The Jukebox
Thomas A. Edison created the phonograph in 1877 and with it revolutionized the world of music. Listening to music was no longer an activity reserved for those elite who could afford to attend live performances. Now the middle class could have a device in their home which played their favorite pieces on command.
It seems to be a universal truth in American business that as soon as some new technology is invented, other enterprising individuals spring up with schemes to make money off of it. The phonograph was no exception, and the first devices which could accept coins for the privilege of listening to a phonograph sprung up just over a decade after Edison's invention.
It seems to be a universal truth in American business that as soon as some new technology is invented, other enterprising individuals spring up with schemes to make money off of it. The phonograph was no exception, and the first devices which could accept coins for the privilege of listening to a phonograph sprung up just over a decade after Edison's invention.
The early coin operated phonographs were crude devices, often off the shelf Edison phonographs with coin activated playback retrofitted to them. Beginning in the 1900s however, a myriad of companies began producing coin operated phonographs integrated into cabinets as well as offering more than one record for listening.
However, these devices were still held back by issues with audibility. Mechanical methods of amplification were not powerful enough to be heard by more than a few people clustered around the machine or a single patron with a listening tube.
With the creation of the vacuum tube, the era of electrical jukeboxes was ushered in, with devices which could be heard throughout the room and were able to offer dozens of records for listening
During the 1940s and 1950s, no company was as successful or produced products quite so spectacular as the Wurlitzer company. Originally a producer of organs and player pianos, the Wurlitzer jukeboxes incorporated state of the art playback technology and breakthrough cabinet design to create the best selling jukeboxes in history.
The cultural impact of the jukebox was undeniable. It revolutionized the dissemination of popular music nearly three decades prior to the advent of radio as well as provided the sound scape for young people gathered in soda shops and bars.
The Jukebox featured prominently in the films of the late 1940s and 1950s, as well as film and television looking back at those decades. It came to be associated with the carefree lifestyle that marked the rise of the American Teenager.
Originally known as the Coin-Operated Phonograph, these devices were referred to eventually as jukeboxes. The origins of the term jukebox are indelibly tied to Southern culture and the juke joint.