September, 1940
AUTOMATIC AGE
13
AUTOMATIC SHOTS!
by Frank C. Petrine
BETTER B USINESS FO R E C A S T
'T IS T H E S E T O F T H E SA IL
Present production schedules, shown by in
creasing payrolls right through the usual dog-
days of July and August, are a sure fire guaran
tee of continued better business. The contrariness
of the summer improvement will also be over
shadowed by the contradiction of the traditional
business lull in a presidential election. The forces
that make better business are so mighty that
nothing will be able to stop or retard their pro
duction of jobs and payrolls
Plans for defense spending and new plants
has barely begun to show their power. There will
be gobs of it soon. Secondary spending will then
follow . . . new housing, expansion of power com
pany facilities, railroad equipment replacement,
just to mention a few of the major links in the
chain that will be completed with consumer spend
ing of increased pay rolls.
■ To introduce “ Composer” Jim Mangan, Mills
Novelty Co. merchandising executive, is like in
troducing a happily married husband to his loving
wife and their children on their silver wedding
day! (No sly hint at Jim’s age intended!)
Mangan looks on the fabric of human relation
ship in terms of friendship. He interprets this
relation to his craft or business in the spirit of
live and help live. His song reflects this spirit.
“ We’re All Americans— All True Blue” released
August 30, 1940, Bluebird B-10840, is a warm
hand-shake for the entire coin machine industry.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, famous authoress and
poet, expressed in these revealing lines, why some
men, some organizations, and Americans, hold up
their heads a bit higher:
HOBBY
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An operator was telling his partner about his
hobby— pets. He said: “ I’ve got a rabbit that
was born, brought up, and never leaves our house
hold.”
“ He’s an ingrown hare,” replied the partner.
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ES K IM O S P O L K A
TO PH O N O
M U S IC
J. D. Leary, president, Automatic Sales Co.,
Minneapolis, sent the following interesting item
clipped from a local paper:
“ Don Leary, the phonograph specialist, yearly
joins a Canadian Railway tour up into the Arctic
regions of Hudson Bay. He forwards this tid-bit:
In every Eskimo hut or igloo up in the Hudson
Bay region, you’ll find portable phonographs, and
they’re as common as our radios. An item that
every Eskimo puts on his shopping list when he
comes to town is more records. The phonographs
are the old style wind-up affairs, and the records
are polkas and schottisches.”
When the Eskimos graduate to automatic
phonographs, Mr. Leary, we hope you’ll let us in
on it. Sounds like a new, wide open territory for
an operator who wouldn’t mind being sewed in
his underwear every winter.
SENSE O F H U M O R
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The day of the man without a sense of humor
is about over. As intelligence advances this
sense is recognized as an asset. Without it, a
man is not wanted in high places.
© International Arcade Museum
One ship drives east and another west,
W hile the self same breezes blow;
’Tis the set of the sail and not the gale
T h at bids them where they go.
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FA T H E R A N D S O N P IC T U R E
An especially welcome letter from George A.
Miller, hustling Rock-Ola distributor in Oakland,
Calif:
“ I was very pleased to find, on page 63 of your
August issue, a picture of my son. Please send
me five additional copies.
“ May I take this opportunity to thank you for
your courtesy which I appreciate not only from a
personal viewpoint but which will be of value to
me from an advertising standpoint.”
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P O P U LA R RECORDS
“ An average of six records get all the play,”
reports a large phonograph operator.
Does that mean the music fraternity is lagging
in its ability to sense the popular demand ? What
is restricting the supply of more song hits? Is
the dearth of hit music due to lack of competitive
enterprise among the music authors, composers,
and publishers? Has monopolistic consolidation
or control lulled the inspirational incentive to ex
cel? Is the fire to “ write the nation’s songs”
quenched by the dollar sign of protective, cooper
ative profits? Are new authors and composers
check-mated outside the gates of limbo, posted
“ Private Reservation— For Members Only” ?
The automatic phonograph manufacturers have
consistently shown their progressiveness. Their
http://www.arcade-museum.com/