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A sign on the side of the box said "Insert Coin". After you deposited your money, a flap would open and the excellent musician inside would pop up and play the trumpet or kazoo; for a dime, you got a single blast; for paper money, an entire song played very well. The whole act was hilarious: there was always a large audience on hand watching his unique act and laughing appreciatively. Whenever I was in the vicinity, I made a point of dropping by to see him at work.
I googled him and found out that his name was Grimes Poznikov. Sadly, city regulations reined in his act and mental illness got the best of him. He stopped playing around 1978 and was found dead of alcohol poisoning years later on the street in San Francisco.
I wasn't surpised to read that he inspired an opera written by Professor Tara Flandreau of the College of Marin. It was called "Broken Jukebox". She had this to say about him as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, 2/11/2011.
"Grimes was charming," said Flandreau, who watched him perform in the 1970's and interviewed him in the early 2000's while he wore a dress and banged on an abandoned piano in his homeless camp. "Totally charming - and nuts."
My very favorite vending machine of recent days was the human Kit Kat dispensers that were used in an 2009 advertising scheme by Nestle in London. The Ultimate Irony vending machine - inside sat a human being who handed you the chocolate bar after you deposited your money. What a concept! No cursing, no handle rattling, no kicking. The vending machine with the personal touch....
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Oh what a sad story about Grimes. Wish I had seen him when I was in San Francisco.
ReplyDeleteI love the Blue Cat cigarette package. How classy was your mother.
And the Kit Kat dispenser, that's hilarious.
great post.
Nancy
I also remember the human jukebox. Before him was the one man band Jesse Fuller.
ReplyDeleteMy great automated memory was Horn and Hardart's Automat in New York, A mere coin and press of a button and a great entree would magically shush down the gleaming chrome pathway.
Hey....Grimes gives me a great idea to boost my income in retirement, and to really annoy the City authorities here in Derby...they love to hate me !! What fun it would be.....a bit of silliness in the high street is great.
ReplyDeleteI suspect you'd be great in this role. Hey, I wish I'd seen those smoking cats in the Black Cat ad earlier. They're wonderful.
DeleteA human jukebox! I've never heard of such a thing. I love the idea. Thanks for telling us that story and the photo.
ReplyDeleteIf I had ever known about Black Cats I think I would have smoked them too. I was always searching for a glamorous looking cigarette packet. I tried Gauloise but they were too ...too...non filtered or something. Benson and Hedges Extra Mild was my wimpy choice. I liked the look of the Alpine Menthol but didn't really like the taste - smoke versus mint did my head in.
Oh yes, Gauloise was the height of sophistication. They were too expensive for me in my smoking days. I'm with you on the minty smoke...I found it icky. Did they ever make a cigarette that tasted licorice-like or like the beloved sen-sen?
DeletePoor Grimes. I think my parents smoked camels. At least that's the package I remember.
ReplyDeleteI, too, never heard of a human vending machine, sounds like a fun time to spend an afternoon.
ReplyDeleteI never smoked, but my Dad did, he used to smoke "makings". That is, he bought the tobacco, a package of little white paper with adhesive at one end and used to roll up his own cigarettes. (Nothing glamorous about it at all).
I never heard of human jukeboxes or vending machines.
ReplyDeleteI remember my mother buying cigarettes from a vending machine when I was about 4 years old and we were on vacation. The package came with a penny change inside the cellophane wrapper.
How clever those vending folks can be! Interesting the things that stick in our memories isn't it?
DeleteSan Francisco?The 70's? I Bet He Had A Crafty Herbal Cigarette Inside His Jukebox!
ReplyDeleteA sweet story sandwiched between two hilarious glimpses of human creativity. Speaking of sandwich, that's something else you can get in a vending machine.
ReplyDeleteLoved the Grimes story - thanks! Made me think of a beloved gentlemen in our city.
ReplyDeleteI have a vague recollection of seeing the Grimes Human Jukebox in San Francisco. What a sad story!
ReplyDeleteBarbara
Yes, very sad story, although he was reported as a happy man from the accounts I read of him online. Nuts but happy. He did leave a legacy...I wonder what he'd think about the opera.
DeleteGrimes the human jukebox and the human KitKat vendor go well together. I rather enjoy street performers with a difference, and would have been very taken with Grimes' act.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of the human jukebox. We are visiting San Francisco in a few weeks time, what a shame he is no longer playing.
ReplyDeleteOur High Street could do with a human jukebox instead of buskers with a limited repertoire. Mind you I often prefer their dogs.
ReplyDeleteA human jukebox, never heard of him or that either. Amazing the things that I am learning this week on Sepia. I like your nqs, my photos from 1971 and 1986 are that too.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed every bit of this post! Our city, too, had a creative, unique, but not quite sane homeless man who was quite famous here, but died unceremoniously a couple of years ago. He is still memorialized.
ReplyDeleteOh my what a fun sight that must have been. It's news to me, but the Camel cigarette was always what the cool kids smoked, when it was so cool to smoke!
ReplyDeleteA super post and a clever spin on the theme. Thankfully blogs have yet to be automated and are still dispensed one-at-a-time by humans.
ReplyDeleteA vending machine with a human inside...whacky idea.
ReplyDeleteA real wonder world of vending machines. I like the one with the human touch!!
ReplyDeleteThe Human Juke box would have been very interesting to see.
ReplyDelete