I love dial telephones and had one until just a couple of years ago when it finally died.

Someday I'll buy one of those really old, heavy-duty ones at an antique shop.

Wow. I can remember using a rotary phone, and now I feel old.

It truly was Big Brother. The Phone Co. owned all the equipment and leased it to you. But on the plus side - you could call Information for free, the operators were human and helpful and you could dial a number for the time (also for free).

I'm all about rotary phones.

I could've sworn that the last manual/operator/party line system was only removed from the Louisiana bayou country in the '90s...

-Kle.

My grandparents had a rotary phone up until a couple of years ago. Making calls on it was like reliving my childhood.

I remember when my parents first got a non-rotary phone. However, we couldn't get tone service at our house, so when you punched in the number, it would still do the click-click sound like a rotary phone.

Oh, happy tactile and auditory flashbacks.

When phone numbers with 9 and 0 in them were more of a pain than numbers with 1 and 2.

@Klebert L. Hall: In my area, there's a local phone company that still uses party lines.

Or at least they did as of a few years ago..

PS, speaking of auditory flashbacks, did anyone else ever think the Beatles' Come Together was modeled after dialing a telephone..?

"shhhk. tikketta-tikketa-tikketa-tikketa-tikketa-tikketa-tikketa... shhhk. tikketta-tikketa-tikketa-tikketa-tikketa-tikketa-tikketa... "

followed by the busy-signal solo on the electric piano...

@ideaman2020: Wonder what happens if you try and dial that number...

I miss Bakelite.

And I dig that ring tone!

This is awesome. I just used this instructional video to teach my coworker how to properly use the telephone!

@Dunny0: Paul is dead?

I just got a refurbished bakelite rotary phone... I love it with all my heart.

That being said, there is no volume setting on the ringer and it SCARES THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS out of me every time it rings!

Whippersnappers? I have a rotary candlestick phone (think Addams Family - the TV show), and, believe it or not, it works with my digital telephone service. I let my kids use it. They think it's fun to hear it click. And how you hold it to your ear.

@flaneuse: You gotta stuff a piece of folded up paper or cardboard or something next to the bell so it doesn't vibrate as much.

Not that I, y'know, ever did this with a big ol' Ma Bell Phone or anything, so that I remembered it instantly and vividly.

@Evil Tortie's Mom: rotary phone:me::madeline:Proust.

Seeing stuff like this reminds me of those old personal computer ads in the late seventies from Apple and IBM, when I was in high school. Or some of the educational films and videos I saw in college about how to write software.

It always seemed to me that a lot of time was wasted on explaining elementary stuff like how to plug in your keyboard and CRT. Remember that this was during a time when a lot of computers, mainframes at any rate, didn't output to video. They output to paper on track impact printers. The idea of time sharing and real time interactivity was just coming into full swing.

Ah, naive, bittersweet memories!

"That tone indicates your mind is being controlled by the government and aliens working together, trying to drive you to worship money and not notice the hideous faces of the aliens." Fixed. Sheesh, those old announcers were so unreliable.

@flaneuse:

Or you could take the bottom off, and put an elastic band around each of the two bells. There are lots of ways to mute the old phones.
-Kle.