North London Man’s Aladdin’s Cave of Jukeboxes
The Islington Tribune recently unearthed one of the UK’s truly great collectors – a local man who has one of the country’s largest private collections of jukeboxes.
Living in a small Georgian terrace near Angel station, David Webb keeps his lovingly tended collection of more than 30 jukeboxes from across the years. The local paper paid him a visit to discuss his collection, and his ongoing passion for the romantic music machines.
Mr Webb began collecting the jukeboxes some 15 years ago, after a lifetime’s love of rock and roll. Now they virtually crowd he and his wife out of their own living room. Some of the machines are almost 80 years old, and they bear amazing names, such as the Mother of Plastic, The Trashcan, The Tona-Lier and The Teardrop.
His love of jukeboxes was an accidental infatuation. As a buyer and seller of antiques, one day he was left with a 1956 Wurlitzer 2000 after a client failed to collect it. He became intrigued and decided to keep it.
Mr Webb pointed out to the paper that although people mostly associate the jukebox with dancing, they were also linked to the Mafia, because they were the perfect form of cheap entertainment for speakeasies during Prohibition.
After it ended, their popularity continued to soar, and a respectable company such as Wurlitzer was able to grow and grow. By 1940, Wurlitzer jukeboxes were so popular that its factory had “trees going in one end and boxes coming out the other,” he said.
“They made everything on site, down to the nuts and bolts. That expertise was valuable for the war effort,” Mr Webb added, explaining that jukebox factories were eventually turned over to help make artillery pieces and shells.
The good news for enthusiasts is that Mr Webb’s collection can be seen by appointment, by calling 020 7713 7668.
ShareJack Daniels Jukebox For Sale in the USA
A retro-style jukebox bearing the classic stylings of Jack Daniel’s bourbon has gone on sale in the USA, bound for homes seeking a little old-fashioned magic.
The distinctive jukebox is made by Rock-Ola manufacturing, and was previously only available through speciality sales outlets.
With a design based on the classic Wurlitzer Jukebox style, it features bubble tubes down the sides and door frontage, contrasting with the rotating Jack Daniel's pilaster and the dark, rich wood veneers. The famous Jack Daniel's label is stencilled all over the jukebox and the Tennessee distillery's "Old No. 7" trademark etched into the music machine’s front-panel glass.
When it comes to music power, the jukebox doesn’t skimp either, with a new 1600W Peavey solid-state amplifier, five speakers and the capacity to add another external speaker set, providing single-zone stereophonic or dual-zone monaural sound. The jukebox also comes with a remote control.
The Jack Daniels model is the latest in a line of “nostalgic” jukeboxes designed by Rock-Ola to cash in on a demand among American households for the sights and sounds of a classic age of US icons – the last special model features the stylings and log of famed motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson.
Such models all follow the instantly recognisable style pioneered by Wurlitzer in the late 1930s, when the company took on the services of designer Paul Fuller. Fuller came up with the notion of using bubble tubes and moving coloured lights and art deco fittings to create a truly beautiful machine which remains firmly in the public imagination and has yet to be bettered.
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