Classic Rotary Phones: Repair, Refurbish, Restore Vintage Telephones

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I put a lot of thought into creating an excuse for posting this image. She is, after-all, speaking on what appears to be a Western Electric 302, so surely I could spin a telephone-related story around it. Well, I’ve given up, and chosen to present this illustration for what it is: a stunning example of comic-cheesecake-telephone art. Yea, that’s it!!!
Our young lady, Cindy’s the name, is shown here as seen on the cover of her own self-titled comic book. First published by Marvel Comics in 1947, this cover art is from issue #37, which I believe is from November of 1949. Cindy Comics represents what are sometimes called “good girl” comics, a genre that was similar to romance comics. Apparently “good girls” can wear clothes 2 sizes too small and tease the bejesus out of the neighborhood boys, but must not be criminals, as that would throw them into the “bad girl” category. As I understand it, Cindy was originally called Kooky Komics, and was renamed Cindy Smith Comics a couple of issues following this one. Boy, I sure went off topic this time…

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 »

A lot of things can change in forty years or so, as these two photos illustrate. The first one, probably taken around 1965, shows my dad playing with our dachshund in the family room, or “den,” as we called it. (still do) The second picture was taken a few weeks ago, and is a close-up of the built-in desk shown in the first photo. As seen in the first pic (sorry for the poor focus), our primary phone was a trusty Western Electric 554, a phone that never, never should have been taken out of service. But then again, not much about the room is as it was then, with the linoleum replaced by carpet, the wood paneling painted white, etc.
I decided that it only made sense to put a 554 back over the desk, but not another white one, as it wouldn’t show up against the paneling. I thought about a number of colors, but ended up choosing black… a black model 354. The Western Electric model 554 had already replaced the 354 by 1960 when the house was built, so one might say that a 554 would have been the logical choice. But when my friend Dennis Markham told me that he was restoring a black 354, and that he might be interested in a trade for one of my North Electric Galions, I couldn’t resist. The W.E. model 302 was the phone that first attracted me to the hobby, so its wall-phone cousin, the 354, had a natural appeal. The trade was made, and I couldn’t be happier with my decision. The 1952 vintage model 354 seems pretty content too, even in a newfangled 1960 home.

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 »

I tried to talk myself out of it, but went ahead and setup the Rotary Phone Forum, a place for vintage phone folk to ask/answer questions, make comments, and share whatever words of wisdom pop into their head… within reason, naturally. It’s not much more than roughed in right now, and it’ll take a while for it to grow, but why not jump in and make your mark as a charter member? I’ll probably create a unique charter member “avatar” (a small image next to your posts) for the first registered users. (unless you prefer to use your own, of course) As I’m writing this, I have no idea if the registration process (you must respond to an e-mail) works properly or not. It should, but…
Please, bring any problems you have with the forum to my attention, as there’s no telling what I might have goofed up along the way. I’ve modified the original graphics that make up the forum, and it’s not impossible that I over looked one. Wow. I just remembered… I didn’t make a link going from the forum back to the rest of classicrotaryphones.com! See what I mean? I need all the help I can get, and would appreciate hearing about your forum experience. Did the registration process go smoothly? I’d be very interested to hear from you…in fact, that could be your first post!

It’s been roughly six months since I put ClassicRotaryPhones.com online, and I thought this could be a good time to pause and reflect. I’m still struck by the novelty of it, and can’t get over the fact that I created a website on a subject of which I had no knowledge. Yes, for those just tuning in, I was completely ignorant regarding the field of vintage telephony. I suppose my saving graces were my previous experience with website construction and an overwhelming enthusiasm for my new-found interest. I’ve learned a lot in the past months, often with the help of other enthusiastic, but far more experienced, individuals that I’ve met along the way. I’ve been happy to respond to all sorts of questions regarding telephone history or repair, though I’ll freely admit that I’ve sometimes had to fall back on the wisdom of others. (Dennis!) I’ll always help if I can.
What I’d like to determine is whether the content I’ve been posting has been of interest to readers, and what changes might be needed to make this site a more interesting, or useful, place to visit. So, my friend, pull up a chair and I’ll tell you what I feel has been accomplished so far, and what direction I foresee the site taking in the future. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not often that I include a photo that doesn’t feature a telephone, but I should point out that this image does have a phone connection. Our model, looking glorious in the latest Catalina swimsuit, is Bee French, an employee of Pacific Telephone. In fact, so proud was Pacific Telephone of its, ahem, “body of employees,” that they ran an article in the May-June 1951 issue of Pacific Telephone Magazine that featured several of their shapelier workers at poolside.

