# TOPCast 6: Marvin Yagoda

**Source:** TOPCast - This Old Pinball  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2007-02-21  
**Duration:** 68m 0s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** http://www.pinrepair.com/topcast/showget.php?id=6

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## Analysis

Marvin Yagoda, owner of Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum in Farmington Hills, Michigan, discusses his 60+ year journey collecting coin-operated machines, starting with mechanical music devices (Nickelodeons, Violanos) in the 1960s and expanding into arcade games, fortune tellers, and vintage machines. He shares stories about acquiring rare pieces, negotiating with sellers, navigating Michigan's legal landscape for slot machine ownership, and operating entertainment at Talley Hall—the first food court in the US. The conversation covers restoration challenges, the evolving collector market, and how the hunt for machines has changed over decades.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Marvin graduated from University of Michigan in 1960 with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy — _Marvin directly states this early in the interview_
- [HIGH] Marvin purchased a Seaberg L Nickelodeon in the early 1960s after being inspired by one he saw at a bar on 7 Mile in Detroit — _Marvin recounts his origin story for collecting_
- [MEDIUM] Talley Hall was the first food court in the United States — _Marvin states this claim, but it is presented as his understanding; requires external verification_
- [MEDIUM] Michigan passed a law allowing possession of slot machines 25 years or older, which Marvin and his friend Norby helped pass — _Marvin describes lobbying Lansing with Norby, but no official documentation is provided_
- [MEDIUM] Violano machines typically cost $5,000–$10,000 historically, though current prices may be higher — _Marvin qualifies this as recollection, acknowledging uncertainty about current market_
- [MEDIUM] A Cleveland Grandma crane machine Marvin bought for ~$3,000 is now worth ~$35,000 — _Marvin offers this as a specific example of price appreciation; actual market value not verified_
- [MEDIUM] Pac-Man games at Talley Hall generated so much coin revenue that money would not drop out of the coin acceptor — _Marvin recounts this as an anecdotal observation from the era_
- [MEDIUM] Marvin paid $1,800–$2,000 for a 1937 Rockola World Series game in the early 1960s–early 1970s — _Marvin provides the range but is uncertain about exact timing_
- [MEDIUM] Nickelodeons cost $2,000–$4,000 in the 1960s — _Marvin qualifies this as historical pricing but acknowledges uncertainty_
- [MEDIUM] Mills manufactured Violano machines, and later a California-based buyer acquired the Mills name to produce parts and rolls — _Marvin recounts this history, though names and specific details are sometimes unclear_

### Notable Quotes

> "I just liked to see what it was. And, you know, even a dope like me could understand how it worked. Because it was just very, very interesting how they got sound like that."
> — **Marvin Yagoda**, ~12:00
> _Explains his core attraction to mechanical music machines—the visible, understandable mechanics_

> "What sets the price of these arcade games? The last sale, that's what sets the price."
> — **Marvin Yagoda**, ~23:00
> _Key insight into secondary market pricing dynamics for collectible machines_

> "The chase is half the fun. When you get it home, it just doesn't look the same as where you find it."
> — **Marvin Yagoda**, ~60:00
> _Reflects the psychological appeal of collecting vs. ownership; the hunt as primary motivation_

> "Those would probably be the first things that people wanted was cast iron and oak... Quarter sawn oak is always my favorite."
> — **Marvin Yagoda**, ~40:00
> _Highlights material preferences and aesthetic values in vintage machine collecting_

> "They used to axe these machines. Matter of fact, I had one in my place... It was found in the Detroit River after they axed it up and threw it down there."
> — **Marvin Yagoda**, ~50:00
> _Illustrates the historical suppression of slot machines in Michigan and artifact recovery_

> "You couldn't operate slot machines, but you could possess it."
> — **Marvin Yagoda**, ~48:00
> _Clarifies the legal distinction Marvin helped establish in Michigan law_

> "Today you hardly even see any good old arcade machines. You see stupid stuff from Japan or China. But you don't find any real arcade machines."
> — **Marvin Yagoda**, ~65:00
> _Reflects nostalgia and sentiment about market quality decline; generational divide in collecting_

> "When people moved, they didn't want to take these out of the basement. They were too heavy, too big."
> — **Marvin Yagoda**, ~36:00
> _Explains why machines were readily available for collectors—they were often abandoned_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Marvin Yagoda | person | Founder and owner of Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum in Farmington Hills, Michigan; lifelong coin-op machine collector and operator; began collecting in the 1960s; helped pass Michigan slot machine possession law |
| Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum | organization | Museum/arcade in Farmington Hills, Michigan founded by Marvin Yagoda; website marvin3m.com; houses extensive collection of coin-operated machines, mechanical music devices, and arcade games |
| Clay Harrell | person | Friend of Marvin and podcast guest/co-host; pinball technician and restorer; references owning a slot machine found in Detroit River |
| Dick Buschel | person | Vintage arcade machine collector and historian from Chicago area; helped author books on arcade history; known for negotiating machine purchases and market knowledge |
| Norby | person | Friend of Marvin who died before the interview; co-advocate for Michigan slot machine possession law (25+ years old); involved in legal/lobbying efforts |
| Gordon Rewi | person | Auctioneer from Lapeer, Michigan; sourced machines from closed Chicago arcade; helped Marvin acquire machines including Williams bean crane |
| David Copperfield | person | Magician and collector; visited Marvin several times; acquired a rare double Violano machine for his penthouse on Park Avenue in New York via crane delivery |
| Terry Ho | person | Prominent Violano restorer based in northern Ohio; operates restoration shop with specialized craftspeople for cases, wood, and stringed instruments |
| Frank D. Carroll | person | Early arcade machine collector based in Cleveland; sold Marvin a 1937 Rockola World Series machine for ~$1,800–$2,000 |
| Ralph Bowney | person | Early big collector in New York; owned rare and prototype machines including a coin-operated Bausch & Lomb microscope with slide show |
| Arthur Holst | person | Michigan state senator; helped pass law exempting certain old crane machines from annual inspection requirements |
| Talley Hall | event|venue | First food court in the United States (per Marvin's claim); Marvin's wife connected him to owner; Marvin supplied mechanical/vintage machines; did not allow modern games like Pac-Man |
| University of Michigan | organization | Where Marvin studied and graduated in 1960 with B.S. in Pharmacy; campus canoe livery in Ann Arbor held Nickelodeon collection later sold to Disney |
| Wurlitzer | company | Manufacturer of Nickelodeons and player pianos; made the desirable Wurlitzer H model with most instruments; building/headquarters near Buffalo |
| Seaberg | company | Manufacturer of Nickelodeons (Seaberg L model) and jukeboxes; first company to make Nickelodeons; founder of the Nickelodeon industry |
| Mills | company | Manufacturer of Violano machines and later slot machines; builder of mechanical violin-playing instruments; later name acquired by California restorer for parts/rolls production |
| Link | company | Manufacturer of Nickelodeons; founder also developed the Link Trainer (WWII flight simulator); pioneered endless-roll technology |
| Williams | company | Pinball and arcade machine manufacturer; made bean crane machine Marvin purchased via Gordon Rewi for ~$300 |
| Bally | company | Pinball and slot machine manufacturer; made Money Honey machines with machine-stamped false dates for age circumvention |
| Chicago Show | event | Collector and vintage arcade/pinball trading show; historically good source for machines but now features less quality merchandise per Marvin |
| Antique Trader | publication | Trade publication that featured antiques and collectibles; was a valuable source for finding machines and selling leads in the 1970s–1980s per Marvin |
| Ray Sue | person | Butcher from San Francisco; began recut ting Violano rolls; innovator in roll production for vintage machines |
| Hathaway and Bowers | company | California-based catalog publisher; produced catalogs of Nickelodeons and Violano machines; known pricing reference for collectors |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Mechanical music machines (Nickelodeons, Violanos, orchestrions), Coin-operated arcade machine collecting and history, Vintage machine restoration and parts sourcing, Collector market dynamics and secondary market pricing
- **Secondary:** Michigan state law and slot machine legality, Fortune teller and torture machines, Pinball machines (historical context), Museum operations and entertainment venues

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.78) — Marvin is enthusiastic, nostalgic, and deeply passionate about his collecting journey. He speaks fondly of machines, fellow collectors, and the 'hunt.' Some mild criticism of modern machines and current collecting environment ('stupid stuff from Japan or China'), but overall tone is celebratory and reflective rather than bitter. The host creates an engaged, respectful interview environment.

