Celebrity names for telephones

[Greg G.]

Celebrity names I've heard used to describe different phones:

A "Perry Mason" phone, probably a black 500, the seller didn't give much description.

A "Fred Astaire" phone for a D1.

"James Bond" for a Deco-Tel.

http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/clt/4594912449.html
( dead link 03-04-21 )

James Bond style Deco-Tel Executive Rotary Phone - $40 (Snohomish)

This is a vintage rotary dial phone by Deco-Tel model DSC 2131-B. Comes in a beautiful wood box and would be a great conversation piece on your desk. It does work.$40

[twocvbloke]

Most of the US phones I've seen for sale here in the UK have often been "Columbo" phones, or "Quincy" phones, regardless of what they were...

[TelePlay]

One used many times on eBay is the "Lucy phone" for a black 302 seen in the early episodes of "I Love Lucy."

[jsowers]

I've seen "Shirley Temple Phone" applied to an AE40, but I would be more inclined to call it a "Laverne and Shirley Phone" since they had one in their apartment.

There's the black 2500 we call a "Rockford Phone." Though we know he used other colors and models, the black 2500 is the iconic one.

I've seen candlesticks called "Eliot Ness Phones" but they usually spell it "Elliot." That's from the Robert Stack series "The Untouchables."

[Sargeguy]

Marilyn Monroe Ivory E-1 Handset

[Matilo Telephones]

I sometimes call the balck 2500 a Jerry Seinfeld telephone.

I've heard the 202 being called the Fred Astaire telephone.

I've seen the RTT 56 advertised as the Maigret telephone.

[WesternElectricBen]

... I'm not sure if this counts, but it's Maxwell Smart's shoe phone.

"Control, come in control," pauses, "I have a very important message regarding the security of the U.S," pauses again confused, "oh sorry, wrong number..."

Ben