Trade Talk
by
PA IJL W.BLA(;KFORD
The sign in th e fronti er dance h all,
" Don' t shoo t tb e pia no pla yer- he is doin g
th e best he ca n," mi ght well be pa ra-
phrased for the automati c phonogra ph a nd
vending mac hine operators who a re stru g-
glin g to ta ke care of th eir loca ti ons with
th e reco rds a nd merchandi se pa trons de-
sire. It's a heart-breakin g busin ess a nd
th e shortages a re not too plea ant a ll
along th e line.
We have no reason to beli eve th e situ -
a ti on will improve in 1945. In stea d of a
year of reconversion, as we were led to
beli eve a few months back, the prese nt
year will probabl y be a nothe r period of
wa r with sbortages more in ev idence th a n
in the past.
Insofar as phonogra ph reco rd s a re co n-
cerned th e pi cture is a bit bri ghte r. Shel-
lac eems ava ila ble in n ecessa ry qu an-
tities a nd th e p eace trea ty with Caeser
Petrillo put th e major platte r fac tori es
back in full production. Only shorta ges
of help and packing material s will hold
down the supply of discs during th e
month ahead . Th e major record produce rs
c la im the help and pac kin g materi al s itu -
ation is most critica l a nd will prohibit th e
delivery of a terrific number of records.
Here is where th e embryo record fa c-
tori es, which have mushroomed by th e
dozens in th e past two yea rs, come in.
They will be abl e to suppl y numbers un-
obta in abl e from tb e majors. Man y of th ese
small firms have disc of more than usual
merit a nd deserve the enco urag in g patron-
age of music operators.
For operator of merchandi se vendin g
machin es th e pi cture is more clouded.
Everyon e knows th e cigarette situation
a nd th ere is little chance th e condition will
improve before 1946 or 1947. Most ciga r-
ette operators are not attemptin g to vend
packs through their vendors but instead
place the allotment with th e location
own er a nd let him vend th em over the
counter to his regular customers. This
practi ce has won th e wholehea rted co-
opera tion of tb e loca tion own er, who is
anxious to do his reg ular patrons a favor
and glad to say " no cigarettes" to th e
hoa rders wh o make · th e round s pi cking
up as many packs as th ey ca n in th e
va rious spots.
Candy a nd confection vendors face more
shortages, too. Many of th e prominent
ba rs have been withdra wn f ro m th e ma rket
compl etely a nd the substitute produ cts of
question abl e composition have not re-
ce ived a ready recep tion.
0 ea in g of sup-
pli es in this fi eld is in th e offin g a nd more
cuts in ca ndy manufac turin g a re bein g
considered accordin g to advices from Wash-
ington. Th e government is determin ed to
impress upon th e n ation at la rge that we
are engaged in an all-out wa r and a ny
complacency will not be tolerated. H ow-
ever, th ere isn't an operator of confection
vendors who wouldn't be glad to store hi s
machin e if the products went to our men
in uniform. The governm ent is determin ed
to see that GI Jo e gets all he wants and
the biggest candy manufacturers in th e
fie ld are makin g milli ons o[ ba rs for our
boys a nd girls in uniform .
Opera tors ca n take co nsolati on in th e
fact th a t th ey alone a re not di c riminated
aga inst. S hortage preva il in almost every
in dust ry and fi el d yo u mi ght mention. For
exa m ple, here on TH E R EVI EW we've ba t-
tl ed mi ghtily to kee p thi s publi ca tion com-
ing to you regul a rl y. First of all , we are
operatin g on a r educed pa per suppl y 25
per cent below our consumption in 1942.
We have cut th e weight o[ the paper and
trimm ed the co rn ers to keep th e book
co min g to yo u. We a re not compl aining,
beca use our accepta nce is th e /!: rea te t in
the history of th e publica tion a nd we are
glad to do our bit towa rds th e wa r effort.
Today we a re printin /!: more news and
news fea tures th a n ever before, an d pla n
to co ntinu e to ma inta in ou r full cove rage
of im po rta nt events in thi s fi e ld. In fac t,
our editori al staff has bee n enl a rged an d
st re n/!:th ened with thi s in mind. We be-
li eve th a t thi s i our fi rst duty a nd re-
s pons ib ilit y, a nd we shall co ntinu e to de-
,·ote our best efforts to th e im po rta nt edi -
tori a l ass ig nm e nt whi ch is ours.
This is not a pretty editori a l to write
a nd we do not wa nt to be acc used of
pa intin g a pi cture o f gloo m a nd [utility,
but in th ese hecti c time th e truth must
he faced , a nd faced squarely. So th e nex t
time yo u !!;et a squ a wk from a loca ti on
own e r a nswer him thus ly: " Remembe r th e
old s i!!; n in th e sa loon about th e p ia no
pl aye r ? Don' t shoot him , he's doin g the
best he ca n, a nd, broth er, tod ay I'm th at
pian o pl aye r 1"'
Curtiss Saves Paper
CHI CAGO- Curti ss Ca ndy Co. e ti -
mates that it has salva ged 18 million
pounds of pa per s in ce th e wa r began .
Appro ximately 15 milli on pounds of thi s
was co ll ec ted through a n extensive ca rton
return ca mpa ign, said to be th e first of
its type, for whi ch Curtiss sa lesmen were
shown how to open cartons a nd accumu -
late th em so that th ey would not be s poil ed
for re- use.
COIN
MACH INE
REVIEW
13
FOil
FEBRUARY
1945
a Limited Number-Act Quick
De., ' M,. Slade:
W ired you f, anchlse money
today, down payment \amot-
row.
Send me blu&-prlnts and
Instructions on building of
pla\form. We ca n have plat-
form r .... dy when machine
arrives for InsUlliatlon. We
want to st8l'\ Oct. 27\h-
l ooner than we expected.
Hoping to meet you soon.
Vet'Y truly yo urs,
Macon , Ga. -C • .I. Martin.
Bauer·Up Co.,
Attention: A. R. Slade, 231 W. Wis. Sponland Arcade,
Jacksonville, Fla.
consln Ave.
A I, Mailed special dellv..., toda, $1500
dollars deposit on two BaUM·Up Games. Dea,
Slade:
delivery gU8l'anteed UI In 115 day. out of
I am
for $1.000. Deposit on
~~~u~t?on,:,ac~~~~~ln~n~~~~~I' n1~tI~ BATTER·UP 81 aGreed
order Is only the start of somo nlco vol. on \he phone. Rush
ume business. Believe you have real hot blu&-prlnts 10 we can
money mUM. Please confirm accept- g" atarted.
ance
ordOt' by retu'n mall . Personal
You,. trul"
regards.
Henr, O. Lemke,
T. E. Hlo,n ••
Lemke Coin Machine Co.
De\POlt.
M,.
0'
SEE ITI
At
Milwaukee
New York" New England
Contact
Geo. Ponser CO.
2 Colum bus Clrcre, N. Y. C. 19
DISTRIBUTORS
Penn., Def., Md., N. tI.,
Contact
ARCO SALES
S 6. 15th St., Phil .. ; Pa.
I
Michigan
eon\ac\
Lemke Coin Madlin. Co.
THE BLUE BLOODS OF THE INDUSTRY READ THE REVIEW EXCLUSIVEL Yl
31 Ve,no"
De\POI\