tv Second Look FOX November 23, 2014 11:00pm-11:31pm PST
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125 years ago today the jukebox was introduced in downtown san francisco. >> ♪ tonight we celebrate the music to recording artists and the dancing from the jukebox era. it's all straight ahead on a second look. hi everybody i'm frank somerville and welcome to a second look. today we're celebrating the jukebox. it was on this day, november 28, 1979 that visitors to an establishment in san francisco
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saw this instrument. the inventors had placed four inner tubes allowing four people. the nickel until slot had earned over $1,000. which would be about $26,000 today. >> ♪ >> as jukeboxes became automatic and amplified their popularity grew even more. due in parts to restrictions on the music played by radio stations. early radio rarely played records by black musicians known as rhythm and blues. but the player could be stocked with whatever the listener wanted. they became popular in juke bars and the name jukebox
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stuck. as joe fonzi reported back in 2000, in the 40s the jukebox was more than just a way to hear music it was also a work of art. if you wanted to hear the music of the day in the 40s and couldn't go see your favorite band in person, you probably listened like this. jukeboxes primarily manufactured by the -- company were revolutionizing the way music was heard. >> i guess i saw one when i was a real youngster and i had to have one. probably a couple of weeks in the year i would head up north to montana, washington, idaho, go to town, hit little bars. you would strike out about 95,
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98% of the time but that three percent you would get a lead. that's where most of these jukeboxes came from. >> reporter: he now has the best collection of what he considers the best era for the jukeboxes. from 1936 to 1948 wilotzer employed fuller. it was fuller who made jukebox design an art form. >> he's the master. he's the man. he's the guy that everybody wanted to be like. everybody followed him. and everybody followed pulitzer. he started incorporating plastics and bubble tubes and color wheel. and said look, i'm not only going to play music for you. i'm going to make things happen with the jukebox. i'm going to make a piece of art of it. you'll make it fun to play
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these things. >> reporter: for a short period, the newest paul fuller jukebox met with the same type of anticipation reserved for the year's new automobile models. world war ii hit right in the middle of the fuller own tenure. metal was being conserved for the war effort but fuller's work continued and those that survived today are the most rare. >> there's only a handful left. it's primarily all wood. what i mean by wood is you can see even the coin shoots are all wood. where they would normally be metal is all wood. inside, exterior. everything. to any jukebox collector this is the one to own. other companies tries to
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imitate fuller's designs but nothing could beat. >> for some reason this particular box stuck in a lot of people's minds. and still today it's very, very highly collectible. >> this turns out to be the number one seller in time. >> no question about it. no question about it. r-bled -- >> reporter: in the postwar era, the quality of sound and number of music housed became the prime priority.
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in 1889. >> every diner you would go into. every restaurant, you would fight over who got to choose the music. so it was a lot of fun. >> reporter: the jukebox provided the music for a lot of dancing and as bob mackenzie reported back in 2001, some hit records were a big part of dance fads like the twist, the monkey, or the madison. >> reporter: when the leander centers performed their scandalous cake walk in san francisco, the century was young. but the urge to dance was as old as mankind. in the roaring 20s kicking up your heels wasn't just an expression. the jazz aged had dawn and no one then wanted to be cool the idea was to be hot hot hot. hence the charleston, flappers and their bows, charlestoned into the wee hours.
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up in harlem in the early 30s, an athletic new dance called the jitterbug took over. dance contests inspired the participants to maneuvers that looked downright hazardous. the 30s brought the swing era and the big bands. you could jitterbug to swing and everybody did. the jitterbug had staying power. it was the gis form of expression in 1942. the 1950s were a conservative time. if you wanted to dance, you went to dancing class and learned how to do a proper fox trot. on television, arthur murray thought a rather tame imitation of a cuban dance called a mambo. >> you start off with the left
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foot and you go forward together, back together back. and now with the music please ray. >> reporter: here partner dancing meant you held your partner. even in jitterbug still popular in the early 50s you would only let go of your partner once in a while. >> ♪ >> reporter: but then rock & roll came along. and with it something called the hop. dancers let go of their partners and were on their own. once those flood gates were open a slew of fad dances followed. for a short second there was a dance called the madison. but then came a craze that stuck. >> this is a pretty frightening thing, it's sweeping the country all over the place.
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a thing called the twist. ladies and gentlemen here's chubby checker. >> reporter: quaint as it may seen today, chubby checker performance was considered risque. of course elvis wiggled too but nobody tries to dance like elvis. everybody tries to dance like chubby. >> the twist was, you come out of the shower, wiping off your bottom with a towel to the beat of the music. you can't touch your partner. >> not only could everybody do it but everybody could feel a little bit naughty doing it. chubby checker and other performers relentlessly plugged
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listener. but when jukeboxes tried to modernize by adding films of performers, well the effort failed. a local jukebox collector owns one of those now forgotten inventions. it was called the scopatone. >> ♪ it's a sound getting harder and harder to find. the slightly scratchy yet deep and resinent. >> they're beautiful, they're fun, they really add a lot to your life. when i was a kid, a teenager, i
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liked to experimentment on electric stuff. using relays and tubes and all the old technology that every now and then these systems you can't recreate. >> one of norm's most unusual machines is one that never really caught on. it was only a matter of time when someone thought about combining pictures with the music. the scopatone features the selection of 55-millimeter film that broke so often the clunky contraption was down more than usable. but the french import had a dual purpose. >> they certainly could have had it made in this country. they brought them in from france because this box is
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enormous and you could stick a lot of contraband in these. so they really didn't care about making money on the box. they just wanted to be able to stuff a lot into them. >> reporter: in the last 20 years or so, norm has also collected, repaired and sold close to 50 boxes. one performer had more records on a jukebox top 10 than any other. elvis presley, the king's bay area performances and one woman shares her memories of an elvis presley kiss.
