GIRLS AT SWITCHBOARD - SOUND

(31 Dec 1936)
TELEPHONE GIRLS AT SWITCHBOARD - London. Good shots of switchboard operators. Camera moves along a line of women at work with supervisor walking behind them. CUs of operators at work. Nice shots of women at work. Most of the women have short cropped hair. CUs of switchboard operators speaking into receivers. CUs of short haired woman speaking into receiver and wearing headphones. MS of backs of women as they work. Woman wearing nice fair isle jumper at work. Most of these are quite long shots. Male supervisor comes into shot and speaks to one of the operators. CUs of different girls speaking into receiver and connecting calls. Telephone exchange.
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[@kernow9324]

I worked at Wood Street 1 international exchange in London in the early 1980s and there were a few telephonists nearing retirement age who spoke just like these girls. They always spoke about how long they'd worked in "the Service", and how heavy the breastplate and metal headsets were. They were fascinating ladies with lots of stories to tell. By 1987 most of the telephonists at Wood Street had retrained to operate the new Ericsson VDU switchboards. I left Wood Street and moved to Mondial House, which had the earlier version of Ericsson computers. Really didn't enjoy the work anymore. Cord boards are far more interesting.

[@AnotherFredBloggs]

That is NOT in the USA. It is an operator training sesstion

[@altfactor]

My girlfriend a retired switchboard operator.
However, she didn't work for a telephone company, but instead, for the administrative offices of a big city school system.

[@FERNAMTBERLIN]

It’s a “fake’ operator training session. Notice how the operator in New York speaks with a distinct British accent. The operator that is supposed to be in Vienna speaks dreadful German with a strong British accent.

[@Concetta20]

So are these a boards and b boards? Are they side by side?

[@roachtoasties]

That's some group of mean girls that have a meaner supervisor breathing down their necks. Little did they know, that their jobs would become obsolete, where today billions of VOIP robocalls are being made around the globe that do nothing but annoy people. :/

[@friendlysky7674]

That's in America lol!!!!!!

[@FERNAMTBERLIN]

Max’s Collectibles nope, that is the London International Exchange in the 1930s