TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Long Distance = 211 (was Sid Ceasar and Phones)

Re: Long Distance = 211 (was Sid Ceasar and Phones)

Tim@Backhome.org
Thu, 01 Sep 2005 03:26:24 -0700

nmclain@annsgarden.com wrote:

> Tim@Backhome.org wrote:

>> Actually, that part was accurate around the LA area (or at least the
>> suburban independents) in the 1950s. You dialed "0" for the local
>> operator and "211" for the long distance operator.

> In Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window," Jimmy Stewart is watching
> (through a very long lens) his across-the-court neighbor (Raymond
> Burr) as Burr picks up the phone and dials three digits. Stewart,
> narrating the events to his girlfriend (Grace Kelly), recognizes "211"
> and mutters "long distance."

I wonder whether "211" was just a California thing in those days? If
so, wasn't Jimmy, Raymond, and Grace (oh what a beautiful woman ;-) in
an apartment house in NYC?

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I know we had '211' in the Chicago area
in those days and in New York City as well. PAT]

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