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elvis presley the king of jukebox records. in fact, the man with the gyrating hips who made win swoon holds the number one spot of all time for jukebox singles with hound dog. and presley appears twice with the number two spot don't be cruel. >> reporter: before 1956 few people in america let alone the bay area had heard of an up and coming young singer named elvis presley. but his controversial tv appearances soon turned him into the world's biggest star and in april he finally performed in california.
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>> ♪ >> this appearance on board a navy ship in san diego was broadcast nationwide on the milton show. then two months later on june 3, 1956 elvis played two shows on the auditorium now the kaiser convention center. it was his first concert in the bay area. denies robinson was one of the lucky girls on scene. she was 14. >> we were just at the rage of oakland high because everybody had knew that we had gone to see elvis. >> reporter: starting with heartbreak hotel. denise wrote down every song he sang, all seven songs. >> did it give you evil thoughts when you saw him. >> i'm sure it did. i'm sure. at least i hope so. >> reporter: then she took her
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picture backstage and got to do what every teenage girl in america dreamed of. she met elvis. that backstage room has not changed much since he photographed that picture in the 70s. >> elvis was standing by the mirror. and i came in. my father took me to him and introduced me and he shook my hand and said it was nice to meet me. >> reporter: elvis played shows at the bill graham auditorium. these rare color pictures were taken backstage before those shows. the san francisco chronicle reported that screaming girls at the concert could be heard all the way down market street. >> soon the army would come calling, then hollywood. >> this is a lock of his hair. >> reporter: there are now more than 500 elvis fan clubs around the world with over 1 million members. robin rosanne has been
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collecting elvis paraphernalia for more than 30 years. >> once i saw all this in person, i was transfixed by this man. the charisma. i started buying records then films then books and it took a life of its own. >> plenty of it is tacky. >> i have this doll and i went and bought a ken karate suit. and i got this car so he could take himself on tour. >> reporter: other items are sentimental. like this scarf that he gave her. >> oh my god, i was everyone allowed to take it off his neck. and that night he said honey, let me do it. he pulled me up and squeezed me. >> what did elvis smell like?
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>> he used to smell brut and some of the other things. he smelled great. kissed great too. >> one of her best new finds are these color photographs of elvis backstage before his first concert appearances in the bay area. >> it would be 13 long years before elvis fans would get a chance to see him perform live here in the bay area. >> the first time i was basically right here. you know, this is exactly where i was. first row,. >> laura mendez took these pictures at the cal palace in 1970. officers tried to stop fans from taking pictures. elvis got so ticked off he wrapped his diamond studded knuckles on a policeman's helmet and told them to back off. he played oakland in 1972 and his last visit to the bay area was back at the cal palace in 1976. these pictures were taken during that show. he was noticeably heavier. but the crowds were just as crazy for him then as they were
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in oakland 20 years earlier. >> i was here and i remember i was trying to protect my cousin's daughter and i got shoved and i got shoved underneath here. i was actually underneath here. i was screaming, i didn't know what to do. >> that was his last concert in the bay area. >> celebrities come into the cal palace to find sign the wood paneled walls but for elvis the wall went to him. mendez now works at the cal palace. >> he never had any time. he came from his car to the stage and from the stage to his car. so they stopped him and just had him sign. >> the kiss? >> how can i describe that kiss without -- one of my cousins bonnie was on this side. she was saying oh my god. oh my god. and she could not believe he
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was coming toward us. and he bent down. and it's really hard to describe because it was just like, i've never been kissed like that. i know my cousin is going to hate that. me saying that. but you have to realize i was such a fan of his. when i kissed him it was like my knees, you know how they say your knees buckle. mine did. i actually fell down. i actually just fell down. and everybody ran to kiss him. it was a wonderful kiss. >> to millions of americans elvis was simply the king. and even now two decades after his death, it'll be hard for anyone to remove him from his throne. >> even now when i think about it my heart starts pounding. he was a great performer, entertainer. no matter what you say. there's a lot around. but for many people he is the best. >> i'm frank somerville.
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we'll see you again next week. - ( helicopter whirring ) - ( roars ) ( siren wails ) ( pop music playing ) ♪ when you're ready ♪ ready, ready, ready ♪ come and get it ♪ get it, get it ♪ when you're ready, come and get it ♪ ♪ na na na na ♪ na na na na na na na ♪ ♪ when you're ready, come and get it ♪ ♪ na na na na... female announcer: it's a great big world and it can all be yours. here and only here. ♪ come and get it.
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- this wasn't my first visit to budapest, hungary, though occasionally it felt like it. i'm getting a little nervous. but with the help of some super-friendly locals and a sometimes not-so-helpful crew... i think they locked me in. i know you locked me in, scott. ... i not only got through my trip intact, i discovered a whole new side of budapest in the process. "hungary" for more? well, grab a seat, my friend. it's time for you to get a taste of the real, and sometimes raw, budapest, hungary.
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