MovieChat Forums > The Front Page (1931) Discussion > The telephones on the desk

The telephones on the desk

posted 5 years ago by liscarkat (18589)
6 replies | jump to latest

All had the bell-shaped mouthpieces unscrewed and removed, leaving only a hole. Does anybody know why they would do that?

[–] captainbucky (15252) 5 years ago

To bug le the phone

[–] liscarkat (18589) 5 years ago

I don't think unscrewing the mouthpiece would bug the phone.

[–] captainbucky (15252) 5 years ago

But can you be sure

[–] Satan2016 (25577) 5 years ago

The switch board could probably listen in with old phones. But the mouthpiece might be just a horn to channel sound, the mic is inside.

[–] JohnGrant (101) 4 years ago

From IMDB trivia:

The telephone mouthpieces in the newsroom are missing because there was a general belief that these candlestick phone mouthpieces were a source of tuberculosis germs. Bensinger is the only character who has his own mouthpiece that he guards from everyone else using. The glass mouthpiece he uses was considered to be less prone to germs.

[–] liscarkat (18589) 3 years ago

Thanks, JohnGrant, for an intelligent answer.