Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

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Coin
Machine
Review
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MAR C H, 1944
The COIN MACHINE REVIEW for March, 1944. Vol. II. No. 8. Published monthl~ at 1115 Venice Blvd ., Los Angeles 15, Calif. Fitzroy 8269. Paul W .
Blackford, editor and publisher. NEW YORK OFFICE (17) : Ra lph P. Mulligan, 441 LexIngton Ave., Murray Hill 2- 558~. CHICAGO OFFICE (I); C . J . Ander-
son , 35 East Wacker Drive , CENtral 1112. Entered as Second Class Matter July 23, 1936, at the Post Office at Los Angeles, Calif., under the Act of March 3,
1879. SUBSCRIPTION RATES : $1.00 per year or $2.00 for 3 years . 25c per copy.
140 CARLOADS
Tobacco Suffers Curb
RICHMOND. Va.-Leaders in th e to-
hacco industry ha\"e started a move ment to
forre the government to relinquish its crop
co ntro l on th e ra i s in ~ of tobacco. A gov-
ernm ent announ cement recentl y sta ted th at
the su ppl y of ciga rs a nd c igarettes this
yea r will be limited only by th e ma nufac-
turers' ability to produce.
Already so me of th e lea din g bra nds a re
bein g rati oned to johb ers, dealers a nd op-
erators ann th e co ntention is th at thi s con -
diti on will co ntinu e, and prohahl y grow
wo rse, unl ess th e governm en t permi ts more
ar reage to go to tobacco pl antin g.
Th e United Sta tes Depa rtm ent of A ~ ri ­
culture has pe rmitted a 20 per rent acre-
age increase for 1944 but thi s is held to he
insuffic ient.
Th e tota l 1943 ciga rette production
was estim ated at 285Y2 billion, an increase
of 14.2 per cent over 1942. These fi gures,
for th e first tim e, include th e tax fr ee cig-
a rettes se nt to the armed services. The re-
re ntly aucti oned Ru e-cured crop fell way
short of replacin g th e stocks used in thi s
produ cti on, and th e hurley tobacco now be-
in g ma rketed will not begin to restore th e
disappeara nce in ma nufacturers' stock of
th e lea f, acco rdinl!; to reli abl e sources.
AFM Influence
LOS ANGELES-Defi nite indication of
the influ ence th e American F ederation of
Musicians trea ty has mea nt to th e reco rd
ind ustry is shown in th e Musical P opul a r-
ity Poll of thi s issue of TH E R EVIJ:;W.
Th e " P oll" is com piled from listin gs re-
ce ived fro m 14 key citi es and suppli ed
telegra phi call y at presstim e. It is an au-
thoritative a nd auth entic barometer of trends
in vari ous parts of th e country, and in thi s
issue under " Best Selling Records" it will
he seen th at Decca a nd Capitol, who have
made th eir peace with AFM, have taken
over. Decra leads with seve n best sell ers
and Cap itol com es along with two out of
the ten hest sell ers. Columhia ga ins a
li stin g herause of the current popularity
of The Voice and Frank Sina tra's reco rd -
ing of I Couldn't Slee p a W ink Last Night
gets ninth billin g.
or
MISERY
Two Billion OPA Ration Tokens
Promise Real Operator Headache
If Your Copy is Late
Because of the uncertainties of
wartime transportation, many pe·
riodicals will frequently be latl!
arriving at destina tion. If your
COIN MACHINE REVIEW does not
reach you on time, please do not
write complaining of delay. The
delay is caused by conditions aris-
ing after your copy or order has
left Los Angeles.
Organization Forming
NEW YORK- A group of small oper-
ators are getting together to fonn a new
orga nization of music opera tors in New
York City, details of whi ch will be fur-
ni shed to th e tra de shortl y. The new or-
ganization will be known as th e Amal ga-
mated Music Operators' Associa tion.
Kaplan on Business Trip
LOS ANGELES- H arry Kaplan of the
Southwestern Vendin g Machine Co. left
Los An geles on F ebru ary 7th for a buying
and se llin g trip that took him as far East
as Chi cago. Harry is expected back on th e
Coast a round the 25th.
On The Cover--
Some lolks will wear green ties or
small shamrocks on St. Patrick's Day
"in the momin'" but not Joan Darwyn.
She's ready lor the great day with a
headpiece that will really proclaim her
celebration 01 the day.
WAS HINGTO N, D. C.-Na tion -wid e dis-
tributi on of stoc ks of th e new O. P . A. red
and blu e toke ns to ration ba nks through -
out th e co untry is now und er way. Th e
total out put of ove r 2,000,000,000 tokens is
bein g sent out o f th e factory in a south-
western Ohi o c ity a t a ra te of from 40,-
000,000 to 50,000,000 a day. Shi pments art'
all bein g made by express a nd will Lota l
140 carlo ads or app rox im a te ly llOO ton,;.
Des pite th e ava lan r he of protests, OPA
offi c ia ls ma inta in tha t th e shipments will
('ontinue a nd th e use of th e tokens will go
into effec t throughout th e co untry on
F ebruary 27th. Tokens will have a on e-
point value and are intended to facili'tate th e
makin g of "chan ge" in th e use by th e pub-
li c of th e red a nd blue ra tion coupons.
OPA stati'sti cians claim that the tokens will
save retail trade at least $35,000,000 a year
in te rms of time now s pent in countin g
a nd so rtin g stamps.
H owever, th e OPA fi gure boys didn' t
stop to fi gure how much th e sa me tokens
will cost operators of va ri ous types of CO; Il-
o pe ra ted equi pment in term s of time re-
quired to a ns wer service ca lls occasioned
by th e use of the tokens in vending a nd
amuse ment dev ices.
Tokens a re made of fib er and measu ;"p
.642 in diameter and are sma ll er an d
thinner th an dim es.
Whe n th e prog ra m of us ing token,; wa,
first adva nce d last yea r, the National Aut o-
mati c Mercha ndising Associa tion , Chicag') ,
co ntacted OP A offi cials a nd after month s of
meetin gs a nd consulta tion s the A sso ~ia ­
tion was assured th a t th e size would be .88
of a n in ch in di a meter or slightl y larger
th a n a ni ckel a nd small er than a quarter.
This was dee med sa ti sfactory by the Asso-
r iation for su(' h a toke n would not be u ~­
abl e in a utomati c devi ces. Wi, en it was re-
vea led on Novemb er 24th th at th e size h,ld
(See MISERY, Page 32)
THE REVIEW HAS NEVER MISSED AN ISSUE IN THE PAST TEN YEARS!!
NO OTHER COIN MACHINE MONTHLY CAN MAKE THAT STATEMENT!!
COIN
MACHINE
REVIEW
3
FOIt
MARCH
"44