I was following a FaceBook group wherein people would post old photos involving a neighbourhood near me, and I spotted a pinball machine in this one...
The photo shows the inside of a snack bar/convenience store owned by Léon Lauzon, and it was his grandson, Daniel Lauzon, who shared the photo. The man behind the counter is Daniel's uncle Marcel. The place was located at 5648 de Lorimier avenue in Montreal, not far from the tracks that lead to the Angus train yards nearby.
The place existed from about 1939 (and possibly mid 30s, at a location across the street) and well into the 60s. Lovell's annuals listed it simply as Léon Lauzon, but later as Restaurant Lauzon.
I identified the machine as a "Bosco", manufactured by Genco Manufacturing Company of Chicago around November 1941. Dog-themed, with passive bumpers, and of course flipperless. Here are a couple of photos from the IPDB (Internet Pinball DataBase)...
For more info and photos, see the IPDB listing for Bosco.
Anyway, Daniel thought the photo had been taken in the 50s, and remembers that a machine was there in 1953, and that apparently it payed the rent ($20 maybe).
I thought it was a little odd that a flipperless machine was still being operated in the 50s, since the story goes that they fell out of favor rather quickly once Gottlieb came out with flippers in the fall of 1947.
Since Daniel was a young kid in '53, perhaps he was remembering a pinball machine, but not necessarily this flipperless Bosco? He admits it's quite likely that the operators had changed the machine from time to time. He does remember being 3 or 4 and his grandfather (i.e. the owner of the place) showing him how to pull the plunger.
Sure, anything is possible... one could imagine that some people would play it regardless of flippers or not. Gambling is gambling, and people do it all the time despite the odds stacked against them.
Anyway, for fun, I tried to narrow down the photo's date.
This doesn't look like some illicit joint, or a nudge-nudge, wink-wink backroom thing, so we know for sure that this machine was being operated legally. Therefore it had to be before May 1st, 1955. This was the official as-of date specified by Montreal by-law #2223 that banned pinballs and bagatelles.
So... the photo shows various product boxes and some signs advertising stuff, so perhaps if a product was only made between certain dates, that would help.
In the upper left of the photo we can spot several tea boxes like Salada and Lipton's, plus an advertisement in french for Red Rose tea: "Le thé Red Rose -- c'est un bon thé" (Red Rose tea "It's a good tea"). That doesn't help narrow down the date at all since those companies started in the 1890s and continue to this day.
Again near the upper left of the photo: "Savon de toilette Lux" - Lux toilet soap : Since 1925. The company still exists.
On the left, a partial sign which is for Bière d'épinette Christin (spruce beer). This beverage company was founded in Montreal in 1855 by Joseph Christin, and operated until 1969 (with some variations in the name).
On the right, a sign says in french "Alouette Tabac à fumer" : Alouette tobacco existed for a long time, at least since the 1920s. Here's an ad from 1923...
But there's hope... we can see a hanging sign for Gurd's Lemon Charger, one side in French, the other in English. Here's a snippet of a 1940 ad where we can see the rest of the slogan: "Makes thirst a pleasure!"...
Charles Gurd & Co. was a beverage company founded in Montreal around 1867-8. I contacted M. Lussier at Bouteilles Anciennes du Québec who has a huge collection of old Quebec bottles and advertisements thereof, and he says that Lemon Charger was announced as a new product in 1938 but that he found no ads for it after 1944.
So, if we can assume that means that Gurd's stopped making Lemon Charger around then, I see little reason for the sign to hang there much beyond 1944 (apart perhaps for a bit of laziness).
Also, how long would it have taken a pinball machine manufactured in Chicago in Nov. 1941 to start showing up in Montreal?
Anyway, the photo must date no earlier than November 1941 to about 1946.
Researched and written by James Schidlowsky, Jan. 2021.
References & photo sources :
See also my post about what arcades in Montreal were like in the era that pinball was illegal (1955-1977), through stills from movies made between 1964 and 1976: No Pinballspotting in Montreal.
Click here to return to the Montreal Historical Bits home page.