Author Topic: The CRPF "Old Phones in Movies & TV" Compilation (Read 400075 times)

bingster · « **Reply #195 on:** September 09, 2009, 05:34:15 PM »

I doubt Bell would have allowed that in a residence, although a mix of phones was common in office settings. You see this on That 70s Show, too. The Formans have Bell System phones in the house except for a pale green Starlite in the den. And the payphone at "The Hub" is an AE, I think.

Dennis Markham · « **Reply #196 on:** September 09, 2009, 05:38:30 PM »

Were there no Independent Telco's in California?? Like here in Michigan there was General Telephone that used Automatic Electrics. But the Bell System (Michigan Bell) was the largest company in the State.

HobieSport · « **Reply #197 on:** September 09, 2009, 08:35:21 PM »

Quote from: Dennis Markham

Were there no Independent Telco's in California?

That's what I'm trying to understand in my newbieness, Dennis. I have assumed that all phones in California (let's just say the West Coast) in the 1930s-1950s would be Bell/Western Electric models, because of the monopoly, and all phones approved by the Bell System would be WEs.

I really don't know. So if anyone can enlighten me otherwise, "that would be great". When seeing old phones in movies I sometimes wonder if it just wasn't some prop person deciding if the phones in the movies were matched for the era in general, but not necessarily for real California phone history.

I am a fan of AE phones and I do wonder if they ever had much use in California as independents in those days.

bingster · « **Reply #198 on:** September 09, 2009, 08:43:45 PM »

There were definitely independent telephone companies in California. The big cities were Bell territories, and their outlying areas probably were, too. The independents would have been found in rural areas (or areas which had once been rural). But keep in mind that independent rural telcos weren't the only companies that used equipment from independent manufacturers. Independent office telephone systems used non-Bell equipment in vast quantities within Bell territories. But residences were a different animal altogether. Whereas you could easily find several telephones of various manufacture on a businessman's desk, you wouldn't find that situation in his home. The telephones there would have been all Bell, or all Kellogg, or all AE, etc., depending on where he lived. Bell was a monopoly, but that didn't mean they controlled everything.

Phonesrfun · « **Reply #199 on:** September 09, 2009, 09:42:40 PM »

In the states of Washington and Oregon, there were lots and lots of independants.

McHeath · « **Reply #200 on:** September 10, 2009, 01:37:01 AM »

I know of at least one indie phone company in California during the Bell System days, the Kerman Telephone Company down the road from me:

http://www.kermantelephone.com/about/index.php

I don't know what kind of phones they used. I never saw anything but WE phones in service back in the day, but then I was never in the Kerman area back then.

HobieSport · « **Reply #201 on:** September 10, 2009, 07:32:36 AM »

So was it then possible and normal that there were some AE telephones in California in the 1930s-50s?

Phonesrfun · « **Reply #202 on:** September 10, 2009, 12:14:04 PM »

Absolutely.

HobieSport · « **Reply #203 on:** September 10, 2009, 12:22:07 PM »

I didn't know that. Thanks.

HobieSport · « **Reply #204 on:** September 12, 2009, 01:04:50 AM »

Screen shot of "FDR's" desk from the movie "Flags of Our Fathers". Notice the dial-less WE 202 and intercom on the left, and the dial AE 40 on the right. I looked at all the photos I could find of FDR's real desk, from 1933 through 1945, and all of them showed a no-dial 202, but no intercom, and none showed an AE 40 (nor the amusing Adolf pin cushion). So maybe the prop people took some liberties in the movie set.

bingster · « **Reply #205 on:** September 12, 2009, 01:32:40 AM »

I'd like to know who made that clock/barometer set--they're pretty snappy.

Brinybay · « **Reply #206 on:** October 17, 2009, 04:20:26 AM »

I can't capture stills from movies, but I just started watching "The Thin Man", and early in the movie you get glimpses of a gorgeous ivory 202.

McHeath · « **Reply #207 on:** December 04, 2009, 01:03:42 AM »

Been a bit since anyone added to this, so here is a shot. This is from the latest Indiana Jones movie, the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It's taken in the mock 1950's town that is about to be nuked by an A-bomb test, this is a millisecond before the flash of the bomb comes in from the left. Note the AE 80 on the table with the handset off hook.

migette · « **Reply #208 on:** December 04, 2009, 07:20:10 AM »

Hi thought I was the only one who looked at the old phones and radios in films looking out for mistakes, one of our tv mysteries was set in older times 60s 70s and was supposed to be in England, however in the office there was our 700 and the next desk a 500. On looking further into the production it was filmed in republic of Ireland,which used the 500 made by northern of Canada, interesting also they were wired like the 700 inasmuch as the ringing current rang the bells in series only one capacitor being used, this was common here in UK and also prevented bell tinkle when dialing out. Our 700 type can also be found in Israel Portugal and New Zealand where the dial is back to front 0 gives 1 digit 1 gives 10,

Brinybay · « **Reply #209 on:** December 04, 2009, 03:20:51 PM »

Quote from: migette on December 04, 2009, 07:20:10 AM

Hi thought I was the only one who looked at the old phones and radios in films looking out for mistakes, one of our tv mysteries was set in older times 60s 70s ...

GAAAAHHHH!!! 60s and 70s "older times"?!!!! Tell me it's not true!!!! If you hear a loud bang, it's just me shooting myself...

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