Telephone first?

[ZapBrannigan]

And because rotary dialing is kind of time consuming they always cut in after the person has dialed or the last couple of rotary digits are being dialed.

That takes me back. It was time-consuming, ridiculous by today's standards. And if you had to make a lot of calls, it not only took time, your finger got sore.

My first push-button phone was an off-brand cheapie, a Trimline knockoff, and I thought it was going to bring me up to date. But when you pushed a button, it would pause and then you'd hear the click-click-click of rotary pulses. It took just as long as rotary dialing.

And even if that phone had come with Touchtone dialing, you had to pay extra back then for Touchtone service, which we weren't doing. So I was still stuck in the past.

 

[MantaBase]

And even if that phone had come with Touchtone dialing, you had to pay extra back then for Touchtone service, which we weren't doing. So I was still stuck in the past.

I totally forgot about that! Wow. I recall you had to wait for the clicks! I love being reminded about what I forgot - thanks!

 

[Joanna McCoy-Kirk]

And because rotary dialing is kind of time consuming they always cut in after the person has dialed or the last couple of rotary digits are being dialed.

That takes me back. It was time-consuming, ridiculous by today's standards. And if you had to make a lot of calls, it not only took time, your finger got sore.

My grandparents' phone number had a lot of zeros, so it took a long time to dial that number.

 

[Grant]

On a lot of old tv shoes you could see/hear that the actor just had that finger in the one! Imagine if the actor pretended to dial ...786-8900

Director, "Cut! What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm a method actor I am making it real."
"Yeah? Well make it real with number 231-1111--we don't have all day."

 

[The Old Mixer]

1966: The Batphone had one button (though its setting was shaped like a standard dial....)

 

[scotpens]

1966: The Batphone had one button (though its setting was shaped like a standard dial....)

Well, it didn't need a dial since the Batphone was a direct hotline from Commissioner Gordon's office to stately Wayne Manor!

(Although the Batphone was a prop, there were similar-looking real, no-dial phones that were for incoming calls only.)

 

[Grant]

I think I said a non prop or "futuristic" or sci-fi phone-- in other words a real touch tone phone.
Pretty sure TOS was the first to have one.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I think I said a non prop or "futuristic" or sci-fi phone-- in other words a real touch tone phone.
Pretty sure TOS was the first to have one.

In those days, if you could afford a Beta Five computer, springing for Touchtone service was no biggie.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I think I said a non prop or "futuristic" or sci-fi phone-- in other words a real touch tone phone.

Yet you neglected to mention the strictly enforced "no humor" rule.

 

[Grant]

I think I said a non prop or "futuristic" or sci-fi phone-- in other words a real touch tone phone.
Pretty sure TOS was the first to have one.

In those days, if you could afford a Beta Five computer, springing for Touchtone service was no biggie.

No doubt! They had a huge budget in Seven's secret group.
Heck, his cat had a diamond collar!

But I think it's kind of amazing that a show that spent 97% of it's time outside of the, then, contemporary world would show a touch tone phone ahead of all the other shows that spent their entire time in that era.

 

[The Old Mixer]

It's not too surprising...weren't the prop people always on the lookout for futuristic-looking doodads, like salt and pepper shakers that could pass for medical instruments?

 

[Grant]

It's not too surprising...weren't the prop people always on the lookout for futuristic-looking doodads, like salt and pepper shakers that could pass for medical instruments?

True, but here was s case where they had a single episode set in 1968 and found real state of the art tech that no other show had gone..shown before.
As I learned, the very first touch tone went online in 1963 and berween that time and 1968, no other show had said, "Hey, that looks modern and upscale-- lets use that."

I think that's pretty cool.

 

[The Old Mixer]

But it's not surprising that this show was the first, since they had a guy who was specifically out there looking for things on the market that didn't look like what you'd find in the typical suburban American home.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Anyone check The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964-68) for use of a push button phone? Spy productions usually tried to separate their environment from the look of the average world by using "near future" tech.

 

[Patrin-Zero]

Here in the Midwest, I recall when our telephone went to the modular jack system, upgrading from the original hardwired lines. The local phone company actually sent out 'conversion' kits of both wall-jacks and wall-plates as well as a basic diagram to install such.

I made a lot money that summer as a 12 year-old, going around my subdivision helping phone subscribers whom were totally baffled by the odd little kits. Seems asking a dollar to do the job was always well-received by neighbors caught up in that little taste of Future Shock in the early 1970s.

 

[Grant]

Just got the DVD set of the 1985-1986 Twilight Zone series and the very first episode has Bruce Willis' character spend virtually the entire episode on the phone with his alternate self.
His asks for the phone at the local bar (rotary), talks on an outdoor pay phone (rotary), a hotel phone (rotary), but his home phone is a touch tone.
Very surprised now that as late as 1985 tv still had so many rotary phones in use. But I wonder if I payed much attention to it when I saw it back in 1985.
By the way it was set in NYC.

 

[Amaris]

I still keep a late 60s rotary model on hand should the power go out.

Sincerely,

Bill

How do you plug it in? That would have the 1x1" 4 pin plug.

BTW - That's a great idea.

Ooh! That's right! I forgot about the older bulky connectors! Obviously, mine is not totally vintage. It has the contemporary landline "clip". I inherited two of the phones from my father and he died in 1977. I don't recall a technician upgrading them since then, but my memory is often faulty.

Sincerely,

Bill

We used to have a gorgeous black push button phone that was used in the 1960s. We had bought it from a military surplus store. I had to be the one to install it, because you had to hard wire it into the line. It was awesome, though, and I wish I could find it again. I love the old push buttons.

 

[Shawnster]

But it's not surprising that this show was the first, since they had a guy who was specifically out there looking for things on the market that didn't look like what you'd find in the typical suburban American home.

The whole point of Gary 7's office was to blend in and look like a typical 1968 office. Plot wise it does not make sense to outfit him with a "futuristic" telephone as part of his 1968 camouflage.

When the prop people and set dressing people were looking for "futuristic" salt shakers and objects for the show, they were doing it with the intent of making the scene look "futuristic."

To scour for a "futuristic" telephone prop that would serve no purpose in-story, and would run contrary to the entire point of looking like a typical 1968 office would be a waste of time and, to quote Spock, "Illogical."

 

[The Old Mixer]

In this case, it wasn't supposed to be "futuristic" in the episode's context, but it was cutting-edge tech of the time...nothing that would blow Gary's cover. My point was that they had a guy who had his eye out for stuff that did look unusual or futuristic, and as a piece of cutting-edge tech that wasn't yet terribly commonplace, the phone might have come to his attention somewhere in the midst of his general searching for such items. I was never suggesting that anyone went out of their way to find a "futuristic" phone specifically for that episode.

"Say, when I was browsing through the Such & Suchbuck's Catalog looking for sickbay props, I saw this really nifty phone that had buttons instead of a dial...maybe you could use that for this guy's office?"

 

[Noname Given]

I worked with a girl who didn't know what VHS was, and another who said that she wouldn't know how to use a rotary phone is it was put in front of her.

You just put your finger in the hole and make tiny little circles.

Yes, but once a group of friends and I showed a rotary phone to a 19 year old (not connected of course); and told him, "OK dial a number..." - he studied it for a minute, did put his finger in the holes, but NEVER took it out (IE he dialed a digit and kept the finger in the hole, 'helping it'.)

Afterwards we told him had the phone been hooked up and he dialed a number that way, it would not have dialed correctly, you had to take your finger out and let the rotor spin back at its own speed.