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jukebox

 
Dictionary: juke·box   (jūk'bŏks') pronunciation
 
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n.

A money-operated phonograph or compact disk player, equipped with pushbuttons for the selection of particular recordings. See Regional Note at juke1.


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How Products are Made: How is a jukebox made?
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Background

A jukebox is a coin-operated machine that plays music from a record or compact disc (CD) once a selection is made. Originally called nickelodeons, the term jukebox did not appear until the late 1930s and its origins are in dispute. Some believe it is derived from the African word jook, meaning to dance. Others link it to the juke joints—roadside bars located in the South and frequented by African Americans—that were popular at that time.

In its height of popularity in the mid-1950s, approximately 750,000 jukeboxes were in use across the United States. That number dipped during the 1970s and 1980s, but with the advent of CD technology and a growing antiques market, the number of jukeboxes presently in use is a solid 250,000.

History

In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, a coin-operated music machine that played music from a wax cylinder. On November 23, 1889, Louis Glass installed a coin-operated phonograph in his Palais Royale Saloon located in San Francisco. It was called "nickel-in-a-slot" because that was the amount of money needed to make a selection. Later, the term was shortened to nickelodeon. In 1906, John Gabel invented the "Automatic Entertainer," a music machine that replaced the wax cylinder with 78-rpm disc recordings and offered several selections of records that could be played. Gabel's Automatic Entertainer dominated the market until the mid-1920s.

The jukebox remained something of a novelty arcade item until the invention of the electric amplifier. Without amplification, it was impossible for a large group of listeners to enjoy the music played by the jukebox. When Automated Musical Instruments Inc. (AMI) developed an amplifier in 1927, the popularity of the jukebox surged. It was especially popular in the illegal speakeasies of the Prohibition Era because it provided a cheap form of entertainment. AMI sold 50,000 of its amplified machines in one year, bringing to life the age of the jukebox.

During the Depression, record sales plummeted from $75 million in 1929 to $5 million in 1933. The growing popularity of the jukebox and the purchases by store owners that went along with it resurrected the waning music business, and by 1938, the industry had resurfaced at $25 million in sales. By 1940, there were 400,000 jukeboxes in use in the United States.

Three names were made during the 1940s and they remain synonymous with the juke-box industry. Seeburg, Rock-Ola, and Wurlitzer all manufactured jukeboxes at this time. Each company began by creating juke-boxes in the likeness of the radio, but in the 1940s, jukebox design came into its own with the help of a few great designers employed by the companies. Perhaps the best known is Paul Fuller, the designer behind the Wurlitzer models that pushed Wurlitzer to the top of the industry in the late-1940s and 1950s. With the use of rotating lights, art deco styled cabinets, and bubble tubes, Wurlitzer models were works of art. The most popular design was the Wurlitzer 1015 that was introduced in 1946 and became the biggest selling jukebox in history. In its original run, it sold a total of 56,246 boxes. In 1948, Seeburg offered its own innovation to the jukebox industry with the introduction of its Select-O-Matic 100, the first jukebox to include 100 selections. This technology allowed popular music to be played in the same venue as regional country, folk, jazz, and blues music—a variety that changed the music industry and its development completely. By 1956, jukeboxes with 200 selections were being manufactured.

Just as the proliferation of fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's and chain restaurants such as Houlihan's spelled doom for mom-and-pop establishments, the taped music played in the new gathering places signaled the end of the jukebox's glory. The introduction of cassette tapes and the declining production of 45-rpm records also added to the decreased popularity of jukeboxes. By the mid-1970s, the number of jukeboxes had fallen to 225,000.

The jukebox industry waned through the 1980s until a growing antiques market and new technology revived the industry. Refurbished classic models are collectables, and a Wurlitzer 1015 that first sold for $750 is now approximately $12,000. CD technology has breathed new life into the primary market, creating new models that house 100 CDs totaling 1,000 song selections. Since the late 1980s, the number of jukeboxes has creeped back up to 250,000. A remake of the Wurlitzer 1015 is even being manufactured by Wurlitzer of Germany. Rock-Ola machines are also still produced as well.

Raw Materials

Each jukebox is comprised of 700-800 different components, including wood cabinetry; injection-molded plastic pieces; electronic stereo equipment such as amplifiers, woofers and tweeters, turntable or disk player; lighting; mirrors; records or compact disks; and the selection mechanism. In some cases, the bulk of the components are purchased from outside suppliers. Other manufacturers create everything in-house except the records or compact disks.

