Paddy Eger's Blog - Posts Tagged "party-lines"
Marta and Me: 1950s Telephones
Our phones during my and Marta's growing up years bore no resemblance to modern day phones. The technological advances made life easier but came with inherent problems as well.
When I was a child, we had a square black phone box attached to the kitchen nook wall. You lifted the Bakelite earpiece from a cradle on the side of the box and spoke into the mouthpiece attached to the front, reminiscent of the “old fashioned’ ringer phones. The earpiece cord could be stretched out to allow my parents to sit at the kitchen table while talking.
To place a call away from the party line of neighbors, the cradle for the earpiece was clicked a specified number of times. An operator came on and asked what number the caller wanted. Then the operator placed the call. In a couple of minutes you could be talking to people anywhere across the country. They’d sound like they were next door.
Party line calls circumvented the operator: two clicks connected us with the Lowe’s, three with another neighbor. If a person was already using the line, you heard their conversation when you lifted the receiver. You could join in, hang up and wait, or eavesdrop; all were acceptable behavior.
Our next phone had a rotary dial. To dial, you put your finger into the circle opening that corresponded to the individual numbers you were dialing and you pulled the dial around to a stopper near the “1”. For example, if you wanted ‘four’, you pulled it around to the stopper and it clicked four times on its returned to its original position.
When the telephone company needed additional phone numbers they added a prefix; ours began ESsex. My Mom never made that transition; if you asked her a number, she left off the prefix, reverting to the earlier number. You’d need to pin her down and ask for the prefix before you could make a call outside Bremerton. By then the party line might be busy and you’d have to wait.
Because the phone was still a party line and hung on the kitchen nook wall, all calls remained public. The only way to speak privately was to whisper which attracted attention by its quietness. When we got a private number I was delighted, but our solitary phone remained in the kitchen so teen phone calls still lacked privacy.
When I was a child, we had a square black phone box attached to the kitchen nook wall. You lifted the Bakelite earpiece from a cradle on the side of the box and spoke into the mouthpiece attached to the front, reminiscent of the “old fashioned’ ringer phones. The earpiece cord could be stretched out to allow my parents to sit at the kitchen table while talking.
To place a call away from the party line of neighbors, the cradle for the earpiece was clicked a specified number of times. An operator came on and asked what number the caller wanted. Then the operator placed the call. In a couple of minutes you could be talking to people anywhere across the country. They’d sound like they were next door.
Party line calls circumvented the operator: two clicks connected us with the Lowe’s, three with another neighbor. If a person was already using the line, you heard their conversation when you lifted the receiver. You could join in, hang up and wait, or eavesdrop; all were acceptable behavior.
Our next phone had a rotary dial. To dial, you put your finger into the circle opening that corresponded to the individual numbers you were dialing and you pulled the dial around to a stopper near the “1”. For example, if you wanted ‘four’, you pulled it around to the stopper and it clicked four times on its returned to its original position.
When the telephone company needed additional phone numbers they added a prefix; ours began ESsex. My Mom never made that transition; if you asked her a number, she left off the prefix, reverting to the earlier number. You’d need to pin her down and ask for the prefix before you could make a call outside Bremerton. By then the party line might be busy and you’d have to wait.
Because the phone was still a party line and hung on the kitchen nook wall, all calls remained public. The only way to speak privately was to whisper which attracted attention by its quietness. When we got a private number I was delighted, but our solitary phone remained in the kitchen so teen phone calls still lacked privacy.
