What's a "Perry Mason" phone?

[Brinybay]

I emailed the seller and asked for a picture or better description.  I never got a direct response, but they added the word "rotary" and "has black cord and adapter" to the ad.  Big help! I googled Perry Mason and found a site with several phones in PM scenes. http://www.vividinfinity.com/perry_mason/perry_mason1.html Probably just another black 500.  I'm not making a trip down there for it.

http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/atq/1642380303.html

[Brinybay]

More scenes w/phones:

[bingster]

My gut tells me that it's a 500, just as you think.  It would be nice if they were talking about the big Amplicall, but they don't have dials.  You might ask about a date on the bottom, though, just to be sure it's not a 12/49.

[Wallphone]

Paul F. has a picture of my Amplicall's at the bottom of this page.
> http://www.paul-f.com/rauland.htm <
Dougpav

[jsowers]

Perry Mason started in 1957, and from what I've seen from the first season DVD, there are a few soft plastic phones in the show, but not many. Della has a soft plastic keyset on her desk and Perry has what looks to be a dark beige 500 in his apartment, but this is in black and white, so there's no telling colors for sure. But it did have the light numbers on the dial, as I recall. Mostly it's black 302s, black 500s and a variety of old payphones with the transmitter mounted to the base like in your pictures. It's amazing to me that they used such old phones sometimes and new ones other times.

I think "Perry Mason Phone" and "Lucy Phone" could be catch-all names for the same thing. While most people remember the 302 Lucy had, from 1956 on she had a black 500 set in the apartment and in Connecticut until 1959. And in Hollywood in 1955 they had a 202.

I'm waiting for someone on eBay to refer to a soft plastic 500 as a Leave it to Beaver phone. Only one person has said that to me so far, a childhood friend of mine, who took one look at my white 1958 soft plastic set with the fat cord and aced it. He said "That looks like it just came out of Beaver's living room."

Jonathan

[bingster]

Ricky and Lucy had a 202 in their apartment in New York at one point, too.  There's a screen cap of it here somewhere.  It looks like they had everything between a candlestick and a modular.

[GusHerb]

Ricky and Lucy had a 202 in their apartment in New York at one point, too.  There's a screen cap of it here somewhere.  It looks like they had everything between a candlestick and a modular.

You put it that way, maybe they were secretly advertising for Bell System.  

[bingster]

They sure could have, as much as they were on the phone.

[GusHerb]

I love the old color movie's from the 60s that focus around the phones that ranged in color greatly during that time.

[jsowers]

I love the old color movie's from the 60s that focus around the phones that ranged in color greatly during that time.

Jonathan, be sure to catch the thread about Old Phones in Movies. Lots of screen shots there of exactly what you mentioned. It's 18 pages long! I like those phones too, and I remember seeing them on TV when I was a kid in the 60s, fueling my desire for them when I grew up. I remember one episode of My Mother, the Car in particular had phones all over the house and Jerry Van Dyke was using them all. I wish I could see that now. Here's the link to the thread...

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=312.0

You put it that way, maybe they were secretly advertising for Bell System.   

A little-known fact is Lucille Ball's father, Henry Ball, was a telephone lineman for Michigan Bell or Anaconda Copper (depending on which source you read). One reference says they lived in Wyandotte, Michigan for a time. Dennis, is that near you? He died of typhoid when Lucy was four.

[Dennis Markham]

Jonathan, Wyandotte is not too far but on the other side of town.  It's south and west of the City of Detroit.  They call that a "down river" community....because it's down river.  It's about 35 miles south and west of me.

[andre_janew]

Did you ever find out what this "Perry Mason" phone was?

[Brinybay]

Did you ever find out what this "Perry Mason" phone was?

No, the seller never replied to me directly, just added a couple of details to the CL ad.  Best guess was that the seller probably watched PM a lot and saw several scenes with a black 500 set.