April 9th. 2010 was a great day at the Chicagoland Coin Op parking lot show and a fun afternoon at the Cretors Popcorn machine factory. I purchased a rough but complete early 50’s Burch popcorn machine . This will be restored and used to display many Burch popcorn boxes.
The highlight though was a trip that I made with fellow friend and popcorn machine collector Rusty Symmes from Winchester Indiana. We had the pleasure of a private tour by 5th generation (maybe 4th) Charles Cretor of the Cretors manufacturing plant. I was impressed by how each employee has specific responsibilities for their given task. Not just another assembly line. The average employee has 15 plus years of service t the company. That alone says volumes about their company.
The Cretors museum was in disarray due to new carpeting being installed but that didn’t reduce our ability to admire these fabulous machines. Having Charlie tells us stories and history about the machines and his family was appreciated more than he will ever know.
We then had the pleasure of seeing part of a collection of historical popcorn machine manufacturers brochures. Of course I asked to see the Holcomb & Hoke literature since that is my main collection and interest. What I found was beyond my wildest dreams. I have been looking for years for pictures of a little known Holcomb & Hoke Popcorn truck. When Rusty pulled three pictures out of the folder I was flabbergasted. The pictures showed the left, right, and rear view. The were black and white but were hand colored in some areas. Charlie was very obliging in offering to let me copy whatever I needed.
Cretors is celebrating 125 years of continuous family run business. Not many of these companies left. My thanks again to Charles Cretors for a great time, a wonderful 125th year calender with historical photos and his invitation to let us return.
Many people think they are missing tiles on their Holcomb & Hoke countertop ( Moneymaker ) machine. Most machines had only one tile on each side covering only half of the top side of the side roll top display . Why only half? The machine came with two square glass apothecary jars that held gum and mints. I have never seen a set of these on a machine.
More than likely they were easily knocked off or just separated from the machine. They did have a small decal that said gum or mints. This ad shows the jars on a full tile.
A recent acquisition has given the museum a bit more diversity. While the Holcomb and Hoke machines are always fun to watch, I felt the need to add some variety. The U-Pop-It fits perfectly. It, too, is a great machine to watch. Seeing the corn being dropped into the shaking hot plate, magically rising and then dumping a fresh hot load of popcorn into the customer’s bag, provides another look into the history of popcorn machines. Popping oil is also automatically fed to the hot plate. This machine was made in the early 1950’s. It was known as a Minit Pop in the late 40’s.
This machine is in great shape, needing only some minor tweaking. I was fortunate enough to have a friend in popcorn, Lee Conklin, sell me a salt shaker and counter to complete the machine. Thanks again, Lee.
Although an original manual came with it I do not think it actually went with this machine. If you have a manual and want to compare or trade copies please contact me .
The J. H. Fentress Antique Popcorn Museum would like to express our sympathy to the George Brown family of Marion Ohio. George passed away three weeks ago. Mr. Brown was the founder of the Wyandott Popcorn Museum in Marion Ohio.
As the owner of Wyandott Popcorn he was a pioneer in the in the popcorn snack food business. His collection of beautifully restored machines is a must see for popcorn machine enthusiasts. I was fortunate to spend time with him several years ago discussing our collections.
His knowledge will be missed.
Jim
The best thing about having a collection and sharing it in a mini museum atmosphere and a web site is the people you meet and talk to. Those who know me know I don’t want to take information to the grave. So many collectors treat their knowledge as if its a great secret. Sometimes I wonder if they really have gained anything by their actions. I do know what people think of their actions and I vowed early on I would be as helpful as I can be and let the chips fall as they may.
Well a chip just fell before Christmas. I had the pleasure of having Steve Hinchliffe from Los Angeles California for a two day visit at the museum. Yes, if you like Holcomb & Hoke machines and history, you can spend that much time looking and reading. While here he showed me a picture of his next restoration project. I believe he has done 5 H & H machines. I have a habit of looking in the back round of pictures. Just behind the machine was a peanut roaster with a left hand drive. This is quite rare and only fit a Grand model Holcomb & Hoke Butter-Kist popcorn machine. Not needing it, Steve graciously has donated it to the museum where it has now been united with the Grand Machine.
My gratitude to Steve is really heartfelt. I have looked for 15 years, when I obtained an ad for this machine for a front facing roaster. It is gentleman like Steve that really keep collecting fun and enjoyable.
THANKS AGAIN STEVE
Just another cool, relatively unknown H & H fact . . .
Holcomb & Hoke made a five-cent drink dispensing machine. As you can see, it featured a lot of “popcorn machine” parts. To date, I have not been able to locate any literature detailing how the drink was cooled. I can only assume ice 
was used. Interestingly, H & H began making meat display cases (the kind you’d find in a butcher shop) about this same time which incorporated a compressor to keep the contents cool.
Do any of these units still exist? Sure seems like an expensive method for dispensing a nickle drink. Nonetheless, company records indicate that a few were sold. Could this be the first modern coin-op drink dispenser? If anyone has any more information, please let me know.
Christmas vacation led me to Lynchburg South Carolina to purchase a rare Model 3E Universal Peanut Toaster. What makes this so hard to find is the “ribbon Mitre glass”
that matches the lines in the lighted marquee on top. The machine is all complete except the apothecary jar that would have been on the side. (see the model 3 in the H&H machine page) The paint scheme is said to be Mountain Ash Red and Manchu Black Duco
The owner was Patricia Tyler whose father Dewey Houser purchased the machine for use in his store in Lynchburg. The machine is in working order and was used as recently as two years ago. I plan on restoring it in the near future, or maybe just keeping it as.
This is from a previous blog. We were excited to find a “Model X” peanut roaster with the one cent salted peanut vendor last summer, 2009. The machine came from Texas.
A Model X was a machine that Holcomb & Hoke would have taken back in trade or for non payment. Most popcorn and peanut machines were sold on credit. The easiest way to refinish them was to repaint them. Since this was done in the late twenties they matched the paint scheme of the Universal Model 3 that was a slight deco look. How do you know its’ a Model X ? The machine is nickel plated underneath.
Here are the before and afters of our roaster.
Before Model X
Holcomb & Hoke did make at least 12 Butter-Kist Popcorn trucks. This is a little known fact about the company. They were made in 1925 and 1926. I believe they rented them rather than sold them since they bought 11 license plates for them in 1927. One was destroyed by fire.
I have been looking for one for several tears with no luck. Maybe someone out there can help. Built on a Ford Model TT chassis, they were equipped with a Model 1E popcorn machine, a Butter-Kist Peanut Toaster (roaster), ice cream ice box, drink compartment and a Kistwich sandwich hot plate.
This is the only picture I have of the truck. I do have several original drawings of the equipment layout and sides and a list of what J.I.Holcomb wanted in the truck.
Popcorn Truck Ad
After an update to our blog site we were unable to save the first few posts. I will repost them as best as I can remember. Hopefully I will post something of interest to popcorn machine owners and popcorn collectors. Got something to add? Please help this to be a help site for others
