Western Magazine Tells
More About Ileene
IS BACK to the ~un, h~hur M. Keene, Taft (California) editor-publisher-coinman-
world traveler, IS on his merry way around the world. And while he is in Asia,
en route to Paris and the 1937 Exposition, Westways, once little more than a house
organ for the Automobile Club of Southern California, now leader in the field of re-
counting Western history and legend and romance, has issued in its May number an
"expose" of Keene's town, and, incidental-
ly, brought him in for nice mention.
honest that doors can be left unlocked
Taft, as you probably don't know, is
and jolly Publisher Keene of the Midway
called "The Biggest Little City in the
Driller has pasted the combination on his
West" for it is . . . "sitting pretty, right
office safe for the burglars he is sure won't
on top of the California oil world." Farns-
be dropping in.
worth Crowder, author of the article, de-
"Taft has caught the wrestling bug and
scribes it like this:
the weekly card in the American Legion
"The rolling hills look like vast dumps
Arena out at the end of Center Street has
of wood ashes. Only the hardiest speci-
been going great guns. When Hugh Whis-
mens of sagebrush can get a living. The
ker Adams of the House of David is slated
chaparral wisely stays far away, back in
to tackle Mar-Allah-Sheik, and when it is
the mountains. So dry is it that the first
announced that a gentleman can bring his
settlers were glad to buy water by the
lady in free, the Midway Driller breaks out
quart hauled in by horse and wagon. Yet with a full sports page and the seat sale
beneath this desolation of gray shale are
booms at the West Side Drug Store and
reservoirs fabulously rich. A single school
the B. & B. Billiard Parlors ... "
district mapped out upon this drought-
Thus is recorded, in part, the history of
stricken suprface, where a herd of cattle
"The Biggest Little City in the West,"
would perish of thirst and starvation, has
which "could not possibly have come into
an assessed valuation of $52,000,000 . . .
existence before it did, which cannot, con-
Here common labor commands $5.80 a day.
ceivably, go on after all the oil beneath
it is exhausted. When the pools dry up,"
"This region's greatest legend concerns
the author prophesies, "Taft will become
not war nor politics nor love, but a hole
the biggest little ghost town in Califor-
in the ground. Men drilled it, a mile and
nia."
a half north of the fledgling settlement
Thus, too, is recorded another chapter
of Maricopa. On a March Monday night
in the life of a romantic figure, a coinman
in 1910, this hole exploded like a cannon
with a history far different from such a
bore, blowing gas and 18,000 barrels of
man as Charley Fey, for example, for their
oil into the air in twel)ty-four hours. Then,
purposes differed, but an important man
suddenly, on Tuesday night it changed its
from the standpoint of having done much
ammunition to rocks, sand and gas, blew
in developing the use of coin machines
the top out of the derrick and sent drillers
in one community, thus furthering the good
scurrying for their lives.
For a month
of the industry.
the blast did not abate. Oil rained for
miles around . . . "
The population of this Greater Taft is
now more than 10,000, Crowder writes in-
quiring, "Who are they? What do they
do?" Answering his own question, he
A. M. Keene is here shown with the famous
says, "First, of course, are the people tied
"1IIImbered" safe. In case you can't read it,
directly into oil production . . . people
the combhlation on the door is R-O;
concerned with distribution of the oil . . .
L-well, if you can't read it you'd better
then, of course, there is another side to
get glasses. Photograph and quoted part
the picture, the servicing not of wells, but
of article COP.11·ight 1937 by Automobile
of people; accordingly there must be gro-
Club of Southem Califomia.
cers, doctors, pi umbers, chiropractors and
school teachers . . . The newspaper is the
Daily Midway Driller. the weekly is the
Oilfields Dispatch; the golf club is the
Petroleum. There is a Standard Gasoline
Ladies' Guild."
Keene, you know by now, is publisher
of the Daily Midway Driller.
The story goes on: "With production
going continually and workmen driving to
and from the field at all hours, Taft tends
to be an all-night town. There is no such
thing as the carnival-like Saturday night,
characteristic of an agricultural community.
Or perhaps we should say that every night
is Saturday night to some considerable frac-
tion of the men who are having their
day off. (The five-day week is general.)
There are the old stand-by diversions of
pool, billiards, bars and easy ladies. Every-
thinl; considered, however, Taft is amaz-
ingly orderly, not because the Constable,
Sheriff and Chief of Police are a con-
spiracy against fun. They are not. But
the people themselves know pretty well
where to draw the line. The town is so
H
16
•
Keene Sends . . .
(from previous page)
REVIEW would be pleased to learn how you
like it.)
Said Keene, on his side of the disc:
"Hello, Paul Blackford. This is A. M.
Keene, your rambling reporter. I am talk-
ing to you from the Cathay Hotel in Shang-
hai, China. I am talking into a slot ma-
chine in which you put two-bits, the rec-
ord starts going and you get what you hear
right now. The record runs about 120
words and there's a little phonograph on
the side on which you can try it out after
you get all the way through. I was go-
ing to send you a story and a picture of
this, but my photographer can't get a good
view of it-it's too dark, but anyhow, you
can make a story out of this record if
you want to. Anyway, this is my story
and I'm stuck with it. Hi-de-ho. A. M.
Keene talking."
FOR FURTHER
news of Keene's trave ls and adventures and
findings anent the coin machine business,
watch the pages of subsequent issues of the
REVIEW. Unless his letters miss the mail
boat, you may expect to see something about
"Coin Machines 'Round the World" in each
issue during the duration of Keene's travels.
... And inasmuch as the REVIEW had gone
this far, it seemed only reasonable to make
the whole June number a "Travel Issue."
For further foreign news, look for the story
on operating in Hawaii in this issue, the
story on coin machines in French Indo-
China-both of them exclusive stories sent
to the REVIEw-the story of a coin chute in
a church in Italy. Next month you may
look for a story on operating and operating
conditions in Alaska.
lioHliehs Attend
Hy-G openin g _
MINNEAPOLIS. - Originally intending
only to pay his respects, it turned out that
Dave Gottlieb was the busiest man at the
recent opening of Hy-G Games Co.'s new,
enlarged quarters, taken as a result of a
constantly growing volume of business. The
new establishment, all reports indicate, is
one of the finest, most modern and best
equipped showrooms in the Northwest, if
not in the entire country, and the house-
warming was duly celebrated and attended
by throngs of well-wishers who kept com-
ing in all day long.
Gottlieb appeared early in the morning,
a smile on his face, intending to watch
Hy Greenstein, genial head of the firm,
welcome his guests.
For a while he
watched. Then operators began pressing
around him with questions as to when the
new game would be ready, a game called
Foto-Finish that they had been hearing
about. Greenstein continued to welcome
visitors but Dave had no more time to
watch, and though the smile remained, he
ended the day a weary man.
His first answer was to tell operators
more about the new equipment, a one-ball
payout with striking new features that will
make it as exciting as its name indicates.
His second answer was to wire the fac-
tory to "step on it" so that deliveries
could start quickly.
Even Greenstein managed to take suffi-
cient time off from his duties as host to
make certain that the new quarters would
be among the first to offer the new game
to the trade.
Accompanying the head of D. Gottlieb
and Co . to Minneapolis were Mrs. Gott-
lieb and brother Nate Gottlieb.