Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

COIN
MACHINE
REVIEW
103
. FOR
Lagoon, another summer resort 20 miles
porth of Sal t Lake.
Canyon resorts in the many canyons,
from Provo on the south to Ogden on the
north, are busy places these days, with
thousands of motorists seeking picnic areas
and the locations are getting good play at
both photographic and amusement devices.
However, due to the transition from the
winter to summer operations, there is a let-
down in the over-all play and W. J. Jen-
nings, local representative of the Wolf
Sales Co., estimates the take is off about
20 per cent. The play is moving from the
inside locations to the outdoor spots, he
said.
K- Dart, branch manager for Wolf
Sales, has recently completed a successful
business tour through Idaho and Montana.
Among the most recent operators signed up
for Wurlitzer routes are Darrel and De-
Ette Conrad of Jerome. The operators are
replacing 21 locations with new Wurlitzer
models.
Another operator signed by Wolf Sales
is the Firmage Electric Co., at Milford,
L. Firmage.
operated by
. J. A. (Andy) Stevenson, operator of the
Consolidated Amusements in Salt Lake and
surrounding territory, spent the early part
of June in Phoenix. He was joined there
by his son-in-law, Dick Mathews, and his
daughter, and they returned together.
Mathews operates the Consolidated Phono-
graph Co.
First sample of the new Mills Constel-
lation phonograph is on display at the
Stewart Novelty Co. H. E. Burchett,
Stewart's manager, reports the West Yel-
lowstone, Mont., Pladium has been taken
over by Johnny Weller. Stewart Novelty
had operated the setup, but this year sought
e
e
a leasee because of the great distance from
the Salt Lake headquarters.
Weller has been selling for Stewart and
has also been operating his own Coin-O-
Matic, a Salt Lake setup devoted to re-
pairing and reconditioning machines for
resale_
Burchett reports his organization is on
the looko.u t for some good mechanics and
salesmen and that business is very good. .
Mel Dorius
SL LOftis
Operators and distributors in the St.
Louis area are swinging into full summer
operation to capitalize on the influx of
out-of-town visitors, who regularly flood
St. Louis during the summer months for
baseball games, etc.
Carl Trippe, Ideal Novelty Co. now has
his amusement parks in full operation in
various sections of the city. Spring floods
prevented the opening of the Sylvan Beach
Arcade until the latter part of May.
Especially optimistic over the coming
summer season are the cigarette operators.
According to Paul Presley, Automatic
Cigarette Sales Co., cigarette sales always
increase during the summer months when
people spend more time in taverns trying
to combat the heat with cold beer. In
addition, restaurant locations show an in-
crease due to more people eating out.
Chief worry of the cigarette operators
now is the proposed one cent increase in
the city cigarette tax. At present, vendors
are set to dispense cigarettes at 20 cents,
but if the extra penny is added, it would
be necessary to change over to 25 cents
and stuff packs with four extra pennies.
"We have found little resistance to the
20-cent price," stated Paul, "but the 25-
cent price would require the making of
more change, plus creating a lot of ill-
will with the extra pennies."
Big event of the month was the two-day
Aireon introduction held by Del Veatch,
VP Distributing Co. During the two-day
affair, over 500 people crowded the VP
showroom to obtain information about
new equipment.
Next on the list of "events not to miss"
will be the grand opening of the new ·
showrooms of Universal Distributing Co.
Tom Collins has finally started moving
equipment to the new location which will
feature ample parking area and spacious
showrooms. The opening date is still
tentative depending on delivery of new
equipment and completion of last minute
remodeling.
The new wall box designed by Frank
Scherrer, of W-L Amusement Co. will be
in production shortly, unless unforeseen
difficulties arise. Fred Lehmkuhl and Frank
recently returned from the Mills factory
where they received enthusiastic praise
for their new idea. A working model of
the unit is now on display in the downtown
showroom of W-L, causing quite a furore
among operators who have been on the
look-out for somethin/?i new to increase
take on machines. Main feature of the
unit is that it will give six plays for a:
quarter.
Everything happens to Ed Randolph,
Ideal Novelty Co. Many an operator has
lost machines from fire, theft and other
forms of violence, but Ed perhaps holds
the distinction of being the only man
alive to lose a phonograph due to the
sinking of a river boat. That is just ~hat
happened recently when t,he famed Golden
Rod Steamboat, one of the hold-overs
from the old-time river boat days, struck
JULY
1947