The cabinets are constructed of multiple layers of wood, usually Italian poplar, Finland ply, walnut, olive ash, alder, maple, and Corinthian burl elm. Metal parts such as the grills, trim, and money changers are cast from metal dies. The grills and trim are plated with copper, nickel, and polished chrome.

Design

Some jukeboxes are replicas of original designs, others are original. In either case, a designer creates a prototype, or sample, of the jukebox to be manufactured using CAD/CAM software. The company produces a half dozen or so to place in restaurants or taverns. The prototypes are test-marketed for several months before they are approved for mass production.

The Manufacturing
Process

Although many of the components are machine-crafted, each jukebox is hand-assembled. Therefore, the assembly line moves very slowly. The factory can produce approximately 10 jukeboxes per day.

  1. Plywood or solid wood sheets are cured and molded into the basic jukebox shape. Slots are cut into the sheets for the side metal trim. The cabinets are varnished and stained. After the varnish and stain has dried, the side metal trim is riveted onto the cabinet.
  2. All sheet metal parts are laser cut.
  3. The florescent lighting fixtures and bubble tubes are installed in the cabinets. A polarized light system allows the colors to change.
  4. The electronic components are screwed to the inside of the door. The door is then attached to the cabinetry. The record/compact disk storage and changer mechanisms are installed inside the cabinetry.
  5. After the jukebox is completed, it is sent to the testing room for 24-48 hours. Inspectors check all of the components: lighting, sound, selection, money changing, etc., to insure that they are working properly.

Quality Control

Quality control is key in the production of a jukebox. After each step in the production process, qualified personnel check the integrity of the work done. Final inspection of the jukebox is made on all its components prior to shipment.

The Future

Since the late 1980s, the demand for new jukeboxes has remained steady. Collecting refurbished jukeboxes has also gained in popularity and is now a multimillion dollar secondary market. Aficionados created their own organization—American Historic Juke-box Society—and meet regularly at vintage jukebox shows around the United States. No doubt the jukebox is as American as apple pie, and while there is nostalgia for a time already past, there will also be a market for new and vintage jukeboxes.

Where to Learn More

Books

Bunch, William. Jukebox America. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994.

Periodicals

Barol, Bill. "The Wurlitzer 1015." American Heritage (September/October 1989):28.

Boehlert, Eric. "Put Another Nickel In." Billboard (November 1, 1994): 92.

Botts, Rick. "The Jukebox." Popular Machanics. (June 1995): 74.

"Classic Jukebox Goes Mod." Design News (March 9, 1987): 30.

Gustaitis, Joseph. "The Jukebox: America's Music Machine." American History Illustrated (November/December 1989): 44.

Russell, Deborah. "Juke Biz Finds New Life Via New Technology, Markets." Billboard (October 19, 1991): 10.

Webb, Marchus. "Classical Music: Antique Apparatus hits it big with reproductions of class jukeboxes." RePlay Magazine (January 1989): 113.

Other

Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA). 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611-4267. (312) 644-6610. Fax: (312) 321-6869.

Rock-OlaManufacturing Corporation. 2335 208th St., Torrance, CA 90501. (310) 328-1306. Fax: (310) 328-3736. http://www.rock-ola.com/.


 
Word Origin: jukebox
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Origin: 1939

Music and entertainment are two ways in which African Americans have made major contributions to American culture. Put African-American music together with a national itch for technological invention, and you have the jukebox, a device in which the patrons of an eating or drinking establishment place coins in return for entertainment with recorded music.

Juke itself is an African word. In the Wolof language of West Africa,juke means "to make mischief" or "to lead a wicked, disreputable life." In America, in the Old South, the word managed to survive slavery and emancipation well into the twentieth century. A juke, juke house, or juke joint was a place to make mischief in the company of other like-minded revelers. Sometimes it was a tavern, sometimes a dance hall, sometimes a brothel. "Back yonder," recalled a writer in 1937, "a 'juke' was a place, usually a shack somewhere off the road, where a field negro could go for a snort of moonshine."

By the time the coin-operated record player was invented, the juke thus had a reputation as an exotic place for having a good time. Borrowing the supposed excitement of the juke along with its name, the jukebox spread throughout the country in the late 1930s. Time magazine noted in 1939, "Glenn Miller attributes his crescendo to the 'juke-box,' which retails recorded music at 5 cents a shot in bars, restaurants and small roadside dance joints."

