NEW Y ORK
COIN
'MACHINE
REVIEW
18
FO R
FEBRUARY
1942
NEW YORK- With eyes fo cused on th e
'war abroad, New York was caught napping
'in a home-front blitz aimed at the pinball
trad e. Th e poli ce swooped down on loca-
ti ons like th e proverbial locusts. The butt
of the cops was mai nly the arca des which
·suffered heavily in what amounted to out-
right confiscation. However, legal action is
pending, and a stand has been taken, with
t he Savoy Vending Co. of Brooklyn, trying
des perately to hold the Hn e. Leonard M.
Wallstein, attorney fo r the pinball people,
'has assured the operators that h e will do
his utmost to convince judges and the
p eo ple that a grea t injustice has been per-
petrated.
One good feature -of the fiasco of prop-
erty rights shown in the New York blitz
was th e action of the wives of operators,
man y of ,,:hom '-have '!:reen- promrnent -in re-
li ef work and civilian defense. Outstanding
among these was Mrs. Selma H. Pragnell,
wife of th e secretary of th e Amalgamated
Vending. ,H er letter, published in the
World-Telegram of J anuary 20, is a n elo -
quen t and movin g appeal for justice for
pinball operators who have and are doing
more than their share to help Uncle Sam.
Asks Mrs. P ragnell : "Can these men and
their wives ca rry on for war against di c-
tators when th e same ruthlessness and
violation of property r ights is ra mpant at
home?"
But don' t be blue, boys. Th e last word,
states Lou Goldberg of th e Amalgamated,
has not b een said. Likewise from Saul Kal-
son of the Brooklyn outfit" comes assurance
that everythin g will be done to stop the
outrages. Perh aps good news wiII be forth-
co min g shortly.
Joe F ishm an , who fortun ately is now
back in the fight for operators' rights, has
go ne on record with th e statement that th e
unwarranted se izures of machines is the
result of location own ers fa iling to heed
wa rn ings th at were given th em. "In th e
future we must redoubl e our vigilance and
when the Amalga ma ted tells operators cer-
tai n thin gs should be done, as is evident
now, we know wh at we're talkin g about,"
E shm an said.
In the midst of th e melee, whil e Uncle
Sam strikes out indiscr imin ately on the
home front , it may be op portun e to list
wh at operators are doing to hel p th eir
U ncle. Of th e city's roster of airwardens,
two hun dred are operators, incl udin g your
repor ter who has been doin g ea rly morn -
i ng shi fts. In a ddition, many coin machine
d istributors have con tributed quarters fo r
sector headquarters and oth er distributors
n ave even sup pli ed free equi pment.
J ack Yell en has enlisted in th e navy. Add
to army recruits who were formerly opera-
tors in thi s territory, Abe F riedman, ar-
tillery; Morris Wise, anti-aircraft ; Jotl
Kellne r, infantry. The air corps may call
'O n Bob (Gentleman Bob) H awth orn e of
DuGrenier an d Ha rold John stone, from th e
p honogra ph crowd.
Tb e cigarette element h as openly ex-
pressed its sympa thy with what has hap-
pened to pi nball ope ration and h as pro m-
ised full cooperati on. In view of the fact
that confiscated machines are said to have
b een melted down for ammunition and no
compensa tion made--it is an angle that
may eventually interest all those who op-
erate coin machines of any nature and
therefore, united action is not only soli-
ci ted ; it is imperative.
Although each day brin gs greater un-
certainty in the trade, we are glad to r e-
port that many coi n men remain unruffled.
Bill P eek has donned hi's carnation again ;
Bill Lichtm an has gone back to cigars and
Abe Herman is in again with his bad puns.
With priorities sounding the death knell
in industries, advocates of the "seconds"
in the coin machine trade prove tha t they
were right in the fi rst instance. Bill Sachs
of Acme has quietly built up an outfit dur-
ing th e last year thathas a nticipated the
present shortages and now Acme and simi-
l8:r, ~rga ni 7:ati ~ n sa re cashiTJg i!:\.._,
Coin men have b een advised to fil e all
their gri evances with their associations a nd
not to act individually. Officials will not
deal with isolated cases and will listen only
wh en associations raise their voices. Op-
erators wh o are meeting with trouble, dis-
tributors who find authorities non-coopera-
tive, should contact Saul Kalson, Lou
Goldb erg, Matth ew F orbes and Lee Rubi-
now.
Are matters going to get better or worse?
Harry Rosen of Modern states that those
operators who can hold out during the
present crisis will find rich rewards wh en
the shoo ting is over. Similar expressions
came from the offices of Manhatta n Dis-
tributors, the Munves-Rosenb erg office;
Fitzgibbons; George Ponser and Seaboard
Sales.
Th at all is not lost may be glea ned from
the following statement by Judge Aaron A.
Levy, anent seizures. Stated the judge:
" Respect for pro perty rights should be
maintain ed espec ially during emergencies,
at whi ch time these ri'ghts are, perhaps,
more threatened th an at any oth er time."
Irving S herman. •
Aubrey V. Stemler
Stemler Joins Little Feller
LOS ANGELES - Aubrey V. Stemler,
well known in West Coast music circles,
has taken over the distribution of the Little
F eller Bar Box for the eleven Western
States and will make h is headquarters in
Los An geles.
Stemler was previously with the Buckley
Music Systems in the P acific Northwest and
in takin g on the representa tion on Little
Feller said : "I am pleased to announce my
associa tion with the manufacturers of this
unique miniature bar box and I am looking
forward to showing the profit possibilities
of the Littl e F eller to operators in the
West."
Stemler left Los Angeles F ebruary 4th
fo r his fi rst swing throu gh the P acific
Northwest with his new box.
•
Record Army Ditty
NEW YORK- H arold Grant's Good Fel-
lows have recorded "Let's Get the Guy Who
Blows the Bugle," a pa triotic ditty, fo r
Standard records. Also recor ded was a vocal
version of "Cuckoo Waltz" which proved so
popular as an instrumental ·by Henri Rene
and his Musette Orch. on the same label. •
*
"1\
*
*
fellow in s u~,te d me the other day by
offenng me beer.
"What did you do ?"
"Swallowed the insult."
* * *
Ink SpotS . • • only on
Lady: " Are you sure these lobsters are
'fresh ?"
Fishmonger: " Madam, they are posi-
tively insultin g."
E C C A
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