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This article concerns the coin-operated musical instrument. For other uses, see disambiguation.
Nickelodeon was the informal name for coin-operated musical instruments used in public places such as cafés and bars. Their existence depended on a reliable coin mechanism and a power supply. Although instruments powered by a descending weight or a wound spring had existed before the advent of electricity, these required regular manual intervention to rewind the mechanism, so the nickelodeon phenomenon didn't take off until mains electricity became available around the end of the 19th century.
The contemporary movie theatres charged five cents, a nickel, and had become known as Nickelodeons, so the musical instrument which also required a nickel, took the same name. The popular song, "Music! Music! Music!" references the nickelodeon; "Put another nickel in, in the nickelodeon."
Although other instruments were included in some devices, the Nickelodeon was essentially a coin-operated self-playing piano but the operation of the mechanism varied according to the manufacturer.
Seeburg Style L
editThe Seeburg Corporation had been building orchestrions and player pianos since 1902 and their Style L (Lilliputian) Nickelodeon (1925) used a conventional 54 note player piano mechanism in which the paper roll is read and the piano action operated by air suction provided by an electrically driven pump in place of the foot pedals of a player piano.[1] The company switched to producing "coin-operated phonographs" (jukeboxes) in 1927[2], so the Style L was one of its last pre-jukebox nickelodeons.
MillsRace Horse Gambling Piano
editIn contrast, the Mills Novelty Company's Race Horse Gambling Piano (1920s) uses the same piano as their Violano Virtuoso and every part of its mechanism operates electrically, from the electric motor driving the roll's movement to the piano action worked by solenoids.
Surviving working examples
editFully working examples of the two instruments mentioned may be seen and heard at the Musical Museum, Brentford, England.[3]
Demise of the Nickelodeon
editWith the advent of gramophone records, manufacturers developed jukeboxes which made the Nickelodeon obsolete by the end of the 1920s.
References
edit- ^ "1920s Seeburg Nickelodeon | Blackhawk Collection". blackhawkcollection.com. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
- ^ "American Jukebox History - Seeburg - History". www.jukeboxhistory.info. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
- ^ "MMCatalogue (All)". The Musical Museum. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
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