Lyman Seeks
"Feedbox Freddie"
LOS ANGELES-Mysterious Moe, the
Little Man Who Wasn't There, Yehudi and
now-Feedbox Freddie! Who is he? What
is he? Why is he? Abe Lyman, orchestra
leader now at the Palladium with his band,
knows two of the answers and is trying _
to find the other. Coin machine men are
going to be interested in Freddie because
he's a great fan of the industry.
Who he is no one knows so Lyman is
staging a "Feedbox Freddie" con test to find
him. What is he? He's the slangingest,
swingingest, swackiest guy in town. May·
be he can't think rapidly, but his feet are
tornadoes. Ten years from now he may
be a serious·minded, brilliant bank presi·
dent, but now it's his clothes that are
bright. However, Freddie is extra smart
about one thing . . . he knows that all he
has to do to hear his favorite swing num·
bers is to put his nickels in musk mao
chines because they're ready to serve him
day and night with wacky, fast swing num·
bers, just as they serve his parents with
the slower· paced melodies they enjoy.
Why is he? No one knows but the
Charleston and Black Bottom eras had
their stars and Freddie, when he is found,
will be the American Boy of Swing. In·
cidentally, the number composed to present
Freddie in music, is already popular and
music machines are bringing the tune
"Feedbox Freddie" to the ears of Lyman
fans .
"Freddie's" picture, when he is found,
will be placed upon the Palladium walls
with other celebri ties. Prospective con·
tenders can discover if they possess the
necessary contestant requirements by play·
ing "Feed box Freddie."
While Abe Lyman is getting a lot of
fun out of his co ntest, he is also serious
about the importance of coin machines in
the music profession. To show his good·
will to operators of the coin machine in·
dustry, he plans to invite them to the Pal·
ladium as cocktail party gues ts, at a date
to be announced later.
•
Bechel Performs
Record Miracle
NEW YORK- Stokowski . . . Goodman
. . . Toscaninni . . . Whiteman . . . they
could all direct a six.piece band-but they
couldn't be it! That's where Sidney Bechet
is different . . He is-a six-piece band!
Bechet has just made musical history. in
Wurlitzer Offers Complete Ad
-Sel-Up for Music MerchDDt~
pany offered a cO'mplete series of twelve
newspaper ad mats designed to assist in
(a) lining up new locations, (b) bring-
ing in patrons to these locations.
Four of these ads are aimed di-
rectly to get new locations for the
Music Merchant.
Another four are signed by the in-
dividual locations and are designed
to bring in patrons and stimulate
play on the phonograph.
The third series are larger ads
signed cooperatively by groups of
locations having Wurlitzers and pro-
mote Wurlitzer music and its con-
tribution to a good time when visit-
ing these spots.
The broadside carries a return
card wherein the Music Merchant
specifies which mats he desires. No
charge is made for this promotional
service.
Tried out last year, it proved so
successful that it is being offered
this year on a larger scale, has al-
ready scored defini te results for
24 OF THE LATEST RECORDS
Music Merchants quick to take ad-
. vantage of it.
•
BY AMERICA'S BEST DANCE BANDS
NORTH TONAWANDA - In a recent
broadside mailing to all Wurlitzer Music
Me~ch an ts, the Rudolph Wurlitzer Com-
The latest hits, sw eet or sw ing by fam ed bands-we've
g ot them on our Wurlit zer. Come in and hear them,
sing to the m, d ance to them while e njoying tasty
refreshments.
(LOCATION NAME
AND ADDRESS)
the phonograph world by recording "The
Blues of Bechet" and "The Shiek of Ara-
by" with six instruments, everyone played
by himself, yet the numbers presenting a
harmonized orchestration of all instruments
playing at the same time. Tenor sax, string
bass, drums, piano, clarinet and soprano
sax are the instruments. The musician-
composer, who has had practically no for-
mal musical training is negro genius Sidney
Bechet. The idea of the whole thing be-
longs to John D. Reid of Cincinnati who
cond ucted the first experiment with Bechet
and his band on a home recorder.
The apparent magic is really "dubbing."
Sidney played first the tenor sax part of
"The Shiek of Araby". At the conclusion
of the recording, Fred Maisch, engineer ill
D. H. Osborn, with
foot on bumper, puts
his name on the aot-
tea line for one thou-
sana Pla-Mor Selec-
tors to be shippea as
fast as possible. Oth-
ers in the picture are
Frea Rochtreet, serv-
iceman for Osborn ;
W . E. Simmons , Pack-
ora Re gional Man -
ager ana Clive
Ketchersia ana Hugh
Keenan. ser v icemen.
•
One of 12 newspaper mats being
suppliea Music Merchants by Wurlit-
zero With smart art in eviaence on
each of the 12, operat ors will fina
these mats worth using in local publi-
cations to boost the play on automatic
phonographs.
charge of the control boards at the RCA·
Victor recording studios, played it back
and Bechet, with earphones on, played the
string bass part in unison with the recorded
tenor sax part to which he was listening.
This sys tem was repeated for all instru-
ments until the final record contained a
six-piece band version of "The Shiek." The
method was repeated for a four-instrument
presentation of "Blues of Bechet."
When the last note had been played, the
controls turned off and the final playback
ended, Bechet mopped his perspiring brow
and muttered weakly "Man! That ends
three months of torture. Thinking about
this session was giving me nightmares; I
dreamed I was playing the whole Duke Ell-
ington band."
Ask if he were going to take a vacation
to recuperate, the composer-instrumentalist-
pianist-conductor replied, "Naw. I want to
ma ke another record like this, adding the
trumpet for a seven th piece."
•
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He: "I had the girls running in circles
when I was in coll ege."
She: "I never knew you were such a
sheik."
He: "I wasn't. I was the women's track
coach."
Skating is such a fad now in New York
that a girl who can't do it cuts no ice on
Broadway.
The Casa Loma •• only on
DEC C A
Mention of THE COIN MACHINE REVIEW is your best introduction to our advertisers.
COIN
MACHINE
REVIEW
51
FOR.
JULY
1941