BEABT OF AMEBICA
1940 PICTURE DIFFERS . . . BOOM PERIOD BE-
LIEVED AHEAD . . . HOELZEL GETS WIDE PUB·
LICITY ON SHOWING . . . CRUMMETT SPORTS
FLORIDA TAN .... OPS LICK ORDINANCE IN
COLUMBUS, KANS.
By B. K. Anderson
46
KANSAS CITY Mo. (RC)-It is now
(the middle of March) that the Missouri
Valley coin machine operator's year really
begins. After the holiday rush and Chicago
Show are out of the way, January and Feb-
ruary usually offer little in the way of
expansion or no teworthy news. But it is
between the 15th of March and the 1st of
April that operators really begin to get
busy.
A qu ick survey of what the coin ma-
chine 1940 year looks like shows a much
different picture than at this time last
year. For example:
At Hamilton Enterprises a re·organiza-
tion is under way. "Doc" Hamilton, prob-
ably one of the best known members of
the industry in this locality, has again
been forced by ill health to give up busi-
ness interests. He and his family have
moved to Richmond, Missouri, where he
is again under doctor's care.
The names, Western Distributing Com-
pany and Great :'tates Manufacturing Com-
pany no longer appear on the active list,
a l though the owners of each indicate that
they do not intend to permanently desert
coin machine ranks.
Johnnie Johns, manager of the Cigarette
Service Company has been away from
Kansas City for several months. Business
down Texas way is voiced as the cause and
Rus ell Thomas is taking his place as
Cigarette Service's manager.
Before leaving Kansas City, Johnnie
sold his automatic music busine s to one
of Kansas City, Kan as' oldest operating
firms, Higgins and McCarthy, which com-
pany now looms as a major contender for
automatic music leadership on the west
bank of the Kaw.
At Peerless all of the smaller items that
thi company was manufacturing and mar-
keting, not so many months back, have
been replaced by thi firm's new line of
beverage and dairy product vendors. 1. A.
Mergen, Peerless' sales manager, says,
"Soft drink bottlers and dairies have dis-
covered the advantages of automatic mer-
chandising and we've had our hands full
in recent weeks keeping up with their de-
mands."
C O IN
MACHINE
REVI EW
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PAUL A. LAYMON
Distributor and Jobber of Quality Coin Operated Machines
1503 w. PI co STREET
LOS ANGELES. CALIF.
At both Central Distributing Company
and the Uni ted Amusement Company,
larger equipment is getting all the show,
with automatic music definitely the big
leader. Remote control target units are in
second place and similar equipment fol·
lows in line.
Harry Brown, a leading Kansas music
operator, admitted to this correspondent
recently that purchases, which he was
making at the time, were in anticipation
of increased 1940 music profits on his Sun-
flower State locations. He said, "As usual,
January and February have been slow. A
lot of this can be traced to the fact that
men wbo work on the outside, such as
builder, haven't been drawing their regu-
lar checks because the weather has been
so bad they couldn't work. But now that
the ice and snow are melting off, machines
are getting a better play and all indications
are tbat we'll do better this year than last.
It all comes down to the fact that our ma-
chines have been out long enough now that
people are getting in tbe habit of playing
them. Not so long back it was more the
novelty of the thing and they were occa-
sional customers. Now tbey're regulars.
So, we expect a banner year."
One of the mo t widely publicized coin
events ever to take place in this vicinity
was the United Amusement Company's
Open House Showing of the 1940 Rock-
Olas. Manager Carl Hoelzel estimates that
almost 500 operators attended. The pro·
gram consisted of refreshments, entertain·
ment, and discussion of the new models by
factory representatives.
Headlining the entertainment was Rock·
Ola's Strike·Un·the·Band Majorette. City·
wide attention was attracted to automatic
mu ic by newspaper pictures and stories
which described the girl as "Chicago's
prettiest model" and showed her conduct·
ing orchestra in Kansa City's leading
hotels.
According to Carl, this special show was
more than a success in that all 1940 model
Rock-Olas, which he has been able to have
shipped into Kansas City to date, have not
spent the night in his building in that
they were already ordered by operators for
immediate delivery. United has also con·
tinued its face lifting program and with
the completion of the new offices and stock
rooms presents a very modernistic and
attractive appearance.
Finley Mason at Central Distributing
Company announces the largest single sale
of automatic music boxes on the 1940
records of this vicinitv: 100 new Wur-
litzers to tbe Consolidated Amusement
Service Company of Kansas City. The sale
was for immediate dfOlivery and according
to Mason is an example of what operators
of music are an ti cipating in the coming
months.
"Business on new models has been very
good. Opera tors, in the pa t few months,
have shown a strong tendency to buy in
larger lots, which has always been the
forerunner of a boom season. When they
anticipate their market, as they are now
MAC MOHR SAYS:
Coming Soon!
Exhibit's
Baseball Came
The peer of all baseball games.
SEE YOUR JOBBER