Automatic Age

July, 1934
A U TO M A TIC AGE
New York Operators Gain
Favorable Publicity
IN T E RV IE W OF MONTH
(Continued from page 23)
steady nerves, a willingness to listen
to advice, a desire to remain close to
the bustle of business.
Ballyhoo was followed by a series
of successful games which are now
part of the illustrious history of pin
games — Screwy, 3-Ring Circus,
Goofy, Airw ay and many others.
Kay’s outstanding contribution to the
industry, however, is the automatic
pay-out pin game. Not that Ray in­
vented the machine— he scrupulously
refrains from claiming credit for the
inventions which he manufacturers
and sells. R ay’s part in the develop­
ment of the pay-out pin game w s
more im portant and required more
steadfast, relentless determination
than the role of an inventor. He had
to overcome prejudice, the scoffing
doubt of experienced mechanics, the
general belief that “it can’t be done.”
Ray was convinced that it could be
done. And in course of time he saw
to it that it was done— when the first
and, to date, only fully automatic
pay-out pin game appeared.
Another service which Ray Mo­
loney has performed for the industry
has been to challenge and disprove
the idea of a “summer slump” in the
coin machine field. He has talked and
written vigorously against this idea.
Only last month in an exclusive ar­
ticle written for this publication, he
proved by facts and figures, drawn
from his own experience, that the
past two summers have been seasons
of unusual activity in the coin-ma­
chine industry. And today he is in ­
dicating his scorn of the “ summer
slump” idea by launching three out­
standing new games in the dog-days
of Ju ly !
Ray is still a young man— under
35. He is married and has two chil­
dren. He is active in the affairs of
his industry, a member of the N R A
Code Authority for the coin-machine
field. His only hobbies, outside of his
business, are golf, hand-ball and hob­
nobbing with his many friends. He
is “ Ray” to his business associates,
his customers, his employees— a sure
indication of the friendly democratic
spirit of this man who in the course
of a few years has built an interna­
tionally famous firm, has watched his
plant grow from a small one-floor
shop to a modern 3-story factory with
almost 50,000 square feet of floor
space, and who is one of the most
active as well as one of the most
popular men in an industry which
is becoming more powerful and influ­
ential every day.
89
A N E X A M P L E of the excellent
publicity obtained by the Metro­
politan Skill Games Board of Trade
is shown below in the clipping from
the New York Daily Eagle of Sunday,
June 17th:
OLD PIN GAMES
HELP PASS TIME
AT HOSPITALS
D uring the last two months a new
sound has been heard in numerous
hospitals— the click of marbles.
No, not the old-fashioned, ever-
popular game played by generations
of boys, shooting the tiny balls with
their fingers.
The marbles that are giving new
diversion, amusement and cheer to
many sufferers are those found in
the pin games of skill. Y ou’ve seen
these games, in glass covered, oblong
cases, into whose pin-studded pat­
terns and hollows the marbles are
plunged through the mechanical de­
vice operated by the individual player.
Games Distributed Free
In a small suite of offices at 186
Joralemon St. is located the head­
quarters of this new charitable pro­
ject. Here you will find Saul Kalson,
originator and director of the plan,
who will tell you how these games
are being distributed among the hos­
pitals without cost of any kind, not
even freightage, to the institutions.
Rotund, middle-aged enthusiastic
Kalson told how in the two months
600 machines have been sent out this
way. And more are on the way, he
says.
Among the local hospitals he named
as recipients were Greenpoint, Brad­
ford St., Sea View, Brooklyn State,
Pilgrim State at Brentwood, and
Central Islip State.
In addition to hospitals, his list in­
cludes the Flatbush Boy’s Club, the
Percy W illiams Home, at East Islip,
and the Brooklyn Home for Children.
Kalson acts in sort of a dual ca­
pacity. He is manager of the Greater
New York Vending Machine Opera­
tors’ Association, which functions at
the Joralemon St. address. The asso­
ciation is a member of the Metro­
politan Skill Games Board of Trade.
It is this board which is sponsoring
the project.
“ We,” explained Kalson, speaking
© I n t e r n a t io n a l A r c a d e M u s e u m
for the industry, “were confronted
with the fact that machines become
antiquated quickly. Antiquated, in the
sense that the novelty of that par­
ticular type of pin game wears off
or the machine itself becomes worn-
looking.
“ This means that the machines,
perhaps after only six months, must
be removed. As a rule, it would be
sold to a jobber, who would fix it
up, and resell it. This means, though,
that the man who bought a new m a­
chine would find this old machine in
competition.
“ This new plan has helped solve
this situation. The antiquated ma­
chines are donated. Even though the
owner gets not a penny for the ma­
chine, he is saved money in not hav­
ing competition and, also by replacing
more frequently, he stimulates in ­
terest and trade.”
Cost from $30 to $250
Each machine, according to Kalson,
originaly averaged a cost of $30,
though some ran as high as $250. In
all, the 600 given away present a
total of $18,000, or in resale value,
second hand, would have amounted
to about $8,000.
Mr. Kalson makes it evident that
he is proud of “the industry.” It
employs, he estimated, going care­
fully into trade details, about one-
quarter of a million people. But
properly developed, including export
trade, he knows there is room for
2,000,000 for all the various steps in
manufacture and operation involved.
Another point Kalson strove to
make clear was the non-gambling
aspect of the pin games. Individual
skill is the lever, he stressed, and told
how the games in the commercial
field in the city are operated under
the Department of Licenses.
But the biggest thrill of it all he
is getting since the industry’s venture
into charity. Smiling, he showed a
sheaf of letters from the institutions.
He pointed to doctors’ signatures on
some of them. He pointed to some
of the phrases— “soothes nerves be­
sides giving diversion”— “play an im ­
portant part in
hastening con-
valscense and return home . . .”
“Now,” said Kalson, “anything that
does that is as good as medicine.”—
Daily Eagle, Sunday, June 17th, 1934.
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