End of ADS-L Digest - 24 May 1998 to 25 May 1998
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<br>From: Automatic digest processor (5/25/98)
<br>To: Recipients of ADS-L digests
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<br>         ADS-L Digest - 23 May 1998 to 24 May 1998             98-05-25 00:00:50
<br>There are 2 messages totalling 322 lines in this issue.
<br>
<br>Topics of the day:
<br>
<br>  1. Rock and Roll (long!)
<br>  2. Variety terms; Meet the Press
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<br>----------------------------------------------------------------------
<br>
<br>Date:    Sun, 24 May 1998 15:33:19 EDT
<br>From:    Bapopik <Bapopik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM>
<br>Subject: Rock and Roll (long!)
<br>
<br>     This continues the previous posting on this subject, and the work of
<br>Gerald Cohen and Fred Shapiro on this term.
<br>     This definition is from ROCKSPEAK!  THE LANGUAGE OF ROCK AND POP (1996)
<br>by Simon Warner, pg. 266, col. 2:
<br>
<br>     A phrase allegedly coined in the musical sense by DJ Alan Freed--although
<br>actually borrowed from black slang for sexual congress and first used in trade
<br>magazine _Billboard_ as early as 1944--rock 'n' roll was to become the
<br>headline-grabbing popular music of the last half of the 1950s.
<br>
<br>     The _Billboard_ citation is not given.  I looked through _Billboard_ of
<br>1943 (for Frank Sinatra items as well) and didn't find it.  However, I did
<br>find many ads for "Rock-Ola."  This is from the Mechanical Music Digest
<br>(http://mmd.foxtail.com/Archives/Digests/199701/1997.01.14.01.html):
<br>
<br>David Rockola and the Rock-Ola
<br>By Richard M. Bueschel (buschlhist[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]aol.com)
<br>
<br>David Colin Rockola was Canadian.  His father worked for a pump company in a
<br>small town in western Canada, and was an inventor.  When Rockola was 14 he
<br>worked in a hotel as a bellboy, and later opened his own cigar store in
<br>Calgary.  When the slot machine that sat on the counter made more money than
<br>the store, he knew his calling.
<br>
<br>He went to Toronto to get into the business, and later came to Chicago,
<br>working for the top three slot machine manufacturers:  Mills, Jennings and
<br>Watling.  In 1927 he started his own vending machine company, and soon added
<br>scales.  In 1932 he started making pinball games, and after some serious
<br>failures, finally made it big.
<br>
<br>He quickly discovered that people mispronounced his name (which is not
<br>Italian, although the origins have yet to be fully defined, possibly Scotch or
<br>a made-up name) so he kept it personally, and added a hyphen to create Rock-
<br>Ola for business, circa 1929.  He got into the jukebox business in 1935 when
<br>Seeburg, Mills snd Wurlitzer were making a killing with music machines after
<br>Repeal (of the Prohibition laws) and the opening of thousands of taverns in
<br>1933 and 1934.
<br>
<br>But Wurlitzer attempted to thwart his entry, and that of anyone else, because
<br>they had such a strong patent position.  So a patent war ensued in which
<br>Wurlitzer and Rock-Ola were bidding against each other to buy all prior art
<br>they could find.  Wurlitzer got most of it, but Rock-Ola did fairly well, too.
<br>That gave both companies back-dated origin dates based on the patent
<br>application and issuance dates of their acquired art.
<br>
<br>A lengthy Rockola story (2 chapters) is contained in my book "Encyclopedia of
<br>Pinball, Volume 1" (Silverball Amusements, 1996).  The story of Rock-Ola's
<br>entry into the jukebox business, and the patent wars with Wurlitzer, will be
<br>in my forthcoming book "Let The Other Guy Play It!" (Royal Bell Books, 1997).
<br>
<br>Richard M. Bueschel, 414 N. Prospect Manor Avenue,
<br>Mt. Prospect, IL 60056-2046 USA
<br>
<br>     Another letter to this Digest
<br>(mmd.foxtail.com/Archives/Authors/Aut59.html) is this:
<br>
<br>Pronounce "Rockola" like "Victrola"?
<br>By Robbie Rhodes (rollreq[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]foxtail.com.nospam)
<br>
<br>I wrote to the pronunciation editor at Merriam-Webster:
<br>
<br>"The direct ancestor of the jukebox is the coin-operated piano, affectionately
<br>but improperly called the 'nickelodeon'; these jolly instruments were made by
<br>both Wurlitzer and Seeburg before they turned to records.
<br>
<br>"Right around 1940, I believe, a new jukebox name appeared: Rock-o-la.  Well,
<br>we all thought that it was an invented name, like Victrola and Coca-Cola.  But
<br>it isn't--it's really the inventor's name: David Rockola, a dyed-in-the-wool
<br>American inventor of Italian heritage.  The New York Times had a nice article
<br>about this man several years ago.
