The Queen and her court (of jukeboxes): Minerva Palad is happy about her old possessions. (Photo by ENRICO AFRICA JOSE)

Back in the day, from the 30s to the 80s, people mostly played music using plastic discs called vinyl records on a machine known as a phonograph. If you wanted to play just your favorite songs, you had to manually skip tracks or change discs, which, compared to our cd changers or mp3 players was a hassle or as they would say during the 70s  – “a drag.” 

Good thing somebody invented a machine that played records automatically – the Automatic Coin-Operated Phonograph or more popularly known as the jukebox. People born in the 90s would probably have no experience of a jukebox  except for what they may have seen in the movies, or perhaps a non-working unit displayed in a 50s themed diner. 

So to bring them up to speed, Jukeboxes are those big boxy apparatuses usually flashy and brightly lit that play music from a selection of vinyl records (45 singles) by dropping a coin and pressing a combination from the letter and number keys. Jukeboxes were mostly found in restaurants, diners, bars and in the local setting, small watering holes known then as “beer houses.”

During the 70s, the popularity of jukeboxes was akin to the proliferation of coin-fed videoke machines in every corner where they serve beer today. Such was the popularity of jukebox as an entertainment medium that it became the basis or measure of an artist/singer’s success. The ones whose songs got played the most are bestowed the titles of Jukebox King or Jukebox Queen —Rico Puno, Victor Wood, Didith Reyes, Claire dela Fuente, Eva Eugenio, Leah Navarro, and Imelda Papin are some of the artists who have earned these titles.

Fast forward to today. The title of Jukebox Queen, though no longer in vogue or relevant, is often attributed to a housewife from Bulacan. Minerva Palad has earned this moniker not for her vocal abilities, but for her love of collecting, restoring and selling of what else – jukeboxes. Borne out of her passion for collecting old memorabilia and antiques, she began to specialize in buying and selling jukeboxes, surprised as she was that there was still a demand for these machines.

Today, she has turned a part of her house as a showcase for her beloved jukeboxes, while she keeps a unit or two at her antique shop in Sta. Rita, Bulacan and the rest in her warehouse and repair shop in Pampanga. And where you might ask does she find them? Usually she has agents or buyers that scour the provinces for jukeboxes along with other collectible items such as old clocks, radios, furniture, records, etc.

The bulk of jukeboxes come mostly from the Clark area where they became standard entertainment fare in bars serving the G.I.s when they still operated the American naval base. Most often, she would find these jukeboxes in a dilapidated, to-be-sold-per-kilo-in-the-junkshop state, and it would be up to her team of technicians and craftsmen to restore and give new life to them. Some that cannot be saved are used for parts for other machines. They see to it that they restore them using original parts when possible and make sure that the mechanisms work as they did 30 to 50 years ago. 

So why do people still buy these jukeboxes that play music that sounds like somebody is popping corn in the background?  Minerva offers this logic: People buy jukeboxes because they feel good owning them. Most people have pianos in their homes, but how many people do you know own a working jukebox? When was the last time people came to your house and asked to listen to your stereo? The sight of a jukebox would have people looking for coins just so they can re-experience or experience for the first time the novelty of playing music from a jukebox. Like the first time you used a vending machine to buy Coke. You can’t beat the feeling! 

Minerva’s jukeboxes for sale can be found by searching “jukebox” at sulit.com.ph