The CRPF "Old Phones in Movies & TV" Compilation

[unbeldi]

The movie may have been made in 1950, however, the story may have taken place earlier than that.  That is probably another reason early 302s were used.

The E1 on the set does not indicate it was an early set. Even if the movie setting were not a movie stage, but reality, 302s were routinely refurbished with E1 handsets, especially after the war.  Even in the 1950s, BSPs were still published that outline the permissible zoning for sets with E1 handsets.  Today we still find many more 302s of the post-war period with E1 handsets than early 302s.  It was only about the first six months of 1937 when E1s were used on new sets, until the F1 was ready for mass production by mid-1937, acc. to articles in BLR. Given the typical slow startup of production, there probably never were more than 100 or 200 thousand new 302s with E1 in circulation.

[19and41]

It may have been as simple as the prop man picking up a unconnected base and handset from the phone pile.

[TelePlay]

Directors and Directors of Photography put a lot of thought into what they were capturing on black and white film. Not only the acting but also the film images themselves which had to contain a full grey scale (from white to black) to be acceptable for viewing. Movies were intended to be seen over and over for many years and some directors had dreams of an Academy Award for some movies, as did the DOP. They never used white under camera lights. White shirts were most likely an off white pastel. And black had to be lightened or risk one black item getting lost in another.  I'd think they painted anything and everything to get the grey desired for an item in the full shot and it wouldn't surprise me if that phone was painted red or blue to get that shade of grey. They also put colored gel filters in front of the camera lights as needed and used colored lens filters to play with the grey scale. They were the experts and knew what they were doing so I would venture a guess that most of those decisions were second nature to everyone on set for filming. This chart shows what color looks like in black and white and how that grey scale is affected by primary filters on the lens. Citizen Kane is still regarded as the best black and white movie ever made with the photography being ground breaking inventive and the scenes captured well. With respect to still photography, Ansel Adams is the best, at least in my humble opinion.

[Jim Stettler]

When I first started collecting I was told the early color sets (pre-war) were mainly used in black and white movies. I always though this was amusing.
Teleplay's explanation helps make it make sense.
Jim S.

[Daniël Oosterhuis]

Not a TV show, but an Internet show. The Angry Video Game Nerd in his show is seen holding a PTT T65 De Luxe Mocca phone when he mocks teens nowadays looking up the time on their phones rather than on a watch, looking so cool doing that with his phone. It is missing a dial card though.
Why he has a Dutch phone despite being an American, no idea.

[TelePlay]

When I first started collecting I was told the early color sets (pre-war) were mainly used in black and white movies. I always though this was amusing. Teleplay's explanation helps make it make sense.

Back in the 80s when scientists were still using black and white Polaroid film to capture images on analytical instrument monitors, and the monitors were moving from black and white to color, software engineers discovered a problem with intensity coding. While intensity scales could be easily defined with color (blue to red for 0 to 100%), black and white Polaroid film made it hard to visually read oe "see" those intensities - lower intensity was brighter than higher intensity and as such, the grey scale did not match the color spectrum. I suggested they change the colors used to result in a black and white grey scale of the of the color that made sense from 0 to 100%. I took the bottom strip of the above chart in order of blue to red and rearranged the patches in grey scale from light to dark. You can see how the colors fall out in black and white, how some colors are brighter in black and white than others but not in order of spectral wavelength. The middle of the color spectrum is brighter than either end.

[Mister Mike]

The Man in the High Castle is full of prewar and early postwar phones, shown frequently in each hi-def episode. The show takes place in an early 1960s dystopia where the conquered US is split between Nazi German and imperial Japanese victors. Apparently the political situation didn't prevent the development of the Western Electric 500 and 2500.

[andre_janew]

I haven't seen the show, but I wouldn't be surprised if  at some point they threw in a few German and Japanese phones.