Playing it costs more than a nickel nowadays, but the jukebox has survived the transition from records to CDs, becoming a sophisticated, high-tech musical accompaniment to good times in bars and eating places even today.


 
Music Encyclopedia: Jukebox
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A coin-operated gramophone that originated in American amusement arcades at the turn of the century; they became widespread in Europe and the USA in the 1930s and were an important medium for disseminating popular music.


 
Wikipedia: Jukebox
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
For other uses, see Jukebox (disambiguation).
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.
A Zodiac jukebox

A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that can play specially selected songs from self-contained media. The traditional jukebox is rather large with a rounded top and has colored lighting on the front of the machine on its vertical sides. The classic jukebox has buttons with letters and numbers on them that, when combined, are used to indicate a specific song from a particular record.

Contents

History

Coin-operated music boxes and player pianos were the first forms of automated coin-operated musical devices. These were soon followed in the 1890s by coin-operated phonographs.[1][2] The introduction of recording on wax cylinder records made possible records which could survive many plays, and early operators converted cylinder phonographs to accept a coin, usually a nickel, which unlocked the mechainsm, allowing the listener to turn a crank which simultaneously wound the spring motor and placed the reproducer's stylus in the starting groove. Frequently exhibitors would equip many of these machines with listening tubes (acoustic headphones) and array them in "phonograph parlors" allowing the patron to select between multiple records, each played on its own machine. Some machines even contained carousels and other mechinisms for playing multiple records. However, by the early 1900s the novelty of the phongraph wore off and this, combined with the advent of phonographs in the home, as well as the increasing sophistication and volume of mechanical orchestrions in public facilities, led to the decline of the coin-operated phonograph industry.

The advent of electrical recording and amplification lead to a resurgence of the coin-operated phonograph.

One of the first successful selective jukeboxes was an automatic phonograph produced in 1927 by the Automated Musical Instrument Company, later known as AMI. With the passage of time the and development of technology new products are manufactured and consequently in 1928, Justus P. Seepburg, who manufactured player pianos, created an electrostatic loudspeaker combined with a record player that was coin operated and gave the listener a choice of eight records.[3] The shellac 78 rpm record dominated jukeboxes until the Seeburg Corporation introduced an all 45 rpm vinyl record jukebox in 1950.

The term "juke box" came into use in the United States around 1940, apparently derived from the familiar usage "juke joint", derived from the Gullah word "juke" or "joog" meaning disorderly, rowdy, or wicked. This term, like thousands of words in the Gullah language, likely originated in Western Africa near Sierra Leone[4] and is akin to the Wolof dzug and Bambara dzugu[5].

Wallboxes were an important, and profitable, part of any jukebox installation. Basically a remote control, they enabled patrons to select tunes from their table or booth. The most famous is the Seeburg 3W1, introduced in 1949 as companion to the new 100-select Model M100A jukebox. Stereo sound became popular in the early 1960s, and wallboxes of the era were designed with built-in speakers to provide patrons a sample of this latest technology. Interestingly, for the next several years, there were very few stereo 45 rpm records made; the "little LP" (also referred to as "stereo 7") was designed and manufactured specifically for jukeboxes. It played at 33 1/3 rpm and was the same physical size as the 45 rpm records, to retain compatibility with the jukebox mechanisms.

Some jukeboxes during this time were able to play other special 33 discs of 45 size, which provide a longer song or multiple songs, for a higher price. These specialty records (known as EPs, for "extended play") were provided by the unique vendor that supplied records to the operator. Those decades also produced models with ornate lighting, disco and psychedelic effects, and other cosmetic improvements while the internal mechanisms remained moderately stable by comparison. Song-popularity counters told the operator the number of times each record was played (A and B side were generally not distinguished), with the result that popular records remained, while lesser-played songs were replaced with the latest hits.

Jukeboxes and their ancestors were a very profitable industry from the 1890s on. They were most popular from the 1940s through the mid-1960s, particularly during the 1950s. Today they are often associated with early rock and roll music, but were very popular in the swing music era as well. As a result, stores and restaurants with a retro theme, such as the Johnny Rockets chain, include jukeboxes.

