I was involved in the original correspondence so thought I'd try for a
definition.  The Bandbox was sold in 1950-52 by the Chicago Coin Co.
It was advertised as "A Speaker That Looks Like An Orchestra - The
World's Smallest Band."   The blurb reads:

  "A speaker for any juke box or hideaway* that makes any location
   a standout.  Whole families travel miles to hear and see it play.
   Lifelike motion of musicians playing their instruments and swaying
   to the music intrigues the public.  (Puts more money in your juke
   box -- increases bar business.)"

Basically an extension speaker for the juke box, the Bandbox is a stage
with a curved front.  It's two and a half feet high, four feet wide,
two feet deep and weighs eighty pounds.  The jukebox closes a switch
which causes the lights to go on, the curtains to draw back revealing
a dance band of seven players with their instruments.  They move as if
playing until the end of the piece.  Very cute!

I had admired them for years and bought one in the rough during a trip
to the USA.  It's taken several years to accumulate all the parts but
now I have everything to restore it; most parts brought back from the
USA a week ago.

The figures were made of sponge rubber and always perish over the
years.  Some great replacements were made some years back but the
manufacturers are not making more.  The replacement figures now
available are inferior but when expertly repainted as mine have been
they will be okay.  A guy in Missouri supplies replacement instruments
and other parts.  The late and sadly missed Dick Bueschel put me in
contact with him.

A picture of the Bandbox is viewable at:

    http://www.carhop.com/juke/guide/index.html

There is some controversy about the number of figures: the stage has
a miniature dummy microphone and some restorations have a "singer"
but there is a school of thought that says the singer was not part of
the original design.  I've seen various alterations to the original,
including Barbie doll substitutions (perhaps playing the Aqua song?),
and one featuring frogs.  The Smith Collection sold by Sothebys three
years ago had one that had belonged to Lawrence Welk and had his name
on the base.    When mine is finished I'll post a picture.

Michael Woolf