@John Brunner In a similar fashion, they throw money away into ridiculous electronic machines which promise a possible return based on human greed. Frank
Appointment with Disaster (1956) Shows three men, each in a hurry, driving their cars too fast and recklessly, and as a result the three cars meet for an appointment with disaster.
Yikes! I was expecting a surprise happy ending. Hoping all three would meet somewhere half way, and the salesman would sell both men a tie. One to give to his wife, and the other to wear to the job interview.
I remember never misplacing the phone. EVER! There is was, screwed to the wall, right where it belonged. It never moved. Even the desk sets were tethered by cords.
Before the days of answering machines, I remember as a teenager placing a penny precariously on the phone, to see if anyone called while I was out of the house. The vibration of the rings would make the penny fall off. Now as to who called, it was only speculation. But speculation was fun. That's how rare phone calls were back then.
"Joseph Zimmerman invented the first telephone answering machine. He was born in Kenosha in 1912, graduated from Marquette University with a degree in electrical engineering and served in the Army during WW II. He was one of the first soldiers to set foot on Omaha beach during D-Day and survived some of the toughest fighting on the European front". "After the war he settled in Waukesha and began tinkering with various ideas in his basement workshop. What he came up with in 1948 (patented in '49) was both world changing and, in hindsight, easy to dismiss as trivial. He invented the first successful telephone answering machine. It was marketed around the world as the Electronic Secretary and it immediately turned heads and caught the attention of major companies". (Read More)
For a brief period in the mid 50's, while skirts were still long, but before the flowery gathered skirts, there were pencil skirts. The problem was how to walk in them, so along comes kick pleats and the fishtail. I guess a simple slit was considered too risqué. I had a couple of skirts like the gray and blue ones when I was only 12. The style didn't last long (thank you).