Early Days of TV Popularity: 44 Interesting Vintage Snapshots Capture People With Their Televisions in the 1950s

Television became available in crude experimental forms in the late 1920s. During the 1950s, television was the primary medium for influencing public opinion, and not hard to see a TV in a family at this time.

Here below are some interesting vintage snapshots that capture people with their TVs during the 1950s.

See more»

Eve's Wireless: This Striking Footage Revealed The World's First Mobile Phone Was Used by Women Back in 1922

Most of us know that cellular phones were around long before their commercial debut in the 1970s and 1980s, but did you know that their history extends all the way back to the '20s? This excellent video clip shows two flapper-type girls talking on a mobile phone back in 1922.

The clip from 1922 shows that 90 years ago, mobile phone technology and music on the move was not only being thought of but being trialled.

Car Phone Driven From Curiosity to Commodity to Collectible, 14 Vintage Photos of Car Phones That Belong in Museum

Conceived only ten years apart from each other, the car and the telephone (1885 and 1875, respectively) have grown together from technical curiosities to facets of modern life. It would seem inevitable then, that the two would have combined early on, but the truth is a little more interesting than that.

Like many technological firsts, the first “car phone” was large, clunky and highly impractical. In 1901 Swedish engineer Lars Magnus Ericsson installed a telephone in the back of his car. It worked quite well as long as the car was stopped and plugged directly into phone lines via two long wires. On the plus side, talking on the phone while driving was hardly a concern. While it was the first phone-enabled car, wireless capability was clearly the next necessary evolution. And unfortunately it would be a rather long time coming.

It would be 45 years later in 1946, when Bell created a wireless network, that the car phone could become a reality. Weighing in at 80 pounds, the car phone was still a bulky item but with true wireless capability it could finally reach its full potential.

Phones would continue to grow in popularity and shrink in size and price as the decades wore on. The phone was gradually making its way from novelty to commodity. But the car phone wouldn’t get its big break until the “yuppy” days of the 1980s.

Car wireless phone in 1946, Bell Telephone Company started to offer vehicle wireless telephone services by using the communications equipment of Motorola.

The earliest version of a mobile phone was first created in 1946, it was called a "mobile radiophone service."

America Talks, c.1947.

Woman uncomfortably surrounded by spectators, c.1948.

DeSoto with an early car phone, c.1950s.

See more»

28 Amazing Vintage Photographs That Capture Telephone Switchboard Operators at Work from the Past

Following the invention of the telephone in 1876, the first telephones were rented in pairs which were limited to conversation between the parties operating those two instruments. The use of a central exchange was soon found to be even more advantageous than in telegraphy. In January 1878 the Boston Telephone Dispatch company had started hiring boys as telephone operators. Boys had been very successful as telegraphy operators, but their attitude, lack of patience, and behavior was unacceptable for live telephone contact, so the company began hiring women operators instead.

These operators were almost always women until the early 1970s, when men were once again hired. In many cases, customers came to know their operator by name.

As telephone exchanges converted to automatic (dial) service, switchboards continued to serve specialized purposes. Before the advent of direct-dialed long distance calls, a subscriber would need to contact the long-distance operator in order to place a toll call.

Check out these 28 amazing vintage photos below which showing women who worked as telephone switchboard operators from the past.

A typical telephone exchange switchboard, 1943

Army WAC phone operator, ca. 1940s

Bell System telephone operators, 1950

Canadian Women's Army Corps operating the telephone switchboard at Canadian Military Headquarters, London, 1945

Chesapeake and Potomac telephone operators, Washington D.C, 1919

See more»

A Collection of 12 Interesting Vintage Telephone Advertisements in the 1930s

Although the greatest number of ads will be for the Bell System or Western Electric, the independents will have a presence as well. Considering that they were part of the Bell System, an organization that wouldn't seem to require any self-promotion, Western Electric advertised particularly heavily in the periodicals of the day.

See more»

How to Dress When Using Your Landline, ca. 1900s

During the 1870s, two well known inventors both independently designed devices that could transmit sound along electrical cables. Those inventors were Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray. Both devices were registered at the patent office within hours of each other. There followed a bitter legal battle over the invention of the telephone, which Bell subsequently won.

The telegraph and telephone are very similar in concept, and it was through Bell's attempts to improve the telegraph that he found success with the telephone.

