Seattle
COIH
MACHIHE
REVIEW
90
FOR
SEPTEMBER
1947
Best barometer of business conditions
here is the Ben Paris bar, eatery and sport-
ing goods center, according to hep coinsters _
Downtown operators claim they can tell in
advance approximately what weekly collec-
tions will amount to by watching bar at-
tendance at the Paris establishment_
The last few weeks the customers at th e
bar seemed a bit thin in numbers_ They
weren't exactly standing in line for a quaff
of the amber brew_ Sure enough, collec-
tions were poor around and about the whole
county_
Summ er slumps are not startling in any
business, of course_ Local coinmen say that
when the vacation season is definitely over,
and seaso nal workers, now scattered about
the state, return to town, business will again
start wheeling_
Recor'd sales are holding firm for average
summer volume, according to Ralph Yost
of Decca, and distributors of other labels
were of the same opinion _
New phonos are moving fairly well, ac-
cording to distributors, but games are lag-
ging_ Distributors_ of machines looked to
Sep tember first for thin gs to start moving a
bit better.
Sad note of the man th was the death of
Don Waltz, 36, killed when a plane he was
piloting crashed in Grays Harbor_ He was
co ming in to Moon Island Airport, Ho-
quiam, just before the fatal accident. Har-
mond Thompson, 41, of Portland, asso-
ciated with Waltz in the music business,
was also killed in the crash_
Don came here from Spokane 15 years
ago_ He was a member of the Washington
Athletic Club, the American-Italian Ath-
letic Club, Magician's Club, Aero-Marine
Club, and th e Italian Club of Seattle_ A
veteran of World War II, he is survived by
his wife, Marguerite; his parents, Mr. and
Mrs. Bert Waltz, Seattle, and a sister, Mrs.
Peggy Ashby, San Francisco.
According to Mayor Arthur Meehan of
Spokane, there will be no city restrictions
on bell machines until the Supreme Court
makes a ruling on their legality.
The city commission recently banned
both pin games and bells, but the ban was
lifted to allow operators to run out th eir
licenses, good until next year.
Coinmen believe it will be a long, long
time before the Supreme Court makes a de-
cisive ruling on the bells, and a campaign
is under way by small business operators
and coin men to keep the pin games going
after the December deadline.
Wynn Haws and Lowell Pauli, head men
of Bellingham's Advance Amusement Co.,
filed suit recently to restrain new owners of
the Friendly Tavern, Blaine, from switch-
ing their pinball and musIc operations to a
competitor. Haws claimed in his complaint
that Christopher Pappas, former owner of
the tavern, entered into a two-year contract
with Advance for "exclusive franchise" in
supplying pin games and music.
Coin Row Ad Lib: Al Crowe, boss at M.
S. Wolf, has a new secretary holding down
the front office. Her name: Pat McConkey,
recently of the Dun & Bradstreet offices.
Naturally, she is accustomed to juggling
huge figures, and Al is hoping the fall busi-
ness will give her a chance to play with
some big digits for Wolf. Al is off on a
vacation to look over the Grand Canyon,
and other Colorado photogenic spots with
his wife and kiddies.
Mike Brickner of Zam Music has a fran-
chise on some new hot-dog machines being
made in Pasadena. The wienie roaster will
turn out a piping hot dog, wrapped in an
attractive package, to the customer in one
LeI's
Put It
Over
BIG
•
Send In
YOUR
Donotion
Today!
for the
H. R. MASER.
REGIONAL DISTRIBUTOR
CAL., ORE., WASH ., NEV., IDAHO, MONT., WYO., UTAH, ARIZ., COLO.
J334 MISSION ST • • SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.
RUNYON
CANCER
FUND
minute fial. It's done by electricity. Should
be good for taverns. Mike says bigger ma-
chines coming soon will put out 12,000 dogs
per hour.
Bert Farmer is back in the coin business
around and about Seattle, old friends will
be glad to hear. Bert is distributing postage
stamp ve!ldors, coin counting machines,
and, under the "B" classification, bubble
gum and Boston baked beans.
.Earl Everett of Seattle Coin Machine is
back in Seattle, and reports very thing run-
ning in the groove down California way.
Sam Grossman is relaxing now that Earl is
back in town.
At Western Distributors, George Tram-
bitas asked how business was, said like this:
"Business is scintillating. We are making
money hand over fist. Things are moving so
fast we haven' t time to draw a quick breath
between sales." And then, friends, what do
you think he added? He added like this:
"I expect like everybody else, that business
will pick up about September first."
Budge Wright, Western Portland man-
ager, was up for a visit. Trambitas goes to
Portland this month to relieve Budge for a
vacation session. Bill Alsdorf will keep the
Seattle home fires crackling merrily.
Out of town operators visiting Coin Row
recently included: H. A. Cristensen, Jake
Miller, Cashmere, and Bill Smith, Chehalis.
At Puget Sound Novelty some interest-
ing things have been taking place. Accord-
ing to Dorothy Robbins, there is a new man
in the shop, a cute little man whose name
is "Cookie." Also, hurray, the long-legged
bird presented Ted Allen and wife with a
new small fry this month. It's a boy, and he
weighed in at 7 Ibs., 12 oz. We were begin-
ning to think the stork had also gone on a
vacation; everybody else has.
Michael Clary
Portland
Operators report business has shown no
increase or decrease. Collections are about
the same as they have been the past sev-
eral weeks from th e games and music ma-
"hines, with the games holding up better
than the music. Most coin men here were
of the opinion collections would be bol-
stered substantially during the national Elks
conven tion held recently. However, it didn' t
turn out that way; there was practically no
increase .
Taverns are enjoying a good business,
due to the fact employment is at a high
leveL This indicates that the play music
and pin ball machines are getting is per-
haps as near to normal as can be expected
during peacetime years.
Cigarette and candy machine business is
being maintained at a brisk pace. Supply
of candy is plentiful and hot weather hasn't
bothered this year, so operators in this line
are doing good.
Penny vendor operators are also enjoy-
ing better business than previously, due
mostly to the drop in price of supplies and
ball gum being available again. It is re-
ported, there is a decided in crease in num-
ber of inquiries about the penny vendor
business.
Lyle Sale, owner of the one and only
arcade in Vancouver, says business is up a
little this month from last month, but he
adds there is plenty of room for improve-
ment. The five-ball pin ball machines are
'the favorites with most people.
Bob Portale, of M. S. Wolf Distributing
Co., was in San Francisco for a week-end
recently. Bob called on operators along
the coast on the way back home_ He said
operators down that way are doing good
and Bob thinks business is definitely on th e
upgrade, which has a nice sound to it. He