and the platform was in an unsightly 

 condition. His success in what may be 

 called protective decoration is shown 

 in the accompanying illustration. The 

 work was done with three cases of 

 smilax, palms and ferns. The flowers 

 used were yellow chrysanthemums. 

 While Mr. Rye made the guiding sug- 

 gestions, the actual work was done by 

 Mrs. Rye and the two clerks. 



A week later Mr. Rve had another 



