"Feminine Presence" Telephone Operators When Hundreds Of Them Said "Long Distance"- 1939
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- Опубликовано: 23 авг 2024
- When you heard “long distance” on the phone in 1939 (when this film was made) it was a big deal. You can see that by the huge number of operators in the New York City long-distance center of Bell telephone (AT&T) back then.
In 1939 long-distance telephone calls were a relatively new technology and not everyone had access to it. Making a long-distance call involved a more complex and expensive process than making a local call. The technology for transmitting phone signals over long distances was still being developed, and the cost of long-distance calls was considerably higher than that of local calls.
Back in 1939 a ”long distance call” was a very different experience from what we know today. In those days most people used a landline telephone which was often shared with other households in the same area. Here is what the process of making a call looked like then:
Dialing the Operator: To make a call, you would first have to pick up the telephone receiver and wait for the operator to come on the line. You would then tell the operator the number you wanted to dial, and they would manually connect your call to the recipient's telephone line.
Waiting for the Connection: Once you had given the operator the number, you would have to wait while they manually connected your call. This could take several minutes, depending on how busy the operator was.
Talking on the Telephone: Once your call had been connected, you would be able to talk to the person on the other end of the line. However, the sound quality was often poor, with lots of static and background noise.
Hanging Up: When you were finished with your call, you would have to hang up the receiver and wait for the operator to disconnect the call.
So when people heard the term long distance in relation to a phone call it meant that they were communicating with someone who was physically far away in another city or even another country. Long-distance calls were often reserved for special occasions and were not used for everyday communication because they indicated that the calls required additional planning and expense.
Long distance calling made possible by the construction of a nationwide network of telephone lines and the development of new technologies such as microwave transmission and satellite communication. Also improvements in sound quality and the development of cordless and mobile telephones made telephone calls more convenient and accessible for people all over the world.
As for being a telephone operator, it was a good job for a woman in 1939 particularly compared to other jobs available to women. Most working women were expected to work in low-paying jobs such as domestic service or factory work.
Working as a phone operator offered women several advantages. The job required good communication and customer service skills, which many women had been trained in through their experiences in the home. The job was also considered relatively safe and respectable, and it offered a steady income and some opportunities for advancement.
Working as a telephone operator was challenging. The job was physically demanding, requiring operators to sit at a switchboard for long periods of time and handle multiple calls at once. The work could also be stressful, particularly during busy periods when operators had to handle a large volume of calls.
In addition, women working as telephone operators faced gender-based discrimination. They were often subject to strict dress codes and grooming requirements and they were paid less than male workers.
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David Hoffman Filmmaker
My grandpa who worked for General Motors in Flint, MI, met my grandma over the phone ...she was an operator 🥰
President John f Kennedy had to call long distance to talk to president Fidel Castro and what I'd love to see the face of the operator who listened in on his private conversations with Marilyn Monroe
Oh yes. Another rememberance I came across yesterday was calling for time and tempreture. Now, I have those at the bottom of this sceen.
Thanks for sharing, David.
I had almost forgotten abt the time and temp calls!
David, I was a switchboard operator back in '76 and '77 in Jackson, TN. There were only three male operators in the office and we became good friends. I once placed a long distance call, person-to-person, to Stella Parton - Dolly's sister! When you plugged into the switchboard, you didn't know who was calling or what kind of call the customer wanted to place. One evening I plugged into one of the trunk lines, and it happened to be my mother. She was placing a person-to-person call to my grandmother in Springfield, IL I was known as Operator 112....may I help you?
That's freaking awesome!
Wow, I was LD in South Carolina from 1971 to 1977 (moved to a different Ma Belle job then). We had two "units" or divisions and nearly 200 operators in them all, but only rarely did we get a male operator. I do remember we had to be *fast* as we were timed to the tenth of a second, and we had to be super accurate as well. It was a good paying job at the time, and I was disappointed when I moved to another state that no longer had operators. Good times.
That is so neat !! My mom was an operator in the 1930s. She told us some interesting stories.
@@lizziefingers7528 Yes, it's not an ez job. My mom was an operator in the 1930s when they had to take both local and long distance calls. She told me the board was so confusing at 1st, and then one day it all became clear to her in an instant. That taught me a life lesson - learning can take time - so don't give up.