<br>
<br>"How shall we pronounce the names of the inventor and his jukebox?"
<br>
<br>Here's the answer from the dictionary expert:
<br>
<br>"Well, this is a poser.  You see, somewhere along the line Mr. Rockola
<br>modified his name, since 'k' isn't normally a letter found in native Italian
<br>words.  Perhaps this was done to his family name on Ellis Island.  In any
<br>case, if the original spelling was 'Roccola,' the pronunciation would be raw-
<br>CO-lah or RAW-co-lah: with Italian there is no way to tell where the stress
<br>goes in a name without asking the bearer, although in most cases it falls on
<br>the next to last syllable.
<br>
<br>"I suspect that the anglicized spelling indicates an anglicized pronunciation
<br>for the New World as well, and the most likely anglicization one could choose
<br>would be rock-OH-luh."
<br>
<br>Robbie Rhodes, Etiwanda, Calif.
<br>
<br>    There is also a website called "Rock en Espanol--Rockola!"
<br>(http://members.aol.com/om/roca.html).
<br>     As for "payola," there was also a scandal in the 1940s, and this is from
<br>Variety, 21 April 1943, pg. 43, col. 3:  "The songplugging payola evil, which
<br>last week resulted in stringent action, including a $1,000 fine to one
<br>professional manager, may be solved by eliminating the 1-2-3 ratings and,
<br>instead, aim for an alphabetical listing of the top 25 'most played' songs, or
<br>the like."
<br>     I'll discuss "top ten" and "top forty" another time.
<br>     Unfortunately I can't show this to you, but a full page ad for ROCK-OLA
<br>Manufacturing Corporation, 800 North Kedzie Avenue, Chicago Illinois appears
<br>in Billboard, 9 January 1943, pg. 82:
<br>
<br>It's ROCK-OLA
<br>COMMANDO
<br>for
<br>1943
<br>NEWEST, GREATEST
<br>MONEY-MAKER AND
<br>LOCATION-GETTER
<br>IN THE
<br>Coin Machine Industry
<br>     Although winning the war comes first--and our mammoth factory is fully
<br>converted to war production--we are indeed fortunate in having stocks of the
<br>famous COMMANDO Model Rock-Ola Phonograph available for 1943 through our
<br>nationwide Factory Distribution organization.
<br>     Thousands of COMMANDOS were purchased by America's leading Music
<br>Operators in 1942.  Men of foresight!  For the COMMANDO represents the music
<br>buy of the future...the latest advancements in construction of the automatic
<br>phonograph.
<br>     Buy soon!  Plan ahead, not only for 1943, but for 1944, 1945, and 1946.
<br>Here in COMMANDO you have the newest as well as the best...so new that it will
<br>remain new long after the war is over.
<br>
<br>     The classic jukebox machine is shown.  "ROCK-OLA" is front and center.
<br>     An ad on page 80 for a Pittsburgh distributor calls the Commando
<br>"greatest money-maker and location getter in the coin machine business."  An
<br>ad on page 76 for Unbeatable Amplifier states that "Dozens of other great
<br>features make the 1943 Rock-Ola COMMANDO the leading phonograph of all time."
<br>An ad for a New Jersey distributor of the Rock-Ola Commando on page 77:
<br>
<br>     And that we are featuring the one Phonograph that has swept the country
<br>like a tidal wave.  Come in and see it today!  Listen to its gorgeous tone!
<br>See how it sparkles and gleams!  Notice its beautiful, true, modern design!
<br>Inspect its precision-perfect, rugged construction!  Get set to be amazed at
<br>this daring, new, better, different, modern 1943 superior phonograph!
<br>
<br>     A Billboard article on a Christmas party, "Rock-Ola Party Set Record for
<br>Employee Affair," 16 January 1943, pg. 62, col. 4, noted that the "total pay
<br>roll is rapidly approaching the 4,000 mark in total employees."
<br>     What I'm saying is, simply, that the "Rock-Ola" jukebox was very, very
<br>popular.  It was no small influence to those who played and who wrote music,
<br>and perhaps it caused them to add words such as "rock" and "rocking" and "Good
<br>Rockin' Tonight"--and "Rock 'n' Roll"--to their songs.
<br>    Another jukebox ad caught my attention.  It's in Billboard, 23 January
<br>1943, pg. 67, col. 4, for the Watling Mfg. Co., 4640-4660 W. Fulton St.,
<br>Chicago, Ill.  It states:
<br>
<br>    We have a few more
<br>    Rebuilt ROLL-A-TOPS
<br>    left
<br>
<br>     The phonograph is not as attractive as the Rock-Ola Commando, but has a
<br>"roll-a-top" for the records.
<br>     Rock-Ola and Roll-A-Top jukeboxes.
<br>     Hm.
<br>