Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

BALL GUM VENDER
I c or Sc play-cigarette reels
Beer-Horse or Number symbols-Sc only
Automatic Jack Pot Model I c or Sc
New Hammerloid Enamel Finish-
Choice of Colors
Open or concealed payout. Entire mechanism
removable as a unit for instant reloading.
Operate the only token payout Ball Gum Vender
on the market for real counter game profits.
Write Today for Prices
16
COIN
MACHIN E
REVIEW
GBOETCBEN TOOL COMPANY
122 NORTH UNION STREET
•
with
I RVING SHERMAN
Those thuds and groans heard in the
New York vicinity recently were not from
the Louis-Galento fight which was plenty
tough. It was the cigarette machine oper-
ators taking it on the chin and around the
kissers. In addition to a two cent state
tax, city fathers pasted a penny tax on
cigarettes bringing the machine price up
to seventeen cents. This compares with a
retail price of 13 cents in New Jersey and
15 cents in Connecticut. Say the merchan-
disers: "Keep your eyes open. A lot of
bootleg cigarettes are going to fill the New
York market," July 1st was the deadline.
That wasn't Peeping Tom; it was Sam
Kressberg of East Coast Phonograph Dis-
tributors, the Seeburg outlet, trying to get
a new· angle with his Rollicord. Sam has·
gone in for photography in a big way and
flags the fire engines and radio patrols for
action shots. The story that takes the prize
concerns Sam asking a holdup man to slow
up for a better shot of the guy making a
run for it.
Bill Frazer was doing the sights the
other night and landed in a spot where not
a single cigarette machine was in sight.
Bill lost no time for contact, only to learn
•
CHICAGO, 11. S. A.
it was no go. Pointing to a semi-clad young
lady circulating among the customers, the
proprietor of the cafe asked: "Have you
a machine that can compete with that?"
"Listen," replied Frazer, "with competitiun
like that, a guy needs a machine."
Bill Peek, secretary of the CMA, is very
quiet these days. Has the missus laid the
law down, Bill, or is fr the wea ther?
Aaron ( vice president) Gosch takes the
office seriously. No throttlebottom for him.
Berger, as president of the CMA, might
crack a pun now and then and let a joke
creep in; but with AG, you got to be
serious or you're up on the carpet. When
you consider what faces the cigarette trade
these days, you can't blame Gosch for his
attitude.
Sol Pincus's outdoor swimming pool (he's
one of the founders of the CMA and oper-
ates the Cigarette Service Co.), is one of
the showplaces of upper Manhattan. Re-
cently Sol began to be troubled with a lot
of young bloods getting cramps in the
middle of the pool and calling for help. He
couldn't make head or tail of it until he
saw who was doing the rescuing. You
guessed it-a lady lifeguard. Come to think
of it, Sol, we can't swim either, and how
about trying the pool?
Now that Al Noonan is back in the good
graces of the Automatic Music Operators'
Association, he says that his sinus ailment
and other troubles have left him.
Paul Gilmas, the only Greek in captivity
north of 42nd Street, has been roused by
rumors to the effect that his precedence in
calling for meetings to be adjourned, is to
be threatened. According to Paul, an ele-
ment in the association is plotting to de-
throne him, "I serve warning on all my
adversaries and competitors," Paul has an-
nounced, "tha t I will defend my title as
per Joe Louis. Just tell the boys not to
pull the Galento stuff on me."
The dog days are the signs for the usual
exodus of the operators, although quite a
few impart that business has not been of a
nature to encourage siestas. However, the
"urge to get away from it all" which grips
all of us, is affecting local tribes and Rubi-
now, Al Bloom, Red Johnson and a host
of others are hitting for the tall timbers.
Johnson is making use of his plane to make
sure that it's lonely where he lands.
Nat Franklin, cigarette operator, remem-
bers when he was a serviceman-a good
one, too, he tells you. How did Nat make
the grade? "I borrowed fifty dollars," con-
veyed Nat, "tightened my belt and looked
for my first spot." Nat has a lot of spots
now but still gets a big kick out of ser-
vicing. His contention is that he can ser-
vice a machine faster than any man he
knows.
Joe Fishman, secretary of the Amalga-
mated Vendors-the pinball crowd, assures
us that the association is active although
no meetings have been called. How's the
outlook for pinballs in New York? "My
answer is," returned Joe, "it's as good as
can be expected. One thing I know. When
the manufacturers send the boys a good
game it has a run and that's something.
Those one and two week games might be
all right for the usual merchandise; but
give us a game that gets and holds 'em.
Baseball games are going good and I think
machines along these lines nearly always
stand a fair chance of making profit for
the opera tors.
Increase in phonographs placed in the
Greater New York area is one of the in-
teresting developments of the first six
months of '39. This is explained by the
number of so-called candy-stores expanding
https://elibrary.arcade-museum.com