I get ideas for posts from a number of different sources, but often as not they’re based on something that’s been on my mind, maybe a project I’ve been working on. The inspiration for this post however, came to me after reading an unusual article about the “beep-beep line” on Dennis Markham’s VintageRotaryPhones.com. Something I was previously unaware of, the post describes a quirk of the telephone network that used to permit something akin to the chat capability of a party line. Initiated by calling ones own number, kids would talk over the busy signal to others who were likewise engaged… harmless childhood hijinks at their finest. (for a full description, read: The Beep-Beep Line) This apparently was very popular with those “in the know”, and wish I had been one of the privileged few who enjoyed partaking in that bit of silliness.
I may have missed out on the beep-beep line, but the story reminded me of my own childhood and a strange, secretive activity that was popular when I was in elementary school: calling “The Man in the Moon”. Read the rest of this entry »

Were historical research is concerned, internet sources must be taken with a grain of salt. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to find information on the PhonAudograph from anywhere else, so just bear in mind that my sources could be in error. Having said that, it should be remembered that books aren’t always the bastion of accuracy they’re assumed to be either!
The PhonAudograph was a dictation machine manufactured by the Gray Manufacturing Company, the same Hartford, Connecticut business that was known as The Gray Telephone Pay Station Company prior to 1939. The Gray Telephone Pay Station Company was a proud and storied outfit. Their founder, William Gray, secured a patent on his innovative pay phone mechanism in 1889, a design that proved highly successful. In 1905 Gray filed suit against several companies that had been infringing on the patent, including Western Electric. The patent was upheld, the end result of which was a profitable joint manufacturing agreement between Gray Telephone Mfg. and Western Electric that spanned from 1909 until 1934, when the agreement expired. It is said that the company eventually sold to Automatic Electric, but when that took place, or if in fact such a sale occurred at all, isn’t clear. In 1945 Gray introduced a sound-actuated dictation machine called the Audograph. The machine, which recorded onto thin vinyl disks, was moderately popular, but might have been forgotten had one not been used by the Dallas Police Department on November 22nd 1963. For better or worse, the machine found a place in history by capturing the audio from the Kennedy assassination. Read the rest of this entry »

The reverse of this photograph is marked, “Johnny Kilbane as sporting editor of the Press, March 20, 1912″, “the Press” being the Cleveland Press. Apparently busy sports editors, even in those early days, required two phones! Kilbane (1889-1957) is a boxing legend, holding the featherweight title for eleven consecutive years, from 1912-1923. Why this photo was taken isn’t clear, but could have simply been a gimmick staged by the Press to showcase Cleveland’s favorite son. Photo from Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library.

1. Old phones work during power outages.
2. Your AE40 is never outside the service area.
3. No roaming charges.
4. Incoming calls don’t play the Star Wars theme.
5. I’ve never had to listen to a kid with a rotary phone giving a shout-out to his “peeps” at the mall.
6. Rotary phones are too big to loose.
7. Ever been cut off in traffic by someone talking into an F1 handset?
8. You aren’t expected to fit a model 500 in your ear for that trendy hands-free look.
9. Your children can’t figure out how to use a rotary phone.
10. There’s no greater satisfaction than slamming down a five-pound handset on a telemarketer.

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Betcha thought I fled the country, didn’t you? My bank account wishes that were the case, but in fact my wife and I went to Nevada to do a little gambling. Actually, we did a lot of gambling, going to Laughlin, Vegas, and the Tahoe/Reno area. We hit a lot of casinos to be sure, but as often happens, they saw us coming and hit back. This was pretty much expected, so we didn’t over-extend our budget and still had a great time. Those new (at least I think they’re new) eBay slots are a blast, and the only machines I’m aware of that actually seem to reward technique… at least to some degree. Consisting of a row of individual machines connected to a large animated screen above, they pay off randomly with “community free spins” (the community being whoever is playing in the joined row of machines), and things get interesting when all the machines are played simultaneously.
I know this doesn’t have a thing to do with telephones, but I haven’t gotten to the important part: When we weren’t gambling we were looking for old phones! Reno in particular had some good antique malls, with prices below what is typically found in Texas. Even though we found quite a few phones, most of them were too common, too expensive or in poor condition. But I did come home with one that I thought was pretty darn spiffy, and I’ll share it with you just as soon as I can get a few photographs taken.

I don’t blame you guys for loosing patience with me. After all, I’ve been writing way too many posts whose subjects are sort of “out there”. Well, here’s one more, then I’ll try to get back to the business of talking serious phone repair, restoration and history.
OK, let’s get started. First I’d like a show of hands… how many of you are familiar with Connecticut Telephone and Electric? That’s great, almost everyone. They’re probably best known as the company that made the TP-6-A, that cool, art-deco styled phone that is sometimes called the “toaster” or even, believe it or not, the “Soviet Princess”. They were used primarily by the military (as well as seeing extensive intercom and dictaphone use), and are awesome phones. Too bad the government used the bejeezus out of them, ’cause there’s not many around in good condition these days. [Note: More than one phone carried the TP-6-A designation, as it was also applied to the North Electric "Galion" (H-series). It's been said that TP-6-A refers to military phones made specifically for use in tropical climates, which seems plausible.] Connecticut made countless other products as well, including the EE8-A army field phone, but did you know about the Velvetskin Patter? If Connecticut has a skeleton in their closet, this is it. (click image for full 1930 ad) Read the rest of this entry »

Taken by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration, this photo from February of 1939 shows a Harlingen, Texas “ice house”. Our intrepid ice man is surrounded with the tools of his trade, including a telephone that was already obsolete in ‘39. It is a testament to the durability of the phone (a Western Electric model 20?) that it could survive outside in the harsh Harlingen climate. Photo is courtesy of Dave from shorpy.com, a website you need to visit!