Classic Rotary Phones: Repair, Refurbish, Restore Vintage Telephones

This one has that suitable for framing look, doesn’t it? Merry Christmas all!

This is probably my favorite cover of all. My copy of the magazine is in horrible condition, so I had to do some serious Photoshop work to restore a semblance of its former glory. (you can see what I started with here) Forum visitors will no doubt recognize the phone, as I used the image as a template for some of the Charter Member avatars and signatures.

I have several telephone industry publications with great Christmas cover art, and would like to share some of them over the next couple of days. Merry Christmas!

From the archives of the Library of Congress comes this interesting peek into Santa’s Workshop, circa 1906. This image is said to have been one side of a stereo card, but the clear view of the photo studio at the top shows this to be a preliminary image, not a final one. Given the aspect ratio used on vintage stereo cards, and the fact that they were arched across the top, I can definitely seeing how this photo could have worked in that capacity.
I’ve already touched on the popularity of Santa-with-telephone images, and this one features both an oak wall phone and a nice, shiny candlestick. Sure seems like Santa would have a more impressive Christmas tree…
Here’s the phones in a close-up.

Boy, wouldn’t that be something, to get a phone call from Santa Claus himself? In spite of what this vintage postcard might imply, I find it hard to believe that he’d have time to do much of this. After-all, the guy busts his tail making his deliveries, so once he’s done I’m sure that making follow-up calls is the furthest thing from his mind. Once he’s had a couple days of sleep Santa’s probably thinking about nothing but pointing that sleigh towards Tahiti. And then there’s that whole long-distance charge thing. Of course I suppose he could call collect…

Around 100 years ago it was common to see depictions of Santa using a telephone, this 1907 postcard being a good example. This will be old news to the vintage postcard buffs out there, but I only recently discovered that some postcards used to be made of leather. Yep, leather postcards were fairly common for 3 or 4 years, but that came to an end in 1909 when the postal service prohibited their use. (supposedly because they jammed up the new sorting machinery) I’ve also included a photo of the back of the card.

Have I mentioned before how much I admire the art used on the covers of the magazine, Southwestern Telephone News? Well, it was excellent, and typically illustrated the essence of the season. This cover art on this Winter 1938-39 edition was done by Kenneth Jones, an artist that, unfortunately, I’ve been unable to find any information on. It is very much to his credit that he was able to represent a beautiful snowy landscape and actually make the telephone poles/wires an attractive part of it!

I know that some of you, those truly fascinated by obscure history, have been tied up in knots over my previous post regarding the hypnotist, “LEE”. Who was this guy who, over 100 years ago, was hypnotizing people across telephone lines? Now the story can be told. (or at least another piece of it)
While this may not have been his real name, the full name used by our hypnotist was Sylvain A. Lee. I made this discovery upon locating a second poster, the fabulous art-nouveau lithograph shown at left. I also found that, besides his performing on stage, Lee was the author of at least one book, The Practice of Hypnotic Suggestion, in 1901.
Newspapers from the era have also been helpful, with more than one having made reference to Lee. (notice that I’ve dispensed with the all-caps now that Mr. Sylvain and I are better acquainted) A brief notice of a 3-night engagement in the April 30, 1896 edition of The Oswego Daily Palladium called Lee, “The greatest hypnotist of modern times.” Four years later, from the August 20th, 1900 edition of The San Francisco Call comes this description of an opening night: Read the rest of this entry »

Until I happened upon this 1898 lithograph, I had never pondered the feasibility of telephone-induced trances. But they couldn’t say it if it weren’t true, right? I’ve searched high and low, but have been unable to find even the slightest tidbit of data regarding LEE, our intrepid hypnotist. Was his act not sufficiently dazzling, or was it his rather forgettable name that resulted in him being lost to history? Had I been his manager, I would have certainly taken him aside for a talk regarding the dubious merits of a single-word stage name, particularly one so ordinary. After-all, he was clearly no Madonna. But in his defense, he didn’t go by Lee, but instead was known as, LEE.
Active in an era rife with hypnotists, mediums and fortune-tellers, LEE was in a competitive field, one that made a gimmick, something to set him apart from the crowd, an absolute necessity. “Telephone” was a popular buzz-word at the turn of the century, representing as it did the spirit of progress and invention that was in the air. So our clever and, I’m sure, talented, hypnotist took the the idea of hypno-telephony and developed an act so original, so cutting-edge that… no one remembers him! This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise however, as few such acts are remembered today. And besides, how do you sell tickets to an act whose participants are 50 miles apart?! Read the rest of this entry »

This cautionary poster, distributed between 1941 and 1943, was done by the artist Edward T. Grigware. (1889-1960) Grigware, a renowned painter of western subjects, did a number of war-related posters for the WPA. (Works Projects Administration) He was also a “War Record” painter for the U. S. Navy, working from the carrier Enterprise in the midst of the Pacific campaigns. The above poster can be seen in big and huge versions and, if you like, you can see other examples of Grigware’s work, the war poster, Death-trap for the Jap, and an oil painting, Ice Floes, Kodiak.

This moving image must have stirred the emotions of many Americans during the first world war. Showing concern and determination, Liberty’s gaze captures ones attention in a way that is highly effective, reaching the viewer on a powerfully emotional level. The poster was rendered by Z.P. Nikolaki, a prolific illustrator in the ‘teens, but who’s biographical data I’ve been unable to find. For a better look, check out the big or huge versions.

A more professional website would save this post for next April, but… you know. As I’ve said before, Southwestern Telephone News had some great covers! The period from the late ’20s through the early ’30s featured some fabulous art-deco illustrations, including this issue from April, 1931.
Unfortunately, the subject of many of the covers is not related to telephony in any way. In fact, the magazine as a whole featured less telephone-related content than most of the other regional Bell employee mags. Several of these covers appear to be from the same hand, and I’d appreciate hearing from anyone who can identify the artist. Here’s the large version and huge version.

The periodicals that telephone companies published for their employees are always interesting, often providing insight into the history of telephony. Southwestern Telephone News, a monthly publication of Southwestern Bell Telephone, distinguished itself with its covers, creative layouts that often featured brightly colored artwork. This May 1931 cover is particularly fanciful! Unfortunately, the artist’s signature is illegible.

Calling ahead for tickets was still relatively new in the year 1900, and it’s interesting to see it used as a promotional device in this lithograph. The poster is an advertisement for the Whitney Opera Company production of A Normandy Wedding, a comic operetta that opened in 1898. I’ve not seen an intact example of this poster, and had to do a little Photoshop work to recreate the missing top left corner. It’s probably not 100% faithful to the original, but it should be pretty close. You might get a kick out of seeing the “pre-repair” image or an interesting variation of the poster, with numerous subtle, but distinct, differences.