Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

Newly elected officers of
the Phonograph Owners'
Association of East St.
Louis, Ill. R. H. Schnei-
der, re-elected · president,
is second from left in
front row and next man
is E. C. Steffens , of
Permo Point, who was
guest speaker at the An-
nual Banquet.
So. Ill. Ops
Eat and Elect
COIN
MACHINE
REVIEW
72
FOR
FEBRUARY
1941
by ROBERT L,ATIMER
EAST ST. LOUIS-The night of January
23rd was the scene of unusually gay festivi-
ties at the Broadview Hotel in East St.
Louis, Illinois~ when the membership of the
Phonograph Owner's Association of South-
ern Illinois held their second annual ban-
quet in the green-and-gold ballroom. This,
the second of the yearly celebrations of the
group, was responsible for more than 150
operators and their families on hand to
welcome new officers and summarize the
events of 1940.
Now live times its 1938 size ( the group
was founded in midyear of 1938) the South-
ern Illinois group has become one of the
strongest associations in the middle west,
under the guiding hand of R. H. "Hardy"
Schneider, president of the group for the
past two years, and himself one of the
state's better known township operators.
During 1940, there was not a single case in
which any operator lost a location through
unfair practices, and the number of com-
plaints which are characteristic of any
large scale operation of the type is re-
markably few.
The evening began with a confirmation
of election of officers for 1941, who were
formally introduced late in the dinner.
Elected by the board quietly with the pur-
pose of surprising the group January 23
were R. H. Schneider, re-elected president;
first vice president, L. Kaesberg; second
vice president, Glenn Liebig; third vice
president, T. E. Heffernan; and secretary
treasurer, William Offerman. All officers
were unanimously renamed to their 1940
posts, with the exception of one new direc-
tor. Directors are E. S. McKelvey, Mike
Kappilla, Uarry Schooley, and E. W. Mor-
lence. All were again appointed to the same
positions on the basis of the profitable and
smoothly-operated year just past.
Approximately 30 guests were invited to
attend the second annual banquet, despite
a long standing association rule which ordi-
narily bars distributors or agents from the
meeting of the group. These included the
new president of the Associated Phono-
uraph Operators of St. Louis Association;
John LaBan of the A. M. I. Distributing
Company; Ed Fisher, executive secretary
of the same group; Frank Cummings, In-
terstate Electric Supply Company; Joseph
Turner, Decca St. Louis office; Clarence
Layer, Layer Distributing Company; Wal-
ter Bowman, operator, and members of the
Ideal Novelty Company route management.
During the dinner, wives of operators at-
tending were given a pleasant surprise with
the gift of compacts, decorated with Ameri-
can flags and other patriotic designs. Roast
turkey and wassail bowls made the dinner
more than enjoyable. During the intermis•
sfon following, Schneider, who presided as
toastmaster, called upon well-known figures
in his association for short talks, the guests
listed above, and spoke on the progress of
the group, A joke which had a few mem-
bers covertly hiding their faces was Presi-
dent Schneider's charge that despite the
fact that East St. Louis contains 300 phono-
graphs, not one could be found for music
for the evening's affair. This, it was brought
out, was supplied by a small operator and
route owner of St. Louis who also has a
minor distributing agency-Carl Trippe of
Ideal Novelty Company. There was a rising
vo te of thanks to Carl for this help, the use
of a new Rock-Ola for the dinner.
An ideal testimonial to the high opinion
which the membership of the group holds
for President Schneider was a high point
following his talk. At this time, E. S.
McKelvey, a director in the group, pre-
sented Schneider with a duebill calling for
installation of a complete rathskeller liquor
bar in the basement of Schneider's new
home in St. Louis, includin g all-walnut bar,
electric refrigeration, complete glassware
and accessories all around. This was the
association's method of thanking Hardy
for his hard work in knitting the associa-
tion together, and for once, left him speech-
less.
IAAEPO representative E. C. Steffens,
who recently joined the staff of Permo Pro-
ducts in Chicago, was the principal speaker
for the evening, and spent some twenty
minutes in complimenting the southern Illi-
nois group on their association activities
during the past two years. "Association con-
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fidence and cooperation is the only means
by which phonograph operation can be
kept completely free of discord" Steffens
explained "And we have found that the
twin associations of St. Louis and Southern
Illinois are leading the way for many other
such groups the country over."
The meeting closed with Steffens' talk,
and continued into the wee hours with
dancing and music.
♦
Groetchen Products
Win Show Plaudits
CHICAGO-"They knew they could rely
upon Groetchen to give them something
new," declared Groetchen officials, "and
from the first day of the Show until the last
every member of our staff was busy in the
Groetchen booth demonstrating the merits
of our new and old products to operator,
from every part of the nation.
"At times operators were standing ten
deep around the four large booths in order
to have a look at live new and unusual
counter games. An initial order for 1,000
Pikes Peak games placed by Roy Torr,
Philadelphfa distributor, caused a furor on
the second day of the Show. Pikes Peak is
the new all skill, legal, 5-ball novelty game,
ings in closed territories.
"Two new miniature games with coin
divider and location cash boxes, patterned
after the sensational Imp, attracted unpre•
cedented interest. One of the miniature
games is called Klix, a blackjack game,
and the other is Pok-o-Reel. Although only
slightly larger than Imp, these two new
games have almost four times the cash box
capacity.
" Dial-It is the fourth entirely new and
completely different Groetchen game, un-
veiled for the first time at the 1941 Show.
Indications of the tremendous appeal of
Dial-It is evidenced in the heavy orders
taken for this game, althou gh deliveries
have not been promised before March 1.
"The record volume of orders placed for
Champion proves that operators have recog-
nized it as the industry's newest and finest
token payout game," the factory spokesman
concluded.
♦
Dual Set-Up Needed By
Distrib., says Ginsberg
CHICAGO-"The distributing concern
of today must have really two organizations
-one an administrative and selling organ-
iaztion and the other a buying organiza-
tion," declares Morrie Ginsberg of the At-
las Novelty Company.
"Buyi'ng contacts with sources of supply
are today as important to the distributor in
servicing his operator-customers as are
sales ,contacts. A distributing company
must know where to get games and mach-
ines in satisfying their operator demand for
new and used equipment.
"The Atlas Novelty Company is fortun-
ate in its line-up of factories represented-
the cream of the crop, we believe, in lines
offered in this field. And we are equally
fortunate in sources of supply on used
machines. That is why Atlas never sees a
shortage of used equipment offerings. Our
sources of used machine supply are assured
through years of contact with people who
have such equipment to offer.
•
" Th is is why Atlas does two big busi-
nesses. One, a big sales volume _in new
machines. And, two, a big business in used
equipment. And this is why Atlas really
maintains two organizations. One to sell
and serve the opera tor. And one to buy." ♦
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