The Rotary Telephone, the Cock-Eyed Photograph, & the Little Table with Twisted Legs

The Rotary Telephone
Do you remember rotary dial telephones? I'm sure some of you do.... Those old telephones were black and heavy, and they limited how far from the phone one could move when talking because the cord connecting the phone to the wall was so short.

Some of you must remember party lines. Two or more households shared the same line. Each household had a specific ring to know when the phone was for someone at their house. One ring, two rings, a short ring and a long ring, etc.

Sometimes someone in one house would pick up the phone to make a call and find that someone was already talking. If the new caller held the phone too long, listening, she would usually be asked (or told) to hang up because it was a private conversation. I'm sure the party lines contributed to lots of gossip in smaller communities.

The Cock-Eyed Photograph
Who took this photo and how did the photographer manage to take it at this angle? What was he/she thinking?!

I tried to straighten it but found it gave me a headless child and one with half a head. I decided to present it the way it is. I think it's the most crooked photograph I've ever seen.

It seems strange to me that I found copies of it in both my mother's and my grandmother's albums. This photo was taken many years before it was common to have multiple sets of prints made before seeing the photographs. Someone liked this photo enough to find the negative, travel back to the photo shop (or wherever photos were made in the 1940's) and have duplicates printed. I guess it must be as much of a treasure to me as it was to them since I've made a digital copy.

The Little Table with Twisted Legs
When my mother passed away a dozen years ago, my siblings and I met at her home to decide what to do with her furniture and the rest of her possessions. She had a small, light-weight table with twisted legs that I claimed. My brother-in-law pointed out that one of the legs was broken and had been glued out of alignment, and he suggested that maybe I didn't really want it. But I did and said I'd like the table if no one else wanted it. I brought it home and we use it now and then, here and there. Yes, it wobbles a little but not so bad that I can't live with it.

In going through the two old albums, I recognized the little table in this snapshot as the very one I brought home from Mom's house.

And so the treasures are the cock-eyed photograph with the rotary phone, two sweet children, and the knowledge that the little table with twisted legs belonged to my grandmother before it belonged to my mother before it belonged to me.

Do you want to share memories of using a rotary telephone, with or without a party line? Do you have a piece of furniture whose history you can trace to someone before you?

Go to Sepia Saturday and find links to photos and stories that are treasured by others.