Dial Comes To Town

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Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: ma46323 - - August 16, 2007
Subject: Great Video

In response to previous post. Actually, I don't think the video is a simplified version. I think it's accurate when it comes to small town America. In small towns where there was only one exchange, the telephone numbers were actually only four digits long. There were no letters on the phones. The only places that had seven digit phone numbers were cities and larger towns with more than one exchange. Thus, in Kansas City you might have OLympic 2 + four digits. But in Holt, Missouri you just had the four digits.

Reviewer: ERD - - February 3, 2006
Subject: Simplified version how to use a dial phone

Must dial phones also had letters besides the numbers for exchanges such as ULster,GEdney, etc.
Maybe the film company felt this would be too complicated for the dialers to understand! Of course, the dial system is now almost antiquated.

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - February 2, 2006
Subject: Dialing for Dummies

If youÂre watching ephemeral films in order to laugh at dorky innocent people from the past, then this is your film. Gramps is all up in arms because thereÂs talk that theyÂre gonna install them there phones with dials on Âem! Fortunately, the rest of the family is a little more on the early adapter side, so they take him to a long meeting about dial phones, where they explain way more than you want to know about how they installed them. Then you get to the meat of the film, where a pretty lady laboriously shows us how to make a call on a dial phone, using enough repetition that even the lower-1Q folks like Gramps get it. She uses a huge telephone dial as a visual aid, which definitely has my name on it for the Film Ephemera Museum of Quirky Devices (I called it first!). This is a highly entertaining film, with a great opening featuring a stop-motion animated dial that installs itself on a telephone. This is definitely one to have in your collection.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.

Reviewer: Marysz - - November 6, 2004
Subject: Multi-Generation Hell

Crotchety grandpa complains when the phone company changes the phones to ÃÂthem kind with dials on them.ÃÂ Grandpa lives with his son CharlieÃÂs family, who are to be commended for putting up with such a demanding old man. Grandpa even didnÃÂt like it when CharlieÃÂs wife got a new washing machine! Living with Grandpa canÃÂt be easy for this family. And whereÃÂs Grandma? Living with Grandpa probably sent her to an early grave.

The family goes to a meeting to learn how to use the new dial phones, which have irritatingly loud dial tones. As the man from the phone company says, ÃÂitÃÂs mighty important and mighty exciting!ÃÂ As the other reviewers here have noted, this telephone company film presumes that their customers are real dimwits. In the end, Grandpa uses the dial phone to call his friend Ed. Charlie and his family are relievedÃÂlet Grandpa complain to someone else for a change.

Reviewer: dynayellow - - September 9, 2003
Subject: Gol-darned new-fangled technology

I highly recommend watching this film, if only for the definitive "old people hate new things" performance by the grandfather, who can't understand why we need to replace our old phones.

Strangely, the film presents no reason <i>why</i> the new dial phones are better. In the opening bit, Gramps complains of the poor reception when people are listening in, and I thought we would learn that the new electronically connected phones would solve this. Nothing doing. You'll still have crummy reception if the busybodies don't get off the line.

In the end, even Gramps learns how to use the phone, but what choice did he have? You'll use these new phones and like it, old man!

Weird to see a world where people only had 4 digit phone numbers, and the directory was thinner than a TV Guide.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - September 6, 2003
Subject: "It sounds like THIS you MORON!"

Similar to 'How To Use The Dial Phone' but made for stupider people, this film details a town's acceptance of the newfangled device.
Gramps reads all about the dial phones in the paper. He exclaims something (I think it's a swear word) then phones his friend (who's in dire need of acting lessons) to tell him about it. Dad then tells Gramps they're going to a meeting to have people tell all about it. At the meeting, the two gentlemen talkers are fine, but 'Miss White' wins the award for speaking down to the morons with her speech by repeating everything twice, reminding us like 5 times what the dial 'tone' (read buzz) sounds like and while ennthusiastically fondling an oversize dial pad, so you know, those stupid country people would GET IT. Very condensending and strange, this film is reccomended!