Magic Fingers losing its touch

By Nicholas K. Geranios
Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. — Magic Fingers, the mechanical motel massager that soothed the aching joints of many a traveler, is clinging to life in the Inland Northwest.

Magic Fingers franchiser Rusty Gill collects change from a coin-operated vibrating bed at a motel in Ritzville, Wash. Magic Fingers, the mechanical motel massager, is clinging to life in the Inland Northwest. Associated Press

Are Russ and Rusty Gill among a dying breed of Magic Fingers men in the nation?

"Yes, as best we could tell," Rusty said recently.

Magic Fingers was invented by John Houghtaling in New Jersey in 1958, and the product took the lodging industry by storm in the 1960s and 1970s, when up to 250,000 machines rattled customers from coast to coast. For 25 cents, travelers could lay on their hotel beds while the box springs shook for 15 minutes.

Songwriter Steve Goodman immortalized the experience in his 1975 song "This Hotel Room," writing "Put in a quarter. Turn out the light. Magic Fingers makes ya feel all right."

Over time, the notion took on slightly seedy connotations, and many hotel chains dropped Magic Fingers. That put many route owners, who bought the machines and split proceeds with the motels, out of business.

"Magic Fingers to some people have a sleazy reputation," Rusty Gill acknowledged. "There are jokes in movies and things like that."

But some independent motel owners who stayed loyal are the backbone of their business. The Gills own and maintain all their machines. They give motel owners 20 percent of the gross and keep the rest.

Mary Harrington, manager of the West Wynn motel on Sunset Boulevard in Spokane, has 13 of their Magic Fingers units scattered among 34 rooms. She figures about 20 percent to 30 percent of guests partake.

"I never do," Harrington said. "I don't have time."

John Gilson, owner of the 16-room Eight Bar B Motel in Wilbur said Magic Fingers gives him a competitive edge over the other motel in the tiny town.

Gilson figures that two-thirds of people who stay at the Eight Bar B deploy Magic Fingers, based on the number of quarters retrieved.

"Nobody specifically asks for the vibrator," Gilson said. "But they'll go into the room and see it and the next thing you know they are in the office getting quarters."

Rusty Gill's grandfather, Wade Brown, got into the business at the dawn of the Magic Fingers era. Russ Gill followed shortly after.

Russ, 58, was making about $30,000 a year as recently as the early 1990s, when he had 2,000 machines scattered across 80 motels.

Then their biggest single client, Motel 6, dropped Magic Fingers. That left the Gills with much smaller mom-and-pop motels, with fewer rooms and fewer customers.

"Now you drive all day and collect from four small motels," Rusty Gill, who lives in Newport with his wife and two small children, said.

He usually drives to Magic Fingers locations six days a month, visiting each motel every six to eight weeks.

The Gills net about $6,500 a year from Magic Fingers. That means Rusty Gill will keep his job installing satellite dishes and television antennas.

A member of the Washington Air National Guard, Russ Gill is deployed overseas at a location his son could not disclose. That leaves Rusty to handle the route alone.

The territory runs from Ellensburg, Wash., to Missoula, Mont., and dips down into Eastern Oregon. On a recent run through central Washington, Rusty drove 400 miles for two days and grossed about $550 in quarters.

"We're installing some in a Moscow, Idaho, hotel in a few weeks," Gill said. "We're actually adding a new location."

In addition to the units in the field, the Gills have about 1,500 in storage that they cannibalize for parts, and also sell on eBay. They sell about 30 per year, at $40 to $80 each.

Gill has a Magic Fingers in his home.

"The kids play on it once in a while," Gill said. "The novelty wore off in a week or so."

Vandalism and theft of the machines is a problem, Gill said.