Clark Party Big
California Amusement Opens
L. A. Offices and Showrooms
LOS ANGELES.-The California Amuse·
ment, see the wide variety of new and used
ment Co. has opened Los Angeles offices
equipment offered for immediate sale, and
and showrooms in the two story building at
partake of the varied refreshments promised
1348 Venice Boulevard, formerly occupied
for those attending.
THE REVIEW joins the operating fra-
by the California Simplex Distributing Co.,
ternity in Southern California in welcoming
and later by the Clark Distributing Co.
California Amusement Co. to Los Angeles
The building has been completely reno·
and wishing them well in their local enter-
vated and repainted inside and out. New
prise.
partitions have been installed and the ceo
ment floor completely covered with either
Decca Doing
K.
wood or tile. Wood is utilized in the shop
NEW YORK-"Decca Records is the
and store rooms and asphalt tile has been
company which puts the tunes of many top
laid in the general offices and showrooms.
dance orchestras in the automatic phono-
Private offices are completely carpeted and
graphs and makes it possible to 'jitter' at
the modernistic use of glass is especially in-
a nickel a dance," reported a recent issue
teresting. The second floor mezzanine will
of the Wall Street Journal. "That this has
be used for additional storage space . .
proved a profitable sequel to the ohono-
In opening local offices M. S. (Bill)
graph era is reflected in the sales and earn-
Wolf told THE REVIEW: "I have had a de-
ings figures for Decca over the past six
sire to open a jobbing and distributing
years. Starting with sales of only $1,000,000
office in the Los Angeles area for some
in 1936, the firm's sales reached $100,000,-
time to augment the office we have had in
000 in 1942. Net profits per share were
San Diego for a number of years. In coming
slightly over $2.00 for 1942 and 1941 re-
to Los Angeles we do so with the express
spectively. For the six months ended June
thought in mind of being of service to the
30th last the company earned $1.10 a share
operating fraternity and cooperative with
compared with 98 cents a share for the
every individual or group having the wel-
same period of 1942.
fare of our Industry at heart.
"Incidentally, Decca has literally split the
"At California Amusement we will carry
dance world in two with its English and
a full line of new and used coin-operated
American sales subsidiari'es. Decca now has
devices of every type at prices consisten t
20,000 retail outlets and from 4,500 to
with the current market trends. I have been
6,000 coin phonograph outlets. The com-
connected with the Industry for the past
pany has three different musical canning
ten years and inasmuch as my activities
factories capable of turning out 250,000
have been mainly centered on the operat-
discs daily. The stock is rather inactive,'
ing side I have a keen insight as to what
selling around 18. There are 388,325 shares
the average operator expects from a jobber
outstanding. Most favorable factor, accord-
and distributor. We expect to put some of
ing to company officials, is that shellac, a
these ideas in practice. We cordially invite
principal material used in records, is now
operators to come in and see us. A visit
coming to the company at a rate of 20 per
will cost them nothing and we may be able
cent of 1941 production by WPB order,
to render them a real service."
whereas in the latter part of last year no
Managing the Los Angeles office will be
shellac was allowed."
C. W. (Chet) Garton, who comes to the Shaw in War Zone
Industry after twenty years in banking and
CAMDEN, N. J.-Artie Shaw, whose
auto financing fields. He was with the Kelly
band of service men 'is the first musicians'
Car Co. when they had offices in San
outfit .to move through the war zones, has
Diego and when these were closed he
traveled on craft ranging from battleships
joined the Security Trust & Savings Bank
to minesweepers, and exclu,ding only sub-
where he held the position of assistant
manager of the Finance Department. Al - marines. He has been playing at Marine
Corps camps in the New Zealand area, of-
though new to the business he has a keen
ten at two different locations each day, and
knowledge of finances and will be of con-
has ducked Jap bullets at Guadalcanal.
siderable help to operators. Speaking of the
But, it is not persotlal safety that bothers
local office Garton said: "I'm really anxious
Artie and his men according to a report,
to be of as much service as poss ible to op-
erators in this area and it will be our ,b ut the safety of their instruments. When
the men are under fire, the instruments are
pleasure to extend our assistance to all
tucked away in fox holes.
having such a need. In our local branch
we will have one of the finest repair shops
in the Southland and operators are invited
to make full use of its facilities."
