Wurlitzer 1015 Jukebox

"1015 Bubbler"

Circa 1946

The first coin-operated phonograph was installed in San Francisco's Palais Royale Saloon on November 23, 1889 which made the jukebox one hundred years old in 1989.  It's appropriate the Wurlitzer 1015 was produced at about the midpoint of that century.  No jukebox before it was as beautiful and none since has been as popular!

The first 1015, considered a pop culture icon, offered 24 selections and came along at a time when the jukebox was ubiquitous or ever-present. The jukebox had flourished in the 1930s in the depths of the Great Depression so at a nickel a play .. it was the best thing to free.  By 1940, Americans were dropping five million nickels a day into the nation's 250,000 jukeboxes which were located not just in bars and diners, but in bus stations, beauty parlors, airport waiting rooms, hotel lobbies, passenger liners and excursion boats. By February 1946 the New York Daily News would be quoted .. "There is no such thing as a quiet saloon or eatery, these days, because of a loud and garish cabinet that stands in the corner.  This is the jukebox."

Into this setting came the designer, Paul Fuller of the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company.  A man of modern sensibilities, he moved Wurlitzer juke-boxes away from the boxy lines of the early 1930s to streamlined curves and the rest of the industry followed.  But since May of 1942, like everyone else in the business, he had been operating under wartime production restrictions.  Before the war he had done brilliant things with plastics, culminating in his 1941 Model 850 which spun polarized acetate disks in front of incandescent light bulbs to creat a prism effect.  In wartime, he was limited to glass and wood, old-fashioned materials.  He did the best he could, but his wartime Model 42, the "Victory" model had a stodgy look.  It waa a step back at just the moment when Fuller most wanted to move forward.

It shouldn't be surprising then, that when controls came off in 1946 Fuller came up with the most beautiful juke-box he, or anyone else, had ever designed.  With the 1015 model Fuller broke away from the Art Nouveau decorative motifs he had used before the war. The 1015 was the perfect machine for a war-weary nation wanting to dance ahead into the future!

The arching side, top and center tubes were fabricated of formed plastic.  The trim was bright chrome and moled plastic, fire-engine red.  The New York dealer, John Johnston describes the 1015 as the "most animated" jukebox ever made, and indeed, even when it wasn't playing, the long bubble tubes made the machine seem to move.  These may have been Fuller's greatest touch.  The tubes were filled with a chemical selected for its low boiling point and small heaters were attached at the base.

The response to Fuller's new machine was immediate!  Although at $750 the 1015 sold to distributors for about twice as much as pre-war models as demand was enormous!

In 1946 and 1947 .. a time when the average manufacturing run for a new jukebox was 10,000 being produced .. Wurlitzer shipped 56,246 of the 1015s.  The company stoked the public's appetite with the largest promotional campaign in the industry's history through billboards.  The success of the 105 ushered in a great postwar boom in the juke business.  The number of jukeboxes soared from  four hundred thousand just after the war to a high of about seven hundred thousand in the fifties. 

What happened then is a sad, familiar story.  The interstate highway system drove countless little roadhouses out of business.  Portable radios and home phonographs became smaller and cheaper..  Top 40 radio took over as a arbiter of the hits.  Wurlitzer saw the writing on the wall and diversified.  By 1973, jukeboxes which had once accounted for 80 percent of its revenues, make up just 15 percent.  In 1974, Wurlitzer shut dow its jukebox production line.  Today, there are only about 225,000 jukeboxes operating in America.  

Traditional jukeboxes were once an important source of income for record publishers.  Jukeboxes received the newest recordings first.  They became an important market-testing device for new music since they tallied the number of plays for each title.  They let listeners control the music outside of their home before audiio technology became portable.  They played music on demand without commercials.  They also offered high fidelity listening before home high fidelity equipment became affordable.

In 1995, the United States Postal Service issued a 25-cent stamp commemorating the jukebox.

The 1015, though, has survived its time.  It is the single most sought-after piece among jukebox collectors.  Today, a reconditioned 1015 may fetch as much as thirteen thousand dollars.  Scholars of pop culture may see in it the perfect expression of a precise moment in twentieth century history or a confluence of trends in economics and entertainment.  The 1015 is just that, but to collectors it is something else: a gaudy, romantic, beautiful thing that stands five feet high, glows in the dark and plays great music.

That's plenty!