Now You See It, Now You Don't!
TellzAll's Subject for October is the Jukebox!
One of the things most commonly associated with life as a teenager in the 1950s is the jukebox. For a small amount of change, the jukebox gave teenagers the ability to choose what music would be played. Jukeboxes were found in many popular hangouts, such as in diners, at drug store soda fountains, and at many public places where teenagers went to dance. The fifties was a decade in which there was a wealth of new popular music, as part of the advent of "rock and roll." Jukeboxes offered options ranging from songs that had become favorites over time to whatever was new. When people listened to the records on the jukebox, they often decided to purchase the record for themselves, making the jukebox an effective marketing tool for record companies. Of course, jukeboxes could also appeal to adults as well, but the music industry had found a new group of consumers in the teenagers.
Even though we tend to associate the jukebox with the 1950s, however, its roots go back much further in time. Most likely its earliest predecessor was the "Nickel-in-the-Slot" machine, first introduced in 1889, which utilized a modified Edison phonograph. From the beginning, this invention was very popular, even though only a few people, using small tubes, could hear it at the same time.
Once companies developed a way of amplifying the music so that it could be heard by larger audiences, the early jukeboxes became even more successful. Two of the most well-known manufacturers of jukeboxes were the Wurlitzer Company and Rock-Ola. After World War II, the jukebox became even more popular, and companies developed even more advanced models. By the mid-1950s, there were jukeboxes that offered as many as two hundred different song options!
By the 1970s, jukeboxes were declining in popularity in the United States. There were new types of technology that challenged records, such as the 8-track player and eventually the cassette tape. Many companies that had manufactured jukeboxes for decades were forced out of business. It seemed that the jukebox was destined for extinction.
In recent years, however, many people are once again interested in jukeboxes. There is a lot of nostalgia among baby-boomers, the generation that grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, about their childhood. As a result, there is a resurgence in things such as jukeboxes, drive-in restaurants, and old-fashioned diners. The old jukeboxes are very collectible, but there are manufacturers today that also make jukeboxes that play cds.
