Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)
Issue: 1936 February - Page 14
Editor in Liberal Stand on Gambling
•
" Why swallow a bird and stra i n at a gnat ?" asks California n ews-
pa per in mi dst of cl ea n-up c amp a ign.
LOS ANGELES.-In the midst of a
clean· up war being waged on three Pacific
Coast fronts against slot machines and In
some instances going so far as to include
skill games because of the inability of offi·
cials to make distinctions between amuse·
ment and gambling equipment, a California
editor comes to the fore with a strong plea
in favor of a liberal attitude toward slot
machines by pointing out that the state
has legalized horse racing and horse race
gambling.
"Why swallow a bird and strain at a
gnat?" the Middleton Times·Star asks . • It
is significant that other newspapers are car·
rying reports of $7,000,000 being wagered
through the pari.mutuel machines at the
Santa Anita race track in the opening
weeks of the season and are devoting pages
to racing form s and dope sheets, while
the front pages of some are loaded with
type telling about the confiscation of a
handful of slot machines containing a total
of $100 worth of the publi c's nickels.
In Los Angeles, an extended three·cor·
nered argument was being carried on by
Mayor Shaw, Chief of Police Davis and
members of the City Council that made the
headlines for these individuals. It was pre·
cipitated by a decision by City Attorney
Chesebro that the city could not legally
li cense slot machines and punch boards.
A few of the sensational newspapers went
so far as to include the city's 10,000 Ii·
censed pin games in the bickering, but
the Los Angeles Tim es, conservative paper,
points out that no city of any size has
ever been able to rid itself of /!:ambling
and add s:
"The people of California legalized race·
track gambling . . . The gambling wave, if
there is on e, may be traced directly to the
statute which makes an exception of horse·
race betting. To call one form of gambling
legal and other form s illegal is an incon·
sistency which human nature instinctively
grasps ; and those that do not have the
time or the inclination to go to the track
to do it, seek the opportunity closer hom e.
The demand creates the supply . . . The
city has a police department which is p er ·
forming its major function well. Major
crime has been notably diminished in the
past few years. It would be poor business
to disturb this satisfactory situation be·
cause there are slot machines and punch
boards operating . . . "
Other slot machine crusades were being
waged in Santa Cruz county, California,
and Seattle and Bellingham, Washington ,
while some Northern California commu·
niti es al so closed during the month.
Here's the way the Middleton (Cali£. )
Tim es·Star sums up the situation editori·
ally:
With the operators of slot machines
marking time until the opening of the sum·
mer season, difficulty is in view in the
county. Sentiment in all parts of the
county is that the machines are not harm·
ful and are, on the contrary, a great rev~ ·
nue producer and tourist attraction.
'
Thos e in favor of the machines being
operated point out that nearly eighty thou·
sand dollars a year is brought to the county
by them and that this figur e far exceeds
many of our agricultural products. They
say the bulk of this money comes in during
the tourist season and that practically all
of it is tourist money and no handicap to
the people 0/ the county. The element 0/
gambling is no worse, they state, than
when a lodge or church holds a raffle to
rais e money fo'r any purpose.
Though these machines are outlawed by
the state, a tax is collected on them . This
aids considerably in handling the tax bur·
den 0/ the state government and taking
away this SOltrCe 0/ revenue would mean a
heavier load somewhere els e.
We have legalized horse racing; legalized
horserace gambling. Wh y swallow a bird
and strain at a gnat? Let the machines
alone; they do no real amount of harm and
bring in plenty 0/ revenue.
BRIGHT FUTURE
• Stoners prep are fo r industry ' s
b iggest sea son duri ng y e ar.
AUROR A, Ill.-Encouraged by the pros·
pects for the new year, officials of the
Stoner Corporation are preparing for the
biggest season the coin machin e industry
ever has had.
Among the new productions in the Aris·
tocrat line are Top·Hat, the lightup game
that was received with great interest by
operators from California to New York,
and Double-Up, a new automatic one-shot
payout game. In the latter game an inno-
vation is an indicator that designates which
of the award holes will yield a double
award if the player shoots the ball into it.
DUETTE SCORES
CHICAGO. - The new Duette, double-
play, double-pay vender manufactured by
the Ad-Lee Company scored a tremendous
success at the 1936 coin machine show
in Chicago during January.
Commenting on the machin e M . J. Lee
of the firm said "We were told during the
convention by a great many operators and
jobbers that we had incorporated in Duette
more improvements and changes than any
other penny merchandise machine on the'
market for the past 25 years. You know
from your own experience that nothing but
single globe units have been in vogue all
these years, and the only changes made
have been in the style of the /!:lobe or the
casting, and in some instances, in the color
of the fini sh ."
8,000 Coinmen
(Continued from page 15)
machines pointing the way to previously
un exploited fields for the coin operated
"silent salesman." Finer and more im-
posing cigarette vending machines, im-
proved confection vending machines and a
wide variety of novelty and specialized
devices were in evidence.
