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While the style of this beauty is far from unique, basically everyone who wanted to talk to anyone in the mid-20th century had at least one of these babies plugged into a convenient wall jack in the living room or kitchen. This was the key instrument where friends and family could be together even if they lived miles apart.

For this is the Western Electric Model 500 rotary telephone.

With the body in the shape of a sandwich that has too much filling at one end, two things instantly catch the eye. First is the handset cradled at the top, which in itself is bigger than most current phones. Through it you engage in witty and scintillating conversation with the person at the other end of the line.

The other fantastic feature is the round disk in the center of the gizmo, which opened up the world to self-service phone calls, the rotary dial.

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1875. Between then and the late 1940s, if you wanted to make a call you had to ask the operator for help, since most phones were dial free. Even after rotary came along, operators stood by throughout most of the 20^th century. Four types of operator assisted calls were common back then, according to Wikipedia. Person to person, station to station, collect and international calls.

A person to person call was popular when long distance calls were expensive and rare. If you wanted to talk to your mother and the gardener picked up the phone, you wouldn’t want to pay to speak to him, although I’m sure he was a lovely fellow. In this case you asked the operator to place a “Person to Person” call. The operator would ask to speak to a specific person, in this case your mother, not simply to anyone who answered. If the operator couldn’t reach your mom, then the call was not completed and you were not charged.

If you didn’t care who you spoke with, you asked for a “Station to Station” call. That meant the call went through no matter who answered. Here, you’d be just as happy getting fertilizing tips from the gardener, as well as baking tips from your mom.

A “Collect” or reverse charge call, is where you really wanted to talk to mom, but couldn’t afford to pay. Then you called collect and the operator billed your mother instead of you. Assuming she agreed of course, and/or is a soft touch!

Finally, operators helped you place international calls.

An interesting service Bell provided was something called “Time and Charges” information. You made this request before the call, and after you were done the operator called you back and told you how long the call took and how much it cost. Typically, operator assisted calls cost more than if you dialed it yourself, but with an operator you got personalized service. A luxury not found today.

One of my earliest memories is of my dad on the phone, asking for an operator, so I always have a soft spot in my heart for directory assistance.

If you were cost conscious, before you placed your call, either alone or with help, you also had to consider the time of day. For most of my childhood, businesses had priority on the long distance lines. If you wanted to make a personal long distance call, you had to wait until after 5pm or pay through the nose.

I had difficulty being patient, especially after I moved out of my parent’s house. I lived hundreds of miles away, but still desperately wanted to have a warm chat. Sometimes we would say the heck with it and go ahead and call anyway, no matter the cost!

This situation lasted for years, well into the late 1990s or early 200Os if I recall correctly.

I remember how excited we were when our phone company offered cheaper long distance at any time of the day, as long as both households were customers. We signed up right away and enjoyed this service for a few years, until cell phones came along with their long distance plans included in the base price, so that was that for landline long distance.

Yes, I embraced progress in billing plans, but technological advances, not so much. Despite the ease in touching a screen to dial your call, it isn’t nearly as much fun as using an old rotary model, even though you need some training before you could make that first call. In fact, I had no idea how complicated it was to follow proper procedures to use the Model 500 until I got a booklet designed to help.

It’s called “The Telephone and How We Use It.” This pamphlet was obviously printed sometime in the 1950s and is full of fabulous illustrations, all designed to teach kids how to use the Model 500.

After providing a brief history of how the phone was invented, and various uses for the device, it displays a diagram of the Model 500 and points out attributes and differences from previous telephones.

The most obvious feature is the dial. The booklet provides drawings of two different types of dials used in those days, then gave step by step instructions for making a call. First pick up the handset and hold the upper part to your ear. Second, listen for the dial tone, a hum that comes through the earpiece, proof your phone is functioning and connected to the network.

Next comes the fun part. Actually turning the dial. It’s not that hard. You put your finger in the hole that corresponds to the first letter or digit in the number you are trying to call. Then you pull the wheel all the way to the right until your finger hits a piece of metal appropriately called the finger stop, and then… stop.

Remove your finger and let the dial spin back to the left all by itself until it is back in its original position. You get to hear a wonderful click-click sound as it does so. Repeat the process until all seven digits have been dialed, each the same way. When you are done, you hear a brrr brrr sound which means the phone is ringing. Hopefully the person you are calling will answer and you can have your chat. If not, you will have to try again later. No answering machines in those days.

My booklet also suggested that you give the person you are calling plenty of time to answer. They could be playing outside and need a few minutes to run into the house. One thing that hasn’t changed is the signal you hear when the line is busy. At least you know the person is home and you can try again later.

Well, it turns out I have a lot more to say about our friend the rotary phone, but there’s not enough space in one article for it all. I’ll be continuing my thoughts in my next post, so standby for more Glorious Vintage Stuff!