A couple of years ago, British Pathé uncovered some striking footage from 1922 showing two women experimenting with the first mobile phone. A spokesman for the archive said: ”It’s amazing that nearly 90 years ago mobile phone technology and music … was not only being thought of but being trialled.” “The phone even has a lid which makes it the first flip-phone we are aware of, although it is probably not going to win any design awards.” He added, ”We would be delighted to hear from anyone who can tell us anything about the film, from where it is shot to who the women might be or even about the phone itself.”
For another gem from the British Pathé archive, don’t miss The King’s Speech (1938), which gives you a glimpse of King George VI making a speech to open an exhibition in Scotland — the same king that became the subject of the 2010 Academy Award-winning film.
H/T @MatthiasRascher
I want one! no searching for a signal and they got through straight away – no answerphones. And that umbrella is wonderful.
I think any New Yorker would recognize the street(looks like the upper west side) and, especially, the fire hydrant as instant giveaways that the film was shot in New York City — a highly likely candidate regardless.
As remarkable as this is, I was shocked to find out the first wireless telephone was invented in 1880 by none other than Alexander Graham Bell! He called it the photophone because it used light instead of wires. Unfortunately it wouldn’t fit in a pocket. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photophone