Lots of Coin operated dreams

Sergio Bonelli bought his first Wurlitzer juke-box at the end of the 1990s, in a modern collectibles shop in Turin. A dream that he had had for a long time came true, after many years of feeding it with music and songs, but also with images and movie scenes indissolubly tied to the “Fabulous Fifties”.

I don’t know if it was the hope of recovering part of that imagery and those memories of his young age that urged him to buy it.

But Sergio loved to surround himself with nice things, objects full of “character”, with a style and a history of their own. And the Wurlitzer, of course, had an important and charming history.

Sergio Bonelli with one of the Wurlitzer juke-boxes from his collection (photo by © Chiara Cadeddu).

That’s especially true for Model 1015, the one Sergio chose: it wasn’t just “a” juke-box, but “the King of Juke-boxes”. Created in 1946 in the U.S. and launched with the catchphrase “Wurlitzer is Juke-box!”, it became a legendary object for collectors, a kaleidoscope of colors, with its yellows, greens, reds and oranges, and an emblem of hope, happiness and rebuilding after the horrors of the war.

When journalists would come to meet him in our editorial building, at the end of their interview Sergio’d unfailingly show them with ill-concealed pride his two Wurlitzers (yes, indeed, he bought another one... or three!) that stood in full display in the hallway. Of course, he spared no time in turning them on, inserting the apt coin and choosing one of the 78 rpm that he patiently found at flea markets of specialist fairs: Mr. Sandman by The Chordettes, That's Amore by Dean Martin, The Great Pretender by The Platters, Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and The Comets, The 3.10 to Yuma by Frankie Laine (the soundtrack of one of Bonelli’s favorites, the eponymous movie), Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel, Grands Boulevards by Yves Montand... In his juke-boxes, then, you could and can still find the entire catalog of his musical passions, from country to rock'n'roll, from the French songs to Big Band jazz. Sergio was “in love” with his Wurlitzers. And maybe, it’s not by chance that the last official picture we have of him, taken in the Spring of 2011, portrays him in front of just one of those juke-boxes he was so proud of.