Music Men Acclaim
Music Mint Boxes
" Ch ick" Roberts, Wo lf Sales; " Mike" Hamm ergren, Wurlitzer general salesmanager; W olf
Riewitz, W olf Sales president; and Spence Reese, Wurlitzer's assistant general salesmanager,
P.nioyed a pleasant get-to gether when the two " brass hats" dropped out of the Denver air for
a quick conference with the W olf officials.
CO IN
M AC H INE
REVIEW
50
FOR
A PR IL
1941
Schewe Novelty Company, headed by Elmer
Schewe, and operated on Natural Bridge
Avenue in North St. Louis. Elmer is speci-
alizing in phonograph rentals, surprisingly
one of his most profitable fields. Mrs.
Schewe is at his should er, selling records,
and generally handlin g "office business"
while Elmer. conducts a good-sized route
through the same district. R entals must be
"sold" ; not waited for, Elmer believes, and
his record shows a machine in use in this
field every 36 hours at an average.
In the pinball field, the news centered
around a humorous incident which occurred
in the halls of Arrow Novelty Company,
Barney Frericks' contribution to the
amusement machine distributing business.
Barn ey, who is a firm beli ever in modernity
in office equipment, recently bought a tear-
gas safe-one of the advanced models which
contain hidden cylinders of tear gas which
release the moment th e lo ck or th e door of
the safe is forcibly tampered with. This
was set up in the rear of hi s office, and
on the second night of its placement, police
called Barney to ask him to shut off th e
safe. Arriving hurri edly at hi s office, Fre-
ricks found that the safe had been cracked
by burglars who entered through the roof,
then feverishly broke glass in doors and
windows in the attempt to get out after the
white gas came rolling out. There was
nothing in the safe but an old envelope, and
one pre-cancelled stamp, laughs Barney.
Accordingly a couple of very di sgruntled
yeggs are resting their eyes somewhere in
St. Louis.
Counter games are selling at possibly
th eir highest peak since 1930, according to
Olive Novelty Company, leadin g distribu-
tors of counter games in this territory. Al
Han eklau and Ben Axelrod, popular man-
agers of th e firm, are convinced that coun-
ter games will have a long life und er their
present widespread popularity.
The Missouri Amusement Machine Op-
erators Association met at Hotel Melbourne
in mid-month, and discussed several recent
legal developments in th e territory of St.
Louis and western Illinois, where new in-
junctions and ordinances are so metim es
making it difficult for th e operator to know
which machin e is permissible at which
location. It was pointed out by th e officers
of the group that play in western Illinois
has outstripped that in St. Louis for pos-
sibly the first tim e in ten years-the r esult
of national defense fund s flowing into the
industries of Alton and East St. Louis,
where hu ge cartridge plants and aluminum
ore industri es are employin g many thou-
sands of men.
Most important topic under discussion
was th e fact that the ordinance closing tav-
erns and bars in St. Louis proper at 12 :00
o'clock on Saturday night, and 1 :30 o'clock
on week nights, has been finally made a
law. Operators are complainin g that this
cuts the in come of every typ e of machin e
tremendously, and worse yet, is sen ding the
type of customer who likes to see his eve-
nings extend many hours past midnight to
East St. Louis, just across t he river. As
has been mentioned before in this column,
a large percentage of the nickels in every
machine in tavern locations comes in fol-
lowing 11 o'clock each evenin g.
Star Novelty Co mpany has purchased a
firetruck red pickup truck, and Lee Turner
bought himself a new sedan before leavin g
on his trip to California.
Harry Walsh is another operator who is
regretfully selling his equipm ent, and
brushing up on military drill- third to be
drafted in th e selective service act in the
past two months.
♦
Silver Skates Sales,
Output Upped
CHICAGO-Said to be meeting with
record-breaking success on location and
out-earning anything recent in the novelty
line, Baily's Silver Skates' production was
vfrtually doubled during the closing weeks
of March, according to report of Bally
Mfg. Co.'s general salesmana ger George
J enkins.
Of the novelty-replay game, he said:
"Repeat orders are pouring in faster and
faster. We have been operating a day and
night shfft for several weeks and now are
compelled to make further arrangements
to step up Silver Skates production.
Operators who have been picketing dis-
tributors' hea dquarters, tryin g to get
games, will be glad to know that our
nea rly-doubled output will soon permit
ca tching up."
♦
Moloney , Moor e
Paint the Town
LOS ANGELES- Back from a three
week visit in Honolulu Ray Moloney, presi-
dent of Bally Mfg. Co., was met at the dock
at San P edro April 9th by Mr. and Mrs.
Paul Laymon, Los Angeles Bally represen-
tatives, and Jack R. Moore, who fl ew South
from Portland to be on hand.
The Laymons took a dvantage ·of th e op-
portunity to the fullest and showed the two
men the high spots of Los Angeles ni ght
life and what real Western Hospitality
♦
means.
LOS ANGELES-According to officials
of th e Music Mint Corporation, distributors
of th e Music Mint Wall and Bar Boxes,
operators from coast-to-coast have placed
heavy orders for immediate delivery as a
result of the full page ad in color which
appeared on th e back page of the March
REVIEW.
"We received sizable orders from almost
every part of the country," declared Gordon
K. Woodard, president of the firm, "and
those who have already received th eir ship-
me nts and placed the Boxes on location are
loud in th eir praises of the money-making
capabilities of the Music Mint Boxes."
As a result of the fine business the firm
is enjoying th e actual manufacturing of
the Boxes has been turned over to Phono-
Tel, Inc., and the Woodard organization,
now operating under the name of Music
Mint Corporation, will handle the national
sales on the product.
Phono-Tel, In c., is a pioneer W est Coast
manufacturer of a utomatic music equip-
ment and their large and well-equipped
factory is now turnin g out dozens of Boxes
daily.
Offices of the Music Mint Corporation
are now located at 3260 Pico Boulevard. ♦
Metermovies In
New Expansion
LOS ANGELES-Metermovies have beea
given the "go signal" by distributors and
operators in all sections of the United
States and in th e Territories, manufactur-
ing officials of Metermovies, In c., have in-
formed the REVIEW, and the large program
of expansion recently outlined in this pub-
lication is not only underway but has out-
grown greatest expectations. Increasing
orders an d the closing of new and impor-
tant distributing franchises has necessitated
revision of the earlier enlargement sched-
ule, Don H eyer, General Manager of Meter-
movies, said. Shipments are now leaving the
plant for all points and are limited only by
the capacity of the rapidly-extending assem-
bly line, and bookings on sh ips to the
Pacific Islands not reserved for defense
orders have been made by the company.
The increasing effects of defense activi-
ties and a growing optimism on the part
of both the public and th e coin machine
i'ndustry, it was reported by advertising
manager Hugh Lacy, have accelerated the
demands for Metermovie entertainment.
" We are receiving hurry-up calls from own-
ers of hotels, cocktail parlors and other lo-
cations extending from Nome, Alaska, to
Havana, Cuba," Lacy said, "with special
emphasis from the centers of defense ac-
tivity, all asking for placements of ma-
chines. The requests are bei ng turned over
to our distributors and operators for ful-
fillment in turn. We are in a position to
feel the effects of a very pronounced new
prosperity trend, and Metermovies are al-
ready riding th e crest."
A prolific output of films has combined
to speed the growin g Metermovie momen-
tum, the company reported, with a numb er
of producing concerns operating under
heavy production schedules, and with a list
of special Metermovie subj ects already
available and awai tin g release dates that
extend far into the futur e.
♦
*
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A style expert is one who can make
a woman feel mod est wh en she doesn't
look it.
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