Play Meter

(Collfi/lu ed [rom page 4 2)
simply beca use it de picts th e pure Inn oce nce of
pinball itself.
BETTELMAN: Definitely. Tha t was brought
out bea utifully in th e movi e. Wh e n we were trying
to get pinba ll lega li zed here in Los Angele , for th e
State of California, I testified in Superio r Court -
a t th at tim e I was wo rking as a sc hool teacher - as
to ho w emotionally ha ndicapped c hildre n were
using th e game to improve coordin ation, pe r-
ceptual training and all of that.
I think a ny alignment of th e coin machine
industry with positive ocially red ee ming qualitie
has got to be in the right direc tion.
PLAY METER: Do you think "Tommy "
a hi eve th a t goal?
BETIELMAN: Most cert ai nly .
PLAY METER: Th e n th e only que tion that
rem a in unanswered is wh e th er the mo vi e will
beco me a huge mon etary uccess for th e coin
industry by drawing th e attention of the elders, so
to spea k.
BETIELMAN: The di advantage is that I would
rath er have see n th e connotation passed ac ro in
" My Fair Lady" rath er than in " Tommy ." Because
th e peo pl e wh o are still having th ese nega tive
stero typ ed beliefs are not going to go ee
'T ommy."
PLA Y METER: Perhap not. But their children
will. I'd like to go a little dee per into wh at yo u said
about using pinba ll mac hin e to help handica pped
childre n. How did all th a t co me about ?
BETTELMAN: I t was just a facility avail a ble to
me a nd I wa teaching in a ve ry progressive. school.
I had a program th at involved the entire sc hoo l
po pulatio n which revo lved around u ing co in ma-
chin es as a reinfo rce me nt age nt fo r a lea rning-typ
situation.
PLA Y METER: Does the chool still use that
a pproac h ?
BETTELMAN: Yes, I have bee n gone from
th ere three or four years, and the game room is till
fun c tional at the school where I taught . In fact,
four or five o th er sc hoo ls in th e district have
adopted th e program . I've also sold three o r four
jukeboxes to e hese sc hools, a nd th ey' re running
th em o n two or three pl ays for a dim e and six or
seven pl ays for a quarter. Wh a t this accomplishes is
that th e sc hoo l i a ble to make a little ex tra money
to kee p th e machines running and for buying
reco rds, a nd th e kids get th e privil ege of liste ning
to th e mu sic th ey want to hear during lun ch.
PLAY METER: Your father to ld u that your
experience in using pinba ll machin es to help
emotio nall y han di ca pped childr en helped a great
deal in lega liz ing pinba ll in Ca lifo rnia.
BETIELMAN: It made go d reading in the
script, th at's for Sllre.
PLAY METER: Ho w lo ng ago was th a t ?
BETIELMAN: Ab o ut two yea r ago.
PLA Y METER: Ho w did the law rea d o fl g-
inaJly ?
BETTELMAN : Ba k aro und 1939, when the
game were prim ar il y bingo-type payoff machine,
a vote went through the legislature - it was o ne of
tho se stu pid reve rse vo tes where if yo u vo ted yes,
you didn ' t want pinba lls and if you voted no, you
did want pinba ll. S eve n th e guy from within
th e indu try who wanted pinball voted the wrong
way . But the preceden ts th at we tried to bring o ut
in th e tria l was that the pinba ll mac hin es of to day
a re not hin g like th e pinba ll machine of the 30's.
And they are definitely ga mes of kill.
PLAY METER: Wh at m ark ed th e turn aro und ?
Did a state a ociat io n initiate th e move?
BETTELMAN: No, ac tu a ll y it was ju t a mall
group of people who suppo rt ed the distr ibuto r.
And we reveived ou r share of help. Th e funny
thing abo ut it wa that the law was left up to
munici pa litie a nd in ome places it wa lega l a nd
in some place it wasn ' t. Th e cru x of th e matte r
ZENITH CREST
THE POOL TABLE WITH
"THE VELVET TOUCH"
When that little extra is needed to make the
difference.
. B.1. pool ta bles add that special
something. . B.1. pool tables - made to last.
Isn't it nice to know
that some things never change?
51 PROGRESS ST., UNIO N. N.J. 07083
Circle number 16 on reader service card.
62
PlAt' .-rEII