Nostalgic video: When the 'Dial Telephone' Came to Town
Most youngsters today have never even seen an old-style "dial telephone", and fewer still have ever used one.
The thing is, it wasn't all that long ago when those nostalgic devices were in virtually every home and business and mounted in "phone booths" on busy street corners.
My, how times have changed...
Most everyone nowadays walks around with a cell phone in their pocket, always ready to pull it out and "dial someone up" at any time, from virtually any place.
And of course modern phones can do a lot more than just send and receive voice calls...
We can also use them to send and receive text messages and photos, visit our favorite websites, watch (and record) videos and do a million other things with the aid of apps.
These days telephone technology is evolving so quickly that we can barely keep up with the changes.
But there was a time when just one simple change to the phone system rocked the world like an earthquake: The transition from operator-assisted "dialing" to electrical dialing.
The video I'm featuring today was recorded by Bell Telephone and Western Electric way back in 1940.
Its purpose was to introduce the masses to the new "dial telephones" that were being installed in homes and businesses all across America and provide a quick "class" for using them.
If you're old enough to remember that event you can think of this as a bit of nostalgia. If not, just consider it a short history lesson.
Either way, I invite you to watch and enjoy.
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I still remember having a party line, when we could finally get longer cords to walk around a ways, and the most awesome pull the antenna up cordless phone! LOL I still remember RACING to the phone to answer it because, we didn't have ridiculously, annoying, and overly intrusive telemarketers! I remember leaving to go shop or go on vacation and not caring if someone was trying to reach us or not! Amazingly no one died either! LOL I remember taking a vacation was a vacation from everything! You didn't have pics from vacation until after you got back and took your film to be developed! I don't have fascistbook anymore, but when I did I was always sad when I'd see a mother posting pics every 10 minutes then commenting back to all the comments! Like it's supposed to be a vacation and you're missing out on your kids and more importantly they are missing out on your full attention. I'd go back to pre cellphone in a NY second! The good ole days!!! However, I don't miss the old ring! Boy was it loud!!! 🤣
Rick - When I went to Africa with the Mission, I had been given about 10 dial phones by the Wisconsin phone Co. By dialing a 1 (or 2) for a short ring and a 9 for a long ring, I was able to have several places linkied and answering to a short or long ring. Russ Baker