You can click any of these for larger versions. So many denim leisure suits! The one above, though, is my favorite because of the grandeur of its three-piecedness. Sublime. And speaking of sublimely tasteless design, here's a two-page spread of ugly telephones, some of which have aged well:
Ah, the classic Princess. Still looks good to me! Next up, imagine the thrill of YOU getting to vote for Miss Muriel Cigars:
Psst: I hate to spoil it for you, but Susan Anton totally won.
More to come!
19 comments:
Of course Susan Anton won. It comes down to the hair, I think.
But, with the phones, the candlestick model (#11) is described as "a great gift for teenagers." Seriously? Why? No, I really want to know. Seems like the dowdiest of choices (which is why *I'd* like it, but I'm not a teenager anymore).
The elite is quite hideous. I'm with you Peter, I like the rotary-dial princess best.
I can remember when we got that first Princess phone, rotary dial and all. It was - well, it was pink.
*sigh*
That rare happy moment from my childhood, revealed!
As for the three-piecedness, all I can say is wow. I started dating in the wrong decade!
We had the #3 phone until at least 2002. Now I've changed my house phone four times since then because of breaking or dying. I begin to wonder just how much planned obsolescence consumer electronics companies build into their crap now a days.
Toriko is right--those old phones were made of some indestructable stuff and you could pretty much throw one across a room and not damage it.
Now all it takes is one exasperated hang-up to totally destroy these flimsy new ones.
The biggest problem with the Princess phone was that you had to stabilize it with the not-dialing hand so it wouldn't fall off Mom's bedside table.
The ROTARY version, natch.
I like the Trimline design, but my favorite trend from that era was the 20' long coil cord. It gave the user unprecedented freedom and created a huge obstacle for everyone else.
Miss Muriel was really no contest - Susan was clearly the foxiest.
My mother bought me that leisure suit. The HORRROR......
I would totally wear a denim leisure suit while lecturing to my medical students!
Number 4 on my desk, in ivory, although with push buttons.
I have a #2 rotary phone in red in my house here in Panamá. It doesn't work, but looks great on the wall!
my dad still has Phone #2 (in that color) working in his kitchen
He also lacks a computer or working TV so he's a bit odd
That's a fine collection of phones - the classic ones, that is. Then there are the "designer" ones that look like Kleenex boxes. They blow chunks.
It's too bad they don't show the brown doughnut phone - that's my fave.
Cigar lady on the left (Jan) looks scary. What were they thinking?
Hey! I've got that # One Rotary Desk Phone in my living room. Avacado Ugly, too! But my center piece says "Jesus loves you" written in a very shaky hand.
Its loud ring is perfect for atheists hard of hearing and it works when the power is out! Indestructible indeed.
Nixie: I used to have two doughnut phones. I still have the pushbutton model, but gave away the rotary one. :(
Is this why I still buy phones that look like number 4? Cos I was brainwashed at a tender age?
And I want to say I have a vague memory of seeing the Miss Muriel ad way, way, way, way, way back when it was current.
I now feel deprived about not having a candlestick phone in stars and stripes (for the Bicentennial!). My parents had the plain old #6 when they splurged and got an extension in their bedroom, but with a super-long cord that allowed my sister to take the phone across the hall into her room.
The whole concept of phones attached to walls with cords is starting to seem awfully retro though. Which is too bad, because the freedom to be big and clunky allows all kinds of design possibilities that could never work in a mobile.
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