Oscar Levant (1906-72) was a famous U.S. pianist, writer, and wit, as evidenced in this anecdote from Bartlett’s Book of Anecdotes: “Levant was playing a virtuoso passage at a college concert when a telephone began ringing offstage. The pianist carried on, but the ringing continued and soon the audience became restless. Levant, without pausing in his playing, glanced at the audience and said, ‘If that’s for me, tell them I’m busy.’”
Chances are, it was a wrong number…
In theatres and concert halls, we’re asked to turn off our cellphones, but you’ll still hear the occasional one ringing right at a crucial scene in the film, during the quietest moment of a stage-play or symphony concert. …And don’t get me started on those telemarketers who always seem to call at dinner time. I can’t tell you how many wrong numbers I’ve answered over the years on my home phone as well as on my cell. Some people are polite and apologize for misdialing; others just hang up. It may have a lot to do with those tiny buttons on our cellphones. When you had to use a rotary dial in the past, it wasn’t so easy to make a mistake. That said, I do remember wrong numbers that came to our old rotary phone at home. Now, most people have the numbers of friends, family and business contacts programmed into their cellphones and home phones, so you don’t even have to dial a number anymore. My children programmed my cellphone with all the important numbers I need. They are certainly the generation that seems comfortable with the changing technology. Their spelling will no doubt improve, too, with text-messaging being so popular.
When phones first appeared on the scene, there were no dials. You picked up the phone and got the operator on the line. Any wrong number could then be blamed on the operator. There might be someone reading this blog who remembers those “party lines” in the past, where a whole group of neighbors shared the same line. Ever try to get an operator today? More often than not it is a recorded message you’re greeted with. If you really need help, a “live” operator will eventually come on the line.
The phone booth on the street corner is almost a relic of the past. How often do you see them in use today, except in the movies? That’s how cellphone technology has really changed the way we make phone calls. In the past, you had to pull the car over and park if you absolutely needed to make a phone call. Now, we just use the speed-dial on the cellphone while driving. Hands-free sets allow you to keep some of your concentration on the road. In the past, anytime you saw a lone driver talking in a car beside you, you might have assumed he was talking to himself, or singing along with his favorite song on the radio. Now he could be having a conference call with business associates while stuck in traffic.
For the longest time I drove without a cellphone. I wanted there to be one place where I could be unreachable. I bought my first car-phone back in the early 90s to be used only in the case of an emergency. I must admit there have been times I’ve been thankful I have a cell. I really do try to make the drive to and from the studio without the phone “on.”
Finally, one more anecdote from Bartletts. It’s about French painter and sculptor Edgar Degas [Hilaire Germain] (1834-1917). “By nature Degas was a conservative. His friend the etcher Jean-Louis Forain believed in progress. Forain had recently installed that newfangled invention, the telephone. Arranging to have a friend phone him during the meal, he invited Degas to dinner. The phone rang; Forain rushed to answer it, then returned beaming with pride. Degas merely said, ‘So that’s the telephone. It rings and you run.’”
It sounds like a pretty good description of how we all still react these many years later…
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Don Jackson
