WORLD WAR II MACHINES
by Bill Howard
Pictured on the front cover is my collection of
what I believe are the finest and rarest of the World
War II coin-op machines: Ball Gum Bomber, 1939,
Erie Machine Co. of Cleveland, Civilian Defense,
1942, Atlas Games of Cleveland, Ohio, Hitler
Target, 1940, rebuilt kit from 1942, Runyon Sales of
Newark, N.J., Kill the Jap, 1943 Groetchen Tool
Co., Cannonball, 1940 Victor Vending Corp. of
Chicago, Spitfire, 1940 Scientific Machine Corp. of
Brooklyn. These adorn my office and are supervised
by the ever vigilant sailor who warns everyone on a
one of a kind poster to
"Keep
Your
Mouth
Clamped" because "Rats
May Be Listening," with
two rats in the background
with the faces of Hitler and
Tojo.
In order to understand
factors involving the rarity
and desired condition of
these machines, some historical perspective is nec-
essary. One of the proudest chapters of coin-op his-
tory is the important role that the industry played in
America's successful prosecution of the war effort.
The technological help the industry provided in the
development and manufacture of war equipment
was not forgotten by the top coin-op manufacturers
as they argued unsuccessfully to repeal the passage
of the Johnson Act legislation which sounded the
death knell to slot machines, trade stimulators and
other gambling devices in 1950. Many articles
found in the last volumes of Coin Machine Journal
voice the feelings of many of these manufacturers
that their patriotic assistance during the war was too
soon forgotten when the Johnson Act was intro-
duced.
But not all the efforts of the coin machine indus-
try during the war were motivated by patriotism and
sacrifice. In fact, many of the machines in this col-
lection evidence greed to profit in the name of patri-
otism and national sacrifice. Civilian Defense has
writing that suggests that you are contributing to
civilian defense by gambling to get war stamps. As
for Kill the Jap, the suggestion is that you are help-
ing to defeat Japan by pouring money into a
machine in an effort to poison Tojo with a pill. Keep
Em Bombing has you contributing to the Pacific
Front by pouring pennies into a gambling machine.
Poison this Rat was perhaps the most outrageous
because it actually confused pouring money into
this machine with buying war bonds.
As you can imagine, many of the purer of heart
watchdogs of American values yelled "foul," and
the War Profiteering Act was passed, declaring such
misleading machines illegal and calling for their
immediate confiscation to fight profiteering of our
nation's war effort.
Now, if we know anything about the coin
machine industry from its checkered past, we know
that it was a resilient group. Stockpiled with many
worthless and illegal machines they would have to
"eat," many manufacturers, jobbers and entrepre-
neurs of the mom and pop shops simply "legalized"
these offenders by painting over them. Without the
offensive and confusing profiteering language, these
machines again became usable on location. That is
why most of the World War II machines that have
survived have had the offending writing painted
over, and ones in all original condition are so hard to
find. Their price tags go up
accordingly.
Also, materials were
rationed during the war,
causing such machines to be
of less than desirable quality
of construction, again con-
tributing to the rarity of these
machines in good condition.
Poison This Rat should be
of tan paint with blue writing
on the left side that says:
4