Ki'i's Don't Lie (3.3)

[Kevster]

My mother's yellow 554 stayed on the wall until the day the house sold in 2003. That was 29 years of perfect service, with only the cord being replaced.

[MaximRecoil]

My mother's yellow 554 stayed on the wall until the day the house sold in 2003. That was 29 years of perfect service, with only the cord being replaced.

Yeah, the standard Western Electric phones were designed to last for decades without needing any repairs or maintenance. The Bell System owned everyone's phones, which meant that they had to repair them on their own dime if they broke, so it was in their best interest to build them right to begin with to avoid constantly sending repairmen out to people's homes to fix or replace cheaply built phones.

The black 554 that I grew up with was in our kitchen from 1968 when my parents got married, until 1986 when they gave it back to the phone company (I wish they would have kept it; after the breakup of Ma Bell there was an option to buy the phones you had been leasing from them). The only time a repairman ever worked on it was when I was 4 or 5 years old ('79 or '80) when he converted it from hardwired to modular. I watched him do it and I remember being fascinated by the way it looked with the plastic shell removed, i.e., those dual brass bells, all the wires, and the all-steel chassis.

My aunt had her black 554 from 1960 until 1996 when she gave it back to the phone company. She was the last person I knew to still be leasing a phone from the phone company. I don't know whether or not she knew she had the option to buy it.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

I've owned the house I grew up in since 1999 and when I moved back in here, one of the first things I did was find a 554 to take its rightful place on the kitchen wall, and it's been there ever since:

You own the house you grew up in? You mean strangers owned it and you got it when it came on the market? If so, that's amazing. I never had a single "house I grew up in" - we moved around a lot, so there were at least 6 "houses I grew up in". But it would have been very interesting moving back into one of those. (comforting, like re-watching an old TV show I remembered )

In one of the "houses I grew up in", we had that same model phone (same colour), but it would have said "Northern Electric" - the Canadian branch of Western Electric (later became NorTel). I've actually never understood the point of wall phones. It seems the only reason for a wall phone is that you don't have a shelf or table to put a regular phone on. (I say, "Get a damn table!")

About a decade ago, I got tired of my cheap "Made in China" phones cutting out and dropping calls, so (after smashing the last one by whipping it across the room) I bought Western Electric 500 phones for my house. All the phones were made in 1953 or 1954 (bakelite handsets) and they've worked perfectly for years.

[Kevster]

FYI... I think the phone company told my Mom to keep it when she said she was moving. They were never going to reuse it, so they just decided to "cut the cord."

At the request of the buyer, the phone stayed with the house, so it may have been used for years more.

[MaximRecoil]

You own the house you grew up in? You mean strangers owned it and you got it when it came on the market? If so, that's amazing.

I lived in this house from the time I was born until I was 16 (1991), at which point I went to live with my father (who moved out when I was 12, due to divorce). My mother and little sister moved out in 1992 (my older brother and older sister had moved out a few years prior), but my mother retained ownership of the house. It was vacant for a while, and then my older sister, her husband, and kid moved in here for a few years in the mid 1990s (she's to blame for that ridiculous wallpaper in the kitchen that can be seen in the picture I posted). They bought the house next door in 1997, leaving this house vacant again. I got the house from my mother in late 1999, and have lived here ever since.

In one of the "houses I grew up in", we had that same model phone (same colour), but it would have said "Northern Electric" - the Canadian branch of Western Electric (later became NorTel).

I have three 554s. The first one that I got in 2000 or so, is a Northern Electric from the late '50s / early '60s, with a Western Electric shell from '57 (Tenite, AKA: "soft plastic"). Northern Electric, later known as Northern Telecom, mostly made Western Electric designs, but they struck out on their own when it came to making a touch-tone wall phone. Western Electric's standard touch-tone wall phone was the 2554, which is compact compared to a 554, and only has a single-bell ringer, like the one in the Trimline. I don't like it. On the other hand, Northern Electric's touch-tone wall phone is the 3554, which is nothing more than a 554 with a touch-tone keypad instead of a rotary dial, like so:



That's what Western Electric should have done, instead of coming up with the wimpy looking 2554 with the wimpy sounding ringer.

I've actually never understood the point of wall phones. It seems the only reason for a wall phone is that you don't have a shelf or table to put a regular phone on. (I say, "Get a damn table!")

They are normally used in kitchens, where shelf/table space is usually at a premium, and where you're often talking on the phone while doing something else, such as cooking. The base of a wall phone doesn't fall on the floor no matter how hard you pull on the cord while reaching for something in the back of the fridge.

When I was growing up we had the 554 wall phone in the kitchen, a 500 desk phone on an end table in the living room, and another 500 in my parent's room on my mother's bedside stand. I have the same setup here now, though sometimes I use a Western Electric 2500 in the living room when I need to make a call that requires touch-tone to navigate a recorded menu.

