Amelia “Millie” McCarthy was among those who was selected for the Amusement Industry Hall of Fame this year. Her granddaughter, Mia McCarthy, was on hand in Las Vegas to accept the honor on her late grandmother’s behalf.
Millie McCarthy, in a photo from October 1984, holds a “dozen roses and a silver tray award for her 25 years of dedication and hard work as president of our association,” wrote late New York operator Sam Morrison on the back of the image. The gifts were presented at the association’s annual meeting at the Holiday Inn in Lake Placid.
Millie was a music and games operator from upstate New York with Catskill Amusements and Binghamton Amusement Co. In 1958, she was elected president of the New York State Coin Machine Assn. and served until 1983.
“She also broke the glass ceiling when she became the first female on the Music Operators of America, now the Amusement and Music Operators, board of directors,” said AAMA executive vice president Pete Gustafson in his induction speech. “During the video boom of the late ‘70s early ‘80s, she lobbied in towns and cities throughout the state, successfully preventing them from placing overbearing sales taxes on video games.”
McCarthy’s work in New York has also been acknowledged by the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, N.Y., which has a permanent plaque there in her honor.
As our Publisher Eddie Adlum wrote in the March issue of RePlay: “Millie not only went to bat for me when I ran into a bit of what the English call a ‘stickey wicket’ with my former boss at Cash Box magazine in the early days of this publication, but she actually invested money in one of my crazy movies. Now, that’s a friend.”
Editor’s Note: RePlay will continue to spotlight Amusement Industry Hall of Fame inductees from the 2024 class in our upcoming newsletters and in the print magazine’s May issue.
