I remember my first phone number from 70 years ago FE-98502. Gramma had an Ivanhoe exchange. I always liked the " Murray Hill" exchange, it still sounds classy.
Love the story, love the image - raised some wonderful memories.
On the wall of our old family home, we had a wooden phone with black cast-iron winder and trumpet mouthpiece, a little cast iron ear piece. We would wind the handle furiously, an operator in the village Post Office would know it was our house and would say 'Number please...' and then we would be connected. We knew the Post Office could listen in to the calls and knew all the gossip, but it was fun from my childish eyes. That was the 50's. In the 60's, we had a bakelite standard hall-phone installed but Mum asked if she could keep the old wall phone as a decoration and so it remained.
In the 70's a cream plastic phone replaced the bakelite on and sat on the sideboard but then once mobile phones entered the picture, the standard phone disappeared.
My brother sold the family home last year (too big for a crusty bachelor) and bless him, he unscrewed the wooden phone off the wall and now has it boxed up ready to reinstall (for decoration) on the wall of his new and much smaller home. It'll stay in the family - so glad!
Love it Ramona. When I was much younger we had an old fashioned one ringy dingy / two ringy dingy party line. We could always tell when some was "rubber-necking" and listening in so if my girlfriend and I were talking we would make outrageous statements because we knew it would "curl the hair" of the listener...LOL. Such magical memories - every single one of them "Perfectly on Time". Grateful I can recall and have a smile about it all so thanks for the reminder.
This is fantastic (as all of your pieces are)! If you wrote a novel about it I'd be the first to buy a copy. And great timing too. This Friday for my Saturday Evening Post column I'm doing something about National Emma Nutt Day:
Thanks, Bob. Lots of good, fun stuff packed into that page! Thanks, too, for the mention.
I'm going to have to read Ann Patchett's new book now. Great writer and it takes place in Michigan! Think I'll skip the one about the scuba diver in the belly of a whale
Whenever I think of Nancy I think of her pal Sluggo. I don't remember why, but I loved those two! I'd completely forgotten that Fritzi Ritz was Nancy's aunt until I went looking for more about that cartoon. I had no idea it was still running.
I love this memory, so well written. It's truly amazing this shift in technology. Even in much more recent times, I remember being in my teens, my dad yelling at me to hang up the phone after he'd tripped over the cord while I tried to have a conversation with my boyfriend that of course everyone could hear. I had read somewhere that video calling technology was going to exist one day and my dad was like "yeah right, that's never gonna happen." :)
Recently, I was riding in an autonomous vehicle, and I said to my phone "Google assistant, play my Spotify queue on Waymo" and it began to play the music I'd selected. Sixteen year old me would marvel at being able to choose any song at the drop of a hat instead of fast forwarding through the limited options on a single cassette, while riding in the backseat of a car that was driving itself. Today me also marvels at it.
Random curious question - do you recall if smoking was allowed while you worked as a telephone operator? My mom worked at the post office as a letter sorter for a long time and remembers in the early days that people would just smoke right there among all the letters.
I've never ridden in an autonomous car. I think it would scare the hell out of me!
As for smoking--I don't remember. I've never smoked, but I lived through those days when everyone smoked indoors and in cars so it wouldn't have seemed unusual to me.
A specialist took a look at my lungs in the 60s or 70s and told me I needed to quit smoking. I'd never so much as taken a puff!
Oh my! I've never smoked either and neither did my mom which is probably why it stuck out in her memory. She also said she couldn't stand the lunchroom at the post office back then because you'd walk in to eat and it was a haze of smoke. I've always been most amazed by the fact that smoking in airplanes was a thing!
You'd think it would be scary in those cars but you'd be surprised ... after the first or second time it felt totally normal to me. I also don't really drive and have been taking rideshare for a long time and honestly there's plenty of Lyft/Uber/cab drivers that drive way scarier :)
I do drive and have since I was 16. That may be why a driverless car seems terrifying!
I remember smoking on airplanes. They had little ashtrays on the seat arms, and I was traveling alone with my eight-month-old daughter who grabbed a cigarette out of one of them and ate it! She threw up all over me and onto the seat and the floor. So disgusting! And embarrassing...
I loved driving as a younger person. Started the second I turned 16. Drove all over the us. But I moved to San Francisco 17 years ago and gave up my car and never looked back. So now when I do have to drive I am a skittish driver and that’s probably partly why I’m okay with the car just doing it for me.
Wow--this reminded me of a Judy Holliday movie. Was it Bells are Ringing maybe?
Loved that movie! Yup, she was a telephone operator.
Her movies were wonderful and she died so young.....
I know. A big loss. I watched 'Born Yesterday' not long ago. Nobody like her.
I'm still inclined to wait until after 5pm to make what would have been a long distance call years ago! Wait for the rate to drop...
I know! Wasn't that crazy? And talking loudly, as if our voices couldn't carry over such a long distance.
I remember my first phone number from 70 years ago FE-98502. Gramma had an Ivanhoe exchange. I always liked the " Murray Hill" exchange, it still sounds classy.