About a decade ago, I got tired of my cheap "Made in China" phones cutting out and dropping calls, so (after smashing the last one by whipping it across the room) I bought Western Electric 500 phones for my house. All the phones were made in 1953 or 1954 (bakelite handsets) and they've worked perfectly for years.

Yeah, the G1 handset, which is on the early 500s and 554s, is Bakelite, and up until the late '50s / early '60s, the shells were Tenite. Don't ever clean those with alcohol; it will melt right into the Tenite (though, if done skillfully, that can be used to your advantage, i.e., to chemically polish the Tenite). The later shells are ABS (and the G2, G3, etc., handsets are ABS too), and alcohol doesn't harm ABS.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

I've always loved the Western Electric 500/554 ring. I would describe it as ..."chocolatey". I made a recording of it and used it as a ring tone for a mobile phone when I had to use one. (but I much prefer to use a nicely contoured solid bakelite handset instead of putting a flat glass touchscreen up to my face)

Notice how on Magnum PI they usually use the WE 500 ring, even though the phones are not Western Electric.

[Kevster]

I've always loved the Western Electric 500/554 ring. I would describe it as ..."chocolatey". I made a recording of it and used it as a ring tone for a mobile phone when I had to use one. (but I much prefer to use a nicely contoured solid bakelite handset instead of putting a flat glass touchscreen up to my face)

Notice how on Magnum PI they usually use the WE 500 ring, even though the phones are not Western Electric.

It's not just the ring itself with the wall mounted phones...

The kitchen wall where my parents elected to put the phone was an interior wall, and the kitchen happened near the center/rear of the house. So the phone was somewhat centrally located in a 2,000+/- SF rectangular one-story home, and mounted on an interior wall with denser than typical wood studs and RIGHT AT the level of the fire stop... Let's just say the sound was transmitted in interesting ways!

Just mentioning it I can almost hear that sound in my head!!! Very cool flashback!

[MaximRecoil]

I've always loved the Western Electric 500/554 ring. I would describe it as ..."chocolatey". I made a recording of it and used it as a ring tone for a mobile phone when I had to use one. (but I much prefer to use a nicely contoured solid bakelite handset instead of putting a flat glass touchscreen up to my face)

Notice how on Magnum PI they usually use the WE 500 ring, even though the phones are not Western Electric.

Yeah, it's the same stock WE 500 ringer sound effect that's been used in countless movies and TV shows over a period of many decades. Some guy on YouTube did an analysis of it and confirmed that practically everyone used the exact same recording:

https://youtu.be/AxXsIQDafog

The phones on MPI were mostly Automatic Electric, because Hawaii was GTE territory, and GTE mostly supplied Automatic Electric phones. A couple of notable exceptions are the RadioShack Duophone 16 (two or three of them in the main house), and the red Ericsson Ericofon on Higgins' desk in at least one early episode.

I have a Western Electric Model 1C payphone on my living room wall:



It has the same C4A ringer that a 500/554 has, but with it being inside that 50-pound steel housing, it gives it a unique sound. Of all my Western Electric phones, the sound of its ring is my favorite.

[eagle]

Dang, I miss my old wall phone. Never had a wall phone like that, but I still miss it. You didn't have to worry about where it was. It was always in the same spot. Old Faithful!

Why don't you still have a wall phone? Do you no longer have a land line?

My favorite wall phone is the Western Electric Model 554, which is the phone that practically everyone in the United States had on their kitchen wall from 1955 to 1984 when the Bell System was broken up (Hawaii being a notable exception, because they were in GTE territory rather than Bell System territory, so they had mostly Automatic Electric phones rather than Western Electric), with some people choosing to continue leasing them well past 1984 (my aunt leased hers until 1996 for example). My parents leased the one that was in our kitchen when I was a kid, until 1986. They are the counterpart to the legendary Western Electric Model 500 desk phone, and use the exact same internal components (hook switch, dial, network, and ringer).

I've owned the house I grew up in since 1999 and when I moved back in here, one of the first things I did was find a 554 to take its rightful place on the kitchen wall, and it's been there ever since:

As a collector of antique telephones, I find this very cool.

And you're making me regret selling a 554 that I had. My parents have a TT wall phone that they're going to give me at some point, and they have a TT 500 set. My kids are some of the few people I know who know how to "dial" a number on a rotary phone.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

I have a Western Electric Model 1C payphone on my living room wall:

Very nice! It looks like it's in amazing condition for a pay phone.

My best phone is a Feb. 1953 WE 501 (all dates matching) that was brand new, never used. It was wired for party line (501 was party line version of 500, with tube), so wouldn't work on regular phone lines. I rewired it and it works perfectly.

But I'm sure we're boring all the people who don't care about old phones here.

