Friday, September 2, 2022

Lorain Telephone Ad - August 1962


Here's a vintage ad for the Lorain Telephone Company that really drives home the fact that times have changed in the last sixty years.

The ad ran in the Journal on August 14, 1962. It shows a young lady looking rather wistfully at her non-ringing phone and has an unusual theme: "If they don't call maybe they don't know where to reach you."

"Dates missed can quickly become a thing of the past when you are listed personally in the telephone directory," the ad notes.

"Every member of your household will benefit from this low cost individual listing service – teenagers, relatives, or other folks living with you."

It's odd thinking back when most people had a land line and were listed in the directory. When the children living at that address reached high school age, they were included in the listing as well.

It was unusual for someone to have an unlisted number. All my school friends' families were in the directory. In fact, the other day I made a list of the numbers that I still remembered more than 40 or 50 years later and then double checked them in a vintage city directory. There were quite a few. (There are also a few numbers like Yala's Pizza that I still remember.)

Nowadays, with most people relying on their cell phones, it's amazing that a directory is still printed. I'm one of the few idiots people who still have a landline, as well as a listing in the directory. But my current directory address is wrong (it's one from five years ago) and I can't think of a single time that someone called me as a result of my being 'in the book.'

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't tell if the add is trying to be suggestive or not. It certainly pulls your eyes to her hands and no idea what she is supposed to be holding. The receiver is on the phone.

Dennis Thompson said...

Good catch! Besides, she has a pager on her belt (ducking). I was looking through some Lorain directories from the 1960s and was surprised to see my occupation listed. I don't remember being interviewed by the Lorain Telephone Co but apparently I was.

Today I use older rural directories to help me identify vintage aerial photos. I have a large collection from all over Ohio from 1950 to the 1970s and beyond. Each one is a treasure trove of forgotten taverns, motels and diners strung along the major highways. Here is a neat one I uncovered yesterday in Ottawa County:

https://vintageaerial.com/photos/ohio/ottawa/1971/KOT/1/7

Don Hilton said...

I'll agree with Anonymous, above.

Highly suggestive, sexually, especially combining the look on her face and the text about knowing where to reach.

Maybe the editor didn't get it, perhaps they did, but somewhere, in 1962, somebody was laughing.

For sure!