### Signals

- **[collector_signal]** Marvin cites specific price appreciation examples: Cleveland Grandma crane $3,000 → $35,000; Nickelodeons $2,000–$4,000 in 1960s; Violanos $5,000–$10,000 historically. Current market unknown but acknowledged as appreciating. (confidence: medium) — Multiple price comparisons throughout interview; Marvin qualifies some as recollection
- **[collector_signal]** Marvin observes that good old arcade machines are harder to find today; modern reproductions and imported machines dominate Chicago Show; best acquisition opportunities now occur when collectors pass away and families liquidate estates. (confidence: high) — Direct statement: 'Today you hardly even see any good old arcade machines. You see stupid stuff from Japan or China... The only other thing now, these days, somebody goes away to heaven and they have a collection.'
- **[restoration_signal]** Historical shortage of Violano parts due to pot metal deterioration; now being recasted in brass by specialists. Terry Ho (Ohio) is prominent restorer with network for cases, wood, and stringed instrument experts. California-based Mills name buyer produces parts and rolls. (confidence: medium) — Marvin describes pot metal degradation and current brass recasting solutions; identifies Terry Ho as most prominent restorer
- **[historical_signal]** Michigan slot machine owners would stamp false dates (1925, 1938) using chisels to machines to appear 25+ years old and bypass age verification, circumventing slot machine regulations. (confidence: medium) — Marvin describes the practice: 'they used to stamp the date in the machine with a chisel or whatever you used to do hit that stamp in 1925 or 1938, actually because whoever examined it, they wouldn't know if it was 1910 or 1960'
- **[regulatory_signal]** Michigan passed a law allowing possession of slot machines 25 years or older; individuals could not operate them, but could legally own/display them. Marvin and friend Norby lobbied in Lansing to establish this standard. (confidence: medium) — Marvin: 'we passed a law that really helped this guy, Norby, he died already, but we went to Lansing several times and made this law that the machines had to be 25 years or older... You couldn't operate slot machines, but you could possess it.'
- **[market_signal]** Marvin explains secondary market pricing mechanism: each resale sets new price floor; collectors negotiate informally based on fear of underselling or overselling. Price knowledge asymmetry favors informed collectors. (confidence: high) — Marvin: 'What sets the price of these arcade games? The last sale, that's what sets the price... A sells at the BL private. but B sells it to C, a little bigger price. C to D, bigger, and D to E, bigger.'
- **[community_signal]** Collectors distinguish between negotiation skill and unethical behavior; buying low is valued as skill, not cheating, as long as both parties are happy. Emphasis on 'not ruffling feathers' and managing seller expectations. (confidence: medium) — Marvin: 'Doesn't mean you cheated anybody, but you just had to be a little astute at what you're doing because you didn't want to ruffle their thoughts... if both people are happy, it works sometimes.'
- **[venue_signal]** Talley Hall (claimed first US food court) required entertainment supplier; Marvin provided mechanical/vintage machines due to restrictions on modern games (Pac-Man era); high foot traffic (10,000+ weekly) made location viable for coin-op operation. (confidence: medium) — Marvin: 'they just opened... The first food court in the United States... they didn't want modern games... So I just looked for interesting mechanical games.'
- **[operational_signal]** Pac-Man era (early 1980s) generated extraordinary coin revenue; machines would accumulate so much money that coin acceptors would jam/overflow. Considered 'the good old days' for arcade profitability. (confidence: medium) — Marvin: 'I remember stories about Pac-Man games. They have a coin box. You know, you go back to collect it. There was so much money, you couldn't even, the money wouldn't even drop out of the coin acceptor anymore. Those were the good old days.'
- **[design_innovation]** Violano machines used magnets, sparks, and large DC motors to operate mechanical violin players; later models had issues with dated selenium rectifiers posing fire hazards. Power supply upgrades improved safety and consistency. (confidence: medium) — Marvin: 'they played with magnets and sparks, and had a big DC motor... older violinos, all the chords were ran, rapped, and it really was a fire hazard... because of the fires and so on, they've changed some of the electrical... Now they use those power supplies or something.'
- **[product_concern]** Violano pot metal parts deteriorate over time; casting in pot metal rather than brass limited lifespan. Fire risk in older electrical systems (selenium rectifiers, wiring). Requires specialized restoration expertise. (confidence: high) — Marvin: 'most of those parts in the violins were made out of white metal... pot metal... And you know what happens with pot metal? It deteriorates... there was no active source of parts for violino... People recast these things, cast them out of brass instead of that pot metal.'
- **[historical_signal]** In 1960s–1970s, machines were readily available via basement discoveries, antique traders, auctions, and personal networks; by 2000s, supply dried up as machines became recognized as collectible and valued. Ease of finding diminished significantly. (confidence: medium) — Marvin: 'It wasn't that hard to find a lot of stuff... When people moved, they didn't want to take these out of the basement... but the trader today is about a sixteenth of an inch thick those days used to be an inch thick kind of good things.'

