Automatic Age

a record of over 20 years of
service.
—--- o----
William Charles Shinn
BALLY VISITED BY COMMANDO LEADER.
Photo shows group of Bally workers gathered to hear Lt. Col. I. F. MacAlpine
(kilted officer In center) describe Commando capture of Algiers.
Mills Industries, Incorporated
- - New Name for 54 Year Old
Mills Novelty Company
At a meeting of the stock­
holders of Mills Novelty Com-
any held on July 16th, it was
decided to change the name of
the 54-year-old Chicago con­
cern to Mills Industries, Incor­
porated. Name change will for­
mally take place on September
1st, 1943. The ownership and
management of the concern re­
mains exactly the same: Fred
L. Mills, President; Ralph J.
Mills, Executive Vice-Presi­
dent; Herbert S. Mills, Treas­
urer; Hayden R. Mills, Secret­
ary; Dennis W. Donohue and
Gordon B. Mills, Vice-Presi­
dents.
In one way the name change
might be considered a casualty
of war since the word ‘Novelty’
scarcely suited the nature of
the lethal war material which
the three big Chicago factories
with their 2 0 0 0 employees,
have been producing and send­
ing to various battle fronts in
the past two years.
On the other hand, president
Fred Mills stated: “For several
years before we went 100% in­
to war work we had expanded
our manufacturing organiza­
tion so that it was producing
heavy equipment in soft drink
dispensing machinery, refriger-
ation compressors, air condi­
tioning equipment, ice cream
freezers, motion picture pro­
jectors. Dealers in these lines
continually suggested that we
change our name. The word
“Novelty” had come into the
name when the Company was
established by my father, Her­
bert S. Mills in 1889. That was
the arcade era in America and
the word “Novelty” then meant
any machine that furnished ar­
cade amusement. From now on,
all of our war manufacturing
will proceed under our new
name, Mills Industries, Incor­
porated.”
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Marbles Used Effectively
in Ball Gum Vendors
Listen to what an old hand
in the vending machine field
has to say about use of marbles
in ball gum vendors:
“With ball gum almost as
hard to get as a new pre-war
tire or a juicy steak, marbles
are really an answer to an oper­
ator’s prayer. Some operators
claim marbles used with spot­
ted, striped or p r i z e gum,
shows much better plan than
when just gum was used.”
Roy Torr, of Philadelphia,
Pa., made the above statement,
and he is in a position to know.
Torr has been supplying opera­
tors all over the country with
machines and supplies, and has
On Thursday, June 24, 1913,
Mr. William Charles S h i n n
died. He was president of the
Chicago Lock Company. The
demise of Mr. Shinn came at a
time when he was earnestly
devoted to the guidance of his
organization in the production
of vital war instruments. His
passing away is a loss which
brought sorrow to his associ­
ates, and his qualities of lead­
ership will assure continuance
of the all out effort which he
s e t f o r the organization he
headed.
For many years, the Chicago
Lock Company has been asso­
ciated with the coin machine
industry, for which this plant
manufactured s p e c i a l locks.
“Ace” Locks have been favor­
ably known and used by manu­
facturers of coin o p e r a t e d
equipment and operators.
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Gold-Plated Hit Record
Cowboy singer Elton Britt
was elected to the record in­
dustry’s exclusive hall of fame
last week when he was pre­
sented with a gold-plated copy
of the one-millionth pressing
of his Bluebird hit, “There’s a
Star Spangled Banner Waving
Somewhere.” At the same time
it was revealed that the disc
had passed the 1,100,000 sales
mark and was s t i l l g o i n g
strong. The Oklahoma b o r n
and raised songster was pre­
sented with Victor’s version of
Hollywood’s “ O s c a r s , ” by
Frank Walker, RCA V i c t o r
official, at ceremonies aired
over T e d C o t t ’ s “Sounding
Board” radio program in New
York. At the rate the disc is
selling now, Walker predicted,
it will become the biggest cow­
boy seller on the Bluebird hill­
billy list.
AUTOMATIC AGE
6
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