[dsk]

This is just a telephone related song: http://fastmp3.me/charlie-rackstead-hello-hello-20336357.htm
This is a translated song from a Norwegian song made for children.
I know at least one member; Eric Salter having the phone who made the idea for this song.
The Norwegian rotary from 1967 with a one (and a half) transistor making a warbling sound: http://tinyurl.com/h5tvcpe

dsk

(This show is made by a Norwegian comedian trying to play a Norwegian/American artist)

[jsowers]

I'd like to post an alert for all the Green Acres fans on the Forum. Tomorrow (Wednesday January 6th) AntennaTV is airing two episodes where Oliver takes over the Hooterville Phone Company. It comes on at 2:00 Eastern time, 11:00 Pacific. AntennaTV is often a sub-channel attached to a digital local TV channel. Check their site for availability. It's on my analog cable and the local Time-Warner digital tier also carries it.

http://antennatv.tv/interactive-affiliate-map/

Today's show was all about Oliver's frustration with the Hooterville Phone Company. Sarah was away from the switchboard a lot, taking a lunch break, getting her hair done and then basting her pot roast. Mr. Kimball played a recording on a Victrola with a morning glory horn while he sat at the switchboard. Oliver was in Drucker's store and Sam's candlestick had a cord so short it didn't reach the counter, so he had to bend over to use the phone. Oliver tried to get Mr. Kimball to put through a call to Hoyt Clagwell in Fargo, ND for a tractor part and Hank said "But Sarah doesn't have a Fargo hole."    Newt Kiley said the record with all the recordings was a present at Chrismas if you didn't make any complaints during the year.

So Oliver vows to complain to the Utilities Commission and starts to collect signatures on a petition. He goes to Mr. Ziffel's house and finds out he has a green candlestick and instead of a receiver they put a hammer to hold down the switchhook so the phone would ring. That was in 1922. They didn't have a matchng green receiver yet. So he has times listed that certain people are supposed to call, but he can't hear them.

Oliver eventually gets home and finds out they've taken out his phone on the pole and given it to Mr. Ziffel and given Mr. Ziffel's cord to Sam Drucker. And that being able to hear someone on the phone for the first time since 1922 brought tears to Mr. Ziffel's eyes.

It's a pretty good shot at the phone company, circa 1967. The two shows that air on Wednesday are also about Oliver and the phone company. Hope you can catch it. I think one of them is the one where they finally hook up the phone in their kitchen. And in the phone company office Oliver finds out when he pulls on the cord that a candlestick at the front desk is wired directly to the switchboard.

[Brinybay]

A few captures from the beginning of "The Front Page" (1931).  The only stick in the newspaper office with a mouthpiece belongs to Bensinger (Edward Everett Horton) who's a germophobe and apparently removed the mouthpieces from the rest of the phones because of his germ phobia.  Bensinger's stick has a glass mouthpiece.  There also appears to be an ivory stick on the table.

[compubit]

I've been watch the British show Endeavour - which is the prequel to the Inspector Morse Mysteries (ITV/WGBH), set in the 1960s in Oxford.

In the series, there have been a number of phones - mostly GPO 706 models, but in a recent episode, the phone on Morse's desk is a 500-style phone, complete with US-style faceplate, including "OPERATORS" by the 0.

Would there have been US 500-style phones during this time? I thought he had a 706 on his desk in Episode 1 (at first I thought it was a AE-80, but went back to checked...).

I'll try to get some screen caps...

Jim

[Ktownphoneco]

Jim   .....   Yes there were, and probably at a point where they'd be most common, both in the U.S.A., and Canada.     Attached is a page out of Northern Electric's T-9 Catalog - 1962, in "pdf" format, showing what I think is the set your talking about.

Jeff Lamb


 

[compubit]

So they (500 style) were common in England in the 60s? What doesn't make sense to me is that there are both GPO and 500 style phones in the same office (see the second picture)...

Also, found a discontinuity - earlier in the program, Morse appears to have a GPO phone on his desk (last pic), but later has a 500 (with a Silver Satin Cord!!!)...

Photo 1: Morse's desk later in program
Photo 2: Wide shot of office showing 500 and GPO on different desks
Photo 3: GPO phone in Detective Inspector's office
Photo 4: Morse with a GPO style phone on his desk...

Jim

Jim

[19and41]

I'd be willing to wager that the prop folks were trying to fill the bill with dial phones regardless of their accuracy.  I think the writing and acting in that series is always going to trump the costuming or art direction.  At least that's the way it has appeared so far.