Article Treasures | The Golden Age Of The Vintage Jukebox

In today's world dominated by MP3 players and other digital media, it is highly unlikely that the vintage jukebox can survive. Yet against all odds, this traditional music machine is still here. If you look around you can find them in bars and cafes, even in peoples homes.

Jukeboxes are semi automated coin-operated music playing devices. The songs played by them are usually self- contained. Traditionally they are designed with rounded tops and the front and sides decked with colored flashing lighting. Their buttons are lettered and numbered such that different combinations stand for a particular song from a particular record. The designs progressed from the1930s austere wood boxes to the 1940s models which had brightly lit color animation and plastic displays like the Rudolf Wurlitzer 850 Peacock jukebox. However the United States government banned the manufacture of metal and plastic jukeboxes once it entered the Second World War in order to increase the amount of metal ad plastic that went into the war effort. This had an important effect on their design. An example is the 1943 Wurlitzer 950 which used wooden coin slides to reduce metal consumption. Instead of plastic, it also had glass lit panels.

After the Second World War however, metal and plastic for their construction was once again back in abundance which prompted a lot of growth in their making. The Bubber jukebox was made during this era and presents perhaps the best design of all time. Since most of them lived on into the 1950s, they have always been synonymous with the fifties pop culture despite the fact that they originated in the 1940s. The jukebox designs after the 40s increasingly became three-dimensional and more hi-tech in appearance. This was a complete shift from the "standard" box fashions like the renaissance, ancient Grecian and gothic architecture themes that had dominated the 40s jukeboxes.

The 1940s jukeboxes are referred to as Golden Age jukeboxes due to the yellow colored Catlin plastic that was used while the 1950s models are the Silver Age due to their chromium-plate material used in design. The explosion of the popularity of drive in restaurants caused a major increase in the use of them as restaurant owners tried to attract as many customers as possible using the jukeboxes.

Although other kinds of music entertainment media have replaced diner jukeboxes today, both old and young people still enjoy and are attracted to their garish styling wherever there is one to be found. The nostalgia for the jukebox music machine may never end even though this mass media device may be slowly disappearing.