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Bill
Brayley: Really? I think if I remember correctly this is what
they consider to be the number one juke box of what they refer to as the
“Silver Age” in juke boxes, and the most desirable. Juke boxes
have an early beginning – the first Edison coin-operated music machine
was at the Palais Royale in San Francisco and of course then it progressed
to what we have here. The Owner: Sure can. (He pushes the button and we see the robotic arm pick up a 45 rpm record and place it on the vertical turntable.) Bill Brayley: Well, better than having to put a nickel in as it was when I was growing up. I love the blue colour there. (We hear the record begin to play.) Gee, what tremendous sound that is!
Bill Brayley: Is that one of the things that made it interesting? Owner: Well that, and it was a centennial model, 1956, that was their first 200 selection model and the page setup, this is kind of unique for the page setup of the selections. Some juke box manufacturers used a drum… Bill
Brayley: Right. Owner:
This one used pages and to find a unit with pages intact is unusual. Most
of them have been replaced by a large Bill Brayley: Absolutely. Just tremendous. I would say insurance, maybe somewhere around $20,000.
Wurlitzer Juke Box -- $20,000 more Great Canadian Antique Stories Click here to play the video clip.
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Owner:
I’ve been restoring juke boxes for about twenty years and this was
just in with a batch that I bought out of Regina.
Wurlizter
family have a long history as music makers as far back as in Saxony to
about 1659. Rudolf Wurlitzer immigrated to the States in I think it was
1839 made a series of musical instruments, organs and then got into what
was called the coin-operated music machines. And I think that the name
“juke box”, the nickname perhaps emanated in the Southeast
United States where these were very popular in jukes, or roadside eateries,
where people could go and have a drink, have something to eat and then
dance to the music of a juke box. Can you play us a
song?
Owner:
Yes, it’s pretty good – it’s got five speakers in it.
selector
that would cover most of the window. The best part of a juke box is seeing
the record play.