Starting in the 1980s, compact discs became the norm for modern jukeboxes. Towards the end of the 20th century several companies started introducing completely digital jukeboxes which did not use physical recordings. The music selection and playback system was replaced by a dedicated proprietary computer. A selection of songs suitable to the venue where the jukebox is located are generally cached in the local storage of the machine. The true advantage of this design is the seemingly endless selection of music available instantly to the customer by automatic download from an internet connection. The world's first[citation needed] commercial digital jukebox was demonstrated by TouchTunes Music Corporation of Montreal in May 1994[citation needed], and becoming available outside Canada in September 1998. The product, named Genesis, had a selection of 750 songs and no ability for instant download.

Aesthetic style

A 1941 24-disc Wurlitzer model 750 jukebox.

The first jukeboxes were simply wooden boxes with coin slots and a few buttons. Over time they became more and more decorated, using color lights, rotating lights, chrome, bubble tubes, ceiling lamps, and other visual effects. Many consider the 1940s to be the "golden age" of jukebox styling with the gothic-like curvaceous "electric rainbow cathedral" look. World War II and the Great Depression were over, so the new designs and sales choices reflected the festive mood. The first model manufactured after WWII was the Model A, produced by AMI. Affectionately referred to as the "Mother of Plastic", it featured large areas of opalescent plastics and colored gemstones.

Styling progressed from the plain wooden boxes in the early thirties to beautiful light shows with marbelized plastic and color animation in the Wurlitzer 850 Peacock of 1941. But after the United States entered the war, metal and plastic were needed for the war effort. Jukeboxes were considered "nonessential", and none were produced until 1946. The 1942 Wurlitzer 950 featured wooden coin chutes to save on metal. At the end of the war, in 1946, jukebox production resumed and several "new" companies joined the fray.

Reproduction Wurlitzer 1015 in the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, Havana

They did not last.The Wurlitzer model "1015-Bubbler" typifies the look and is arguably the most popular jukebox design of all time. Many of these survived into the '50s in active use and are instead associated with the '50s in pop culture despite their '40s origin because of their unique visual prominence and production volume. Designed by stylist Paul Fuller, it is rumored that when entertainment equipment factories were redirected toward the war effort, Paul had more time to focus on aesthetic design. This extra time resulted in one of the greatest designs in iconic pop culture.

After the '40s, the styles generally became more box-like and "high-tech" in look, distancing themselves from "classic" influences such as ancient Greek, renaissance, and Gothic motifs found in the '40s models.

Also, the post-'40s models needed more panel space for the increased number of record titles they could present on selection buttons, reducing the space available for decoration. This is partly due to improved record storage and dispatching technology and partly due to the transition from the 78-rpm disks to the 45-rpm disks, which were more compact.

Jukeboxes from the 1940s are called Golden Age because of the yellow catalin plastic. Jukeboxes from the 1950s are called Silver Age because of the predominant chrome styling. "Rock-Ola" is actually based on the name of the company founder, David Cullen Rockola, and is not a portmanteau of Rock and Victrola. Rock-ola was founded many years before the term "Rock" was applied to music at all.

Seeburg Wall-o-Matic tableside extension, at Triple XXX, Issaquah, Washington, 2009

.