I love it 🙏💚
growing up in the 60s our good friends had a party line they shared with another family. kids being kids, we would unscrew the mouth piece and remove the microphone.then lift up the receiver and listen in on their calls. communication devices have really changed in my lifetime.
Hahaha. I remember those days too. We went from a party line to semi- private. The party line was a lot more interesting. Lol
We made one long distance call per year: Christmas day we'd call from Montreal to our grandparents in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to wish them Merry Christmas. It was a huge deal and almost a miracle that we could speak with anyone so far away! That was late 1950s / early 60s. And if we ever got a call and heard, "You have a long distance call for [and they'd always say a person's name]," that was always big news. It was either a death or a birth, usually. Long distance was so expensive, only very important matters were worth a call! My goodness, times have changed. LOL! Thanks for this memory, David!
I lived in Halifax and Lunenburg for a while in the mid-1990’s. I love that place!
@@briansmith8730 my parents retired and moved back to Mahone Bay in the 1980s! I love the South Shore!
@@knarf_on_a_bike Mahone Bay is fantastic. The wooden boat festival, the three little churches, and that pumpkin stand in the fall! Someday I’ll get back.
Yes!! I grew up in NY state, my mom was from TX. We only called TX on Christmas Day unless it was important, like a death. Sometimes the operator had to call us back to place the call because all the lines were busy. Long distance was way too expensive. Even in the mid 1990s it was 25 cents a minute.
Definitely remember! Side note- My grandmother was a telegraph operator at a very young age, married on her 16th birthday to my grandfather then she was called back to work during WW2. She loved the fact that she had to send letters exactly as written to possibly of secret messages (she told me ) so her favorite story was that she had to send something to the “American Shit Company”. Instead of Shirt. She died in 1981. I am grateful for the relationship I had with her. ❤
As a teen, my friend wrote down how to call him in West Germany.
My mother knocked me to the moon when she got the bill! It was $100 plus that I remember. Just to talk to someone in the phone about our girlfriends. Lol.
Now we can connect to each other easier and cheaper than at any point in history, but no one knows one another!
I believe that young people do know each other but in a different way. My two sons have friends on the Internet that they know more about then I knew about any of my friends in my late teenage years. They talked for hours. They see facial expressions. They just into different parts of the world. I can't do it. But they can.
David Hoffman filmmaker
Long distance calls were very expensive even in the mid 1990s. About 25 cents a minute on land lines.
Yes, and there near the end remember they had all of those 10cents a min "calling cards" which were a total rip! And the infamous 1800 COLLECT and 1800 call AT&T
Working "out of town" I sure paid some heavenly astronomical long distance bills just in the 90s!✌
@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker As a young person myself, I appreciate your perspective. I think sometimes we all just feel a bit lost in the noise.
Fascinating how incredibly efficient and organized this whole manual operation was. Holy cow
I used to call my Dad long distance. His name was the same as mine, but I was not a Jr., because our middle names were different. The operators were confused as heck when I would call person-to-person and I'd give the same name for both parties. One of the many complexities of my relationship with my father.
When we were stationed in England, we had to make reservations to make a long distance call. We would call the "overseas" operator and give her the information and set up a time and day for the call. Always on time, they would call us, then place the call.
Still, in the US, cell service is sporadic. My relatives in Missouri and Michigan have no cell service. When I get close I have to find a pay phone to let them know my ETA.
My grandma remembers calling Long distance and hearing the telephone operator saying that, she also remembers when they would say “please deposit 5 cents please”
That's right!! I had forgotten abt operators when using pay phones! My mom was an operator in the 1930s. She said they had to learn the sound for each coin.
I remember having a party line phone.
All the phones in the immediate vicinity shared the same phone line. You could pick up the phone and listen in on other people's convos.
Like the old sitcom "Green Acres"
Same
I had a party line also. There was one other party on our line. It was a big deal to obtain a private line back in the 60s.
Me too. Lol
@@fredthejunkman Yes, my family had a semi-private line with only one other party. In the 1960s they got rid of all party lines.
@@madashell7224 Had one in '78.Maine is ten years behind everyone else lol
I started my career for the first year at Pacific Bell as a long distance operator on the cord boards. I worked at the Los Angeles Civic Center office and I placed many calls for movie stars, the studios, all the big hotels, and lots of international assistance. It was a fun year and then went on to service observing for the next year.
