Automatic Age

192
November, 1936
AUTOM A TIC AGE
the early arrivals, they were more
than satisfied.
1500 Throng Cafe de Paree
for Coast Frolic
•
T OS ANGELES — The Coast Coin
Machine Show and Frolic, held
Wednesday, September 16, at the
Cafe de Paree in Los Angeles, was
declared by everyone to have no rival
in enjoyment. Here, from all parts
of the country, came operators, fac­
tory representatives and others to
enjoy themselves at the annual equip­
ment display, ball, floor show and
banquet. All attendance records were
shattered for a one day affair when
it was found that over 1500 people
had been registered. A few there
were of course who escaped the
watchers at the doors, (they probably
gained entrance through the back
door in a hope to avoid the rush out
front). Inspection of the registration
cards revealed the fact that visitors
came from as far as New York City.
The Club de Paree was the center
of attraction during the day, it was
here that nearly a hundred pieces of
equipment were on display. The room
was crowded all day long with inter­
ested spectators crowding around to
inspect the new equipment. They
were reluctant to leave even at six
o’clock and the Cafe’s dining room
staff experienced some difficulty in
clearing the room to prepare for the
banquet which followed.
Games on Display
Pay and pin games as well as bowl­
ing games held the interest of a large
part of the crowd. One machine which
should have been held over until after
the banquet was a lone weighing ma­
chine, a weight gaining contest would
have been in order. Sales boards,
Bell-type machines, counter games,
diggers and other types of equipment
drew their share of attention while
a fruit vender and pop corn machine
supplied inexpensive refreshments for
those who could not gather around
the bar. Operators, who within the
next few weeks will be receiving their
new phonographs, were enjoying
themselves by playing these new auto­
matic machines as often as they were
available. Every other sort of item
which could be of any interest to an
operator was on display. The Rotary
Merchandiser caught the eye and
fancy of many and a representative
stood by passing out tokens for play­
ing it. Many were lucky enough to
push a mason jar top into the well
and were evidently amply rewarded
for their accuracy in aim.
A truly excellent dinner, both in
quality and quantity was served, and
in spite of the impatience of some of
New Type Floor Show
Everyone heartily agreed that the
floor show presentation by Fanchon
& Marco was beyond the shadow of
a doubt the finest entertainment ever
given at a West Coast coin machine
affair. Instead of presenting the
stereotyped ensemble dancing chorus,
Fanchon & Marco introduced an in­
novation. Each of the girls, nine in
number, was a specialty artist in her
own right and each had her own in­
dividual act. The performance was
so outstanding that the audience
brought the house down with applause.
The entire show was thus equivalent
to about 16 acts in length and was
entirely different from the usual type
o f performance given at almost any
theatre or night club.
Because of the merriment going on
and the fact that the loud speaker
system carried the announcements
from the Cafe to the Club because
of too much o f a load, the drawing
for the door prizes was marred. In
the drawing in the Club side, the
folks in the Cafe heard the noise and
vice versa. With officials of the va­
rious firms donating prizes to help
make the awards, the drawings were
held. Because the winners o f the
Mills phonograph and the Skee-Ball
obviously could not go home carry­
ing their prize under their arm, it
was decided that certificates would
be used in the actual presentation,
and winners called at the Cafe the fol­
lowing day to claim their equipment.
Dancing continued until two o’clock
for those who had not wandered off
home. At that time a second floor
show was presented with new faces
and new acts. Then, just to make the
whole thing a huge success, everyone
had ham and eggs.
Trailer Display Room
Detroit Considers
Parking Meters
T h is photo o f t h e inte rio r o f t h e La Beau N ov elty Co. traile r s h o w s w h a t can bo
d one w ith limited sp ac e.
© International Arcade Museum
The favorable comment on the
subject of installation of parking
meters is attracting considerable at­
tention in Detroit. Charles E. Boyd,
secretary o f the Retail Merchants’
Association of Detroit, reports: “ We
should like to be able to install and
try out the system o f parking meters,
which have been used successfully in
a number of other cities.”
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