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## Transcript

 Hi there, pinball fans! It's your favorite clown, Krusty, and you're listening to Norman Shaggy on the TopCast, the greatest pinball show ever made! Ugh, can I get my money now? I'm such a whore. You're listening to TopCast, this old pinball's online radio. For more information, visit them anytime. www.marvin3m.com slash TopCast. Welcome to the Thursday night edition of TopCast. We've got a special guest with us tonight. We've got Marvin Ugoda from Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Website Marvin3m.com, which I'm sure all you pinheads know about in some degree, more or less. but Marvin's here to tell us about his uh endeavors in collecting and operating he's been around uh what you he graduated from uh Marvin what you graduated from U of M in what 1958? Oh 60. 1960. Don't make me older than that. All right Marvin well anyways I'm gonna I'm gonna ask Marvin a few questions we're gonna we're gonna talk about uh what he's been doing for the last 40, 50 years. So Marvin, you graduated from the U of M in 1960. And what was your degree in? Pharmacy. Pharmacy. Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy. And how did you span that over to the coin-op hobby and or business? Well, I used to go to a nice little bar on 7 Mile in Detroit. And he had a Nickelodeon there. Actually, it was a Seaberg L, which is smaller than the Seaberg line. Nice little, about four foot, about three foot wide and four foot high. Well, I liked the Nickelodeon. I said to myself, I've got to have one of these. Well, wait, back up a little bit. Not everybody knows what a Nickelodeon is. So why don't you tell us what a Nickelodeon is? Well, a Nickelodeon is like the first computer. You have a roll that's punched out, you have a row of tubes where air trickles through, and where the punched hole is blows that note. So it's really like the old first computer, because they actually had to do that by hand, punching all these holes, or they had a machine to punch them. It's basically a player piano, but instead of it being a piano, it's a... It's a player piano. It's like an orchestra. and they had different instruments, player piano with instruments called an orchestrion. There's another name for it. And they had drums and xylophone, glockenspiel, and items like that that added to the, I think, to the fullness of the sound. Well, it was like a band in a box. Right. A coin-operated band in a box. And coin-operated. And usually there was a hole in the middle. When they reached that hole in the middle, it was a shutoff. And shut it off until they put the nickel in. But they really did start with nickels. And actually, the first Nickelodeons were made by Seberg, who everybody knows were the same people who made the jukeboxes. and Wurlitzer was one of the first in music. They even have a Wurlitzer building in downtown Detroit, about 10 stories high, and they sold pianos and so on. Wurlitzer is located not too far from here near Buffalo. And so they had the Wurlitzer. They had another company called Link, L-I-N-K. Now, the owner of Link also developed the Link Trainer, which was a very famous trainer in World War II. They trained pilots, but they trained them static. And a trainer like that. And he developed his forte in this Nickelodeon business was an endless roll. It would just keep going. I mean, it would stack up and keep going, so that way music kept playing like that. I'm just trying to think some of the other... And why were you attracted to the Nickelodeon? Well, I was attracted because it was mechanical music. It was mechanical. I just, I liked to see what it was. And, you know, even a dope like me could understand how it worked. Because it was just very, very interesting how they got sound like that. So this was around 1960 or so? Yeah, just about. Actually, what happened, when I went to school in Ann Arbor in the 50s, there was a river downtown, in downtown Ann Arbor. and we would go to the canoe livery. It was the Washtenaw, right? Yeah, I think Washtenaw. But they had a canoe livery there, downtown near Main Street. And these were rent canoes. So I went down. The livery was called a canoe livery. It was down some steps. And this guy collected a bunch of Nickelodeons. I don't know how many he had, 10, 12, 15, down in the area where people waited. Well, I graduated and saw this Seberg L at somebody's house. I said, damn, I know where there's a bunch of Nickelodeons. I'm going to go get me one. Well, guess what? I went down there, and just the year before, he sold all those music machines to Disney. I forgot where the first Disney, in California or Florida? Yeah, California. Well, he sold it at Disney, and that's where all those beautiful Nickelodeons went. So then that just started me on a chase. And right near my house, this little bar we used to go to, I made really great hamburgers. I can't remember the name of it. He had a Nickelodeon in there too. He wasn't ready to sell it. But from that day on, which was in the 60s, early 60s, I just kept watching the want ads. and I did find one ad in a little town off I-94, not far from Muskegon, I think it was, and this guy had a Nickelodeon Seabird KT, and I bought that along with a beautiful Regina Upright Changer music box. It has steel discs that go up and down, and it's a wonderful machine, and it started in the early 1900s, and I bought a couple slot machines from them too. It just seemed people that like one thing, they like the whole gamut of these same type of machines. Were they expensive? Well, expensive. I mean, in those days, whenever you buy things in that era, they're expensive. But, you know, I'm going to just give you an idea. Like going to the Chicago show where a lot of arcade games came through. Say there's five collectors. A sells at the BL private. but B sells it to C, a little bigger price. C to D, bigger, and D to E, bigger. And, you know, what sets the price of these arcade games? The last sale, that's what sets the price. So, like, back in the 60s when you were buying them, I mean, were you paying $50, $100, $10, $1,000? You mean for what, the music machines? Well, like, say the Nickelodeon and the slot machines and that. Nickelodeon is still expensive. They were $2,000, $3,000, $4,000. Even back then? Well, yeah, I mean, there's a couple of guys named Hathaway and Bowers. I don't know if you've ever heard those names before. Hathaway and Bowers were located in California, and they used to put out a catalog of all these Nickelodeons and Violanos. And Violanos were basically a mechanical violin player. But the difference was, these other played with vacuum pumps, and the Violano played with magnets and sparks, and had a big DC motor, and really cool how it sounded, and a battery of magnets, and that's how it played with magnets, opening and closing the valves like that. Actually, the Violano is one of the largest amounts of musical instruments ever made, And that's why so many of them survive today. I had one, too. I had a beautiful double violin. Violano. Yeah, well, people call it a violin, but it is a violano, which is a violin piano is a violano. But I think they're mostly referred to as violin machines because actually there are other ones like Huffield from Germany that played three violins, but they went in a 360. These violins were like a regular roll. And then they had a double violin, which was rare. And I had one of those until just recently, and I sold that. But the violins, actually, if you got the right roll, there's beautiful music you played. I remember I had a Steve Easter roll from those old, you know, those down south music. And it was just, the way they recorded it was very good. Now here's the funny thing is, the better the songs were, the worse that they stayed because they played those all the time. The worst roles were never played, and that's why you probably find those in much better condition. There was a guy in California named Ray Sue, S-I-U, he was a butcher, by the way, in San Francisco, and he started recutting these violin rolls. Now there's somebody else that makes them. I think they're maybe a couple hundred dollars a roll. And like a violano, aren't they about $50,000 today? Well, I don't know. They used to hover around. The singles used to be around $5,000, $8,000, $10,000. Maybe I'm thinking too far back. And here's another interesting thing. The violano played with a disc that went around and around, and then it was lifted up and down on the strings. Those were hard to get because those were made out of celluloid material. Same thing that old films were made out of. And there just wasn't that material around. Then another guy started making those called bow wheels. And he started selling quite a few of them. There was another guy from Milwaukee. He took a lot of guys in this business, like what happened sometime. But the Violano was always one of my favorite machines. And just a musical violin. What an interesting thing that is. By the way, the... And all coin-operated, obviously. Yeah, coin-operated. By the way, the fellow who made that, the old story was that he went nuts. After he designed and made this Violano, he went crazy. But it was a good machine. It was out in the public. There's a lot of little nice books that show a lot of the pictures, where they were. They've been on ships, you know, Antonio Cruz ships, all over. And they, I just like, the appeal was very, just a sweet thing in violin. And, you know, also they were, Wurlitzer, well, this was Mills that made this. Same Mills that made the slot machines in later years. but the Wurlitzer which is big in the Nickelodeon probably the most desirable one was the H Wurlitzer H