This scene was a big part of my childhood since my Mom was a chief operator in several small Colorado mountain towns in the 40's and 50's starting with a one switchboard, one operator town. We lived in the tiny apartment behind the phone office. The night operator would come through our little bedroom while we were sleeping to use the bathroom. I was the telegram deliverer on my bicycle at age 12, for which I could make a windfall 25 cents. The towns she served got bigger with more switchboards and often distressed operators or their angry husbands would call our home to complain about a shift or something and the unions also came into play. In her last position before retirement Mom was supervising 70 operators in consolidated offices. A good career.
As a teenager, I repaired these switchboards. The socket strips wore out. You removed an entire strip from the rear and installed a new one by rapidly soldering. When an operator pulled out a plug it retracted because the cord had a lead weight attached to it. As you changed the strips, you had to watch out for the weight so it didn't hit you in the head.
My Mom was born in 1930 and after graduating Creston High School in 1947, she got her first job for Ma Bell in Grand Rapids Michigan as a switchboard operator. She shared a house with other gala and talked fondly of that time, in her life
Always love the confidence in the narration if these old reels and the warm, classical string music that's not some repetitive stock synth/guitar music that goes nowhere emotionally.
I’m in my 40’s and I remember calling and talking to a telephone operator as a kid/teen.
I hired on in 73 MaBell was a very strict work place. The company treated us we'll and we took pride in our work.
My Grandpa, born in 1922, would very often abruptly cut a phone conversation short and hang up because he was so used to the party line. I remember my dad calling him in the evening because long distance was cheaper.
Yes!! Calling during business hours was very expensive! It was cheaper to call during nights and weekends. So many little things I had forgotten.
I was a telephone ☎️ operator in the 80's and used the switchboard for mobile calls... the other calls I used a computer. I was born in a great time.
I love old film clips and footage of days gone by, as I watch with a little sadness of jobs that no longer exist or how everyday life was like back then compared to today of age, thank David Hoffman now I'm in the mood to listen to Chuck Berry Memphis, Tennessee. 😁
"Memphis, Tennessee"
Chuck Berry
Long distance information, give me Memphis, Tennessee
Help me find the party trying to get in touch with me
She could not leave her number, but I know who placed the call
'Cause my uncle took the message and he wrote it on the wall
Help me, information, get in touch with my Marie
She's the only one who'd phone me here from Memphis, Tennessee
Her home is on the south side, high up on a ridge
Just a half a mile from the Mississippi bridge
Help me, information, more than that I cannot add
Only that I miss her and all the fun we had
But we were pulled apart because her mom did not agree
And tore apart our happy home in Memphis, Tennessee
Last time I saw Marie, she was waving me goodbye
With hurry-home drops on her cheek that trickled from her eye
Marie is only 6 years old, information, please
Try to put me through to her in Memphis, Tennessee
My mom was a switchboard operator in like the mid 70s
My mom was an operator in the 1930s. They had to handle both local and long distance calls at that time. In 1955 when I was a little girl, we still had operators for local calls. I don't remember the year we got direct dialing with a rotary phone. The phone looked funny to me with that large circle of numbers.
I was an operator ,ended being a career job that led to other jobs in the company.The Bell System was a top notch out fit.Good pay good benefits,steady work,lots of job opportunities.I have lots of good memories.
Yes, at one time the telephone company paid a livable wage with benefits. Young people don't even know what a good job is, anymore.
@@madashell7224 I got hired at 19 and stayed until retirement,lots and lots of overtime and I worked every bit of it.Transfered and worked in 5 states over my career.Went through two different apprentice programs,this set me up for life.The young kids don't have that opportunity these days,and that is sad.Worked there for 40 years,retired at 59,life has been good and it was fun.It was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
Had it not been for the greed of AT&T, we could have had inclusive-price nationwide calling as early as 1960.
you know they started disinfo firehose OAN just to harvest money from MAGA idiots, sorry if it makes the world burn
The gov broke the phone co monopoly up, but I don't remember the year it happened.
David Hoffman I remember Long Distance operator's were fantastic appreciate your videos Listening From Mass USA TYVM 🇺🇸 David 🌼 Mass USA TYVM 🇺🇸 David Blessings for everyone
I’m old enough to remember all this. Lots of mentions about party lines. As a child, I remember the party line we shared with the few neighbors on our dirt road. The phone had peculiar rings. I never knew when to answer it , so I always ignored it. This may be why it takes me until the end of the day, or later , to listen to messages and return calls.
