3 ms·

Forget cartoons. Here's a video shot during the premiere of a Charlie Chaplin movie in the 1920's showing a woman walking along holding something to her ear an

by rmason 3y ago

Forget cartoons. Here's a video shot during the premiere of a Charlie Chaplin movie in the 1920's showing a woman walking along holding something to her ear and talking to herself. Looks an awful lot like a cell phone to me. https://blog.myheritage.com/2010/10/a-mobile-phone-in-the-1920s/ https://blog.myheritage.com/2010/10/a-mobile-phone-in-the-19...

robg 3y ago
Link wasn’t working for me, here’s the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6a4T2tJaSU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6a4T2tJaSU
layer8 3y ago
The original film likely had better resolution than the DVD, it would be nice to see a better scan.
- cududa 3y ago
  Then hop in your Time Machine and go scan the 100 year old film strip. The DVD is likely the best quality you’re going to get
  - layer8 3y ago
    DVDs are recent enough that the original material they are based on might likely still exist somewhere.
lisper 3y ago
Even if you could somehow transport a cell phone back to 1920, it wouldn't work as there was no cell network back then. (Now, a walkie talkie on the other hand...)
hn8305823 3y ago
That's pretty cool. A number of comments on Youtube are saying "walkie-talkie", probably thinking of a 1960's/1970's form factor using transistors. Any voice transmitter in the 1920's would have used vacuum tubes. But even then - the first "walkie-talkie" didn't exist for another 20 years, and was huge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCR-536 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCR-536 > The SCR-536 is often considered the first of modern hand-held, self-contained, "handie talkie" transceivers (two-way radios). It was developed in 1940 by a team > The SCR-536 incorporated five vacuum tubes in a waterproof case.
jonny_eh 3y ago
Here's one of many debunkings: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/11/debunking-the-charlie-chaplin-time-travel-video/65486/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/11/debun...
Gormo 3y ago
Perhaps it's just an ear horn?

by rmason 3y ago

robg 3y ago

Link wasn’t working for me, here’s the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6a4T2tJaSU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6a4T2tJaSU

layer8 3y ago

The original film likely had better resolution than the DVD, it would be nice to see a better scan.

cududa 3y ago
Then hop in your Time Machine and go scan the 100 year old film strip. The DVD is likely the best quality you’re going to get
- layer8 3y ago
  DVDs are recent enough that the original material they are based on might likely still exist somewhere.

lisper 3y ago

Even if you could somehow transport a cell phone back to 1920, it wouldn't work as there was no cell network back then. (Now, a walkie talkie on the other hand...)

hn8305823 3y ago

That's pretty cool. A number of comments on Youtube are saying "walkie-talkie", probably thinking of a 1960's/1970's form factor using transistors. Any voice transmitter in the 1920's would have used vacuum tubes. But even then - the first "walkie-talkie" didn't exist for another 20 years, and was huge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCR-536 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCR-536 > The SCR-536 is often considered the first of modern hand-held, self-contained, "handie talkie" transceivers (two-way radios). It was developed in 1940 by a team > The SCR-536 incorporated five vacuum tubes in a waterproof case.

jonny_eh 3y ago

Here's one of many debunkings: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/11/debunking-the-charlie-chaplin-time-travel-video/65486/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/11/debun...

Gormo 3y ago

Perhaps it's just an ear horn?