The very low tech world of "All the President's Men"

[Yavin4]

I re-watched that movie, and I could not believe just how low tech everything was back in 1972. There's a scene where Redford is trying to locate the head of the MN Republican party. He pours through phone book after phone book trying to find him.

I found him in .07 seconds: http://mngop.com/keith-downey-re-elected-mngop-chair/

[csziggy]

1. I'm reading a mystery novel from 1991 and phonebooks are the way

The protagonist looks up stuff. Even the police are using the yellow pages to find places.

The last time I watched "All the President's Men" I was impressed at how noisy the news room was with all the typewriters.

[trof]

7. A lot of that noise was teletype machines.

Forerunner of the fax.

[csziggy]

10. No, the noise I noticed was typewriters

As in this scene:

[Yavin4]

14. The news radio station in NYC, 1010 WINS, uses a teletype sound effect in the background.

I have no idea why.

[LeftinOH]

2. Not too long ago, main libraries in big cities had rows upon rows

of current phone books for most major cities across the country.

[pinboy3niner]

3. And those libraries depended on hard copy Dewey Decimal cards in file drawers

[Callmecrazy]

4. Can somebody please tell me...

What's a phonebook?
<rimshot>
Thank you, thank you. I'm here all week. Try the fish.

[gratuitous]

5. Yep

One of the movie's claims to fame was how faithfully they recreated the newsroom of the Washington Post. I do feel like a fogy telling the young uns about looking up information back in the day (which doesn't seem so very long ago).

A few years ago, I was riding the bus. A guy was reading a Hardy Boys mystery to his son (quietly and unobtrusively), who I figured was about six or seven. Joe and Frank Hardy arrived in Iceland for some reason, and went to the library to look up the person they wanted to talk to. The man interrupted his reading to wisecrack, "Why didn't they just look him up on Google?" Son rolled his eyes a little bit, understanding that the story didn't allow for that. I thought it was very sweet.

Also reminds me of a Sherlock Holmes story that turns on the fact that Holmes mailed off a key or something in the morning, knowing that it would arrive in the evening post in time for Holmes to retrieve it. Who would or could do that nowadays, or even in the last 50 years? It's interesting how plot points can advance based on the technologies or customs of the time of the story.

[trof]

6. And police detectives always needed nickles for the pay phone.

So they could call headquarters.
Way back in the day.

[Skittles]

8. I am still glad I remember that world

I am not nearly as enslaved to technology as so many people I see

[sarge43]

9. Check out a real blast from the past - It Happened One Night (1934)

Greyhound Yellow Coach, candlestick desk phones, autogyro, road side lodgings with community showers, $40 for two people to travel from Florida to New York City, Model T's. A different world.

[mak3cats]

11. One of the best put-downs ever!

When Claudette Colbert is being accosted by a traveling salesman on the bus:

Oscar Shapeley: What's a matter sister? You ain't sayin' much.

Ellie Andrews: It seems to me you're doing excellently without any assistance.

[sarge43]

13. The first and maybe the best screwball comedy. Still works 80 years on.

And that wedding gown

[IDemo]

12. I worked as a directory assistance operator for a while in the 70's

We used microfiche readers in a room with the blinds closed to keep the glare off the screens. This was just before the workstations were installed.

[alphafemale]

15. I remember when microfiche was an amazing thing.

I have also been involved with getting access to the actual newspaper copies from years ago..

I have waded through land plat maps and deeds.

I think that the skill of seeing a clue and being able to follow it is being lost because of the ability to plug a query into Google.

Make no mistake. Google it is wonderful. I love it. But let us not lose the skill.