Within 50 years of its invention, the telephone had become an indispensable tool in the United States. In the late 19th century, people raved about the telephone's positive aspects and ranted about what they anticipated would be negatives. By 1900 there were nearly 600,000 phones in Bell's telephone system; that number shot up to 2.2 million phones by 1905, and 5.8 million by 1910.

These interesting vintage black and white photographs show young women posed using telephones in the early 20th century.

c.1909

c.1909

c.1907

c.1909

c.1909

See more»

Telephone Engineer Is Attaching the Main Telephone Cable to a New Support Wire in London, ca. 1920s

The activity looks much more dangerous than it actually is, although sitting in bosun’s chair 50 feet high won’t appeal to some people. The engineer is attaching the main telephone cable to a new support wire, suspended between Maddox Street and Conduit Street in Mayfair.

Mary Ellen Terry Talking With Her Legs Up in a Telephone Booth in 1952

These black and white photos were taken by LIFE photographer Gordon Parks in 1952

See more»

Fascinating Photos of Britain's Female Dispatch Riders During World War II

During World War II, the British Royal Navy created an all female corps whose members were nicknamed the Wrens. One of their most notable duties was as dispatch riders for both the Admiralty and the Royal Navy. This turned out to be a tough assignment as German bombs made travel increasingly difficult as the war progressed.

When telecommunications were limited and insecure dispatch riders, a military messenger on motorcycle were used by the armed forces to deliver urgent orders and messages between headquarters and military units. Women excelled as dispatch riders and were often seen taking their motorcycles, in the name of duty through perilous conditions.

The British Royal Navy wanted women who could not only ride motorcycles, but also maintain their own machines. The first women chosen for dispatch duty were well-known competition riders from local motorcycle race circuits. As war-time need increased, more women were trained, many of whom served with great distinction.

The Wren’s who were dispatch motorcycle riders achieved a great deal of recognition, not only from their own country men but other foreign powers. During the invasion of the Low Countries, the London-based Wrens would work eight-hour shifts day and night to deliver messages. Their work through out the battle of Britain was highly praised. And you can imagine, riding through London became increasingly difficult as the German’s bombing campaign wreaked havoc on the city.

During WWII over 100 Wrens lost their lives serving their country proudly as motorcycle dispatch riders, as women.

See more»

Incredible Vintage Photos of the Old Stockholm Telephone Tower in Sweden From the Late 19th Century

Back in the day when the telephone was a fairly new technology, it was not uncommon for towns and cities to be engulfed in a wild mess of telephone lines. At the time, mankind had not yet learned that it was more efficient to bury telephone lines, resulting hundreds or thousands of lines stretching across a city. This practice led to an incredible feat of engineering called the Old Stockholm Telephone tower in Stockholm, Sweden.

Constructed in 1887, this 240 foot tall tower was the central hub of 5,500 telephone lines which snaked across Stockholm. The building dominated the city skyline, and the mass of lines leading to and from the tower made a very surreal and bizarre spectacle indeed.

Around the turn of the century towns and cities began burying their telephone lines. Stockholm did the same, and by 1913 the tower was made obsolete. From 1939 on it was used as an advertising board for the phone company. It was finally demolished in 1958 after being weakened by a fire.

In this amazing series of photos courtesy of Tekniska Museet, we get a glimpse at how the world was connected over a century ago.

See more»

Funny Vintage Pictures of Mobile Phones' Evolution From the Past

A motorcycle fitted out to look like a giant telephone in an effort by the GPO to bring home to the public the importance of the phone. The dial on the wheel bears the slogan, “The World at Your Finger Tips”. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). 20th June 1932

A telephone operator at the Central Office wears a portable headset made by the American Bell Telephone Company, 1923. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

From left to right, British Commander Sir John Dill (1881–1944), US General George Marshall (1880–1959) and Admiral Louis Mountbatten (1900–1979) during World War II, circa 1942. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The GPO Mobile Call Office Unit, primarily designed to meet emergency needs, in the car park of the Royal Festival Hall, London. (Photo by Monty Fresco Jnr/Getty Images). 1955

A portable radio-telephone which can dial into telephone systems, developed by Pye Telecommunications, being demonstrated at an exhibition “Communications Today, Tomorrow and the Future'” at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London. (Photo by Stacey/Fox Photos/Getty Images). 11th April 1972

See more»

The First Telephone Pay Station in Los Angeles, 1899

The first telephone pay station in Los Angeles, at 228 S. Spring Street, 1899. The service was not cheap: that 50¢ per minute call to San Francisco would cost $13.58 per minute in today’s dollars.