because it had the most instruments in it Wurlitzer even made a harp a self playing harp imagine that, a great big harp and that's very rare rare because they didn't make too many of them just didn't have the same appeal as the violin does but now today Here's another point about the Violano. What I liked about it, it was run by a great big DC motor. When that AC turned DC, it started slow and went faster and faster. But today, because of the fires and so on, they've changed some of the electrical. I forgot what you call these. You mean the selenium rectifiers that converted AC to DC? Yeah, but they don't use that anymore. They use those power supplies or something. Right. That'll work a little better. And so it makes it a lot easier for the violino to play because if you look at the old violinos, all the chords were ran, rapped, and it really was a fire hazard after a while because you never knew internally what was going to happen. matter of fact there was a big collector in California I think his name was Dr. Rudy I can't remember his last name he was one of the first collectors who had a wonderful collection in his home in California and guess what a fire started and burned everything well it didn't burn him completely out but even the restoration was not very feasible sometimes so at that time and this was about 25 years ago some of these guys I knew were going to start an insurance company that would deal mostly in these musical machines. The reason, because if they're your machines, you don't want them to burn up, you don't want them to go bad, but on the other hand, you have like a Ryan Policky, because what happened, the insurance companies couldn't believe the value of some of these machines. If you're in the, if you're, you know, in the property, you know what the value is, but the insurance company couldn't fathom paying $40,000 for just a piece of wood with some instruments in it. But that never came to fruition, that deal with the insurance. But I thought it was a good idea. Self-insure yourself. Now, so you started collecting this stuff in the 60s. Right. When did you actually start operating? Well, excuse me, my first love was these music machines. In my house, I had 13, I call it pianos, because even the violano has a great big steel harp in the back. I had 13 different nickelodeons, including one big band organ you can hear for a block away. And then, I don't know, I started buying some arcade games at that time. Yeah, what kind of arcade games? Well, what kind? Those would probably be the first things that people, well, actually a different era. You mean like Mutuscope, Atomic Bomber type stuff? Well, that's a later one. The first wave of machines that people wanted was cast iron and oak. I mean, they all weren't made of cast iron and oak, but that was the basic material they used. And, you know, with oak around, that oak lasted for a long time, especially if people painted those cabinets. That paint actually protected that oak, the beautiful oak. Quarter sawn oak is always my favorite. Quarter sawn oak. So are you talking about the mutoscope movie machines? Well, the mutoscopes, the first ones were cast iron. I have one of the first ones. It's called Indian. She gave me a very detailed casting, too. It's in my place. I had a lady detail every... It came to me gray. Then she found and detailed every piece of that thing. It's really beautiful, including peaches on the legs and Indian pictures and so on By the way I just trying to And what is it You know we should make it clear what it is It a movie viewer Yeah it a movie viewer where there a tab that holds you know in a roll in a reel there's about 500 or 700 pictures in a reel. And as you flip that reel, holding it on top, it animates that roll like a movie. By the way, I want to just mention one other thing about the violins. Unfortunately, most of those parts in the violins were made out of white metal. I forgot what the other name was for white metal. Pot metal, you mean? Pot metal. And you know what happens with pot metal? It deteriorates. So for a long time, there was no active source of parts for violino. But now there are. People recast these things, cast them out of brass instead of that pot metal. So, of course, they last a lot longer. But there were some people who made rolls. And there's another guy in California. who actually bought that name Mills and he started producing parts and and and rolls, also cutting rolls but in this piece there's one guy in Ohio Terry Ho Ho is the name he's probably the most prominent restorer of violins in the country I was down to his shop there in northern Ohio He's got a bunch of old time guys that do the cases, you know, restore that wood and the cases and some piano men who can string the pianos. He's got a wonderful operation. He's really been a big source of help for these violin machines. The violanos. The violanos. Here's another interesting story about the violano. I'm familiar and become a friend of mine, a magician, David Copperfield. He's visited me several times. I visited a house in New York, too. He lives in a, around 50th Street on Park Avenue. It was a very classy, elite place, and he lives on about the 60th floor of this building with a penthouse and so on. Well, he wanted to get one of these double violins when he saw it. Violinos, double violinos. Well, you know, I'm used to saying, old-timers say violins, by the way, violino, violin. So he wanted to get one of these things, and the only way he could get it, you know, being on the 70th floor, it would be nice if he could have taken up the freight elevator. He couldn't. Well, supposedly they hired a crane and brought it on the outside up to a window. Of course, whatever the cost was, it didn't matter to him. That's just an interesting story about the mile in. And the double, of course, is the most collectible, and the oak was more collectible than the mahogany. And they had some different, you know, different facades, like a, you know, I can't remember all these names, but there's bow front. One was called a bow front. That means it was round on the top and very, very nice. The mills, that was one of their key pieces for a long time, mills. Okay, so off the violano and on to more of the arcade pieces, what were some of the arcade stuff that you were collecting other than the mutoscope stuff? Like the game-wise and fortune tellers and what were you looking for? I wasn't actively collecting arcade machines until I started this little business in Talley Hall. And I did collect some. I had a real nice Cleveland Grandma. That's called Cleveland Grandma. Paid about $3,000 for it. Today it's going for $35,000. And I like the cranes, too. These different types of cranes. There are quite a few cranes that they made. and what happened, they were illegal for a long time. But when I opened this place in Taliah, some cranes, this fellow, his name was Arthur Holst. He was a senator, Michigan senator, and he helped. When they got so calm in these cranes, they passed a law that they had to be inspected every year for the coils so they wouldn't weak and shouldn't pick something up and so on. But they exempted me, you can read that on the law whenever it was, that I was exempt because of the old games made, I don't remember the age. And by the way that same thing when the slot machines started to come out, we passed a law that really helped this guy, Norby, he died already, but we went to Lansing several times and made this law that the machines had to be 25 years or older. You mean for individuals to own a slot machine in Michigan, it was okay, legal, if it was 25 years or older and you got that law passed so you could operate old slot machines. Well, no, you couldn't operate slot machines, but you could possess it. You could possess it. You know, you could see all the old pictures of it. They used to axe these machines. Matter of fact, I had one in my place. I think Joshua Clay has it right down at his stairs. Yeah, I got it right around the corner. And what I used to put, I put that note on it. It was found in the Detroit River after they axed it up and threw it down there. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. That I couldn't tell you for sure. I'm pretty sure it wasn't. The old games, what happened to me in the business I had, they didn't allow me to have any new games. That's when Pac-Man just started. And they didn't allow that. So what I used to do is look for old games that would be interesting for people. In those old days when the arcades, they had the games for five, ten years. They didn't change every, you know, like a pinball. They didn't come out with eight a year. They had the basic games and stayed there and collected them and played them. So there were a lot of them, and you just had to dig those machines out because people would give it to somebody, and then it would stay in the basement for 15, 20 years. And basically, just like these old got leaves, they're all the same. Aren't they, Joshua Clay? I mean, it works. No. I mean, not all, but, you know, here you've got four lined up against the wall. Five, six, seven, eight lined up. Aren't they all basically the same? Well, they're all the same, you know, basic size and dimension, but they're a different game. Well, a different play field, but aren't they the same flippers and the same configuration? Yeah, same configuration, basically. Well, anyways, it just seemed to be a hobby that proliferated because it was fun. and, you know, I mean, it wasn't very expensive those days. You know, these pinballs you have here, you could buy them for 50 bucks. I don't remember how far back. I remember, though, $50, $75. All these, I don't know what age this is. They were