Remember when: A whole lotta shakin' goin' on |
John Houghtaling, 92, recently passed away. In case you don’t recognize the name, John invented the motel miracle called Magic Fingers. Remember when you drove cross-country in the 1950s and 1960s, and needed to bed down for the night? When you checked in, tired and achy from hours on the road, that’s when John’s invention offered solace.
At the peak of their popularity, Magic Fingers machines were in a quarter of a million motel rooms. They were lauded in a 1970s Jimmy Buffet song, “The Motel Room”. The lyrics included: “put in a quarter, turn out the light; Magic Fingers makes you feel all right.” But by that time, the devices were past their prime, and motels were abandoning them. Too many of the coin boxes were regularly broken into or stolen by thieves. |