How the jukebox and a group of Cleveland coin men sparked a revolution known as “rock and roll” and spun America out of control.

In this age where AI algorithms determine what we listen to, “Jack and the Jukebox” reminds us of the central role the jukebox, that marvel of art and technology, the “Spotify of its day”, once played in American life.

Standing before the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, St. Elmo’s Fire screenwriter Carl Kurlander recounts how his Grandpa Jack, in the middle of the Great Depression, bet his life savings on a newfangled device called the coin-operated phonograph. He knew that while no one had money for records, everyone had a nickel to play their favorite song.  Jack and his fellow Cleveland coin men had to convince owners of bars and restaurants to put music in their places that would get their customers to stay for an extra beer or milkshake.  By 1937, business was booming and Jack and his wife Gert were invited to Wurlitzer’s First Century Club Convention for top operators who had over 100 machines. But as the jukebox emerged as entertainment in speakeasies during Prohibition, the industry was dogged by allegations of mob ties.  To promote a positive image, Jack founded the Cleveland Phonograph Merchant Association to do good in the community. Billboard Magazine also credited Jack with inventing the CPMA’s “Hit-Tune-Of-The-Month” program which broke songs not just in Cleveland, but around the country.  During this time, Jack discovered talent, kickstarting the careers of stars like Frank Sinatra and Harry Belafonte.

After World War II, Jack and his fellow jukebox operators broke barriers of segregation when they played records of Black artists that radio stations refused to do.  For the first time, a new group of young people, teenagers, were free to press buttons for this music they loved.  Jack hired deejays to promote this music at “Hit Tune Parties” and his friend Leo Mintz noticed Black and white teenagers rollin’ into his store Record Rendezvous asking for this rockin’ music. Leo hired a down on his luck deejay named Alan Freed whose radio show popularized the term “rock and roll” across the country. 

But as the jukebox became a symbol of America’s twin evils: juvenile delinquency and organized crime, a young attorney Robert F. Kennedy, working for the Senate Hearings on Organized Crime, targeted the jukebox industry and the Cleveland Phonograph Merchant Association for its mob connections. 

“Jack and the Jukebox” tells this forgotten story of how the jukebox and a group of Cleveland businessmen, changed the way we listen to music and the music we listen to one nickel at a time, and sparked a cultural revolution that spun America out of control.