Alon/!: with the 1936 model digger ma-
chines were such types of equipment for
NEW AND USED MACHINES
Our Motto: " W e A im T o P lease"
422 East Fourth S treet
Phone 623-278
LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA
18
•
COIN
MACHINE
REVIEW
3000 Attend Banquet
The annual banquet of the Show drew a
crowd in excess of 3000 that overflowed
into every available nook of the Hotel
Sherman. The program started in the
Grand Ballroom and was repeated in the
Louis XVI Room, where the Wurlitzer Mfg.
Co. banquet for music operators was
thrown open ' to accommodate the many
folks who were unable to get places in the
main room.
Billy Snyder was master of ceremonies
for a bill that included a line of 16 danc-
ing girls, acrobatic dancers, Anthony
Mark s, magician; the Hoosier Hot Shots,
well known recording hill billies, a Negro
quartet, Master Eugene, 16-year-old xylo-
phone player; Chinese rhumba dllncers,
adagio dancer s, vari ety acts and Nelson's
Boxing Cats.
It was with regret that most
the oper-
ators and jobbers viewed the closing of the
1936 Show and headed once more for
home, there to resume the daily grind.
ot
A REAL BARGAIN!
100 Used Rowe
15c Cigarette Machines
DE LUXE MODEL
6 Oolumns tor Oi garettes and one
column tor matches. Oapacity 120
packs. Glass windows below coin
chutes expose last coins inserted.
This eliminates possibility ot slugs.
Floor stand supplied at $2.00.
$24 50
each
"' OR $20.00 each for 5
ORIGINAL OOST $75.00 each.
TAKE I MMEDIATE ADVANTAGE
OF THIS OFFER ! TERMS :
Y3 wit h order. B alance C. O. D .
LONG BEACH COIN MACHINE EXCHANGE
SALES AND SERVICE
operation over a long period of time as a
combination pin game and merchandise
dispenser, an automatic riflerange, a new
coin-operated photograph machine and
several larger models of amusement equip-
ment, including a skee-ball outfit and many
pieces of club-model equipment of the
payout type.
Aside from its business aspects, the 1936
Show was a social success of the first
degree. Hundreds of the visiting coin m a-
chine men arrived several days early and
remained afterward for visits to the fac-
tories. Their time between viewing th e
displays and attending convention sessions
was given over to an unending round of
entertainment provided in elaborate doses
by th e 103 exhibitors at the Show.
D. ROBBINS & CO.
1141Y2 DeKalb Ave., Brooklyn, N .Y.
FEB R UARY ,
193 6
.
•
" Why swallow a bird and stra i n at a gnat ?" asks California n ews-
pa per in mi dst of cl ea n-up c amp a ign.
LOS ANGELES.-In the midst of a
clean· up war being waged on three Pacific
Coast fronts against slot machines and In
some instances going so far as to include
skill games because of the inability of offi·
cials to make distinctions between amuse·
ment and gambling equipment, a California
editor comes to the fore with a strong plea
in favor of a liberal attitude toward slot
machines by pointing out that the state
has legalized horse racing and horse race
gambling.
"Why swallow a bird and strain at a
gnat?" the Middleton Times·Star asks . • It
is significant that other newspapers are car·
rying reports of $7,000,000 being wagered
through the pari.mutuel machines at the
Santa Anita race track in the opening
weeks of the season and are devoting pages
to racing form s and dope sheets, while
the front pages of some are loaded with
type telling about the confiscation of a
handful of slot machines containing a total
of $100 worth of the publi c's nickels.
In Los Angeles, an extended three·cor·
nered argument was being carried on by
Mayor Shaw, Chief of Police Davis and
members of the City Council that made the
headlines for these individuals. It was pre·
cipitated by a decision by City Attorney
Chesebro that the city could not legally
li cense slot machines and punch boards.
A few of the sensational newspapers went
so far as to include the city's 10,000 Ii·
censed pin games in the bickering, but
the Los Angeles Tim es, conservative paper,
points out that no city of any size has
ever been able to rid itself of /!:ambling
and add s:
"The people of California legalized race·
track gambling . . . The gambling wave, if
there is on e, may be traced directly to the
statute which makes an exception of horse·
race betting. To call one form of gambling
legal and other form s illegal is an incon·
sistency which human nature instinctively
grasps ; and those that do not have the
time or the inclination to go to the track
to do it, seek the opportunity closer hom e.
The demand creates the supply . . . The
city has a police department which is p er ·
forming its major function well. Major
crime has been notably diminished in the
past few years. It would be poor business
to disturb this satisfactory situation be·
cause there are slot machines and punch
boards operating . . . "
Other slot machine crusades were being
waged in Santa Cruz county, California,
and Seattle and Bellingham, Washington ,
while some Northern California commu·
niti es al so closed during the month.
Here's the way the Middleton (Cali£. )
Tim es·Star sums up the situation editori·
ally:
With the operators of slot machines
marking time until the opening of the sum·
mer season, difficulty is in view in the
county. Sentiment in all parts of the
county is that the machines are not harm·
ful and are, on the contrary, a great rev~ ·
nue producer and tourist attraction.
