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You can have my desk and furniture, but leave me my phone!

Started by Greg G., June 23, 2010, 06:33:45 PM

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Greg G.

Poster for season 4 of Mad Men features an empty office except for one thing - the phone!
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

Kenny C

In memory of
  Marie B.
1926-2010

McHeath

It's set in the ealry 60's Kenny.  Supposed to be about Madison Ave. advertising agencies and the various inner workings.  (Hence Mad Men, short for Madison Men)  It's rather a hit and popular in some circles.

I watched a couple of episodes and it was not my thing, but that's another story.

I will add however that the show is filled with historical errors.  For example the pilot episode is set in 1960 and has a secretary with a WE black 500 and IBM Selectric on her desk, she's quite impressed with the high tech.  However the 500 has a clear fingerwheel, so it's from about 5 years later, and the IBM Selectric was not introduced until 61' and the one on the desk is a Selectric II introduced in 71'.  They also show every single person as smoking at some point, when the stats show that smoking never broke 45% of the population at it's peak in the early 60s.  Historical errors like that annoy me.

gpo706

Yeah McH, I wouldn't notice this sort of anomaly being not that up to speed with US phones, but a low-budget doco about D-day had the Nazi HQ with reams of GPO bakelites!

At least Mad Men has the right country of origin!
"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

AET

Too bad I don't have this channel, been much talk about the show on FL.  Maybe I'd be able to watch it at my folkes.
- Tom

1954NE500

That's a Western Electric 564 black rotary 5-line w/hold keyphone. I may also add that the red "hold" buttons on NE/WE 564-series keyphones didn't show up until late 1965 or early 1966. The "hold" button was originally clear just like the 5 other line keys on the 564. The line buttons and "hold" buttons were also round originally on the WE/NE 564's with square buttons for the 5 lines buttons and "hold" button starting in 1968-69 on the 564's as well.

Greg G.

It's more of a hit with people who remember those years (like me), I started school in 1959.  I'm at work when it's on, so I have to wait for the episodes to come available on Netflix.
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

McHeath

The show is also noted for how it films from down low, you get to see a lot of ceiling tiles.

That phone has square buttons, a red hold button, and a clear fingerwheel. 

There has been a fair amount of debate over the shows portrayal of how women are treated in the business world.  It's shockingly and painfully sexist on the show.  I've read interviews with various people who were in that Madison Ave. Advertising world in the time and they differ on how accurate that is, some claim it was true and others claim that it never happened that way.  Probably as is typical of TV and movies they have pumped it up a lot for dramatic effect.

The demographics are skewed interestingly, 49% of the viewers make 100k plus a year. 

1954NE500

The Western Electric 564 seen here is most likely from 1968-74 since the line buttons and "hold" buttons are square and the "hold" button is red. This is in addition to that clear finger wheel on the rotary dial as well as that's a 9-series dial as well on that WE 564 as well.

Jim Stettler

As a point of interest, You could also get the buttons in different colors such as amber, green and maybe blue. I don't think there was a standard when you added different color buttons. It was up to the location to assign the associated use.

Just a tidbit,
Jim
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

paul-f

Here are a few colors I've found...
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

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Jim Stettler

Atta Boy Paul,
These are  the exceptions I was mentioning.
Do you know if there was an official scheme, or were the color desiginations more site based?
Jim
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

1954NE500

Those are some really cool colors that those line buttons came in as well. This is the first time I've seen these 1A2 line buttons in different colors. I'll bet radio stations may have used these colored buttons on contest line phones to indicate which callers got through. I think these colored 1A2 buttons may have also been seen in hospitals for the different emergency codes as well-a blue button for Code Blue for example. These colored 1A2 buttons may have also been seen on police station phones as well as fire station phones as well in some cases. These are really awesome colored 1A2 line buttons that are so cool:-)

paul-f

There's probably a BSP out there somewhere.  I don't recall reading one, but it would be an interesting subject for a future BSP hunt.

Most of these came from a former installer in Ohio who told me that he usually used them for  business installations that used the colors for different signalling groups -- as set up on the phone in the photo.  They were also occasionally used on Call Directors to highlight frequently used numbers (the boss, security, credit/order processing/purchasing contacts, etc.).

A few came from scrounging in parts boxes at phone shows.  You never know what will turn up.
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

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