See if you can answer one of these telephone trivia questions.

-1. Today, nearly everyone answers the phone with "Hello?" But in the earliest days, what other word was used?
-2. Who was the first President to have a phone on his desk?
-3. Place the following in chronological order: princess phones, outdoor phone booths, area codes, touch-tone (push button) phones, hold buttons, picturephones (first public display), pay phones
-4. What song titles that feature telephone numbers are associated with: a.) Glenn Miller b.) The Marvelettes c.) Tommy Tutone?
-5. Name the songs that feature these telephone lines: a.) "A telephone that rings, but who's to answer?" b.) "No phone, no pool, no pets..." c.) "When I call you up, your line's engaged..."
-6. What's the punchline to the prank call to a housewife that starts with, "Is your refrigerator running?"
-7. What fictional characters are associated with the following: a.) "One ringy dingy" b.) the shoe phone c.) "Phone home"?
-8. What 1948 film starred James Stewart as a Chicago newspaper reporter who helps a scrubwoman prove her son's innocence in the death of a policeman?
-9. In what 1960 film did Liz Taylor portray a call girl and win her first Oscar for her performance?
-10. It's easy to remember the number for Dial-A-Prayer (787-3837) because the numbers correspond to the letters STPETER. What names correspond to the following numbers?
-a.) Dial-a-Joke 262-4073
-b.) Dial-a-Hint 435-6473
-c.) Dial-a-Poem 873-5468
-d.) Dial-a-Painting 354-7326
-e.) Dial-a-Review 739-7333
-f.) Dial-a-Hussy 623-9378
-g.) Dial-a-Dictator 434-2646

7. (a) Ernestine (Lily Tomlin), (b) Maxwell Smart (Get Smart), (c) ET

8. Call Northside 777

6. Well, you better go catch it then.

9. Butterfield 8 ?? (Well, it sounds like a phone number )

All correct so far!

5 b - trailer for sale or rent ?

5. a) These Foolish Things b) King of the Road c) You Won't See Me

4.
A. Pennsylvania 6-5000
B. Beechwood 4-5789
C. 867-5309

Sondi and cyrus

niteowl, nice try.

2. Herbert Hoover

and i 've been humming that all day.

Yes, Koala! In 1929.

Funny how a song can get stuck in your head, niteowl.

10a. Bob Hope

OK I'll be the guinea-pig for number 3:

pay phones
outdoor phone booths
princess phones
area codes
touch-tone (push button) phones
hold buttons
picturephones

How many were right??

(I was convinced that number 1 was "wrong number" until I saw it was one word... )

1. Ahoy

I found this in 2 sources so now I know something new!

According to 'ask.com', Bell preferred to say 'Ahoy'. It was his friend, Thomas Edison, who felt that this new invention needed a new word and so came up with 'Hello' as a gift for Bell.

And from Wikipedia a bit more history: The use of hello as a telephone greeting has been credited to Thomas Edison; according to one source, he expressed his surprise with a misheard Hullo.[6] Alexander Graham Bell initially used Ahoy (as used on ships) as a telephone greeting.[7] However, in 1877, Edison wrote to T.B.A. David, the president of the Central District and Printing Telegraph Company of Pittsburgh:

Friend David, I do not think we shall need a call bell as Hello! can be heard 10 to 20 feet away.

What you think? Edison - P.S. first cost of sender & receiver to manufacture is only $7.00.

By 1889, central telephone exchange operators were known as 'hello-girls' due to the association between the greeting and the telephone.[8]

Redz and Annette

Rog, you've got the first and last ones correct.

Ok Sue, I give up on 10b but here's my attempt at the rest of them.

10b - ????
10c - 873-5468 = ts eliot
10d - 354-7326 = el greco
10e - 739-7333 = rex reed
10f - 623-9378 = mae west
10g - 434-2646 = idi amin

Good job, Chris! You're going to smack your forehead over that last one - she was the housewife's go-to lady for advice.

10b. 435-6473 Heloise. Thanks for the hint.

Good one, Dawn!

I'll try....

Pay phones
Phone booths
Area codes
Princess
Hold
Touch tone
Picture

Nice try, Koala! You moved touch-tone into the correct position.

Here's the answer:

pay phones 1889
hold button 1933
area codes 1947
outdoor phone booths 1953
princess phones 1959
Touch tone 1963
Picturephone 1964 NY World's Fair