I ran across this WWII-era Bell Telephone ad in a 1942 issue of VQR and thought it was worth sharing. See also these 1953 Bell Telephone ads, two of which are delightfully offensive. My favorite is the one that encourages people to use telephone numbers when calling somebody; I had to puzzle that one through.
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Link to the 1953 ads appears broken.
In the 50’s and early 60’s in rural America you could simply pick up the phone receiver and an operator would come on the line. The operator would ask, “What number please”, and if you were a little Bubby, you could say, “grandma’s” and after asking for your grandmother’s name, she would connect you to your grandma. It was great! Labor intensive, but great.
Thanks, Jeff!