Teller, and a very nice looking Cleveland Grandma.
Also squeezed in was a Headless Magician automaton,
various beautiful cast iron gambling machines, a Mills
Roulette, and a Mills Cricket. His beautiful vending
machines rounded out the exhibit.
Mel Getlan, who has been collecting for 30+ years
and his lovely wife Anne opened their home to their
large eclectic collection of rare arcade, gambling, and
vending machines, including a mint condition Cleve-
land Grandma, Caille Postcard Vender, and many
more. His wonderful collection of gambling machines
includes many rare cast iron payout and trade stimula-
tors. The total quantity and quality is awesome. Also on
display is a Seebeurg G orchestrion, and a marvelous
1904 St. Louis World Fair collection. Anne displays her
exceptional advertising die-cut collection as well.
The bus tour of the Morris Museum in
Morristown, NJ was an exciting bonus.
Mr. Guiness, who inherited a fortune from the Gui-
ness Beer Company, had a number of extremely rare
musical instruments and clockwork mechanism autom-
aton's. We were guided by professional staff through
the exhibit and had additional time on our own to ex-
plore. We enjoyed a Mexican food lunch that was won-
derful. The museum, talk about an unusual assortment
of stuff, featured huge rooms filled with art, prehistoric
rocks, wild life and stuffed animals. One room had its
walls covered with Black memorabilia, six-foot posters
depicting boxers, sport hero actors, and advertising.
The trip to the Empire State Building and viewing
New York on September 11th, albeit seven years after
2001, was poignant - especially as we gazed upon the
area where the World Trade Center once was.
Many of us went to a Broadway show - Gypsy - a
very well made musical of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. It
was polished and had strong performances. While the
seats were small and thisclosetogether, we managed to
sit through the musical and not pass too much gas - if
you know what I mean. It's truly unbelievable how
many Broadway shows there are in New York City.
The World Yacht Cruise boat ride from 42nd Street
on the Hudson River around lower Manhattan and back
was the icing on the top of a great weekend. The view
of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge was spectacu-
lar, the dinner, desserts overwhelming, and the dance
floor crowded. There is nothing like watching a band
of semi-drunk coin-op Fred Astaire's and Ginger Rog-
ers shaking their shoes on the dance floor. It will be
hard to be completely serious with some of them in fu-
ture transactions. Near the end of the cruise, we came
up close to The Statue of Liberty, which made all our
eyes tear.
All in all, the New Yorkers did a superb job in a city
where the margin of error is so very tight. It would be
hard to imagine a New York C.O.C.A. adventure in the
land of the Big Apple that could have gone any smooth-
er. Congrats to Eddie, Ken, Kathryn, Bob, Mel , Anne
and everyone else who made this trip quite memorable.