Description
Black and white 9 1/2″ x 13 1/2″ ad for the Bell Telephone System. This ad has to do with Long Distance Telephone Calls and the thrill they can mean for Boys and Girls who are away from home due to having to spend time in the Armed Services. The ad has a picture of a place where Long Distance Calls could be made when you were in a temporary situation. There is a long counter with several girls behind it and talking to soldiers who wanted to make a call. In addition, there were boys in phone booths making their calls and other guys who were waiting their turns to make their calls by sitting and reading a newspaper. The caption of the photo says that this is “The Telephone Center at Camp Gordon, Georgia. This is one of more than a hundred such centers at the principal military camps and naval bases throughout the United States. They are provided by the telephone companies to assist service men and women with their Long Distance calls”. The headline says that “They’re Home Again by Telephone” and, the text here says, “‘Hello, Mom! I’m O.K.’. These are precious, priceless words – spoken thousands of times a day by men in uniform. Wherever they go or whatever they do, the telephone is their link with home. Over it go the voices of loved ones, the cry of a baby, the news that all is well. That’s why providing attractive, comfortable telephone centers at army camps and naval bases is such an important and heart-warming part of the work of the Bell System. We like to have soldiers say, as one did recently – ‘It makes a guy feel good to know he can call home and be treated nice while doing it'”.
Source: September 22, 1952 Life magazine.
