September 2, 1931

Steinway & Sons factory is officially closed. Theodore Steinway takes more than a thousand workers off the payroll. Approximately 50 foremen remain at work in the factory, to complete the unfinished pianos. In the course of the next 23 months, several more workers get called back to the factory every now and then, on the “per diem” bases, when the company receives special orders for pianos. On such occasions some of the invited workers arrive to the factory driving taxicabs. Foremen’s wages are reduced by 30%; clerks’ wages, by 40%. Salaries of the company executives are cut by 60%, and their bonuses are cancelled. Theodore Steinway’s own salary is down to $15,000 per year (from $47,000 in 1928). (The factory will officially re-open only on August 7, 1933.)