How Much Did A Jukebox Play Cost?

A Nickelodeon play cost a nickel. Ergo, a jukebox play must have cost a juke, most likely. Whatever “juke” means ...

OP = Neely O'Hara's grandson. The result of a drunken one-night stand.

A nickel. HOWEVER: For unknown reasons, in 1949 the lyricist of a popular song "Music! Music! Music!" incorporated the refrain "Put another nickel in, in the nickelodeon…", evidently referring to either a jukebox or a mechanical musical instrument such as a coin-operated player piano or orchestrion. The meaning of the word has been muddied ever since. In fact, when it was current in the early 20th century, it was used only to refer to a small five-cent theater and not to any coin-in-the-slot machine, including amusement arcade motion-picture viewers such as the Kinetoscope and Mutoscope.

In 1890, Louis Glass and William S. Arnold invented the nickel-in-the-slot phonograph, the first of which was an Edison Class M Electric Phonograph retrofitted with a device patented under the name of Coin Actuated Attachment for Phonograph. The music was heard via one of four listening tubes. Early designs, upon receiving a coin, unlocked the mechanism, allowing the listener to turn a crank that simultaneously wound the spring motor and placed the reproducer's stylus in the starting groove.

As a kid in the 50s & 60s they were a dime. 10 cents was the magic number back in those days. A play on a jukebox, A large bottled coke (the small bottles were a nickle), a cup of coffee in most cafes, you could get into the Saturday matinee in many movie theaters for a dime,

Before about 1950 a nickel was standard. Then in the early 50's when the industry switched from 78's to 45's it went to a dime (3 for a quarter if the machine was equipped with the right coin changer).

I was born in '52, and I remember R5's pricing -- a dime per play, and three for a quarter. But I think it went up in the '70s. But buy then, jukeboxes were being phased out. I'm sure there are still some around--especially in those retro diners. And I used to love the little individual jukebox controllers they had at each booth.

[quote]How Much Did A Jukebox Play Cost?

Well, it depends on the theater.