KANSAS CITY
- -- -- - - C o vered By - - - -- - -
B. K. ANDERSON
82
COIN
M ACHINE
REVIEW
KANSAS CITY, MO. (RC) - This city's
Coin Machine Row has lost one of its old-
est and most important memb ers. But in
doing so it has gain ed one of the outstand-
ing coin machine showrooms and centers
of the entire country.
Actually the story is a testimonial to the
Am erican Way of Life. Five years ago, in
1935, two ambitious young men who had
been operatin g sin ce 1930 decid ed to set up
a partnership operating and distributing
business. They called their new venture
Th e Central Distributing Co.
Previous to th e day they opened the
doors of th eir modest new quarters, another
local distributor ha d been taking their calls
over his phone. He charged them half of
the phone bill for this service. They kn ew
th ey would need a little capital for th eir
new venture, so they managed to scrape up
$1500 each.
Figuring outfitting the quarters and th e
purchase of equipment- and theirs was the
most expensive, because they were almost
exclusively automatic phonograph opera -
tors-the "three grand" didn't go very far.
However, they worked it around and be-
came Wurlitzer Dealers and set themselves
on a very rigid budget. Each week th ey
would buy two new phonographs and pay
for th em C.O.D. Very seldom did they sell
on e of th ese machines, so th at meant th at
they had to go out and put th em on loca-
tion. It was Finley Mason and Tim Crum-
mett's way of making sure their business
would grow.
But the boys kept to their two-a-week
schedule, and, according to Finley Mason,
would probably still be at it had not a far-
sighted representative of the manufacturer
become impressed with their record and
offered to send them a carload of machin es
to be carried on "open account".
When thi s company official said a carload
th e boys thought that he must mean at
least 20 or even 25. They scratched th eir
heads and got down to fi guring how th ey
were going to get th em out. It would take
some do ing. Then began their expand ed
loca tion program and their first actual hard
selling s pree.
They r eally began preparin g the way and
one day the awaited word came from the
local freight office; their carload was in.
When th e fr eight was paid very little money
remain ed in the till, but there was enough
for two packs of as pirin. A carlo ad in
those days was 60 phono gra phs.
Somehow or other th ey got them out.
They had to ; there wasn't room in their
small office for th em. But that was the be-
ginnin g of th e new Central Distributin g Co.
Five tim es in fi ve years they have been
forced to ex pand th eir quarters. They have
in tha t same time seen a $3,000 busin ess
grow to a more than $100,000 enterprise.
And so this is why Kansas City's Coin
Machine Row is about to lose one of its
most illustrious names. Central , due to need
for more s pace and a more advantageous
location, has moved to new headquarters on
Grand Avenue at 23rd St.
They have set up a type of busin ess
which this city has never seen before. For
two weeks P aul Fuller, Wurlitzer Designer,
helped lay out the floor plan, fi gure the
decorations, and color combinations. A
Chicago firm s pecializing in window dis-
plays was contacted and th e new window
background alon e was secured at a cost
of $1,500.
Mason and Crummett snule about th e
cost of this temporary window background
now. In 1935, it would have required half
their ca pital.
Th e quarters they now occupy was for-
merly one of Kansas City's lea ding auto-
mobi le salons. It is large, with immense
pl ate glass windows, and has more outsid e
show space than was ever used by a dis-
tributor in this area. No expense has been
spared to set th e new phonos off to th e
public's gaze against a quality background,
a measure carefully gauged to gain for the
phonographs new prestige through this di s-
trict.
Ins id e th e building is comprised of show-
rooms, conference rooms, parts department,
record· department, and service departm ent.
MAKE YOUR TRIP PAY DIVIDENDS
Visit Monareh's Showrooms
ONE BALL AUTOMATIC PAYOUTS
Gran d N ational ............. $
Grand National comb.
Cas h & T icket...
Grandst and
Fairgro und
Aksarbe n
Mills 1-2·3 .
92, 50
99.50
77,50
25.00
29 .50
39.50
T histl edown . .................... $ 57. 50
H aw thorne ...........
57.50
Gold Medal ......
54.50
Santa Anita ..............
125.00
Keeney Pot Shot .
39.50
59. 50
Stop per Upper
B ally St abl es .
27. 50
Seabiscuit .......................... $
Home Stretch .
Hey Day ..
Feed Bag
Prea kness
Fl as her ......