Notable Models

  • Rock-Ola model 1413 Premier (1942) - Resembles something from a science fiction movie. It has a distinctive blue-green glowing "eye globe" in the lower-middle of its gill-like grille.
  • Rock-Ola model 1422 and 1426 (1946-47) - Beautiful use of rainbow-colored leafy-spiral grill-work resembling violin stems.
  • 1953 Seeburg M100C - This machine played 50 45 rpm records making it a 100 play. Mirrors on the inside rotating animation in the pilasters. Chrome glass tubes in the front, very colorful. This is mostly noted for its repeated appearance in the closing credits for the sit-com "Happy Days".
  • 1954 Rock-Ola 1438 Comet - This was the first 45 RPM Record machine that Rockola offered Exclusively as 45 rpm only. It played 60 45 rpm records (120 Selection) It seemed to share a lot of features from the Seeburg M100C (Pilasters) Curved glass and also had an animated title bar which was square, hence it rotated 4 times to make allow all the selections. Selections were made via one button as to the later typical two. but still had a personal style that many people enjoyed.
  • 1954 Seeburg HF100R - This machine played 50 45 rpm records. Featured glass panels and Icicle chrome on the grill. It had a bandshell appearance with anodized chrome. It had 5 speakers to give the listener better sound "all around the Jukebox"
  • 1962 Rock-Ola Princess - The name is applied to several different models that vary drastically in appearance. This model is popular today for nostalgic use in homes due to its compact size. The most desirable Princess model has a visible mechanism, something nearly universally desired by home jukebox owners.
  • Wurlitzer Model 750 and 750E (1941) - In some ways a precursor to the famous 1015, but with a rounder look.
  • Wurlitzer Model 800 (1941) - Very bold looking model that in some ways resembles a shuttle launch with its two side rockets. A flame-like glimmer was created by internal rotating tubes casting waving shadow patterns against the lights.
  • Wurlitzer Model 850 (1941) - Some of the most artistic grille work. The highlight was a revolving polarizer peacock color animation.
  • Wurlitzer Model 950 (1942) - In some ways a visual hybrid between models 800 and 1015. Black metal edging gives this a look reminiscent of ancient Greek design.
  • Wurlitzer Model 1015 (1946-47) - Considered by many to be the universal design for a jukebox. This is the model with the color-changing columns and bubble tubes and the arching top. Reproductions of this version are made by many commercial jukebox manufacturers to this day. The original played 78 rpm records, but it is available today with CD, 45, and even digital download.
  • Wurlitzer Models 1080 and 1080-A (1947-48) - Another model that seems to have heavy Greek influence. This model was not as colored-light intensive of other models of the era, but makes very stylish use of wood and classical curves.
  • Wurlitzer Jukebox Model 1100 (1948-49) - Represents a transition style between the 40s and 50s jukebox styling when the record player area started opening up behind larger glass displays. Heavy use of chrome styling.
  • AMI "Top Flight" Model (1936-38) - Very distinctive grille-work with a sleek, metallic Sci-Fi feel. (Produced by Rowe International, then known as AMI)
  • AMI Model "A" Jukebox of (1946-47) - Unique "space helmet" look. In many ways the styling was ahead of its time. The model A was also the first jukebox to play both side of every record. It held 20 78-rpm discs and offered patron 40 selections. (Produced by Rowe International, then known as AMI)
  • Seeburg Model "G" - This Jukebox is known as the "Happy Days Machine," as it was used in the sitcom Happy Days. It was 100 play and features chrome pilasters.
  • AMI Model "G" Jukebox of (1954) - Has the look of a "Fish Tank" and has been named so. This was the first machine to use a folded horn concept speaker system (Produced by Rowe International, then known as AMI)
  • AMI Model H, I, J and K All of these models had the 50's car windshield look. (eg: 1958 Plymouth front windshield [wrap around]) This was a new concept and currently people in Europe grab these machines as fast as they can. Last year for this style for AMI was 1960 and was the model K. The model I remains at this time time the MOST desirable machine to own. (Produced by Rowe International, then known as AMI)
  • AMI Continental - Often compared to the Jetsons' car, this model has the selections on a curved vertical board. The mechanism is visible through a clear dome on the top of the main body. This model is especially popular today in Europe.

References

  1. ^ SF Weekly - story on Louis Glass, Dec. 1, 1999
  2. ^ Great Geek Manual - Glass/Arnold patents
  3. ^ Carlisle, Rodney (2004). Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries, p.357. John Wiley & Songs, Inc., New Jersey. ISBN 0471244104.
  4. ^ Joseph A. Opala. "The Gullah:Rice, slavery, and the Sierra Leone connection". http://www.yale.edu/glc/gullah/06.htm. 
  5. ^ "Juke house". Dictionary.com. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/juke+house?jss=0. 

External links

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Translations: Jukebox
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - jukeboks, spillemaskine, musikmaskine

Nederlands (Dutch)
jukebox (automaat die tegen betaling muziek afspeelt)

Français (French)
n. - juke-box

Deutsch (German)
n. - Jukebox, Musikbox

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - τζούκμποξ, κερματοδόχο ηλεκτρόφωνο

Italiano (Italian)
juke-box

Português (Portuguese)
n. - juke-box (f), vitrola automática que funciona após a inserção de uma moeda

Русский (Russian)
музыкальный автомат

Español (Spanish)
n. - máquina de discos, tocadiscos

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - jukebox

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
自动唱片点唱机

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 自動唱片點唱機

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 자동 전축

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ジュークボックス

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) جهاز الي محتو على اغان مسجله‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מקול אוטומטי, אוטומט-תקליטים‬

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
How Products are Made. How Products are Made. Copyright © 2002 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Word Origin. America in So Many Words, by David K.Barnhart and Allan A. Metcalf. Copyright © 1997 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Music Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.  Read more
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