Thinkin’ Outside the (Cash) Box

Cash Box Magazine – Running with the Big Boy (think Billboard)

The name, Cash Box, was a literal reference to the boxes on those machines where all the coins were deposited. The original focus for the magazine was the coin machines; jukeboxes in particular, but also, pinball machines – all things arcade – all the imaginable machines – but only scant information relating to vinyl. That would change.

Beginnings

The first issue of Cash Box hit the streets in July of 1942 – not sure of the exact date – An August 11th, 1942 issue is shown below. The founder was Bill Gersh – He had no knowledge at all of music – his only focus in the beginning would be coin machines.

Cash Box Founder Bill Gersh

The better part of the early issues were dedicated to printing a lengthy “Confidential Price List” of used machines. Not sure why the listings were “Confidential”.

Cash Box: the “jukebox paper” – 1942

The Charts Arrive at Cash Box

It took several years for the publication come to the realization that if someone owned jukeboxes, that someone would probably also need records. The operators more and more, were approaching the small Cash Box staff inquiring about records. The operators, for the most part, had no idea which records to place in their machines.

Billboard was printing a listing of sorts, but the operators were knocking on the door of Cash Box where they felt more comfortable. The CB staff had no idea either about how to provide any record popularity information. So CB turned to one of their operators who had been compiling a weekly listing of his own – a top 10. the first pop chart for CB was born. It was far from being an end all for chart reporting – There just wasn’t a system for measuring the true popularity of a recording.

Record stores could be called. Radio stations could be consulted. But few stations played all genres. Country and R&B were not mixed with popular. So Jack “One-Spot” Tunnis would serve Cash Box’s needs for a few years – until something better would come along.

Debut Cash Box “Box Score” of Hits – November 7th, 1944

45 Positions Listed

Note that the Tunnis chart lists multiple versions of the recordings.

Number 1: Martha Tilton – I’ll Walk Alone – Number 45: Vaughn Monroe – Hawaiian Sunset – November 7th, 1944

November 7th, 1944 Cash Box Front Cover – Coin Machines the Emphasis

Pinball Games Go to War – 1944-1945

So as time went on to go along with the increased recognition of record rankings, Cash Box began to solicit and run advertisement for recordings – a departure from their sole focus on coin machines. And by June 10th of 1946 – the Cash Box single’s chart was now called the “Top 10 Juke Box Tunes” – changed from the Tunnis listings due to many complaints from the industry that his listings were lagging behind what was going on with records.

Again, multiple versions listed – as many as eight!

Number 1: Dinah Shore – The Gypsy – Number 10: Lionel Hampton – Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop – June 10th, 1946

Rock-Ola – A Cash Box Staple!

June 10th, 1946 Record Ad From Capitol

There was no exact science for choosing the songs on the weekly charts. Record companies, distributors and executives put pressure on the Cash Box staff to feature their newest releases. In an attempt to satisfy the burgeoning record industry, Cash Box began spotlighting various records – some of which would indeed chart, many that would simply vanish. The feature changed names – “Disk O’ The Week” and “Sleeper Of the Week” being two.

A Good “Disk Of the Week” pick – Would go to number 1 – Was Mooney’s biggest hit!

Lots of Sleepers! Keeping the Record Labels Happy

The Top 50 Arrives

Things cruised along for several years into the 1950’s and then August 4th, 1956, Cash Box would formerly introduce the “Top 50 Best Selling Records” chart. The chart below continues to list multiple versions of records until you get down to numbers 41 through 50 which only list a title.

August 4th, 1956 Cash Box

Number 1 – The Platters – My Prayer – Number 50 – The Cleftones – Can’t We Be Sweethearts – August 4th, 1956

The Top 50 would serve the industry well for a couple of years but still didn’t satisfy the guys producing the recordings. There was much clamoring for more coverage – Everyone wanted a piece of the notoriety it seemed. But the arrival of rock and roll (which many executives believed would be long gone by 1957) was proving to have staying power. The nation’s youth were spending their allowance on the obnoxious little tunes pouring forth from the up and coming independent record labels!

Danny was right! It really was here to stay!

Cash Box Goes Top 100

So a big announcement was made in the September 13th, 1959 issue of Cash Box: The magazine was going “Top 100”!

Number 1: Domenico Modugno – Nel Blu Depinto Di Blu – Number 100: Somethin’ Smith and the Red Heads – I Don’t Want To Set the World On Fire – September 13th, 1958

Pick Hits With a Bullet!

So moving on, Cash Box editors were always looking for ways to please their advertisers and to provide additional information for record buyers to base their purchasing decisions on. And so the Cash Box “bullet” system would be introduced in July of 1959 – Billboard would follow their example a bit later on.

The danger in the bullet system was ranking a new release up high within the top 100 songs, say number 55 the first week. Retailers would run out an place rather large orders for the particular record – and then often – the record would drop dramatically the next week or disappear! – The buyers were not happy. So the CB staff had to be very careful.

There were so many challenges and so many whacky things going on in the business. Records could easily appear strongly on the charts one week – completely drop off the following week – and then reappear! Later on the number of weeks that a record rode the charts was not indicative of how popular the record was in the grand scheme of things. For instance, most of the Beatle’s singles sold in such large numbers that they would debut very high – shoot into the top spot – and after just a couple of weeks – everyone who wanted a copy had bought it – thus the shorter chart life.

Folks who rate the records historically are very flawed when they use longevity in their rankings!

Ooops – Beware of Novelties – Don’t Order Extras!

R&B singles faced an additional challenge – especially early on in the rock and roll era: A record label may have elected to run an ad in the trades – and when some subscribers was the artist or group was black – they would cancel or not place an order!

R&B Listings 1956

Novelty songs presented a problem for retailers as well. It was difficult to know if a novelty would take off – And even if one did – boom! After just a very short time people were tired of hearing it. Maybe after just a couple of plays! And so it would drop out of sight and people were stuck were the inventory if they couldn’t return it.

Many of the choices were based on ‘insider’ information – juke box sales but often times a record was simply chosen on a ‘gut feel’ on the part of the editors. Didn’t always pan out….

Cash Box Bullet System Debuts – June 27th, 1959

Number 1: Johnny Horton – The Battle of New Orleans – Number 100 – Eddy Arnold – Tennessee Stud – June 27th, 1959

Cash Box hung in there – giving it their best shot vs. the mighty Billboard. By January of 1974, the Chart was the “Top 100 Singles” (bullets still in place) – then by early 1989 the bullets were gone. And finally in November of 1996 the final CB chart was the “Top 100 Pop Singles”.

CB: 1974 – 1989 – 1996

The Many Faces of Cash Box

Goodbye to the Printed Cash Box – It Was A Good Run!

In 2006, Cash Box would reappear as on ‘on-line’ publication – Relatives of the original Cash Box founders gave their blessing for the new endeavor.