Foto Finish
57,50
69.50
39.50
39.50
17 .50
34 .50
14.50
AUTOMATIC PAYOUT CONSOLES
Mills Jumbo Parade ..... $
Mills Souare Bell ............
Bally Roya l Flush ..........
Pace Saratoga '40 Sc pl .
P ace Saratoga I 0c pl.....
African Gol f 7 coin head
94.50
69.5n
89.50
89.50
79.50
89. 50
Keeney Pastime ................ $139.50
"
Super T rack T ime 139.50
1938
"
"
82.50
Kent ucky Clu b .
49.50
Mills Ri o
17.50
39.50
Exhibit L ong Ch am p....
Baker Pacer Jackpot. ...... $175.00
Jenn in gs Mu lt Racer...
49.50
49.50
Jenn i ngs Cubes ..........
Bally Saddle Clu b...
34 .50
Bally T easer ..................
17.50
Jenn . Fl as hing Th ru ...
39.50
Wire, Phone or Ca/I for List of New Games at Closeout Prices
Terms : 1/ 3 Deposit-Balance Sight Draft or C.O.D .
MONARCH COIN MACHINE CO.
1545 North Fairfield Ave.
Phone Armitage 1434
Chicago, Illinois
It was plann ed not only to have eye a ppeal,
but to afford quick, well-rounded, eco-
nomical service.
Five hundred invitations to Central's
Grand Opening Open House were extend ed
to local operators and fri ends. Newspapers
gave th e event good notices, and between
600 and 700 guests attended January 5th
and 6th. Th ere were favors for the ladi es,
food, and r efreshments fo r everyone.
Th e new building gives Central fiv e
tim es as much space as their old location
affo rded. And according to F inley Mason,
" That's what we think the coin machine
business in this area is going to be like
in 1941 !"
* * *
CHRISTMAS NOTES: Central Distribut-
ing Co. employees celebrate another big
Christmas bonus. Carl Hoelzel and Earl
Witschn er made a flyin g pre-show trip to
Chicago. Hobbies, Inc. celebrated the holi-
days with a now 100% of Kansas City pin
ball table operator memb ership.
Earl Witschn er, Executive Secretary of
the Association, who gave up a profitable
route of 50 marbl e tables to devote his full
ti me to the des tinies of Hobbies, Inc., and
did so at th e request of the other operator
members, says, " 1941 will be twice as good
as eith er '38 or '39. This past year we all
had to learn to cooperate instea d of com-
pete. In the very beginnin g it was very
difficult. Now it is much easier.
" Every operator of R e-Play tabl es in
Kansas City now belongs to our associatfon.
Every one of the machines is now marked
with th e metal di sc which is our insignia.
It means that there can be no pushin g of
lo cations, no fluctuation of the commission,
and no operation that is not approved by
the association."
Local operators of phonogra phs also were
not slow to notice th e help an association
can be to operators. There is now talk of
forming a separate association for phono-
graph operators. They point out that the
fact that Hobbies, Inc., was abl e to obtain
a lowering of the city individual phono-
graph license fee, and this is reason enough
in itself. Wh ere formerly this fee graded
up according to Sc, 10c, and 25c coin
chutes, it has now been reduced to a uni-
form $5 per year for all machines. This
aid alone cuts th e phono ops' annual license
'
cost in half.
But what these operators want most, at
present, is th e re-establishment in all loca-
tions of the minimum $3.50 front money.
It is believed that this factor alone could
practically take all the gamble out of their
business. Although there is a lot of talk
along this line, nothing definite has been
done as yet. It is expected that shortly fol-
lowin g the Show in Chicago, some positive
a ction may develop.
•
Which brings up th e largest topic of con-
versation in thi s section right now. Almost
without exception local operators and dis-
tributors swear that this tim e wh en they
go to th e Coin Machine Show in Chi cago
they are going to attend strictly to busi-
ness. None of this foolin g around and
spending most of the time in a closed room
somewh ere in conference. Th ey' re going to
get around and see th e machines and find
out what's what.
Yeah! That's wha t th ey said last year,
~-
.
·•
.
♦
Junior Partner, to pretty stenographer :
"Are you doing anything on Sunday eve-
nin g, Miss Eggert ?"
Stenogra pher, hopefully: " No, not a
thing."
"Th en try to be at the office earlier on
Monday mornin g, will you ?"
•
https://elibrary.arcade-museum.com