Rockola Identification

I bought a 1938 Rockola MH20 Monarch, so the tag says. The cabinet is quite similar to a Monarch. However it's also very different. There is no glass to see the mechanism. There is no speaker or grill in the lower part of the cabinet. I'm wondering if this juke is a "closet" model, tucked away and using satellite speakers and selector. Has anyone seen or have info on this?

[img]C:\ColonJE\MISC\temp\Jukebox\IMG_2245.JPG[/img]

Thanks!! Tinker

New to this forum. Collector/tinkerer (13 jukes and counting)

Hi Tinker,

The 1938 Playboy had a similar top to the Monarch and Windsor but it did not have a glass. There were openings for selections.

I can see that your cabinet does have the selection buttons in the middle same as the Monarch but that widow is wrong, could it have been filled in at the back?

Regards
Alan Hood
ami-man
UK

Thanks for the idea's Alan.
It appears to have qualities of both the Playboy and Monarch. From the inside of the cabinet, you can tell it had a coin mechanism installed at one time. And as you mentioned, the selector is in front in the correct location. The top front door does hinge up for loading. It's possible that someone has replaced the glass with a wood panel. The whole lower front is all wrong. And that doesn't appear (to my untrained eye) to have been modified. It doesn't have the curved lower insert and grill cloth like the others. It could have been expertly modified, after all, it's 70+ years old. I haven't found any info or pictures to explain it.

Hi Tinker,

Have look at the pictures of the Monarch on www.pinballrebel.com. The top looks right with yours (less the filled panel) the bottom curved section is wrong but the openings for the coin entry and reject are the same.

Regards
Alan

Alan Hood
ami-man
UK
alan-hood@datex.co.uk

I would say that the "H" portion of the model number would indicate a "hideaway" machine.

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the info. That makes sense. MH20 could mean "Monarch Hideaway 20 records". I wonder how selections were made? Some internet research shows Rockola's first wallbox as Model 3801 in 1941. They must've had something else or the 3801 was earlier then 1941?!

A hideaway machine would have had to have been operated with a stepper and wallboxes.

Hello,

I can see no reason why a hidaway would have a selection unit or cut out holes for coin entry and reject paths.
In some way this cabinet was used as a jukebox at some time. It could be that this was just a collection of parts.

Regards
Alan Hood
ami-man
UK

Very intersting model - though I do not know what it really is.
I also would say the H indicates a hideaway unit but that would need a remote selection system somehow.

I checked the Rock-Ola History book and found that in 1941 already an adapter was offered - #1709 to use the Dial-A-Rune-System with Monarch models (for other models other adaptors were offered).
So maybe this is a later hideaway and then again later modified to use with coin and selection buttons directly?

Actually I cannot really understand why a hideaway should have been built in a kind of decorative cabinet. It looks like a Monrach was cut down - so that an old cabinet had been used.
If this was done in 1941 or later the reason could be in material restrictions. Also producing less cost models for locations with a lower public could have been a reason; or to produce anything after US entered the WW2 and actually no new models were produced.

In any case - it's worth to preserve in my opinion.

Kind regards - Hildegard

Yes, I think this could have been a World War 2 conversion.

Thanks to everyone that has responded, I appreciate all the interest. I hate to say that I don't think the "H" means hideaway. Every place I've researched this machine shows the Monarch as model MH-20. None of them appear to be hideaway type jukes. That aside, I took a closer look inside, looking for stepper. It seems it was done simpler than that. There was a 20 wire cable coming from the selector in front, down to a terminal strip in the bottom. From there, a 30 wire cable (which was cut off) heading out the back. My guess is someone used a simple set of 10 push buttons to select from a remote location. I also found a few other cut wires that appeared to be from the amplifier, probably for remote speakers. The front of the cabinet still doesn't appear to be modified though. Although anything could've happened in the past 72 years. Regards, Tinker