Rock-ola History & Link References

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Excerpt)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock-Ola

The Rock-ola name is actually derived from the name of the company's founder, David Cullen Rockola who was born January 23, 1897 in Manitoba, Canada, and passed away at the age of 96 on January 26, 1993. He was survived by his wife, two sons and two grandchildren.  Donald C. Cullen (one of his sons) was also an inventor with several patents over the years.

Although his David Rockola's name became synonymous with the jukeboxes he manufactured, Mr. Rockola told people that the similarity between his name and that of rock and roll music, which emerged in the mid-1950's, was coincidental.

As a young boy of 14, he left school and became a hotel bellboy and then later started working as a mechanic in a coin-operated vending factory.  He also opened his own cigar store in Calgary (Canada).  When the slot machine that sat on the counter started making more money than the store, he knew his calling.

By 1926 he founded his own company, the Rock-ola Scale Company, and was manufacturing coin-operated scales.  He changed the name to Rock-ola Manufacturing Company in 1930.

Rock-Ola and Wurlitzer were the nation's two leading jukebox makers until 1974, when Wurlitzer suspended production.

In the 1930s Rockola moved into pinball machines, slot machines and many other devices

View Photos & History: Rock-ola Pinball, Pingame, & Slots. etc.

. As the demand for coin-operated phonographs increased, he decided to enter the jukebox arena. Rockola purchased a jukebox mechanism from a man named Smythe. Rockola reengineered this 12-select mechanism and started making jukeboxes in a big way (1935 Rock-Ola). Farny Wurlitzer viewed this a huge threat to his business based on Rockola's success in other machines. Wurlitzer tried to convince David Rockola that there was no room in the industry for another manufacturer. Wurlitzer then filed a $1 million lawsuit claiming patent infringement on the Smythe mechanism. Rockola eventually won the suit but not until he had spent half a million dollars in legal fees. This hurt Rockola but didn't kill him. He continued manufacturing and in 1939 introduced a series of very successful jukeboxes called "Luxury Light-Up".

Juggle Ball, World Series, Jigsaw, Totalite
(Pingames by Rock-ola 1932-1938) Reference: Pingames' Fun Fair

The last of the 1932 vintage pingames shown at the 1984 Pingame Collector's Fair in Pasadena was Rockola's JUGGLE BALL which came out around October 1932. Rockola was of course better known as a jukebox manufacturer but they also produced about 40 pingame models from 1932 to 1938.  These included many fine classic pins such as the mechanical marvels WORLD SERIES and JIGSAW (both of which were seen at previous Fun Fairs) and TOTALITE, the first game to have a score totalizer which displayed scores by means of lighted number 'panels' on the backglass.  This was to be the primary score indicating method used on most pins up through the 1950's.

Juggle Ball appears to be the first pingame from Rockola.

This same machine was also shown at the 1983 Pingame Collector's Fun Fair in Pasadena. Probably the most interesting feature of this game is a player controlled 'stick', the handle of which protruded from the front of the game, with which the player could influence the ball in play.  As an original ad for this game proclaimed, "the player, by means of a control lever which he holds, juggles and battles with the ball."

Juggle Ball was certainly one of the first pingames in which the player could influence the ball in play, other than by shaking the cabinet.  It came out about the same time as another game with a ball influencing feature, DOUBLE SHUFFLE by Hercules Novelty, which was at last years show and will be discussed later.  A few such ball control devices were tried in the early days, but it was really not until the invention of the 'flipper' in 1947 that player control really became a standard pingame feature.

A special play feature of JUGGLE BALL was that the player could try to double his score by getting balls in all the holes marked with the letters J-U-G-G-L-E.  This was similar to the 'spell name' features used many years later on pins.  The JUGGLE BALL at the show was in 'mint' condition and was a truly fine example of early pingame design. View Some Rock-ola  Pingame & Slots Photos.

Rock-ola Shuffleboards 1948-50

David Rockola was also the maker of shuffleboard tables from 1948-50. Rock-ola shuffleboards are considered by collectors the Cadillac of shuffleboards due to their Art Deco styling with curving woodwork and lots of chrome, they are highly sought after by players.  They also offered bars with Art Deco styling and other miscellaneous promotional items.
View our personal Rock-ola collectibles in our Photo Gallery.

Rock-ola During the WWII Era and 50's & 60's

During World War II, Rock-Ola led the industry in telephone-line music transmission systems. This was very popular because it allowed for many selections to be offered at a time when jukebox manufacturing was nearly halted because of the war effort. After World War II, the jukebox industry was booming. Boys were coming home and it was party time. Wurlitzer came out with the model 1015, probably the most popular jukebox of all time, and Rock-Ola introduced the "Magic Glow" series. These were models 1422, 1426, and 1428.

In the 1950s and '60s Rock-Ola was a formidable competitor on the jukebox field. The company came up with many new ideas, including a full-featured jukebox that was so small it could be hung on the wall! As the demand for jukeboxes went down in the '70s, Rock-Ola wound down the business to almost nothing. In the early 1990s Rock-Ola sold the business to Glenn Streeter, owner of Antique Apparatus Co. In Torrance, Calif. Streeter has taken the Rock-Ola name and given it new life, making it now one of the top jukebox manufacturers in the country, featuring a full line of commercial and home jukeboxes.

 

References: Rock-la History Links

• Rock-ola Jukeboxes History (& Photos) (Pinballrebel) 
• Rock-ola Jukeboxes History (National Jukebox)
• Rock-ola Jukebox Manufacturer (UK site)
• Rock-ola Jukebox History (Denmark site)