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COIN
MACHINE
R.EVIEW
50
FOR.
JULY
1941
ST. LOUIS-June was a highly sati's-
factory month to most members of the
Associated Phonograph Owners of St.
Louis. With cool weather, increased night
activi ty, and two large conventions in the
city, business was much ahead of June of
last year.
The Associa ted Pho nog r a ph O wn e r s
of St. Louis met at Hotel Melbourn e Jun e
20, to discuss legislative action of the past
few months, and to make plans for the
annual summer outing of the gro up, which
will probably be held at an amusement
park ou tside of the city. J ohn La Ba n ,
AMI president, and head of th e associa-
tion , presided over the meeting, which had
a large turnout for the average summer
meeting. On the docket were the legislative
discussion, welcoming of new members,
and an outline of service rates and plans
for the remaining months of the summer.
Flowers and sympathies were sent by the
Association to H a rry Siegel, Acme Nov-
elty Co. Phonograph owner, who was
rushed to a St. Louis ' hospital recently
when a stomach attack placed him hors de
combat for several weeks.
A group of phonograph operators from
Memphis, Tennessee, headed by Earl T.
Montgom e r y, were visitors in St. Louis
during the early weeks of J une. T he group,
wh ich represents some of Memphis' largest
distributing houses and operators, visi ted
wi th all St. Louis distrihutors, and spent
several days looking over the city. Several
of the visiting boys were quite surprised
to find that St. Louis has few wired-music
installations, stating that the Tennessee
metropoli s is now completely equipped
with this modern form of musi'c merchan-
dising.
The condolences and regrets of both the
Associated Phonograph Owners of St.
Louis, and the Missouri Amusement Ma-
chine Association, were extended to AI
Hane kl a u , presiden t of th e Olive Novelty
Co., upon the death of his wife in late
June. Mrs. Haneklau, who had been of
much assistance in building up Olive Nov-
elty to its present supremacy in the coin
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Stanley Turner , Service Instructor for Packard
Manufacturing Corp. , makes his headquarters
at the Hollywood office at 1025 Noth High-
lanel Avenue.
machine field, had been very active in coin
machine circles, and her death came as a
severe shock to all of her friends.
E d F ish e r , executive secretary of the
Local Phonograph Association, spent the
later weeks of June on survey work over
the entire territory served by St. Louis
distributors.
Joh n La Ba n and Whitey LemkuhI,
popular phonograph operators, were memo
bers of a goodwill group which recently
covered Middlewestern cities on an "ex·
change of greetings" tour of coin machine
centers. This policy is rapidly growing up
as a means of equalizing distribution of
coin equipment, and knowledge among all
members of the industry.
F r ed P ollnow, whose Automatic Phono·
graph Co. and Central Novelty Co. are
now keeping him busy in both fields, is
taking a vaca tion trip to Michigan for a
fishing and hunting sojourn.
A new DeSoto sedan, of fire-engine red,
will hel p' Earl Bowma n , new phonograph
salesmanager at Ideal Novelty Co., to en·
joy his summer vacation tri p. Earl is one
of a dozen men in the phonograph field
who purchased a new automobile recently.
"Better buy a car now whi le they're still
making them," Earl says.
Ideal Novelty Co. was host to members
of the Grotto Association when members
of that association visited St. Louis in late
June. Carl's 94 coin machi nes on display
in the large lobby of the building, received
one of their heaviest tests as the visiting
association responded to the invitation to
try them out.
H a rry Silverberg, W. B. Novelty Co.'s
phonograph salesmanager, is highly pleased
with interest in the Seeburg P honograph.
W. B. Novelty is breaking all records for
the number of sales to date, according to
Bill Be t z, and Martin Balensie f er , co-
pa rtner in the organization.
In the amusement machine field, l1)any
troublesome problems of the past ' few
mon ths have been gradually dissolved to
the poin t that all operators are breathing
much more easily, and looking forward to
a better summer season than has 'beeh ex- ·
perienced for several years. For example,
a test case brought by Ideal Novelty Co.
in southern Missouri to establish the legal-
ity of pinball machines wen t through wi th
flyi ng colors-and henceforth, th e associa·
tion has a precedent, stating that free plays
are not "gambling rewards" to use as an
arm for establishing any machine in any
location.
Among St. Louis amusement machine
distributors which are moving or remodel-
ing is Royal Novelty Co., which has added
more space for a showroom, and built up
a new service department to twice the for-
mer size.
A new one and a half ton stake truck
for delivery of coin machines was pur-
chased by Ideal Novelty Co. in June. Ac-
cording to Leo WichIan, floor sales man·
ager, increased demand for machines of
types has made it imperative that the com-
pany be able to "deliver at speed limit"
a t all times.
St. Louis "chain store distributors," the
W. B. Novelty Co., has been in the lime-
light much of late. W illia m Betz, presi·
dent of the firm, has just returned from a
b usiness trip to W. B.'s two new stores in
Kansas City, Missouri, and Wichita, Kan-
sas. Built as nearly alike as possible, the
three stores all feature pinball machines
as well as Seeburg phonographs.
Members of the Missouri Amusem e nt
Machine Associa tion, in meeting at Hotel
Melbourne during June, officially closed
the membersh ip drive which has been run·
ning for the past three months. A dozen
new members were the result, according to
Lou Morris, president of the group. Leo
Lane, and T o dd Barutio, veteran amuse-
ment machine operators, were the latest
to' join the associ'ation. The association is
jubilant over success of several test suits
on pi nball, and finds the sky comparatively
clear for operation of all types in the
fu ture. The annual all-day summer picnic
outing will probably be held in August.
Last year over four hundred people turned
out for the picnic.
A new mechani'c made his appear-
ance at the Davies Novelty Co., in June,
when J a m es Sh ee ts, weir known veteran
service mechanic, joined the staff.
A lot of kidding has gone the way of
Ab e J effer s of J-G-L Sales Co., cigarette
vending organization, since Abe took his
doctor's advice, and went on a diet in
January. Since that time, Abe has lost more
than forty pounds, and has slimmed down
to the point that he is "enveloped" rather
than "dressed" in his clothes. "I feel a
lot healthier, however," Abe says.
Two operators with an interesting side-
line are Be rna rd and Basil Me il, phono-
graph operators, who also own a stable of
racing horses, and spend considerable time
at Fairmo unt Park, E. St. Louis, Illinois.
A surprise announcement was that of
the marriage of Bill Singer, Royal Nov·
elty Co.'s vice-president, who was married
in J une and left immediately for a honey-
moon in the Smokey Mountains in Ten-
nessee. Another member of the Royal's
staff, Bob Shawcross, is planning a long
automobile tour throl.lgh fourteen states
for his vacation.
The Peerless Vending Machine Co.,
largest vending machine organization in St.
Louis, will lose Phil Va nderhack, servo
iceman and salesman, when the latter takes
an extended fishing trip through the lake
of the Ozarks during J uly. He will leave
. as soon as Lo u Rivituso , also a salesman,
returns from his own vacation in the south-
ern part of the state.
Robert Latimer. •
The Ink Spots . . . only on
DEC C A ·
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