l
Phonette Begins Second
Year Production
LOS ANGELES-March 26th, will mark
the beginning of the second year of the
Phonette Company of America and will
be celebrated by a dinner given in honor
of W. S. Farrell, inventor of the Phonette,
at the Biltmore Hotel.
Farrell, formerly with the General Elec-
tric Company at Bridgeport, Connecticut,
invented the Phonette in June, 1939 while
recovering from a serious illness in Cali-
fornia. Inspired to good health by the
penny a tune idea, he began the develop·
ment of what is now known as Phonette.
By the end of 1939, Farrell had developed
and built the first sample of his penny
operated, individual speaker unit. In March,
1940, Phonette Company of America was
formed, compnsmg three individuals, who
now head the company, W. S. Farrell,
production manager and chief engineer;
Leon E. Gardner, sales manager, and W.
P. Falkenberg, general manager, who is
well known to the coin machine industry
through his Rayolite Gun devices.
In the beginning, the Phonette Company
put in several months of trial installations,
testing, finding, and correcting the in-
evitable "bugs" found in any new product.
Production started on the proven Phonette
units in October of 1940 and the con-
tinuous now of orders has doubled produc-
tion each month since that time. The pub-
lic, as well as the many operators, have
received Phonette with a very enthusiastic
embrace. The public gets a full hit parade
tune, by their favorite artist, for one-fifth
the usual cost, while the operator makes
money for the first time with a penny
Tak.e Them Away
IN THIS BIG
CLEAN-UP
AT THE LOWEST
PRICE YOU'VE
EVER SEEN-
9
$
!.:~'C;,,
operated music device. The operators in-
come is seldom only a penny a tune, and
is limited only by the number of units in
a given location. At times the income for
the operator may be ten or twenty cents
for a single play of the record, depending
upon how many people are playing the
units.
When a penny is inserted in a Phonette,
at least one full length recording of the
highest quality is played directly and in-
timately to the paying customer. The low
conversational volume tevel is especially
suitable to the location, for other customers
are not forced to listen to annoyingly loud
music. If the penny is inserted when other
Phonettes in the location are playing, one
or more persons will receive the remaining
part of the number then playing free and
one more full length recording for the
penny. This is claimed to be an exclusive
Phonette feature with patents pending.
The Phonette Company recently an-
nounced the opening of its new offices in
Chicago, at 67 West Madison Avenue,
where Clyde Jordan and Don Wentworth
are representing the company.
Today you may find Phonette installa-
tions in most of the principal cities of
the United States from New York to Cali-
fornia; in some of the largest national
chain store organizations in the country,
such as Walgreen's Drug Stores, the Skillern
chain of drug stores in Texas, the United
Cigar Store Fountains, the Thrifty Drug
chain in California, and many others. In
fact, Phonette offers the music merchant
a multitude of new locations which were
not heretofore available with the ordinary
type of coin operated music equipment. ♦
Herman's C.M. Discs
NEW YORK-In a strong effort to "cor-
ner" the coin operated phonograph market,
Woody Herman, his 7-man Woodchoppers
group and his 4-man Chips unit have re-
corded four "specials" for Decca, which
will soon be released.
♦
COIN
MACHINE
REVIEW
47
FOR
MARCH
1941
HERE IT IS ! . . . the most satisfac-
tory pedestal stand ever offered
phonograph operators. Thousands
of these have b een sold the coun-
try over and here's your golden
opportunity to pick them up at
practically cost in our Final
CLOSE-OUT! Stands have baked
porcelain base in dust resis.ting
and eye pleasing finish; support-
ing column is in brilliant chrome
and the e n tire s tand is precision-
built a n d rigidly tilt-proof. Ide al
and s uitable for the
WURLITZER
61s, 71s, 81s, 41s
DON'T DELAY IN ORDERING.
Only a limited quantity remains
a t this special clos e-out price.
When these are gone NO MORE
WILL BE AVAILABLE at even
higher prices. So s end in your
order today!
[INTRAl Ill~TRrnUTIN~ rn.
Grand at 23rd
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
Doris Simpson and Myra Lane, Rock-Ola lead-
ership Girls, with Rock-Ola Advertisin g Man-
ager Ben Boldt who has t heir telephone num-
bers, get due tribute from him fo r their part
in making the fa ctory display a success during
the recent coin machine show.
•
•
•
"I say, my good man, could you take
that red tie with orange spots out of the
window for me?"
"Why, certainly sir, we are pleased to
take anything out of the window at any
time."
"Thanks awfully, old top; the beastly
thing bothers me every time I pass here."
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