It’s a rare sighting these days. The pay phone. Even more so the large scale phone booth. And is it strange that my first thought went to hygiene? We used to handle that plastic receiver without a care back in the day, but now? Full HAZMAT. Hand gel. Wipes. Mask and gloves. Blame COVID, I guess. The 50 cent charge doesn’t seem so bad, considering inflation, but who carries coinage? And doesn’t the change return slot seems too small? Maybe they were being used as a drug drop-site. Was that in “The Wire”?? You have to stay one step ahead to keep from falling ten behind in that battle. But is anyone nostalgic for these relics? Cellphones are a vast improvement, to be sure. The only real loss is a cinematic one. So many movie plots hinged on the pay phone scene. “Three Days of the Condor,” “Dirty Harry,” “All the President’s Men,” and of course “Phone Booth” (a death knell). The list would be the size of the phone book…. which used to be attached! Ripping out a page was a terrific film trope. But I guess when they make movies in-retro, ever so in vogue, they still need these props. Unfortunately, they sometimes screw up the sound of the coin mechanism catching. There must be a pay phone/booth warehouse somewhere in Burbank, CA…
Great Exudations 