As December dawns, convention talk be-
comes more the order of the day. For busi-
ness reasons, it is generally considered best
to postpone convention talk till as near the
end of the year as possible. Something new
has been added this year, with the holding
of the national vending machine trade con-
vention, ·under auspices of NAMA, in De-
cember and that speeds up the convention
talk. The general Industry convention
comes in January, soon enough to give
manufacturers time to get started on a new
year's production program.
Art Sauve, pioneer in the Industry and
booster of Detroit, tells about his educated
horse, Flicker, to the envy of the Chicago
trade. Story is that the horse is loyal to
Michigan and when a ked if he likes
Democrats, will shake his head emphati-
cally, "No!" Sauve is making business
plans for the new year.
John Chrest is too busy with Tally-Ho,
ne.w .Exhibit Supply Co. pin ball game, to
thmk much about the new addition to the
plant now under construction. Perc Smith,
champion of Exhibit arcade machines, is
enthusiastic about the new plant space and
hints that his office may be above the
ground Aoor.
Sign of what individuals and nations are
put to when inAation becomes a problem
is seen in the reported tightening up on
credit by the banks. It is an engineered
move to stall the inAation spiral to some
extent. Hamper on credit in the coin ma-
chine trade occurs also when one of the
important finance companies in the field
makes a rule to take no more new cus-
tomers.
The origin of the name, Mirrocle Music,
seemed puzzling. Bert Davidson, of Na-
tional Filben, Chicago, says it is the modern
way to tell how "a miracle mirror is used
to help sell miracle music."
By virtue of its alphabetic priority, ABC
Vending Corp., the new vending combine.
"ets first place on the over· the-counter
stock market reports. It and other coin
' machine firms on the stock exchange or
curb markets make the reading of stock
market pages more interesting, even to
those who have no money to buy stocks.
Howard Freer, Empire Coin Machine ·
Exchange, Chicago, enjoys showing visitors
the departmentalized arrangement of the
new 2-{]00r distributing establishment,
called a coin machine super market.
There's a reason why D. Gottlieb & Co.
was taking on skilled help in recent weeks.
Distributors began to call for more Humpty
Dumpty games and to report the demand
coming from operators. As previously re-
ported in TilE REVIEW, the new game is
part of the new trend to give more action
to the playing field in pin ball games.
R. E. (Smitty) Smith, Buckley Mfg. Co.,
Chicago, is proud of the new truck recently
added to the firm's Aeet. He says it is
definite proof that Buckley is giving service
to customers. Jerry Haley, also with Buck-
ley, studies markets with the aid of his long
experience in the console and bell field.
George Ponser, heading the Geol'ge
Ponser Co., says he has really come to live
in Chicago. His first game is a roll· down
called Pro-Score. He is welcomed among
the large list of Chicago manufacturers.
He is a young man who came up the royal
way: operator-distributor-manufacturer.
A current list of names of pin ball games
heard in trade circles includes Broncho,
Gin~er. Hi·Ride, Humpty Dumpty, Nevada,
Nudgy, Oscar, Sea· Tsle, Tally-Ho and Tom-
Tom, in alphabetical order. Roll-down
games are al 0 very popular today and
among names now new on the list m'e E.\50
Arrows. Hawaiian Roll·Down and Pro-
Score.
Friends of L. C. (Undy) Force, sales
manager of AMI, Chicago were extendin/!:
sympathy during his stay in the hospital.
A n operation early in ovember kept him
in for Iour weeks, at least.
Raloh Berger, owner of the famous Latin
Quarter, Chicago, will distribute the Drink-
O·Matic soft drink vendor (cup) in two
states. He says his margin on soft drinks
sold at his night club is bigger than the
margin in vendor but, just the same, he
is enthu iastic about the prospects for
yendors. A group of the Latin Quarter en-
tertainers recently went to Vaughan I-Jos-
pital to entertain "eterans there.
Tobacco distributors have announced
their next annual convention in Chicago
again. It will be the week of April 12,
which takes it entirely away from any coin
lIlachine conventions. There was a time
wht'n the
ATD conventions coincided
with the coin machine show and delegates
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could go from one convention to the other.
NATD will have its conference sessions
during the 1948 convention and also manu-
facturers' exhibits. Joseph Kolodny, man-
agin/!:' director, also heads the new national
organization for wholesalers in all trades,
a group that is attracting attention for its
expressions on economic questions. Cig-
arette operators remember Kolodny as a
fellow operator.
Sam Kresberg believes so strongly in the
future of soft drink vendors that he glows
with the old enthusiasm when talking about
them. He is a principal with Al Cole in
the Drink-O·Mat Industries, makers of the
Drink·O-Matic cup vendor, and came to
Chicago for the showing of the vendor at
the Sherman Hotel. The firm has opened
offices at 250 West 57th street, New York
City.
Fulton Moore, Williams Mfg. Co., Chi·
cago, says tests of dime and quarter chutes
on amusement games have proved real
boosters for the operator's take. The extra
chutes have boosted playas much as 40
per cent, he says. Moore recently bought a
plane and in a sense gets back to his old
love. He was for many years in the avia·
tion field.
Drug stores in the heavy traffic districts
of Chicago have resisted coin machines for
many years, but now they are beginning to
take them in. The postage stamp vendors
((ot a big sendoff in the city's leading drul!
chain and now pop corn vendors are show-
ing up in a lot of drug stores. Once in
. awhile a phono can be seen in a drug store
in the crowded areas. Space is at a pre·
mium in drug stores, of course, on the main
streets.
The educational process of getting an in-
dustry to use coin machines is a slow one,
but in many cases it is the only way to scll
a new idea. At the 1946 convention of
super market stores in Chicago, two soft
drink vendors were on the Aoor; at the
1947 convention, four soft drink vendors
were 011 the floor. Three of them were for
bottled goods and one was a cup machine.
Bally, Mills, Vendo and Vendolator, manu-
facturing firms well known in the coin rna-
chi ne trade, were represented by name tags
the vendors but the machines were
placed by the two big competitors-Coca-
Cola and Pepsi·Cola.
Somebody seems to have the idea that
cventually the owners and managers of
super markets will take to vending mao
chines to sell soft drinks and other goods .
And if the machines are displayed at
enough of their conven tions, the idea will
take ome day. That is what may be called
the educational process.
'11
While speaking of super market, it
might be worth mentioning that M. M.
Zimmerman, editor and publisher of uper
Market Merchandising magazine, has ·long
been recognized as a friend of vending ma-
chines and has in times past written articles
on the growing industry.
Earold M. Schaef, head of Victor Vend-
i Ilg Corp., has never forgotten his early
operating experience and always thinks of
the operator's real needs when developing
a new machine. He believes in sturdiness
and simplicity when it comes to bulk vend·
(See RIDIN' HERD, Page 48)
46
COIN MACHINE REVIEW