How to use this newfangled rotary phone

Even the youngest of you reading this post will at least be familiar with the rotary dial telephone and I’m going to guess that in a pinch you could operate one. In 1950, however, such was not necessarily the case for everyone. So AT&T produced this how-to video. Enjoy:

One of my favorite parts of the video involves the explanation of the party line, which wasn’t always as much fun as the name might imply. In essence, having a party line meant you share a line with another party. And it was not uncommon for that other party to be using the phone when you needed or wanted to use it.

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