One of my favorite slot machines ever made is the
Caille Superior of 1925-1931. Referred to by many as the Naked Lady, this model stands out as a true pioneer in design, function and historical significance. While many of the classic slot machines of the 1930’s are very bright and fun looking, the 1920’s machines were much more quite and functional in appearance. One of the exceptions to this rule is the Superior Operator Bell, aka The Naked Lady. It has a sophisticated look making it the type of machine that could have been found in the classist speakeasy or the shadiest of back rooms.
Made by Caille during the height of Prohibition in Detroit, MI this model was a moderate success for the company. During Prohibition (1920 to 1933) in Detroit there was a LOT of illegal activity going on. Most notable the Purple Gang ran a lot of the vice in the city, including gambling. During this time all the slot machine manufactures were located in Chicago, except for Caille. While Chicago was probably the epicenter of gangsters, speakeasy’s, slot machines, etc, Detroit was a major hub for rum running to and from Canada, allowing the Purple Gang to grow and become the primary force in the city. It’s no doubt that organized crime utilized slot machines as a profit center. While I have no proof, I’ve got to believe that when the Naked Lady came out in late 1925, every back room, speakeasy and bar had to have one of these machines in Detroit.
What made this machine special for a short period of time is its unique design. During the early and mid 1920’s slot machines were relatively mundane and appearance. Year after year the big companies such as
Mills would bring out their standard 3 models – a straight operator bell, a side vender operator bell and a front mint vending machine. For the time, these models made by Mills,
Watling and later
Jennings &
Pace were what operators expected and were satisfied with. Caille on the other hand was fighting for market share and had to be innovative in design and function. Since the late 1800’s Caille was regarded as the premier manufacturer and produced some of the most elaborate coin operated devices ever conceived. Their product was superior but Mills Novelty of Chicago took over the vast majority of sales during the early part of the 20th Century and continued to do so into the 1950’s.
Caille’s status in the mid 1920’s as a slot machine manufacturer was fading. By 1925 they were probably third in sales volume. With research into serial numbers of Mills and Jennings machines of the same time, it’s evident Jennings was out pacing Caille by 4 to 1 and Mills was running at 12 to 1. However, the Superior for a short time did give them a boost!
The Naked Lady utilized a classic look of heavy flowing design throughout the cast aluminum castings. The use of the woman is very reminiscent of silver and gold coinage from the period. Caille also designed a very unique “slug-proof coin detector”. Known today as the escalator, this feature to the right of the 3 reels showed the last 4 coins played in the machine. Cheating slot machines with the use of slugs was a big problem at this time. Almost all competitors machines had a small window that showed the last coin played, but not the last 4! Caille advertising for the Naked Lady even quotes an operator as saying: “Had an old style Operator’s Bell in a location and every time I made a collection there were be as many slugs as quarters. I put in a Caille Superior Operator’s Bell and there wasn’t a slug in my last two collections. The best part of it is that play increased.”
The Naked Lady was a mechanically advanced machine and looked cool as well. While I’m sure the crime world had their fair share of these machines, a majority were sold to legitimate operators around the country. In order to get around sometimes vague gambling laws in certain areas, slot machines experimented with various gimmicks that would hypothetically allow them to operate legally. One of those attempts was called a “skill stop”. The idea of the skill stop was give the player a physical button(s) on the machine so they could stop the reels manually – hence using some degree of skill to line the reels up.
The particular machine shown at the top of this column has this rather rare option on it. When a dime, in this case, is inserted into the machine and the handle is pulled, the player can then push the button in and stop all three reels immediately. Wrapped around the button is the phrase “Are You Skilful? Push Button Catch A Winner”. In theory the player could use his or her cat like skills to stop the reels just how they want. In reality this feature didn’t help the player one bit. The reels simply spin to fast and the reel window opening was too narrow to gage when the right images would come up. Mills, Jennings and Watling also used skill stops, but theirs had three buttons for each reel.
The skill stop gimmick lasted on slot machines from the 1920’s into the 1930’s. During that time numerous other ideas were tried, some with success. For Caille the skill stop feature was apparently not a big seller, therefore today making examples like this one quite hard to find and adding a premium to the value.
It was not until 1931 that Mills caught up in design and function with their “Silent” line of machines – notable the War Eagle. Caille tried to complete with the own “silent” machine called the Silent Sphinx, which was the same as the Naked Lady except it had a jackpot and was a different theme on the casting. As evident by the Silent Sphinx’s rarity today, it’s obvious it was not a sales success for Caille. As the 1930’s rolled in Caille tried a total redesign of their machines – even hiring a commercial designer to make something new and visually modern in appearance. What resulted was a line of machines similar looking to the outboard boat motors Caille also produced during the 1930’s, except in this case the slots were better suited as boat anchors. Caille was sold and stopped slot machine production in the late 1930’s. A large majority of slot machines they made are eternal classics today – including what I believe was probably the gangster’s favorite – the Naked Lady….
