[ A request for memorabilia was recently forwarded from this author,
 [ who immediately joined our group!  Richard, thanks for sharing this
 [ excerpt from your forthcoming book.  --  Robbie

David Colin Rockola was Canadian.  His father worked for a pump company
in a small town in western Canada, and was an inventor.  When Rockola was
14 he worked in a hotel as a bellboy, and later 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 came to Chicago,
working for the top three slot machine manufacturers; Mills, Jennings and
Watling.  In 1927 he started his own vending machine manufacturing
company, and soon added scales.  In 1932 he started making pinball games,
and after some serious failures, finally made it big.

He quickly discovered that people mispronounced his name (which is not
Italian, although the origins have yet to be fully defined, possibly
Scotch or a made-up name) so he kept it personally, and added a hyphen to
create Rock-Ola for business, circa 1929.  He got into the jukebox
business in 1935 when Seeburg, Mills and Wurlitzer were making a killing
with music machines after Repeal [of the Prohibition laws] and the
opening of thousands of taverns in 1933 and 1934.

But Wurlitzer attempted to thwart his entry, and that of anyone else,
because they had such a strong patent position.  So a patent war ensued
in which Wurlitzer and Rock-Ola were bidding against each other to buy up
all prior art they could find.  Wurlitzer got most of it, but Rock-Ola
did fairly well, too.  That gave both companies back-dated origin dates
based on the patent application and issuance dates of their acquired art.

A lengthy Rockola story (2 chapters) is contained in my book "Encyclo-
pedia of Pinball Volume 1" (Silverball Amusements, 1996).  The story of
Rock-Ola's entry into the jukebox business, and the patent wars with
Wurlitzer, will be in my forthcoming book "Let The Other Guy Play It!"
(Royal Bell Books, 1997).

For a book list, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

Richard M. Bueschel, 414 N. Prospect Manor Avenue,¶
Mt. Prospect, IL  60056-2046 USA

P.S.  I just joined MMD -- It's marvelous!