In the movie "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation", amidst everything else going wrong, Mr. Hobbs (played by Jimmy Stewart) finds that the phone in their rented Victorian beach house is on a party line. Every time he picks up the receiver to make a call, he hears snatches of conversations in which a woman is talking endlessly about operations and medical problems.
In another movie, "Pillow Talk", Doris Day and Rock Hudson share a party line, as well. The entire plot revolves around overheard conversations, the conflicts caused by having to share the phone line, and eventually -it is a Doris Day and Rock Hudson movie, after all - falling in love... of course.
Both of these movies harken to a time back in the 60's, when we had what is called a "party line" (short for multi-party line) for our phone. That is, we shared our phone line with two other households. Our party line was shared by Mrs. Singer, the Bicknell's, and us. When the phone rang, you listened for the ring pattern to determine whose call it was: two short rings, one long ring, or one short and one long (I can't remember for certain which ours was), then answered accordingly. If one line was busy, everyone's line was busy... and if you picked up the phone to check if the line was free, you heard bits of conversations... or you could listen to entire conversations, if you were so inclined, and even join in.
Mrs. Singer got a call or called her sister everyday at around 9 am. They had long, gossipy calls that lasted, seemingly, forever. If you happened to be on the phone during what she deemed as "her time", she would pick-up and hang-up repeatedly (you heard the click, and could usually her breathing or an odd "hrumph" or two). If you didn't take the hint soon enough, i.e., immediately get off the phone, she would just interrupt you and say, "I need to use the phone!" We had to reply politely, "I'll be finished in just a moment" and wrap up our conversation.
Mrs. Bicknell had similarly long phone calls to friends or family (generally after or during "As the World Turns" to discuss Peggy and her "unfortunate situation"), but was generally less rude.
I'm sure it was no picnic for them to share a phone line with a large family - especially as we entered the teen years, and our necessity for phone conversations increased.
We had the party line well into the 70's, I believe. When we got our private line, it was an occasion for celebration. (I'm sure Mrs. Singer and the Bicknell's celebrated, too.)
Now there was no need to ponder for whom the phone rings? It rings for us!
In another movie, "Pillow Talk", Doris Day and Rock Hudson share a party line, as well. The entire plot revolves around overheard conversations, the conflicts caused by having to share the phone line, and eventually -it is a Doris Day and Rock Hudson movie, after all - falling in love... of course.
Both of these movies harken to a time back in the 60's, when we had what is called a "party line" (short for multi-party line) for our phone. That is, we shared our phone line with two other households. Our party line was shared by Mrs. Singer, the Bicknell's, and us. When the phone rang, you listened for the ring pattern to determine whose call it was: two short rings, one long ring, or one short and one long (I can't remember for certain which ours was), then answered accordingly. If one line was busy, everyone's line was busy... and if you picked up the phone to check if the line was free, you heard bits of conversations... or you could listen to entire conversations, if you were so inclined, and even join in.
Mrs. Singer got a call or called her sister everyday at around 9 am. They had long, gossipy calls that lasted, seemingly, forever. If you happened to be on the phone during what she deemed as "her time", she would pick-up and hang-up repeatedly (you heard the click, and could usually her breathing or an odd "hrumph" or two). If you didn't take the hint soon enough, i.e., immediately get off the phone, she would just interrupt you and say, "I need to use the phone!" We had to reply politely, "I'll be finished in just a moment" and wrap up our conversation.
Mrs. Bicknell had similarly long phone calls to friends or family (generally after or during "As the World Turns" to discuss Peggy and her "unfortunate situation"), but was generally less rude.
I'm sure it was no picnic for them to share a phone line with a large family - especially as we entered the teen years, and our necessity for phone conversations increased.
We had the party line well into the 70's, I believe. When we got our private line, it was an occasion for celebration. (I'm sure Mrs. Singer and the Bicknell's celebrated, too.)
Now there was no need to ponder for whom the phone rings? It rings for us!
1 comment:
Good one.
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