Telephone Operators

Between the 1930s and 1970s, the Bell System produced hundreds of films to market telephone service and recruit telephone workers. Telephone operators and other phone workers are featured prominently in the following films. Watch for actor Steve McQueen in "Family Affair," a 1952 film promoting additional telephone extensions.

Introduction to the Dial Telephone (1936)

The Dial Comes to Town (1940)

A Million Times a Day (1947)

Family Affair (1952)

Tools of Telephony (1956)

Toll Operator (1974)

Operator! (1938)

Long Distance (1941)

The Step-by-Step Switch (1951)

Now You Can Dial (1954)

Operator (1969)

Good-Bye, Central (1978)