easy to pick up. And when people moved, they didn't want to take these out of the basement. They were too heavy, too big. Especially bowling machines and these. So it wasn't that hard to find a lot of stuff. some was good shape some wasn't actually the worse the machine was playable the better shape it was nobody played it or some was and what was your like best collecting story as far as like you know finding a machine and you know in the you know something you were really looking for and a good story behind it well Dick Buschel told me this story Dick was really a wonderful guy he helped Javi he wrote all these books and just going back a little this friend of mine, Norby, when we passed that law 25 years or older on the slots, they were these bally money honeys they were newer these guys used to stamp the date in the machine with a chisel or whatever you used to do hit that stamp in 1925 or 1938, actually because whoever examined it, they wouldn't know if it was 1910 or 1960 But that's what these guys just do, actually put a date in there with a stamp on the metal in there. What was the last thing you asked me about? What? Oh, the story. Oh, I'm going to tell you the story. That's really good. I'll tell you about slot machines. The older slot machines, same thing with cast iron and oak, were probably the most valuable machines because cast iron, that's what they originally were made out of, not aluminum, not whatever else it is. So Dick told me this story once. He went into an antique shop, I don't know, in Michigan, because he was from Chicago, and he had a summer home on Lake Michigan in Michigan. He'd go in there, and he knew, he almost knew about what the price was, but it kept going up and up, like I say, after the guy sold it from one guy the next guy every time that was sold the price went up so he said say he knew this machine was uh let's see say say he'd get $2,500 for the machine so he'd lady when they sees the machine on the floor how much well he didn't he didn't want him there was two ways or how much would you give me she said well he didn't know exactly what the answer because if you said 500 and she to know, she might get mad and say, get out of here. If you offered her $1,200, say, geez, I paid $100 for it. This might be more valuable than I think it is. So that was sort of a fun of buying things. Doesn't mean you cheated anybody, but you just had to be a little astute at what you're doing because you didn't want to ruffle their thoughts. But still, if you like something, you can't show too much to be too eager. They know the price keeps going up. Well, that's what happened with the first machines, and I think it probably still happens today when you go to somebody's house, and they don't know exactly what it is. So what is the deal? If you steal it from somebody, is that good? Or is the chase the most fun, where you find something, and you try to negotiate a price? And as long as both people are happy, it works sometimes. But that's been that way for a long time, when the price is arcade machine especially. Now what happened in the beginning, and this friend of mine is still around, Gordon Rewi, who's an auctioneer, he lives up in Lapeer. There was a big arcade in Chicago that closed down and they had all these machines, you know, 100, 150 different machines stored in a place. Well, Gordon found this place and he started buying some of these over things. He had a big auction himself. I bought a bean crane, you know, a Williams, I think it was a Williams bean crane. Paid about $300 that time. But, that's the only way you can find, but you can find big collection like that where arcade flows down, because there was a time when arcade business wasn't so good either, and they closed. I remember one time, I saw a little ad in the Antique Trader, I went with a friend of mine to Oklahoma and this guy had a traveling carnival and the carnival always set up a tent with an arcade in it and let me tell you if there was these bowlers what the ball bowlers you mean? no the big one, big heavy bowler in the basketball game you've seen him he's got a mirror in the back two player anyway whatever it doesn't make any difference I went to his little place in New Mexico where he had just died. There were 20 of these bowling machines. You buy it for $100. It's just a ball breaker, those things. But today, I don't even know what they're going for, but they keep going up in value because they're harder to find. Of course, a lot of the parts have to be made by somebody. But, you know, the chase is half the fun. When you get it home, it just doesn't look the same as where you find it. and I remember the antique trader was a good source for things because people knew about it because they had other antiques it would take three weeks by the time they got the story to be published and put on the street so a lot of times the stuff was gone already but the trader today is about a sixteenth of an inch thick those days used to be an inch thick kind of good things. So things change. And you know what happened? It was a lot easier to find things then. Just like if you won't go to the Chicago show. Today you hardly even see any good old arcade machines. You see stupid stuff from Japan or China. But you don't find any real arcade machines. Well, you do a little bit. The only other thing now, these days, somebody goes away to heaven and they have a collection. And wife couldn't wait to get the, you know what she calls, get the shit out of here. So that's a good way today about finding machines. Sometimes you have to buy the whole lot to get what you want. Sell the others off. All right, Martin, let's take a little break. We'll just take a couple-minute break here, and we'll be right back. Think you have what it takes to get out of TopCast? So do we. Truth is, we can't get enough of these personal promos. You know. Hi, this is Rick Swanson. This is Eric A. Hey, this is Clint. Hey, this is Curb, and you're listening to... Hey, Pinheads, this is Mr. Hyden. So if you have a sensational desire to hear yourself plug in to podcast.vericalradio, and we really hope you do, send the corn an email, and he'll give you instructions on how you can be on the next show. T-H-E-K-O-R-N at T-H-E-K-O-R-N dot net. The corn at the corn dot net. And we'll get you fixed up right away, and probably on the next show. Top Guest is brought to you by Marco Specialties, your pinball parts superstore. Visit their website at marcospecialties.com. You can search for parts by game name, game make, or part number. Marco Specialties was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Lexington, South Carolina. They specialize in pinball parts, supplies, books, and anything pinball. Marco has been online since 1996 and is the web's oldest and largest pinball parts supplier. Their new 12,000 square foot distribution center services 25,000 customers in over 50 countries. Feel free to call Marcos Specialties at 803-957-5500. Marcos Specialties, your pinball parts superstore at MarcosSpecialties.com. Okay, we're back with Marvin again. Marvin Yagoda from Marvin3m.com. Marvin's been collecting for, you know, what, 40, 50 years. and he's just telling us some stories about what he's collected and how he operated and how he actually got some laws changed for slot machines so you could legally own slot machines in Michigan that were 25 years of age or older. But what other arcade-type stuff were you collecting, Marvin, that has passed through your hands? Oh, I don't know. I remember one. Of course, I started in Talley Hall and it was my wife who found these people. they just opened. That was the first food court in the United States. And I knew this fellow that owned it and asked him to put in some games, entertainment. So I was all the entertainment with this 10,000 people a week passing through there. And the only thing they stipulated, they didn't want modern games. Like that was when Pac-Man just started and all the other pinball games were going to a different level. And I remember stories about Pac-Man games. They have a coin box. You know, you go back to collect it. There was so much money, you couldn't even, the money wouldn't even drop out of the coin acceptor anymore. Those were the good old days. It's really unbelievable how much people played these games. Well, I started, when I had my business there in Talley Hall, they didn't want the new games. They didn't want the electronic games. So I just looked for interesting mechanical games. Like the Diggers, the Fortune Tellers, Kiss By the way people either like love or strange hate or torture So of course the love machines where you squeeze the handle to tell what kind of lover you are The torture machines were one like I have, a big old steel machine that shows five or six different kinds of torture. I can stretch somebody on there, you put a hot branding on it, stuff like that. So that's where it perks people's interest. Well, you got a 1937 Rockola World Series at one point, too, right? Yeah, well, that was a nice game. Well, where did that come from? Well, it came from another collector I remember down in Chicago, I mean in Cleveland. Frank D. Carroll was really an old-time collector. I think I paid $2,000, $1,800 for that game. And what year was that? When I bought it, well, it's got to be somewhere in the 60s, I guess. 