On the Telephone

Photos from the days when people actually used telephones to talk!

Nina Leen, LIFE © Time Inc.

A woman on the phone at work, US, 1947. Source

William C. Shrout, LIFE © Time Inc.

Chief of the Air Corps Henry H. Arnold on the phone at his desk in the War Office, 1940. Source

Martha Holmes, LIFE © Time Inc.

Children phoning "Santa Claus" at Schwartz's toy store, 1947. Source

Peter Stackpole, LIFE © Time Inc.

Actress Joan Bennett in bed with three telephones, 1940. Source

George Skadding, LIFE © Time Inc.

A woman on the phone in an FBI office, 1944. Source

State Library and Archives Florida

Koreshan Dr. James Russell Price with a telephone, Florida, ca 1920. Source

Ralph Morse, LIFE © Time Inc.

Boxer Rocky Graziano on the phone, 1947. Source

Alfred Eisenstaedt, LIFE © Time Inc.

Actress Carole Lombard lying on the rug with a phone and a coffee, 1938. Source

Peter Stackpole, LIFE © Time Inc.

Actor and pilot Jimmy Stewart on the phone in his father's hardware store after his return from World War Two. Indiana, PA, 1945. Source

State Library of Queensland

A  young woman on the telephone, 1952. Source

Library of Congress

Politician Genevieve Clark on the telephone, ca. 1912. Source

Martha Holmes, LIFE © Time Inc.

An emcee taking a phone call during an airing of the game show "Stop the Music," 1949. Source

Nina Leen, LIFE © Time Inc.

A teenage girl on a payphone, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1947. Source

Paul Schutzer, LIFE © Time Inc.

John F. Kennedy on the phone in the White House, 1961. Source

Greg Villet, LIFE © Time Inc.

A teenage girl on the telephone, no date (probably 1940s-1960s). Source

Gjon Mili, LIFE © Time Inc.

Actors Vivian Blaine, Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons and Marlon Brando in phone booths for a scene from the film "Guys and Dolls," 1955. Source

Allan Grant, LIFE © Time Inc.

Adopted Korean war orphan Kang Koo Ri on a telephone, LA, 1956.Source

Cornell Capa, LIFE © Time Inc.

Songwriter Iriving Berlin composing music into the telephone so his secretary can write it down. 1946. Source

Cornell Capa, LIFE © Time Inc.

Source

Library of Congress

A German trench telephone, WWI. Source

The Library of Congress

A demonstration of a "wireless telephone", LA, ca. 1910- ca. 1915. Source

Gordon Parks, LIFE © Time Inc.

Dancer Mary Ellen Terry in a phone booth, 1952. Source

Alfred Eisenstaedt, LIFE © Time Inc.

Jackie Kennedy on the phone, being mimicked by her daughter Caroline on a toy phone. 1960. Source

Robert W. Kelley, LIFE © Time Inc.

A row of full telephone booths during an airline strike, Chicago, 1961. Source