[Kevster]

Not bored.

My sister got my mother's phone that she'd gotten from my grandmother. It was a pre-1950's phone that we brought to Florida in the 1970's. It was hard and heavy, a flat-black finish (definitely no shine), and came still wired with the old-school LARGE four-prong plug. If I had to guess, it was 1930's vintage...

Rather than change the plug, we changed out the socket. We set it up in the 1970's, and it still worked until early 2003 when it went back to Illinois (which was where my grandmother had lived and my sister had moved to). I think it's been stored ever since, as they don't have the socket and haven't bought/installed another.

[eagle]

One of the coolest phones I have is a yellow 1960s Princess phone (rotary), with 25' cable with a 4-prong connector on the end. Bought it for $12 at an antique store, and a friend gave me the transformer to light up the dial.

I have my grandfather's WE500 rotary set, which was hard-wired into his house. I also have my wife's grandfather's WE500 set (rotary) that was similarly hardwired at his place of business.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

I uploaded the MP3 of the "chocolatey" WE 500 ringtone I made, in case anybody wants it:

https://vocaroo.com/i/s1ZVaHN7ITQJ
(I have no idea how to embed this)

I have my grandfather's WE500 rotary set, which was hard-wired into his house. I also have my wife's grandfather's WE500 set (rotary) that was similarly hardwired at his place of business.

I hardwire all my old phones. It's easier than attempting to wire new jacks on old phones or put old plugs in.

[MaximRecoil]

Very nice! It looks like it's in amazing condition for a pay phone.

I replaced the handset, face plate, coin release lever, and hook with new ones because the ones it came with were pretty beat up. The ones it came with were all aftermarket replacements anyway, so I didn't lose any original parts by replacing them with new aftermarket ones. I'd like to find an original face plate with the Bell System logo cast into it, in new or like new condition, but no luck so far. The coin return door is an original and in like-new condition, which is nice, because that's the only part on the outside of these payphones that actually says Western Electric on it. An original handset might say Western Electric on it too; I'm not sure because I don't have one to look at (I know that the later AT&T branded handsets said nothing on them).

My best phone is a Feb. 1953 WE 501 (all dates matching) that was brand new, never used. It was wired for party line (501 was party line version of 500, with tube), so wouldn't work on regular phone lines. I rewired it and it works perfectly.

That's awesome. I didn't know you could get one of those to ring on a private line without changing the ringer, due to it requiring a different frequency.

My sister got my mother's phone that she'd gotten from my grandmother. It was a pre-1950's phone that we brought to Florida in the 1970's. It was hard and heavy, a flat-black finish (definitely no shine), and came still wired with the old-school LARGE four-prong plug. If I had to guess, it was 1930's vintage...

It was most likely a 302. Introduced in 1937, the early ones had a metal shell, and are the most desirable versions. They switched to a plastic shell due to metal shortage during WWII. There was also the 5302, which was a 302 that was retrofitted with a shell designed to strongly resemble a Model 500 shell. Some of them retained the same F1 handset that came with the 302, while others were fitted with a G1 handset like on a 500, but modified to accept the larger F1 transmitter and receiver elements. They did this in order to use up existing stockpiles of 302 parts. When a customer insisted on having one of those fancy new 500s, if they were on a short loop, they would try to trick them with a 5302.

[Kevster]

My sister got my mother's phone that she'd gotten from my grandmother. It was a pre-1950's phone that we brought to Florida in the 1970's. It was hard and heavy, a flat-black finish (definitely no shine), and came still wired with the old-school LARGE four-prong plug. If I had to guess, it was 1930's vintage...

It was most likely a 302. Introduced in 1937, the early ones had a metal shell, and are the most desirable versions. They switched to a plastic shell due to metal shortage during WWII. There was also the 5302, which was a 302 that was retrofitted with a shell designed to strongly resemble a Model 500 shell. Some of them retained the same F1 handset that came with the 302, while others were fitted with a G1 handset like on a 500, but modified to accept the larger F1 transmitter and receiver elements. They did this in order to use up existing stockpiles of 302 parts. When a customer insisted on having one of those fancy new 500s, if they were on a short loop, they would try to trick them with a 5302.

That date would make a lot of sense. My grandparents bought or had built their home in the early 1930's, and the majority of the interior furnishings / etc. were pre-WWII. What they added after WWII was limited to the typical replacements, e.g. appliances, electronics, etc. I think the kitchen was updated in the 1950's, and was virtually unchanged when the house was sold around 1995. Almost all the furnishings were the same in 1995 too. So, since they really held on to what they acquired, most of what they had was 30's and early 40's.

My grandfather was a buyer for Montgomery-Ward, focused primarily on kitchen items. We had a LOT of that stuff growing up, and I still use some of it daily. Odd little things that still survive.