60s, early 70s. And that game had a couple of broken men. They had a steel ball that you hit with a bat. So I had a real nice friend of mine who was a sculptor. She sculpted all kinds of brass and copper pieces. Well, she sculpted these men for me. And I remember that we had them cast. and she painted them real nice and I sold all of them because people needed those figures because the other ones that break you know when you hit it a certain way with a ball they break by the way I was I was looking for things and I found a guy in New York his name was Ralph Bowney one of the first big collectors I remember going to see him in New York and I brought it on the plane home this coin operated microscope was made by Bausch and Lomb I think it must have been a prototype because it had number 3 stamped in there and it showed a slide show that went around pictures of mosquito stingers and hair, crab hair whatever the hell it was in there and that Ralph Bounty had some wonderful old things that since they've made a couple reproductions but that's what When I went to see them, that's why I had to have these pieces that weren't modern. I got fortune tellers. Beautiful. I bought a Cleveland grandma there. I think about $500 or $1,800. Beautiful. I sold it. I don't know. I sold it for $4,000 or something. Now it's $45,000 or $40,000. Yeah, if you can find one. If you can find one. It used to be a Dresden doll in there. That was not even a wax face. Oh, you know, I have another one. I had a Munby's, like Zelda or one of those. They're all the same, just have different names. In my head, I was going to put a wax head in. This is a bad story. I was going to put a wax head in there. And I found on the front page of Antique Trader, a lady who made wax hands and head. So, I don't know, she's in Illinois someplace. She was going to deliver that finished product to the Chicago Man Show. So she brought it to me. It was in May. Brought me a beautiful head, beautiful set of hands I could put in there. Guess what? Put them in my van. Guess what? Four hours later, it's all melted down. What, you mean they were wax? Wax melted right down. So, I felt bad about that. I think I had somebody make me a paper mache head after that. But those were the kind of pieces we wanted. Fortune tellers and love tellers. And of course cranes, I had a bunch of really nice old cranes. I stuck my feet in American pieces, made in the States. But later on, there's a few English pieces, a few French pieces, German pieces, that were interesting too that I liked. So I changed, I mean I didn't mind collecting a foreign piece, but I still liked the American pieces better. Well, now, eventually, though, the Talley Hall place closed, right? Yeah, what they did, too many kids were hanging around there, and they had about 18 or 20 vendors in Talley Hall, but they could only sell one product. In other words, one guy sold French fries, and the other vendor couldn't sell French fries. One guy had those kind of potatoes. Nobody else could have those. One guy had salads. Nobody else could. So, well, that concept was real good at the beginning, Like other restaurants, it just sort of died off. And a restauranteur, to keep his people, you know, interest alive, just like today, you've got to change your menu a little bit. You've got to add certain things. And he couldn't add them in this particular venue like that. So it closed, and I really was heartbroken because I was doing good business in there. And I didn't know what to do with all these machines. So it closed. Oh, I know one thing. They didn't even collect rent for a lot of people almost a year because they wanted everybody out of there. I paid my rent all the time, so they had to do something with my lease. So they let me store the games, and when they built this new tally hall, they let me back in there. I did have some trouble with the city with the license because they don't like the license, like arcades, and probably the major reason because it becomes a kid's hangout, and the police come. They have an idea, like if the police come 20 times a month, It cost them $50 on a police run, cost them $1,000. So they like to eliminate possibilities of police having to go there. So I was lucky. I respect that. It cost me a little money with an attorney. But we showed him that we had a clean business. We operated clean. And that's how I was lucky to get this license. And that's why you also tried to deem yourself as a museum versus an arcade. Well, yeah. It was kind of a slight of hand. No, no, it wasn't a sleight of hand. The only sleight of hand is when you jack yourself a little bit. That's the sleight of hand. The point is, the museum title, it did differentiate than writing arcade. Because arcade, people think arcade, you think of a sleazy place with a bunch of long, greasy-haired guys hanging out there instead of going to school. I tried to get away from that connotation like that. So we called it a museum. Actually, it's still a museum. I mean, there's pieces in there you won't find in a lot of places. But on the other hand, I suffered because people like the arcade just didn't say anything about arcade. Because the kids tell a museum they don't even want to go to a museum. So that was fun for me, too. They don't want to go. It's a museum. Well, once they get in, they didn't want to leave. And it's been like that for a long time in my place. It's different. I'm a space engineer I pack ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag you couldn't move around there but I just liked the things I just kept buying them but you know it's like anything else with a collector your interest changed a little bit what you would never sell in a million years now your interest changes to something else and you go that direction most of the time I look at this basement I don't even know how the hell you get all these pinballs in or out of here. Do you? Go ahead. Lucky for you, your wife permits that. Yeah, maybe so. You know, there's an old story about a guy was getting remarried. He had the rabbi up in front, and he was trying to find out who's dominant in the marriage. Is it a man or the woman? So he said all the men that are dominant, there's a line up over here. One guy lined up. All the women down at the marriage, on the left side, they were lying out the door. So the little guy comes and says, what are you doing? I can't understand. What are you doing in that line? He says, my wife told me to stand over there. So in other words, you've got to have a wife that at least lets you alone with these things. I don't know how you do it. You have to maybe buy her some jewels or something. Yeah, some jewels. That's it. That's what I'm doing. Buy her another pinball. Yeah, that's it. Well, anyway, so then you got Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum operating, and you were mostly at that point still running the old games? Yeah, you know, I used to buy one of those gun games, a single for $50, a double for $80 or $90. The first week I could take $50, $60 out of the machine. Why? Because there was no competition there, and the people hadn't seen that in a while, down. They played those gun games. For their time they were okay. They operated underneath with a stylus hitting whatever the points were. Yeah, little brass points. So it really wasn't. A lot of times they were out of sync. Alignment. Yeah, a lot of times. So that's what happened. Then I started sneaking in some stuff like I snuck in some pinballs. Actually, I did these same electromechanical pinball that I started with, but then I started with an electronic. No difference. We're talking about the lay public now, not collectors or not people who know about these. But a person that has a lot more fun with electronics than they do with this older pinball. In fact, I tried one in my place just recently, and it just didn't do any work there. The new ones, they just like it. But they get tired of the new ones too because they used to come out eight a year when they had Bally and Daddy East and whoever else there was making those pinballs. There was a lot of pinballs. Then you had to know which one to buy and which not to buy. But anyways, that's what happened. That's why you don't find too many arcades around today either because they just, especially the advent of all the home games. The manufacturer can sell maybe, I'm just using numbers, 1,000 games for the arcade. In the home, he could sell 25,000 or 30,000. So where is he going to devote all his R&D and thoughts for the home market, not the arcade market? So that's why the demise of this arcade business. So you were running gun games and doing pretty well with them and buying them cheap. A quarter. I mean, you know, I used to take that nickel thing off. The nickel acceptor? Yeah, nickel or dime acceptor and make it a quarter for five shots or whatever. I don't remember. I used to have Dale guns in there and all kinds of, you know, I had a nice little kiddie ride that had a gun that just shot from the top. Right, I know that one. It was a Bally or something like that. Of course, they made a new one like that several years ago, too. Now tell us about your hookup with Gene Poore. Oh, well, you know, I went to a nice show every year in the fall called IAPA, International Association of Parks and Attractions. And this show is for all types of attractions, you know, aquariums and places like Disney or Hershey Park. Yeah, amusement parks. amusement parks and all kinds of other roadside attractions and so on. What they show there is they show food, they show safety operations, and they show games, games that people can play, you know, photo games. I saw this guy's booth, Life Formations, just in Ohio, just 60 miles from us here. and he had his new technology was with some kind of molded stuff that you couldn't tell it wasn't real skin and he used air compressor he used these uh i forgot what you call them pneumatic whatever they're called so they could make human movements unbelievable and i this guy gene poor i just fell in love with him and the place and so i got him to