Back in the 1960's (in particular 1966), the luminaries at Rowe-AMI had the idea to have various artists record a "Come on and play me, the Rowe AMI stereo juke box over in the corner" record in the hope of stimulating juke box-play on site. These were introduced with the MM-1 "Music Merchant" model in September/October 1966 (along with the "PhonoVue", Dollar Bill acceptor and "Change-a-Scene" functions).

 

From memory there were about 60 records, all bright red vinyl with a white label, with many different artists and groups - most records have a different artist on the A- & B-sides.  

 

The 30-second records seemed to tickle the fancy of most of the juke box operators.

 

There are 4 types of "Play Me" records available:
The first, and the most popular, is the actual celebrity artist. On these, the record starts with the artist singing a chorus or two of his song. Then he/she stops singing and tells the customer to come over and play the juke box (especially his/her record).

The other 3 types of "Play Me" records centre around comedy impersonation and the voice of "Rita Rowe". The comedy discs contain messages based on an exaggerated mimicking of famous performers, such as Mae West. On several of the records, the voice of Rita Rowe, backed by soft music, asks the location's patrons to liven up the house - "go over and play the juke box". Other records featuring Rita Rowe, tells patrons that the juke box accepts dollar bills.

 

Known "Play Me" records at this time (April 2012) - tunes and photos courtesy of Donald R. Resor:

Records with artists:

Number	A- side	B-side
1003	Andy Williams  ♫	Tony Bennett  ♫
1004	Herb Alpert  ♫	Al Martino  ♫
1005	Sonny James  ♫	Ray Price  ♫
1006	Vic Dana  ♫	Mel Carter  ♫
1007	Petula Clark  ♫	Lainie Kazan  ♫
1008	Boots Randolph  ♫	Johnny Rivers  ♫
1009	Johnny Tillotsen  ♫	Al Caiola  ♫
1010 The particular 45 rpm record vinyl IS a red and black mixture as seen in the pictures. It also appears this was actually in a machine for quite some time as there are gripper marks around the edge and diagonal marks across the record face itself from a jukebox record basket. Luckily the fidelity is quite good.	Kirby Walker  ♫	Kirby Walker  ♫
1011	Marimba Band  ♫	Dr. West's Medicine Show & Junk Band  ♫
1012 This record has Wilson Pickett on the A-side doing a short burst of "Mustang Sally" and then a short exhortation to play the Rowe AMI stereo juke box; he also mentions "Land of 1000 Dances".  The B-side is Kirby Walker doing the same sort of thing.	Wilson Pickett  ♫	Kirby Walker  ♫
1013	The Buckinghams  ♫	Don Rondo  ♫
1014 This record has Brian Hyland on the A-side doing a short burst of one of his songs from a new album then coming up, and then a short exhortation to play the Rowe-AMI stereo juke box. The B-side is Joe Harnell doing the same sort of thing; year 1966, 45 rpm Promo 7 inch record	Brian Hyland  ♫	Joe Harnell  ♫

Impersonation records:

Number	A- side	B-side
Record 2 year 1966; as written in pen on the sleeve it says that the A side is Mae West but it doesn't sound at all like her. So it  is probably Rita Rowe like Erwin Boot gives info about.	Mae West  ♫	Peter Lorre  ♫
Record 6	Interpret: ?  ♫	Gloria ?  ♫
Record 7	Interpret: ?  ♫	Interpret: ? ♫
Record 8	Mary Lou  ♫	Interpret: ? ♫
Record 11	Will Jordan ♫	Will Jordan ♫
Record 12	Will Jordan  ♫	Will Jordan ♫