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The history of Rock-ola Inc.
David Colin Rockola, was born in Manitoba, Canada. His father
worked for a pump company in a small town in western Canada, and was an inventor.
When David was 14 he left school and began to work in a hotel as a bellboy.
Later, he opened his own cigar store in Calgary. When the slot machine that sat on the
counter made more money than the store, he knew his calling.
He went to Toronto to get into the business, and later, at the age of 23, he
came to Chicago, working for the top three slot machine manufacturers; Mills, Jennings and
Watling.
He used to make the front panels of the slotmachines.
In 1926 / 1927 he started his own vending machine manufacturing company, and
soon added scales, known as "the Rockola scale company".
In 1930 Pinball machines came on the market, and Rockola decided to join the
competition. In 1932 he introduced his own pinball game: "Juggle ball".
Unhappily this was not a succes, and it made him nearly bankrupt.
Rock-ola World Juggle ball
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Later on he would produce coin-ops himself, for example the (1930-35?) Rock-ola
Revamp:
(Picture was given by Jo van Dongen, he will
issue a book on these coin-ops in March 1999, called "Bandits"
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Strange enough, the "Juggle Ball" and "World Series" are
regarded as the most innovative and collectible pingames of the 30's !
Rock-ola World Series
In 1934 David Rockola got his hands on a patent of a mechanism, which could pick
a record out of a pile of disks, play it and store it back in its original place. He
bought the patent and went directly into production, which was an excellent discision.
In the meantime sales on pinballmachines had picked up, and Rockola became in
good shape.
This was all due to the Repeal [of the Prohibition laws] and the opening of thousands of
taverns in 1933 and 1934.
During the second world war the company had to change to war production, it
produced 3,500 rifles and 100 boxes of ammunition a day.
Rock-ola carbine M1
Meanwhile after the war:
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Chief Guard J. T. Counihan of Rock-ola's military
police corps receives coveted Auxiliary Military Police Guidon citation from Capt. R. L.
Stockman (right), military police supervisor for Sixth Service Command. David C. Rockola,
president of Rock-ola's Manufacturing Corporation, witnesses presentation.
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WELCOME RETURNED HERO. Corp. Robert Graf (right),
formerly an employee of Rock-Ola Manufacturing Corporation, is shown with David C.
Rockola, president of the company. Corporal Graf, who had some narrow escapes from death
in air action over New Guinea, for which he has been decorated, was surprised to find his
employer now engaged in war production, as he worked in the plant when it was entirely
devoted to the manufacture of coin machines and phonographs. Graf's father and brother,
both of whom work for Rock-Ola, are also in the army, so the poster in this picture has
special significance for his family.
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David Rockola was the last big competitor joining the juke bussiness. Somewhere
in the 30's he was friendly asked by Wurlitzer and Seeburg to leave the market, as it was
saturated they said.
Rockola did not change his vision and went onwards.
Allthough Wurlitzer and AMI ruled the 30's and 40's, and Seeburg did in the
50's, it would be Rock-ola who became the market leader in the 60's.
In 1992 Rockola sold the jukebox assets to Glenn Streeter of the Antique
Apparatus Company who then consolidated jukebox manufacturing operations in his Torrance,
California factory.
Today, jukeboxes are still manufactured under the Rock-Ola name in California,
but it's founder died a couple of years ago, in 1993.
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