make me a couple pieces that i really like. My philosophy is that I don't care old or new. Some people say I only collect old, I only collect this, you know, oak and iron, but still some people can create some interesting things. And the whole thing is when you have a business, you want things that people like, they get entertained. So in my own philosophy, I don't care if it's older than new, I just like it because I like it. And I even don't care, I mean, it doesn't bother me about the reproductions because the reproductions means there's more out there, I mean the price is affected, but there's more out there and more people get interested because to keep a hobby going you have to have new people interested. The old people there, it dies out, so you have to stimulate some new interest. So they can bring back some of these old machines that were. There's a couple guys that have done that too, and they've done reasonably well with it. The only thing, there's a guy named John Papa from New York, nice guy, he sells a lot of things. There used to be a game called Electricity is Life. It was an old one from the 20s, and it used two handles, and it actually would give you a shock with a big meter telling you, you know, you're a pisser, you're a strong man, whatever the thing went. But he made a beautiful, beautiful reproduction. of this electricity is life. And the original one had a back glass with sparkle on it. I mean, this is real beautiful. What I like what he did, he signed it in the back, his name, how many, it's one of 18 and so on. Not because what happens, you don't get fooled there, but sometimes down the road some collector might be fooled by buying something that isn't old. And you know that. I mean, it's still good, but old you've got to pay one price and new you've got to pay another price. So What do you think Joshua Clay Do you want to take Do you mind if people call in Marvin No I don't mind If anybody has any questions They can give us a call Or they can give Marvin a call And we can talk to Marvin on the phone If you got a question The phone number is 1-800 If you got a question For Marvin The first arcade type piece That I bought was a chicken machine that dispensed eggs. You know, it was very simple. I had a turntable, put a quarter in the turntable, turned when the two holes lined up, the egg fell out. There was a lady, a pie lady who was selling pies. She used to get mad because I had it, buck, buck, buck, you know, that was part of the sound effect. She used to unplug it all the time. I looked, I still have that machine. I looked in the meter, 220,000 plays on that little machine. I bought it new, it was zero. 220,000 plays you figure the mathematics was it a quarter a play? yeah a quarter eggs used to cost about 6 or 7 cents I always try to get eggs with the best prices because people get a little piece of crap in there for a quarter they don't like it but if you give them something called perceived value that looks better it's just better all around people don't mind anyways that's I always liked the photo machines too. We used to have these called auto photo where they take the four strip color in black and white. The only problem these days is you have to change the chemicals all the time. There's actually some silver in the black and white. What you have to do is dispose of that properly. You have to change those chemicals because they wear out. The more use, the more they wear out. A lot of people are just taking that and dumping it in the alley or dumping it someplace, but you can't do that anymore. So that was some of the demise of the photo machines. Any good photo machine stories? We had Tim Arnold on. great photo machine stories where the strips would get stuck with you know somebody girlfriend doing some nice pictures for their you know their boy I don I don really I don know how they get stuck Oh, they would get stuck, they'd like to be a folder. Instead of coming out the slot, they'd sort of scissor together, you know, like this. But, you know, the thing is, I have some machines that have a little television camera on the outside so you can see what's going on on the inside. and this fellow I know that made these machines had a big lawsuit in the mall they had these whatever they were doing inside the game and you could see it right on the screen and the mall just had a nit fit because it was some pornographic thing people could go watch as they went by being in business is tough there's always people trying to beat you with something I found some interesting scales you know scales used to be a penny and they used to collect them three or four times a year bags of pennies used to come out of their bags so sometimes old guys used to market a dime so if they found out a penny worked they'd put in ten pennies people people and machines that's why they kick them and hit them because you don't like a machine outsmarting you so they kick them nothing's going to do anything but even that way if you think you beat that machine because it says a dime, you use a penny. So you do it more. You can do it more, 10, 12 times. And that's how that works sometimes. So you mean it would take either a penny or a dime? Yeah, the slide was made so you'd accept a dime or a penny. That's not too big of a change. And you just put dime on it? Yeah, dime. But if they put a penny in it, it would still work? I've got to tell you a bad story about me right now. I've got some machines that when you put the coin in, it's very slow to start. I don't know why that is or electronically why it is. So some machine said of a quarter, I might get 50 cents. Because by the time they put the second quarter in, it hasn't started yet. So that way. But you mean it would have started on a quarter? Yeah, it would have started on a quarter. But it was delayed, so I don't know. You got to make some money. Anyways. Did you have any other good tricks? I can't tell you all the tricks. You can't? You know, the carnival people had a lot of good tricks, like the basketball hoops used to throw a ball in. They're so small, that hoop, the only way you can get in is drop it straight down vertically. And they had other, you know, those ring tosses where you throw money on and different things where you have to add up. I think carnival people are pretty slick the way they are. That was the old hustle. They hustled. My wife was from a little town in Kentucky. telling us they used to go in these small towns and these guys are drunk to try to get their girlfriends a big stuffed animal and so on. And they had these fights and so on. Next morning they were gone because some of these guys were going to come back and kill these guys. Anyways, that's what it is. You don't hardly see any carnivals traveling around like that like you used to. Especially those little back hills where they never saw much of anything. So how long do you think you're going to keep going with the museum? Well, Joshua Clay, at least I've got a son now that's working in there and taking over a little bit. You know, you work hard all your life developing something. You like to see it keep going. But it always doesn't happen like that. And the changing times and the changing attitudes. Time changes. What was good today is not necessarily good tomorrow. Just like the video games. These people used to put out Pac-Mans. They couldn't lose. They could not lose. And used to buy a game. I think the first Pac-Man, I can't tell exactly, but they were $800 or $900 or $700. And today, that same game is $3,500. So your return on investment took a lot longer time than it used to be. You mean to buy a video today is $3,500? Yeah, or a pinball. Look how much the pinball, new pinball today. How much? $4,500, $4,700? Well, it's around $4,000-ish. Yeah, so it used to be two-ish. And, of course, you didn't get three for a dollar. You got a quarter play. But still, I mean, the prices keep going up and going up. And then when people stop coming to your place, you're beamed on both ends. So it's a tough environment. Yeah, a tough environment. That's why they went from eight pinballs a year to how many now? Play one or two? Yeah. Or three, maybe? Yeah, something like that. You know how many manufacturers they used to have? Right. And now how many have you got? One. One. It used to be. But then when Gottlieb, who's, what's the name of him? Stern. Stern and Gottlieb were the main pinballs years ago. Well, you mean Williams, Bally, and then Data East. Williams and Bally joined hands. Gottlieb. Williams, Bally, and Atari went together, didn't they? Well, it was a progression of buyouts, yeah. Yeah, they went together. You know, if you can't beat your competition, you might as well just buy them and squash them, which is pretty much what Williams did to Bally, you know. By the way, is that new pinball out yet? Whatever that one's called. The family guy? No, no, the one in Illinois. Oh, the Big Bang Bar? Yeah, is that out yet? Not yet. Still waiting. When's it supposed to come out? Next year? Next week? Come on, next month. It's always next month. It's always next month with that one. All right, Marvin. Well, I appreciate your time. You got anything else you want to add or any closing comments? Well, I want to show you my new one. Oh, you want to show your, yeah, what is this thing? Let me turn it on. These are called automata. And if you can notice in here all the gears and levers, and it's not shutting off, but this is called the price of chickens. Turn it a little bit so I can get it on. If you would see beautifully the faces, how they've been done. And this one lady comes, and she wants to buy a chicken. So she's telling her what price. She shows her the chicken. And then when she