Seerbug jukebox

abstract: “This jukebox changed history! In the 1950s, it nearly put all other manufacturers out of business”

authors:

• laura-steil date: 2023-10-02

Seerbug jukebox

The jukebox that changed history!

/”Seeburg was one of the first manufacturers of a multi-select jukebox with the introduction of the “Audiophone” in 1928. This wide-body, eight-selection box had pneumatic control valves making it half nickelodeon and half phonograph. This model was a reasonable success, but sales never reached huge numbers. By the 1930s other manufacturers had entered the market and were actually selling more jukeboxes than Seeburg. The next model, the Selectophone, was an engineering disaster. Warped spindles made operators mad and this mistake almost put the company under.

In 1934 the 60 year old Justus handed the reins of the company to his son Noel Marshall Seeburg, although the creator of the company remained an active part of developments until his death in 1958, aged 87.N. Marshall Seeburg had been brought up around the electrical innovations of his generation and the company received a much-needed shot in the arm. Seeburg proceeded to produce successful models of jukebox, including the ‘Gem’, the ‘Crown’, ‘Plaza’, ‘Casino’, ‘Regal’, and ‘Classic’. The new director in turn brought in new talent: M. W. Kenney, an engineer, Nils Miller, an industrial designer and Henry Roberts, sales manager. Furthermore, in the mid-1930s, Meyer Parkoff who was a Wurlitzer distributor in New York moved over to Seeburg.

At the 1938 Jukebox Convention in Chicago Seeburg unveiled their new machine - the ‘Symphonola’. Miller had been experimenting in translucent plastics for the casing and had come up with the first light-up jukebox. The plastic panels had low wattage bulbs behind them, lighting them up and making the phonograph “glow”. This design approach was such an instant success that many of the other companies at the convention returned to their new machines and changed the casing.

But it was the year 1949 that would prove to be the year Seeburg would change the face of jukebox history when it engineered a mechanism that could play both sides of 50 records, a true 100-select jukebox. This mechanism was so reliable that it nearly put all other manufacturers out of business. In 1950 Seeburg introduced the M100B, the first jukebox to play 45 rpm records. During the 1950s Seeburg enjoyed a dominant place in jukebox production, and in 1955 introduced the V-200, the first 200-select jukebox/” (source: https://www.jukeboxhistory.info/seeburg/history.html)


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