Lecture Series – Jukeboxes

By the 1930s, the profitability and popularity of the “Juke” box was well established and mass production was underway by companies such as Wurlitzer, Mills, Seeburg, Rock-Ola and AMI in the USA. Jupiter in France, Chantal and Ditchburnin in England. The big attraction of these jukeboxes is the bodywork, with its translucent plastic, chromium moldings, garish revolving color panels and the famous Wurlitzer “Bubble Tubes”. But there was plenty of inventiveness in the “works” too, as manufacturers competed to produce the most striking and beautiful machines with better tones, greater reliability, and a larger number of selections. Over a hundred different models were built between 1935 and 1950, the golden age of the “Jukebox”.

SPEAKER’S BIO:

Neal Cobb was born in Reno in 1939. As an adult, he worked in the family business called Modern Photo. He also worked at KNEV-FM 95.5, Dec 25, 1953 – 1980. This was Nevada’s first “successful” FM station. Neal served four years with the U.S. Navy as Radioman, later as a craps dealer at Harolds Club, eight years on the Board of Adjustment in Washoe County, eight years on the Washoe County Planning Commission, eleven years at the City of Reno Historical Resources Commission, and recognized author of two books “Reno Now and Then”, books 1 and II, and as an integral part of the Nevada Historical Society since 1988.