Heading the sales.. deartment will be M.
E. (Max) Thiede who hardly needs an in-
troduction to Western coin men. Thiede first
became active in the Coin Machine field
back in 1928 when he was with the Cape-
hart Corp. Subsequent connections wi th
Wurlitzer and Seeburg shuttled him all
over the West and he has a wid ~ acquaint
anceship with operators on the Pacific
slope. In addition Thiede has operated and
knows that side of the picture too. For the
past few years he w~s with Mape Music
Co. in a sales ca paci ty.
An Open House Celebration has been
scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Sep-
tember 24 and 25, and Bill, Chet and Max
J im brought if along wifh' him- he
extend a cordial invitation to all operators
in this area to visit their new establish· "" can'f sleep in a hammoclcl
o.
COIH
MACHIHE
REVIEW
34
FOR
SEPTEMBER
1943
LOS ANGELES.- On August 30th the
Clark Distributing Co. celebrated tenancy
of their new office at 1561 West Washington
Boulevard and invited members of the In-
dustry in to see the new quarters, meet
executives of the organization, and partake
of the hospitality of the firm.
A goodly crowd, numbering between two
and three hundred, made it a "must" and
enjoyed the draft beer, whiskey, salads and
sandwiches a competent catering service
had provided.
Entertainment for the opening was pro-
vided by the Hofbrau Hungarian Radio
Orchestra from the original Hofbrau Res-
taurant in Hollywood.
Aubrey Stemler, local office manager,
acted as host for the occasion and saw that
visitors got a full measure of enjoyment
and met Don Clark, Clark Distributing Co.
president; George Williams, sales executive,
and Walter Rehder, San Francisco , office
manager, here for the festivities.
The local office of Clark Distributing is
now operating as an independent unit and
functions as a separate office with home
offices in San Francisco.
Packard Men Busy
HOLLYWOOD-Where's Smitty, where's
Ballard where's Osborn and half a doz-
en for~er Packard Manufacturing Co. rep-
resentatives is a constant question in the
offices of W. E. Simmons, Packard coast
representative.
Last week your REVIEW reporter stormed
the portals of the Simmons office and
chanted the same questions and received
the following enlightening information:
Clayton Ballard, who used to trudge the
Northwest as a District Manager is now
helping Henry J. Kaiser turn out ships at
the Portland shipyards; Stanley Turner,
Pla-Mor's top service instructor, is at
MGM in the recording department; Hobart
Smith, known as "Smitty," is manager of
Modern Music in Colorado Springs-for-
merly owned by Mac McBroom; Ed Wisler,
former Arizona Pla-Mor District Mana-
ger, is busy keeping business machines in
operation at the various war plants and
knows all about comptometers, adding ma-
chines and the like; and Rudy Green-
baum, former Packard salesmanager, is
doing confidential investigation work for
Washington, D. c., and is not a dollar a
year man either.
Stemler Writes Thanks
LOS ANGELES.-"Please accept my sin-
cerest thanks for the assistance given my
organization, Clark Distributing Co., during
their period of reorganization and moving
to new quarters," wrote Aubrey V. Stemler,
Clark's Los Angeles branch manager in a
letter sent THE REVIEW on September 11th.
"We, of the Clark Distributing Co., really
appreciate the cooperation extended the
automatic phonograph indl!stry by THE
REVIEW, and feel that this publication is
a great asset to this industry.
"At this time I also wish to thank my
many friends in the automatic phonograph
industry in the northwest for their very
courteous reception to myself and our
northwest manager, Ed Horiskey, during
my last trip through Oregon and Wash-
ington in behalf of the Clark Distributing
Co. and the Rudolph Wurlitzer Co.
"Trusting that we may continue to enjoy
our many happy past connections with your
publication and hoping that th~re wit! al-
ways be a COIN MACHINE REVIEW, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Aubrey Stemler."
Mention of THE COIN MACHINE REVIEW is your b e st in troduction to our adv ertisers
j