'
Thos e in favor of the machines being
operated point out that nearly eighty thou·
sand dollars a year is brought to the county
by them and that this figur e far exceeds
many of our agricultural products. They
say the bulk of this money comes in during
the tourist season and that practically all
of it is tourist money and no handicap to
the people 0/ the county. The element 0/
gambling is no worse, they state, than
when a lodge or church holds a raffle to
rais e money fo'r any purpose.
Though these machines are outlawed by
the state, a tax is collected on them . This
aids considerably in handling the tax bur·
den 0/ the state government and taking
away this SOltrCe 0/ revenue would mean a
heavier load somewhere els e.
We have legalized horse racing; legalized
horserace gambling. Wh y swallow a bird
and strain at a gnat? Let the machines
alone; they do no real amount of harm and
bring in plenty 0/ revenue.
BRIGHT FUTURE
• Stoners prep are fo r industry ' s
b iggest sea son duri ng y e ar.
AUROR A, Ill.-Encouraged by the pros·
pects for the new year, officials of the
Stoner Corporation are preparing for the
biggest season the coin machin e industry
ever has had.
Among the new productions in the Aris·
tocrat line are Top·Hat, the lightup game
that was received with great interest by
operators from California to New York,
and Double-Up, a new automatic one-shot
payout game. In the latter game an inno-
vation is an indicator that designates which
of the award holes will yield a double
award if the player shoots the ball into it.
DUETTE SCORES
CHICAGO. - The new Duette, double-
play, double-pay vender manufactured by
the Ad-Lee Company scored a tremendous
success at the 1936 coin machine show
in Chicago during January.
Commenting on the machin e M . J. Lee
of the firm said "We were told during the
convention by a great many operators and
jobbers that we had incorporated in Duette
more improvements and changes than any
other penny merchandise machine on the'
market for the past 25 years. You know
from your own experience that nothing but
single globe units have been in vogue all
these years, and the only changes made
have been in the style of the /!:lobe or the
casting, and in some instances, in the color
of the fini sh ."
8,000 Coinmen
(Continued from page 15)
machines pointing the way to previously
un exploited fields for the coin operated
"silent salesman." Finer and more im-
posing cigarette vending machines, im-
proved confection vending machines and a
wide variety of novelty and specialized
devices were in evidence.
Alon/!: with the 1936 model digger ma-
chines were such types of equipment for
NEW AND USED MACHINES
Our Motto: " W e A im T o P lease"
422 East Fourth S treet
Phone 623-278
LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA
18
•
COIN
MACHINE
REVIEW
3000 Attend Banquet
The annual banquet of the Show drew a
crowd in excess of 3000 that overflowed
into every available nook of the Hotel
Sherman. The program started in the
Grand Ballroom and was repeated in the
Louis XVI Room, where the Wurlitzer Mfg.
Co. banquet for music operators was
thrown open ' to accommodate the many
folks who were unable to get places in the
main room.
Billy Snyder was master of ceremonies
for a bill that included a line of 16 danc-
ing girls, acrobatic dancers, Anthony
Mark s, magician; the Hoosier Hot Shots,
well known recording hill billies, a Negro
quartet, Master Eugene, 16-year-old xylo-
phone player; Chinese rhumba dllncers,
adagio dancer s, vari ety acts and Nelson's
Boxing Cats.
It was with regret that most
the oper-
ators and jobbers viewed the closing of the
1936 Show and headed once more for
home, there to resume the daily grind.
ot
A REAL BARGAIN!
100 Used Rowe
15c Cigarette Machines
DE LUXE MODEL
6 Oolumns tor Oi garettes and one
column tor matches. Oapacity 120
packs. Glass windows below coin
chutes expose last coins inserted.
This eliminates possibility ot slugs.
Floor stand supplied at $2.00.
$24 50
each
"' OR $20.00 each for 5
ORIGINAL OOST $75.00 each.
TAKE I MMEDIATE ADVANTAGE
OF THIS OFFER ! TERMS :
Y3 wit h order. B alance C. O. D .
LONG BEACH COIN MACHINE EXCHANGE
SALES AND SERVICE
operation over a long period of time as a
combination pin game and merchandise
dispenser, an automatic riflerange, a new
coin-operated photograph machine and
several larger models of amusement equip-
ment, including a skee-ball outfit and many
pieces of club-model equipment of the
payout type.
Aside from its business aspects, the 1936
Show was a social success of the first
degree. Hundreds of the visiting coin m a-
chine men arrived several days early and
remained afterward for visits to the fac-
tories. Their time between viewing th e
displays and attending convention sessions
was given over to an unending round of
entertainment provided in elaborate doses
by th e 103 exhibitors at the Show.
D. ROBBINS & CO.
1141Y2 DeKalb Ave., Brooklyn, N .Y.
FEB R UARY ,
193 6
.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).