Pinball may seem today like one of the most innocent of pastimes, but in 1942, the game was banned in New York City. Why? And what happened to all those machines? This short comic by Julia Wertz has the answer.
Over at the New Yorker, Wertz explains New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia’s vendetta against pinball and how he encouraged a ban on the machines. The fate that many of the machines met makes me want to run to the Pacific Pinball Museum, hug their 1940s-era pinball machines, and whisper, “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
Also, if you’re a fan of Julia Wertz, she’s currently raising funds for her next book, Impossible People. If you’re not familiar with Wertz’s work, go go go to her website and check out her comics. Her work is crude and funny and strangely endearing.
The N.Y.C. Mystery History Hour [The New Yorker]
