JULY, 1948
OFF IC E OF PUBLICATION: 1115 Venice Blvd ., Los Angeles 15, Calif . Paul W . Blackford , Editor alld
Publisher; Walter W . Hur d , Exec utive Edito r; Louis Karnofsky , Advert ising Manager. Fitzr oy 8269 .
CHICAGO OFFICE Ill: C. J . Anderson , 35 East Wacker Drive, CENtral 1112; NEW YORK OFFICE
117 1: Ralph P. Mulligan , 441 Lexington Avenue, Mur ray Hill 2·5589. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $ 5.00
for 2 years-minimum term accepted; SOc per copy.
BUSINESS REVIEW .. . THE REVIEW Commemorates 15 Years
Of Service to the Industry
The nation is now shiftin g into the second
half of the year and th e number of predic-
tions and reviews naturally in crea e_ For-
tunately, business remained at a hi gh level
during th e first half of 1948 and the big ma-
jority of th e experts seem to think that
business will co ntinu e at a hi gh level for
the rest of th e year.
Big point of argument now is whether
business really needed th e "shot in th e
arm," given in March following the co m-
modity break in F eb ruary, when th e na-
tion started its new war and defense plans,
plu a more vigoro us European aid pro-
gram .
Whether business actually needed th e
stimulation , it is clear that a number of
business ga ins are now beginning to show
up which are tracea bl e directly to the
big program. It is al 0 clear up to th e
present that the n ew outbreak of super in-
flation, predicted by ma ny, has not yet set
in.
The direction of general price tren ds is
being widely debated at present and will
be a hot issue in the presidential campaign.
A new wave of inflation may come yet, but
for the present there are some lin es in which
price trends are turnin g downward.
Two un certain fa ctors are in th e na tional
picture at th e present tim e. On e is th e
presidential campai gn which usually pro-
duces an unfavorabl e psychology for some
months. Th e secon d is weather and other
influences that will determin e the total
volume of farm crops this year. Much
stress has been placed on the influ ence of
hig cro ps to bring food prices down ; many
expert say th e new corn crop will be th e
trump card, as in 1947.
While summer is normally a period of
transition, the following fa cts may be kep t
in mind to aid in analysing business trend :
1. Although business a nd industry is at
(See BUSINESS R EVI EW, Page 23 )
Call
PR. 7351
For Automatic Equipment.
Ports and Supplies
PAOL A. LAYMON
DlsntllUTOR
1429·31 and 1503 W. Plea
JULY, 1948
In 1933, Lo A ngeles' Co in Row con-
sisted of a ha ndful of distributors located
on Seventh S treet. As the bu in ess began
to expand , di tributors and operators came
to the realizat ion that what thi s growing
infant needed to g ive it voice and sta ture
was a trade paper devoted to Pacific Coas t
activiti es.
Th e idea was broached to P a ul W. Black-
ford, who represented Billboard in South-
ern California, and in May of that year
Blackford founded Th e PACIFIC COIN MA-
CHINE REVI EW as a sidelin e venture.
Th e fir t issue came out in July. From
its original eight page volum e, the tabloid
monthly quickly moved up to 12 and th en
16 pages.
In 1934 a Chicago office was opened and
in 1935, when a circulation tally revealed
th ere were as m any readers east of the
Rockies as there were on th e west coast,
"Pacifi c" was deleted from the titl e and
THE COIN MA CHINE R EVIEW emerged as a
full-fl edged national magazin e. Blackford
resigned from Billboard to devote full tim e
to his lusty prodigy. Simultaneously, th e
newsprint trappings were di scarded in fa-
vor of a stan dard 81h x lllh format printed
on coa ted. stock.
TH E R EVIEW moved into its own buildin g
in 1936 and opened a New York office to
stren gthen the national coverage.
Throu gh th e years a half dozen compet-
ing publications started on the Coast in
an attempt to supplant THE REVIEW, but
all of them fell by th e wayside. Why
should one ma gazin e co ntinue to thrive
wh il e other fail ?
There are a numher of rea ons. Fir t
and foremo t is the fact that THE REVIEW,
ind ependently owned, has never thrown its
ed itorial weight behind any selfishly moti-
va ted special interest gro up or clique. Th e
welfare of th e Industry has always been
paramount in the magazine's policie. A
taunch believer in furthering th e Industry
an d building good-will among it members,
THE REVIEW has always held its columns
open for th e promotion of operator, di s-
tributor and manufacturer as ociations.
Another r eason for THE R EVIEW'S pre-
eminence in th e fi eld i th e almost un-
ca nny way it anticipates future trends and
the clear, comprehensive styl e in which
current problems are analyzed. As far
back as 1935, th e magazine r ealized the
need for a record review section to h elp
operators select the discs which would h elp
them make money. The first Automatic
Music section in the coin machine fi eld
was thus in augurated, and J'ecords have
been reviewed ever sin ce. For many years
THE R EVIEW ca rried a n Automatic M er-
chandising section ; in 1946, fully cogn izant
of the glowing future of vending machines,
the firm started publishing AUTOMATIC
VENDING, th e Industry's first p ublication
devoted exclu ively to coin -controll ed vend-
ing devices, as a part of THE REVI EW.
K ey to THE REVIEW'S far-flung ed itorial
program is th e network of paid co rre pond-
ents in principal cities through the coun-
try, spearh eaded by Executive Editor Wal-
ter W. Hurd, th e co untry's foremost au-
thority on coin machines. In addition to
news items and on-the-spot fea ture stories,
correspondents compile monthly business
reports by check ing with at least one op-
erator in every branch of the business, thus
enabling reader to receive a month-to-
month picture of conditions in every major
city.
Hurd plans th e book's features months
in advan ce. Special care is exerci sed to
see tlJa t a wid e variety of stori es is carried
during any 12-month period so that re-
gardless of whi ch type of equipment an
operator handles, h e will find some articles
of particular interest to him.
180 co nsec utive i sues . . . 15 years of
service to th e Indu stry . . . ' A mil estone
ha been reached. Many more will follow.
New Shuffleboard
SAN FRANCISCO - Golden Gate ov-
elty Co. is now manufacturin g and dis-
tributin g Shuffle King shuffi eboard , com-
plete with electric scori ng devi ce.
"Shuffle King is 100 per cent legal and
entails no operating expen e. It i proving
to be a terrifi c money-maker," stated Al
Meyers, sale manager for the firm.
Both San Francisco and Oakland offices
of Golden Gate Novelty are handlin g the
new shuffi eboard.
EXPAND with New Machines
REPAIRS ond PARTS
Buy and Sell Slots
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OVER 20 YEARS IN
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