how realistic?

[treky]

how realistic was it for Andy to have a "candlestick" phone in the ccourthouse?

[tlc38tlc38]

I love these phones. They had basically gone out before I was born but these phones look so cool.

The rotary phone was still going strong when I was born in the early 80s. I remember my Granny had a rotary phone....she still does!

[Willbo]

I don't think it was very realistic by 1960 to still have that type of phone. I liked the phone though. I am from the South and we had rotary phones by then. I can't remember, did Andy's home have a rotary phone?

[Chocolate Moose]

I'm from the South and we had a rotary phone through the 80's. It was rented from the phone company.

We only got push button when service changed and we had to start buying our own phone.

[PracTz]

Originally Posted by treky

how realistic was it for Andy to have a "candlestick" phone in the ccourthouse?Attachment 230832

Mayberry was a decidedly behiind-the-times, rural community that depended on a switchboard operator to connect their phones with each other and the rest of the world. Yes, even by the early 1960's this was getting rare but not unknown and it would not be until 1983 that the last hand-crank phone exchange in the US (in Bryant Pond, Maine) would be converted.
BTW, what was a bit unreal was that there was only ONE operator who worked the calls no matter what day of the week or time of the night someone tried to use the phone.
Sometimes, I wonder if it would have dimmed the magic if the audience ever got to see the All Powerful Sarah but maybe it's just as well the audience never did and just imagined that she never slept, used the bathroom, etc.

[AB]

Originally Posted by treky

how realistic was it for Andy to have a "candlestick" phone in the ccourthouse?Attachment 230832

The Mayor was probably too cheap to spring for a more modern phone for the courthouse.

The first phone we had was a black rotary phone mounted to the kitchen wall. That was in the early 60's. It was also on a party line of about 8 people, our ring was 1 long and 2 short rings, if I remember correctly. Man does that bring back the memories.

[vitoscotti]

Seems like a lot of 60s sitcoms calls out had to be made through an operator. The Munsters had a candlestick coffin phone. The Dick Van Dyke show at work out calls had to be done through Marge the operator even though they had rotary. Poor Oliver Douglas having to climb a phone pole to use the phone.

I remember my folks saying they had a party line in the 50s, but by the 60s newer tech had rolled in. Funny Mayberry was on one big party line.

[PhoenixAcres]

I think it just adds to the charm and old-time feel of the show. It was set in the present day but in an out of the way community that was immune to many of the technological advances of the last few decades.

They had the same kind of candlestick phone in Drucker's store on Green Acres. He was still using it in 1971.

[Bonniegirl]

Originally Posted by PhoenixAcres

I think it just adds to the charm and old-time feel of the show. It was set in the present day but in an out of the way community that was immune to many of the technological advances of the last few decades.

They had the same kind of candlestick phone in Drucker's store on Green Acres. He was still using it in 1971.

Yes!! And the telephone operator was also named Sarah!!

Also on Lassie, they had an old fashioned crank up wall phone in the kitchen and had to go through an operator to make a call!

[SarahBellum]

Originally Posted by PracTz

BTW, what was a bit unreal was that there was only ONE operator who worked the calls no matter what day of the week or time of the night someone tried to use the phone.

Well, at least Sarah got a break on Sundays when the Mendelbright sisters talked for a few hours.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by PracTz

BTW, what was a bit unreal was that there was only ONE operator who worked the calls no matter what day of the week or time of the night someone tried to use the phone.

Sometimes, I wonder if it would have dimmed the magic if the audience ever got to see the All Powerful Sarah but maybe it's just as well the audience never did and just imagined that she never slept, used the bathroom, etc.

Maybe there was more than one Sarah?

Also: toilets didn't exist in the 1960s. Sarah would be forced to hold it in until the 1970s.

[Will Dockery]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Maybe there was more than one Sarah?

Also: toilets didn't exist in the 1960s. Sarah would be forced to hold it in until the 1970s.

Interesting that the operator in Hooterville is also named Sarah.