• BURDING PUBLIC GOODWRL FOR YOUR
ARCADE 'AND ·YOOR INDUSTR!
The Arcade of Today is the S)low Window
01 the Coin Machine Industry at War. Here
Are Ways and Means of Making the Most
of Today's Big Opportunity to Build Public
Goodwill and Acceptance.
b y Fred McKee
Arcade Operator a nd Interna tion al Mutoscope
Corporation W es te rn Represen tative
EBSTER defines an Arcade as a pil-
W lared
street some times filled with small
shops. And from this obvious, Oriental
background has sprung a lane or street full
of small coin-operated shops and for-
tune tellers of various kinds, and the mod-
ern phonograph takes the place of the
minstrel of old in the market place. And
in most modern Arcades you will find the
same type of beggars hard at their work
of asking for alms that the fore runners of
our time had to put up with, so we in the
Arcade business haven't found a new way
to do things. We have just found out that
the old ideas, when mbdernized, can be
made to pay large dividends.
Arcades ' Re sponsib ility
Now, as then, we people who are operat-
ing Arcades under war conditions have a
great responsibility to our country. We
must be vigilant in seeing that our Service
Men are not approached and pumped for
information by kind hearted strangers; that
women of the street don't make the Arcade
their headquarters; that bootleggers, pimps
and perverts don't make a hang-out of our
places of business.
You may say "Oh well, these fellows are
old enough to know what it is all about";
but stop and think. There are a lot of boys
in the armed forces that haven't even be-
gun to shave. Maybe your boy is one of
these. Maybe he has just turned 18 and is
in. He is your boy, and he is mine too, and
I for one am going to try and protect him
to the best of my ability.
As an Arcade operator I think I can do
more for my country at war than in any
field I might enter, by giving our boys and
girls in the service, clean, wholesome, low
cost entertainment and protecting them
from harm with every ounce of vigilance
that I can muster.
Display Win dows of Industry
You and I, Mr. Operator, are the display
windows of the Coin Machine Industry at
War. It may be the youngster that some
cheap bi\rkeeper has let drink too much
that we might have to find a room for and
put him in a clean bed, or even bed him
down in the back room or take him home.
This very same youngster may come back
some day to be the head of his American
Legion Post or a member of our governing
bodies. He might even wind up as the
Mayor of Our Town, yours or mine, and
he may remember the night that kindly
hands cared for him, and that the hands
were those of a Coin Machine Man.
Time to Clean House
The Arcade business here in California
and throughout the country is coming in for
some pretty sour publicity, and I am
ashamed to say that we have been asking
for it. Stringent laws are being proposed
to govern this business here in ~os An-
geles and in other parts of the country.
There is only one way to fend it off, and
that is to clean up our own mess or the
Civil and Military Authorities will do it for
us.
Some of us seem to have the idea that
right now is the time to get the mbney and
give as little in return as possible. Right
here is where I think we are all wrong.
Our men in service who make up the bulk
of our business draw but $50.00 a month
and for this they are laying down their
lives, their futures and maybe worse, in-
curring hopeless invalidism, so why not
give them all that they have coming in the
way of the fun that we can provide. Let's
cut out the gyp games, the cheap come-
ons, and the sock-while-they-got-it attitude
that so many of us seem to have. If you
make it too fast your "Uncle" will take it
any way.
If you are an Arcade Operator put more
time into finding proper accomodations for
the Boys while they are in on leave. Line up
your neighbors and other families who will
. be willing to leave the latch key out for
these Boys away from home and in thf-
Service. It will make your heart swell with
pride to find out how many people will re-
spond. Don't for.g et that almost every home
now has a loved one in the Service and they
are glad to fill his empty bed with some
one else's son who may in turn be shelter-
ing theirs. Don't leave it all up to the
churches to do. They have their hands full
too, and so does the U. S. O. Get the
'phone book out and start ill at the first
page and let them know that it is the
Penny Arcade man who is calling; that you
are anxious to see that these boys are well
taken care of in clean homes rather than be
left to wander the dark streets for lack of
quarters. Let the folks in your town know
that you are interested in seeing that yours,
mine, and their Boys are being looked after
rather than gypped in your Arcade, and the
folks will see that you stay in business and
the Coin Machine business as a whole will
be benefitted beyond measure. Then to-
morrow, when our gallant boys come home
and march down Main Street to the tune
of our victory cheers, bear in mind what I
have said before . . . some of those fel-
lows are going to make the laws that my
business and yours will operate under; and
what you and I do today will be the thing
that will guide their thoughts when they
take over, as they surely will, in your
town and mine.
The Child Problem
Don't forget your responsibility in respect
to the parents and children of your town.
If a child of school age is in your Arcade
during school hours find out why. If you
are near a school and children are spending
money that should go toward buying their
lunch put a stop to the practice. And if
they have spent their lunch money see to
it that they eat a proper lunch on the
house. This is mighty cheap insurance as
the P. T. A. can build a hot fire under you
mighty quickly.
Watch for men coming in with a small
boy or girl or groups of children and
spending a lot of money on them. It is very
important to check on this sort of thing
at once. If the man is a stranger to the
child or children get all the information you
can on him and call the Juvenile Authori-
ties at once. He may be a pervert and you
may save the lives of the children, or child,
and do your community a very great serv-
ice. Bear in mind that these children are
your responsibility too, and when the folks
in your town find out that you are assuming
it, as any right thinking citizen should, you
will find that many of your troubles will be
over.
Co-operate In War Eff or t
If you have not already done so, hunt up
your Air Raid Warden and offer your
services in this field. Attend the first aid
classes in your community. Keep your Ar-
cade well equipped at alI times with first
aid materials and be ready to render first
aid. In the event of an air raid you may-
be calIed upon to look after- several hun-
dred people caught in your place of busi-
ness. Coolness, in a time "like this, results
from finding out what to do before it hap-
pens. So be sure that you and -your as-
sistants get all the dope they can on Ci-
vilian Defense.
The war isn't won yet and anything can
happen. Be a good citizen. Be ready for it
when it does come. Offer your services in
every way that you can to help the war
effort in your town. Give our Service Men
alI that you can for as little as you can,
and protect them from those who would
prey on them. Take a good citizen's in-
terest in the children of your community
and you will have a successful Arcade with-
out any headaches; and you will no doubt
be doing business at the same old stand
when our figh ting men and women come
home to Our Town and raise a new crop
of customers for Your Arcade and Mine.
Let us prove through our efforts that the
Coin Machine Business is not only a whole-
some thing but that it is the most misunder-
stood business in our whole industrial set-
up; that the men behind it are not heart-
less, grasping, chiseling racketeers but peo-
ple . . . people who have a big place in
every community's life.
This is the task that the Industry as a
whole has put us to. We are the show win-
dows of the entire Coin Machine Business,
and as we go, so goes a great industry. So
let's everyone of us, in and out of the
Arcade business, assist in every way that we
can in seeing that these show windows of
our great business are properly dressed and
kept that way.
CO,"
MACH'''E:
IEVlfW
11 .
FOI
MARCH
1943