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The CRPF "Old Phones in Movies & TV" Compilation

Started by HobieSport, November 23, 2008, 01:45:19 AM

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Dialvintage

Quote from: bingster on November 23, 2008, 10:54:54 AM
I do the same thing with phones and radios, too.  Some of the best "phone watching" movies are Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movies from the 1930s.  They're filled with great telephones, mainly AE and Kellogg, and they're usually colored. 

I was watching a movie a while back (I think it was The Mad Miss Manton) that showed a Kellogg Masterphone (the oval manual one) that was chrome plated.  Really beautiful.  Miss Manton had an ivory D1/E1 202 in her apartment.


I'm getting like it too! There are some Astaire films on BBC iplayer- must watch them- love his films and old phones are a bonus! It was watching Heartbeat a series set in 1960s Yorkshire that made me buy my 1960s GPO phone.

Dialvintage

QuoteWe watch a fair amount of British TV, especially murder mysteries and such, most of it new production shows, and I'm often seeing old rotary GPO 700s in scenes set in old homes or shops.  Maybe they are still in common enough use to be that obvious, or maybe the set directors are adding them to get atmosphere. 


They are not that common in use that I've seen- besides my friends having one ( but no phone line) I'm the only one that has one. However there are plenty of GPO phones on ebay and they are snapped up right away so they must be getting popular again!

twocvbloke

Thought this thread could do with some additional pictures... :D

Screenshots are from Star Trek; The Original Series, episode "Assignment: Earth", which features Gary Seven, the spinoff that never happened, five phones I could get a good shot of, there's some others in the episode, but they'd probably be more visible in the remastered version of Star Trek... :)

And the red 500 was the "Get me the president!!!" phone... :D

WesternElectricBen

Oh gosh, I never go to the movies for the plot, I go for the phones! lol
Ben

Greg G.

Assignment Earth was one of my favorite episodes, since the plot took them back in time to the time that was current when it aired, late 60s.
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

twocvbloke

Quote from: Brinybay on January 07, 2013, 03:12:25 PM
Assignment Earth was one of my favorite episodes, since the plot took them back in time to the time that was current when it aired, late 60s.

Aired 29th March, 1968, according to IMDB... :)

It's a shame that the TV series of Assignment Earth never materialised, but, Paramount at the time were close to dropping what became quite the franchise for them, as they only commissioned one more series of Star Trek before they canned it, but when it comes to TV execs, they're not exactly the brightest people out there... :D

Adam

#456
In the movie in current limited release, Hyde Park on Hudson, about FDR, there are what appear to be a Western Electric black 202 and a RED 302 on his desk in his Hyde Park office.  (The whole movie takes place there, the White House is never shown.)

These two pics are from the trailer, from what I recall, you never see the phones in the actual film really any better than this.
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

Dialvintage

Quote from: Brinybay on January 07, 2013, 03:12:25 PM
Assignment Earth was one of my favorite episodes, since the plot took them back in time to the time that was current when it aired, late 60s.

Yes it's great! Haven't seen it in ages- forgot about all those phones in it! Funny to think some of our late 1990s mobile phones looked a bit like the communicators. But even those looking dated now. Mobile phones are looking more and more like mini computers.
However, rotary dial phones are my fave!

poplar1

Quote from: Adam on January 07, 2013, 07:04:34 PM
In the movie in current limited release, Hyde Park on Hudson, about FDR, there are what appear to be a Western Electric black 202 and a RED 302 on his desk in his Hyde Park office.  (The whole movie takes place there, the White House is never shown.)

These two pics are from the trailer, from what I recall, you never see the phones in the actual film really any better than this.


Those aren't WE phones. Maybe the color one is a Stromberg-Carlson 1243?


Not sure what company served Hyde Park, NY.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

HowardPgh

Red one looks to be a SC 1243 or the older version (1222?).
Howard

Adam

Interesting!  Thanks, guys, from what little you could see of the sets, I couldn't tell...

It's very possible that rural area half way between New York City and Albany wasn't served by New York Telephone, the Bell System company of that part of the country.  Wonder how we could find out for sure?
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

HowardPgh

#461
The black one looks like an Automatic Electric.1A with a British handset?
Howard

The MBS mike looks like a Western Electric, the CBS and NDC I don't know, and the two unmarked ones look like Turner mikes.
Howard

LarryInMichigan

Here's an ivory AE 1A (I think) at about 10:27: link.

Larry

twocvbloke

More Star Trek pictures, first one is aboard the USS Enterprise (well, they used the USS Ranger for the film, but dressed it up as the Enterprise), an AE type handset from what I can tell, don't get to see the actual phone though... :)

And the 2nd, not technically a phone picture, but, Pacific Bell must have loved the advertising for that shot of Sulu, Scotty and McCoy staring at the yellow pages ad on the wall... :D

twocvbloke

One from the first Back to the Future, Doc Brown's 500, acting as Marty's ear defence with all the clocks chiming at once... ;D

They used a Modular model, but the socket on the back of the phone appears to have been drilled out and a thicker, more flexible (and probably longer) line had been fitted, though as everything in Doc's lab had been modified somehow, it's hardly surprising that got modified too.. :D

Still watching at the moment, so may add a couple more pics... ;D