Telephone Books and Booths

2/17/2016

Let's go down memory lane and take a moment to reflect on two things that are now pretty much extinct.  If you're younger, phone books and booths may not have been a part of your life.

For a very long time, every house received a new telephone book each year.  This was long before cellphones that included your contact list.  There was also a time when at the back of the phone book, there were pictures of phones, and their colors, available through the phone company.  Yes, there was actually a time when the phone company would come to your house and install a new phone and/or repair an older one.

The Princess phone came out in 1963 and I knew I would die if I didn't have one.  I didn't die obviously, but I can't remember when I had my own Princess phone.  As lovely as they were to look at, they were pretty lightweight and could scoot around on the table while you were dialing. In 1994, AT&T ended production of the Princess telephone.  Due to its removal from production, and its attractive design, the Princess has become a collectible phone. Princess telephones in pink, turquoise, and black are among the rarest colors of the phones and most valuable.  Sad to say, I don't have a Princess phone hiding in the basement!  Darn my luck.

Phone books for large cities were quite thick and heavy.  They also provided a wonderful booster seat for a child at the dinner table.  The first phone book was published on February 21, 1878 and listed 50 businesses in Hartford, Connecticut.   As we move forward, fewer cities as well as people want to have a phone book.  Thanks to modern technology, you can find anyone and any business on line in a matter of minutes.

Growing up there were phone booths.  Little booths in the back of a restaurant or on the street with folding doors and a pay phone inside.  Not only did Superman use phone booths to change into his costume, but regular folks used them as well.  The first phone booth was designed in 1889. In 1902, phone booths were so popular that 81,000 of them were in the United States.

Today, you might be hard pressed to find a pay phone to use when you're out and about.  I think almost everybody has a cellphone.  Even I have a cellphone, which sits on the kitchen counter, uncharged and unused.  I generally don't make phone calls and I certainly don't or didn't use one when I was in my car.  Since nobody knows my cellphone number, including yours truly, it never rings!

P