That's right!! I had almost forgotten! Each party had their own ring.
Back in the 1970's my father worked as a pilot in Africa, myself and my mother we in England, we had to book satellite time to speak to him, I seem to remember that there was always an echo of your own voice which you had to wait for and then I would hear my fathers voice and he would have an echo, the conversation could became a jumble until you got used to it, satellite time was limited and expensive.
My mom was a switchboard operator in the early 60's
Great film! These videos are so interesting about how we used to communicate with each other. Do you have any interviews of older people being nostalgic about going to the movies in the 1920s and 1930s before TV was around?
In the early 80’s I had to break up with my middle school boyfriend because we couldn’t afford to talk long distance! (We went to the same church)
*Read the comments everyone!!* The comments reminded me of all the little things I had forgotten about that era!! The operator asking for more coins in pay phones, etc. What memories!! Remember when you had to *rent* your phone?
I remember calling long distance and having party lines when the town I lived in was still tiny. My, have times changed!
I remember when Long distant was any where, outside of the county
Oh how I remember it!
Wish we had more videos of lost jhon .... 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶
Why is it things always look better going back
In 1965 DDD came to town in Denver. You could have called lots of cities without an operator now with direct distance dialing.
I'm not old enough to remember "long distance," I'm only old enough to remember landlines. Although now I think about it, the recording when you reached a disconnected number did give the option to "hang up and then dial your operator." But I never did.
Maine.... I remember those days. It wasnt that long ago.
In the 60s even 70s long distance phone calls were expensive, calling family members was a big deal. By the time I was dialing long distance you didn’t need an operator unless you were calling collect.
In the mid 1990s it still cost an outrageous 25 cents a minute from NY state to Virginia. The year my dad died I had $300 in long distance charges. In state calls were cheaper. The phone company was gouging us. I remember when the gov ended the phone co monopoly.
There is a particularly fine 2004 Canadian documentary by Caroline Martel about the history of the telephone operator, and how all those jobs and voices no longer exist. It's called "The Phantom of the Operator". A description in Variety says "a found object of sorts that begins as a historical overview of female telephone operators, but gradually evolves into a wryly observed portrait of human society in the technocratic age. Composed entirely of footage skillfully edited from some 100 industrial, corporate and educational films produced by the Bell companies from 1910-89". It uses some of the same footage that is presented here. I found it very interesting, but also bittersweet -- all of that is now gone, all the effort and voices vanished into the aether.
I remember operators for both local calls and long distance! Now it's impossible to get an operator. My mom was a telephone operator in the 1930s. She told us abt speech classes where operators were taught how to articulate clearly. On boring graveyard shifts operators would listen in on calls to pass the time. Direct dialing is easier, but I kind of miss the operators.
Remember Party Lines 🤣✌️
"You have a collect call from so'n'so. Will you accept the charges"?
Party lines, toll calls, and long-distance calls. Liked the operators, though, and most all I dealt with were nice and would kindly help. Don't miss the crazy breather and obscene calls though.
This was my grandmas job long ago😊
My mom was an operator in the 1930s when they had to answer both local and long distance.
Human digital circuits.
I have a long distance rate card from Indiana Bell.
I has forgotten about long distance calling cards!! They still had those in thec1990s. You could place calls with a credit card too.
Does anyone remember charging a long distance call to someone else's number? We did that all the time when I was in college calling home. The other party didn't have to pay for the call. The phone co stopped accepting charges to phone numbers sometime in the early 1970s, thanks to us baby boomer brats. Long distance was too expensive for most college students.
I remember
Saturday Saturday oohh I love Saturday 2/3 off long distance every Saturday! Lol old commercial. ♥️🇨🇦
Wish we still had live people... especially that are Americans speaking, you know, ENGLISH!
annnnnd, waiting until Sunday to call your parents, grandparents, etc. on the opposite side of the country lol
there was a *reason* folks stayed home on weekends ☎️
"A watchful feminine presence" lol
Where was AI then?
I'd like to make a collect call please.
Long comment
I remember these very well but then again I was born in 1959. My mother was a telephone operator here in our little town. We even had party lines back then and she had to listen to some of them that sometimes but she caught my stepdad talking to someone on the phone one day and that was when the stuff hit the fan!
Lol. My mom was a telephone operator in the 1930s b4 I was born. We had a semi-private line until the 1960s when they eliminated all party lines.