looks, she says, a little cheaper. No. Oh, she puts the chicken away. End of the story. It's beautiful. Beautifully made. A piece like this. How much did you make? Where's it made? Robert Englunds. Some real craftsmen that do these automaton. They're all made. So these cogs and gears are what tell the story. Only one thing bad is these are made out of wood. They don't last. a piece of brass would last. But I still think they're nice. I coin operate these things and people like these things. If you'd see the faces and the jaw jawing down about it, I think it's very nice. I have a new machine called Dr. Chop Hand Off. You stick your hand in a glove, move your fingers around, as a guillotine comes down, hits down. If that it doesn't scare you, then the blood squirts out. There's a car wash, a car wash pump and motor in there. And they fill it with this red stuff, and then blood shoots out. I have some other interesting new games in my place. So all this stuff you buy, a lot of this stuff you're buying from Robert Englunds, and it comes like this, it's not coin-operated. Oh, well, I can make it coin-operated. And that's what you do? Yeah, usually all you need is a timer. It's a sequence, you time it for so many seconds, and that's it. But I think they're really, really nice. They're friendly. They're nice. Right. Expensive, but they're still nice. They are? Well, like how much is something like this? Well, you know, unfortunately, it's $2 for a pound. Used to buy a pound for a dollar and a half. Now it costs you $2. Oh, you're talking about a British pound. Yeah. So, you know, you think about 1,000 pounds, you think $1,000, but it's $2,000. Yeah, I see the serial number on this one is 16. Well, he just made 16 or 15. He actually made this after his run was over because I made a deal with him on something else. But that's a very low. Look how the paint job is very nice. Right, right. Very custom. Well, very cool. Custom. Yeah, it's cool. It's still quite an operator. It's still mechanical. I really enjoy these. And they're still good craftsmen. I mean, like I say here, just because it's old doesn't make it the best. What was that? It was a chicken. It was a chicken. I need one of those for my phone. Yes. Can we call you? Right. And if anybody wants to call Marvin and ask him any questions, it's 1-800. If you've got any questions for Marvin. So you like these automatrons. Why do they call it automata? What do they call automata? Because they're, you know, animatronics is the electronic version of this. They work on, you know, air compressed air and air cylinders for the movement. Animatronics. These are called automata because they're all handmade with these cog wheels and levers and springs. Very nice. I like them. Hello. You have a question for Marvin? Hey, this is George from California. Hi, George. How are you? Good. I want to ask a question about, I visited Marvin's a while ago, and I went to the bathroom, and he had this cool thing, the air dryer to wash your, you know, blow your hands off. And that's what I mean, literally blow your hands off. I'd like to know a little bit about that. Well, first of all, I mean, the reason the bathrooms have air dryers because if you put, say, paper towels, the person doesn't use one, they'll take 20 and throw it all over the floor. So it's a constant mess in the bathroom. Now, the other hand dryers never got too hot or they were never really very strong. And I found this at a show, too, this IAAPA show. And maybe I indulged that story a little bit too much. But you know how good it dries your hands. I mean, that thing will dry your hands in five seconds. What is it like? Better than the ones I see in normal restaurants? Yeah, because it's a big high, it's a high volume. Like a jet engine. It's like a jet engine. How'd you like that? You like that, huh? I seem to remember there being a sign like it was some prototype. Yeah, I put a prototype, but only me and Disney had them. Is that a real story? I don't know. Marvin likes to embellish things a bit, I would say. But wait a minute, when I do something like that, I don't hurt anybody. I just see how much you're in California, you still remember that story. I came back and told everybody about this prototype I saw from Disney. I hope you didn't tell the Disney engineers. For liable, I'll be liable for something. I'm glad you stopped in. Did you like the place? Yeah, yeah. I got tons of pictures, and I'm a magician also, so I liked all the old magic, I don't know what you call them, tarps or whatever you had hanging on the wall. Oh yeah, those are magic posters. Those are all original from the 20s. And they used to be made, they used to wheat paste those on the walls of barns and so on. Of course, today you've got promo with television and radio. Those days, they just had to make it look so interesting that you, damn, I have to go see that show. And you walk by it instead of driving by it where you couldn't read it. But magicians, I bet in my place, Cockfield comes in and he says, you can see the passion in my place. Teller's been in. Penn and Teller? Penn and Teller. He actually, he's very eloquent the way he speaks. You know, he never speaks on stage, but he's very, very good and, I mean, nice education, too. Then, Amazing Jonathan, have you seen him in Las Vegas? He's been in. He's actually in the Detroit area, too. He's from Detroit? Yeah, he's from Madison Heights or something. Huh. I mean, I like magic machines, too. And Big David Confidant has a big collection of magic-related things. You know, like they use the Blue Room Illusion or Pepper's Ghost. You know what that is. No. No, Mr. Serf from California, you know what Pepper's Ghost is. Hello? I was really surprised with all the other, like the food inspector thing that you have in there, the guy that yukes in a trash can. Oh, you like that? Actually, if you read it real closely, that star on his chest says, Brothel Inspector. I mean, I'll play you a picture next time. Yeah, yeah, that's a unique one. That's another Gene Poore one where the guy looks alive, he looks real, he's holding a trash can, and he's the inspector, and basically he barfs in the trash can, and it really looks like he's barfing. I mean, it's like brown liquid. It's pretty disgusting. Actually, I gave this guy, Gene Poore, who does stuff so realistic. Remember how realistic that face is and the hands? With air cylinders, you can make it move like a normal movement. Actually, I saw that at a show, and I told him about it, and I said, make me one, and he did. Really. And I was looking around at just some of the stuff, like hanging and mounted on the walls. I saw some old Chuck E. Cheese. Yeah, the Chuck E. Cheese and animatronic stuff. All right, we're going to let you go. We've got somebody else calling, and we're going to grab them. All right, thank you much. Thank you. Bye. Hello. We're on the air with Marvin. Hey, Marvin, this is the corn. I've got a question. Who is this? This is Vince. The corn. The corn. All right, go ahead. What's the difference between a Calliope and a Nickelodeon? Well, there's two things. Cliope, circus people call it a calliope, and other people call it a cliope. Now, a cliope or a calliope, they're usually steel pipes. You know, steel pipes, they tune either by steam pressure or by compressed air. The older ones were steam operated. They used to have a boiler, and they used to feed that boiler up to a certain, whatever it is, pressure. They still use the roll, but they had these real neat 100 pipes or 80 pipes. That was called a cliope. The cliope also was mobile. That was mounted either in a circus wagon or on a truck. I had a beautiful one one time mounted on a Model A pickup. Mounted on a Model A pickup? Model A double-wheeled state truck, not a pickup. It was a back double-wheeled. I remember the engine used to overheat because it was pretty heavy to haul around that fly-upy. Well, how big was this thing? Well, let's see. You know, I think, call them by the notes, and I can't remember. It was a 64-note fly-upy. That's how they, you know, like a four-octave. That's how they used to call them. So this thing was mounted in the back of a truck. Mounted in the back of a truck. And what did you do? What was this? I had an air compressor on there. I mean, what year was this? I had my drugstore on there. I used to drive around, but people, you know, I used to rent it out. I even went to the Ford prototype factory once. You know, they had a kid's day or something. They had me playing. A kid's day and they had you. Well, they had me playing outside, wherever that is. You probably know where it is. You mean at Henry Ford? Yeah, at a Ford factory, one of the prototype factories. They made these. He told me they made two of every car in this place. So, you know, then they figured out how they, how it would work on a conveyor and so on. The only problem having something like that is people want to rent it from you. They always want to rent it on July 4th, Labor Day, holidays, when you didn't want to be tied up with this thing. The worst part about it, I had the Model A. It never worked, never ran right. When I had a, a beast someplace, you know, it was, it's hard. You mean because you couldn't get it started or whatever? Yeah, I couldn't get it started to go there. But I, I, uh, yeah, those are nice music, Clive, these. Huh. All right, well, hey, thank you, Vince. Thank you. All right, take care. All right, Marvin, I think we're going to, we're going to call it a night. All right, and I appreciate, uh, I appreciate you coming. And, uh.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v1)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: d47ac77d-1cda-4175-acdf-3ad9910db22b*