It does sound classy! I love how phone numbers in the movies are almost always 555-1212.
Our phone number in Southfield was Elgin 3434.
What a great story!
Delightful -- and you obviously made the right decision by playing hooky! Made me think of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0Gw9IUmjwM
LOL. Ernestine!
That brought memories. We used to visit relatives in Huntington Indiana, and I remember operators answering the phones.
Love the story, love the image - raised some wonderful memories.
On the wall of our old family home, we had a wooden phone with black cast-iron winder and trumpet mouthpiece, a little cast iron ear piece. We would wind the handle furiously, an operator in the village Post Office would know it was our house and would say 'Number please...' and then we would be connected. We knew the Post Office could listen in to the calls and knew all the gossip, but it was fun from my childish eyes. That was the 50's. In the 60's, we had a bakelite standard hall-phone installed but Mum asked if she could keep the old wall phone as a decoration and so it remained.
In the 70's a cream plastic phone replaced the bakelite on and sat on the sideboard but then once mobile phones entered the picture, the standard phone disappeared.
My brother sold the family home last year (too big for a crusty bachelor) and bless him, he unscrewed the wooden phone off the wall and now has it boxed up ready to reinstall (for decoration) on the wall of his new and much smaller home. It'll stay in the family - so glad!
Love it Ramona. When I was much younger we had an old fashioned one ringy dingy / two ringy dingy party line. We could always tell when some was "rubber-necking" and listening in so if my girlfriend and I were talking we would make outrageous statements because we knew it would "curl the hair" of the listener...LOL. Such magical memories - every single one of them "Perfectly on Time". Grateful I can recall and have a smile about it all so thanks for the reminder.
This is fantastic (as all of your pieces are)! If you wrote a novel about it I'd be the first to buy a copy. And great timing too. This Friday for my Saturday Evening Post column I'm doing something about National Emma Nutt Day:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Nutt
No way! That is so COOL! Send me the link when it's published. Love it!
Not sure if you're getting my emails so I wanted to post this here too. My column:
https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2023/09/news-of-the-week-new-books-the-shopping-cart-theory-and-how-to-celebrate-emma-nutt-day/
Thanks, Bob. Lots of good, fun stuff packed into that page! Thanks, too, for the mention.
I'm going to have to read Ann Patchett's new book now. Great writer and it takes place in Michigan! Think I'll skip the one about the scuba diver in the belly of a whale
Whenever I think of Nancy I think of her pal Sluggo. I don't remember why, but I loved those two! I'd completely forgotten that Fritzi Ritz was Nancy's aunt until I went looking for more about that cartoon. I had no idea it was still running.
I love this memory, so well written. It's truly amazing this shift in technology. Even in much more recent times, I remember being in my teens, my dad yelling at me to hang up the phone after he'd tripped over the cord while I tried to have a conversation with my boyfriend that of course everyone could hear. I had read somewhere that video calling technology was going to exist one day and my dad was like "yeah right, that's never gonna happen." :)
Recently, I was riding in an autonomous vehicle, and I said to my phone "Google assistant, play my Spotify queue on Waymo" and it began to play the music I'd selected. Sixteen year old me would marvel at being able to choose any song at the drop of a hat instead of fast forwarding through the limited options on a single cassette, while riding in the backseat of a car that was driving itself. Today me also marvels at it.
Random curious question - do you recall if smoking was allowed while you worked as a telephone operator? My mom worked at the post office as a letter sorter for a long time and remembers in the early days that people would just smoke right there among all the letters.
I've never ridden in an autonomous car. I think it would scare the hell out of me!
As for smoking--I don't remember. I've never smoked, but I lived through those days when everyone smoked indoors and in cars so it wouldn't have seemed unusual to me.
A specialist took a look at my lungs in the 60s or 70s and told me I needed to quit smoking. I'd never so much as taken a puff!
Oh my! I've never smoked either and neither did my mom which is probably why it stuck out in her memory. She also said she couldn't stand the lunchroom at the post office back then because you'd walk in to eat and it was a haze of smoke. I've always been most amazed by the fact that smoking in airplanes was a thing!
You'd think it would be scary in those cars but you'd be surprised ... after the first or second time it felt totally normal to me. I also don't really drive and have been taking rideshare for a long time and honestly there's plenty of Lyft/Uber/cab drivers that drive way scarier :)
I do drive and have since I was 16. That may be why a driverless car seems terrifying!
I remember smoking on airplanes. They had little ashtrays on the seat arms, and I was traveling alone with my eight-month-old daughter who grabbed a cigarette out of one of them and ate it! She threw up all over me and onto the seat and the floor. So disgusting! And embarrassing...
Oh gross!! So glad that has changed.
I loved driving as a younger person. Started the second I turned 16. Drove all over the us. But I moved to San Francisco 17 years ago and gave up my car and never looked back. So now when I do have to drive I am a skittish driver and that’s probably partly why I’m okay with the car just doing it for me.