It belongs to a forgotten era. How long since anyone called the operator? The reference is no longer poignant, as it was for those of us with little money and less access to a telephone who nonetheless needed to make a call, sometimes in the dark or in the rain. "My best old ex-friend Ray" is a great line. I should mention that the matchbook is also a dated reference. Those are collectibles now, if you can find one.
Imagine explaining how Clark Kent changed into Superman only when needed. I don't think they even bother with it in the newer movies.
ReplyDelete411 - does that still work?
ReplyDeleteHello information, give me Memphis, Tennessee.
ReplyDeleteHow much our pre-web lives depended on finding a pay phone; getting (or missing) a phone call; scrounging for telephone change (I think my last payphone call was 50 cts about 1990). An overseas call took international cooperation and a lot of patience.
The 20th C. comic, frantic, or dramatic scenes involving OTP tech have been replaced in modern entertainment with tensetyping, which doesn't offer much in the way of comedy or drama.
Cousin Eddie
It was interesting to read over a thread of comments today on Reddit about things in the 90s that were missed. The vast majority referenced lack of social media and the ability to disconnect from people when you wanted to. This feeling of “I don’t have a way to reach this person” is so alien to today’s world.
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