mobile phones in 1928 - film footage

mrgaa1 · 28-10-2010 5:17pm #1

http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/blog/article/57334/time-traveller-spotted-at-chaplin-premiere.html is this a mobile phone in 1928? Personally I think its a man - not a woman but what do I know?

fudgez · 28-10-2010 5:21pm

As alluded to in the article how could the "Time Traveller" be making a call with no Coverage? I think I read that the New York Times had suggested it could be an early hearing aid which seems most likely Or else we have caught one of the freedom fighters from Twelve Monkeys and Brad Pitt must be killed!

meglome · 28-10-2010 5:28pm

mrgaa1 wrote: »

http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/blog/article/57334/time-traveller-spotted-at-chaplin-premiere.html is this a mobile phone in 1928? Personally I think its a man - not a woman but what do I know?

Looks like a woman. Even if we took time travel to be possible there would be no cell towers for the phone to work. So therefore the person couldn't be talking on a phone.

My name is URL · 28-10-2010 5:58pm

Reminds me of something you'd see on Fringe

He looks as if he speaking into whatever it is he may be holding so most likely not a hearing aid. Of course there was no coverage back then, but that would only matter if you assume that he traveled back from this era. Who knows what tech there might be in future, some sort of quantum communication device perhaps. Pretty far fetched stuff but certainly interesting.

DeWitt · 28-10-2010 6:17pm

I knew it!

Capt'n Midnight · 28-10-2010 6:29pm

maybe it's one of those wind up music boxes

or something to keep the ears warm

or someone has a disease that locks their arm in an awkward position

or she was cupping her ear to hear better

odd size - too small for electronic devices before the 1960's and too big for devices from after the 1990's and we all know time travel didn't kick off till July 19th 2417

meglome · 28-10-2010 6:32pm

My name is URL wrote: »

Reminds me of something you'd see on Fringe

He looks as if he speaking into whatever it is he may be holding so most likely not a hearing aid. Of course there was no coverage back then, but that would only matter if you assume that he traveled back from this era. Who knows what tech there might be in future, some sort of quantum communication device perhaps. Pretty far fetched stuff but certainly interesting.

But at that rate why do we assume the person would be holding a phone like device to their ear at all. Given how far we've come in the last 30 years the phone of the future could/should be very advanced.

PCPhoto · 28-10-2010 6:36pm

it does appear to be something out of the ordinary !

there is a shadow between the hand and face which suggests the hand is slightly away from the face by an inch or two... so would technically rule out any "modern" mobile really !!

could be pretty much anything from someone with a wet cloth against their jaw to lower swelling after a visit to a dentist (they existed back then didnt they)

PCPhoto · 28-10-2010 6:38pm

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

maybe it's one of those wind up music boxes

or something to keep the ears warm

or someone has a disease that locks their arm in an awkward position

or she was cupping her ear to hear better

odd size - too small for electronic devices before the 1960's and too big for devices from after the 1990's and we all know time travel didn't kick off till July 19th 2417

hee hee .... I thought it was 2412

c_man · 28-10-2010 8:14pm

Heh, reminds me of this

hardCopy · 28-10-2010 9:32pm

Ha, I've no idea what that is but it's a great find

Capt'n Midnight · 29-10-2010 12:36am

PCPhoto wrote: »

hee hee .... I thought it was 2412

No that was debunked.
It had a Capissen 38 engine, and those things fall right out of the sky :rolleyes:

TerryTibbs! · 29-10-2010 6:00am

Its me in 48 years, 82 years ago.

Penn · 29-10-2010 8:35am

So.... the time traveller dressed suitably to blend in, and decided to walk around speaking into a mobile phone, in front of a film crew?

humanji · 29-10-2010 9:04am

paddyirishman85 wrote: »

So.... the time traveller dressed suitably to blend in, and decided to walk around speaking into a mobile phone, in front of a film crew?

Well you're assuming that timetravellers are sophisticated. It could be a college prank. She/he could be on their timephone calling their mates saying "Can you see me? Am I in shot?" and all the friends would be laughing their heads off. It's like UFO's buzzing earth to freak out yokels for kicks.

Penn · 29-10-2010 9:10am

Yeah. I suppose I didn't take into account the fact that the first recorded evidence of timetravellers were probably drunk college students

Although I fail to see how this is a conspiracy theory

humanji · 29-10-2010 10:12am

Well it can still be classed as a conspiracy. It's kind of like wondernig if aliens have visited, and what would they be doing here. I mean, if you're a time traveller, you'd go back to kill Hitler, or bet on the Lotto or try your luck with Scarlett Johannson. You generally wouldn't travel back to appear in a Chaplin movie, so if this was a timetraveller, what were they doing they?

Penn · 29-10-2010 10:45am

But the alien conspiracies are generally related to the government/NWO concealing knowledge of the aliens or being in league with the aliens.

Also, I wouldn't kill Hitler. Don't get me wrong, I disagree with pretty much everything he did. But the world is what it is now because of the past. Changing it for what seems like a good idea could have the opposite effect.

Anyway, as I said before, time travel is impossible. So you'll just have to find some other way to get Scarlett Johansson to sleep with you :P

Yitzhak Rabin · 29-10-2010 11:13am

humanji wrote: »

Well it can still be classed as a conspiracy. It's kind of like wondernig if aliens have visited, and what would they be doing here. I mean, if you're a time traveller, you'd go back to kill Hitler, or bet on the Lotto or try your luck with Scarlett Johannson. You generally wouldn't travel back to appear in a Chaplin movie, so if this was a timetraveller, what were they doing they?

But thats the thing about time travel.....

[DOC BROWN VOICE] But if we are considering time travel, how can we know if in some other timeline something historical happened right there? How do we know that the guy on the phone wasn't preventing something catastrophic from occuring![/DOC BROWN VOICE]

MonkieSocks · 29-10-2010 11:17am

Looks like one of these,

http://www.hearingaidmuseum.com/gallery/Carbon/WesternElectric/info/westelect34a.htm

timsnewbridge · 29-10-2010 11:21am

if we have mastered the technology for time travel why is it not possible that we have mastered technology for contact on a mobile phone type object between different time zones. saying there is no masts back then is ridiculous. <snip>......

King Mob · 29-10-2010 11:46am

timsnewbridge wrote: »

if we have mastered the technology for time travel why is it not possible that we have mastered technology for contact on a mobile phone type object between different time zones. saying there is no masts back then is ridiculous. <snip>......

Well if they've mastered the technology to transmit information across time in a hand held device, why haven't they developed the technology to implant it cybernetically?

Saying they would use a hand held device at all is ridiculous.

seamus · 29-10-2010 12:12pm

meglome wrote: »

Given how far we've come in the last 30 years the phone of the future could/should be very advanced.

It may not even be a conventional phone. Logically, if you are going to travel through time, you would have to do it in space. Travelling through time does not include travelling through space, so if I was to transport myself back an hour ago, I'd find myself 70,000 miles away from the earth, because it won't have reached my point in space yet. There's also the obvious risk that I might "materialise" inside something else.

Where am I going with this? Any theoretical time traveller would have come from a craft in orbit. So they could be communicating with that. A hand-held device made to look like a hearing aid would arouse less suspicion than someone talking to themself.

But it's only a hearing aid

humanji · 29-10-2010 12:14pm

King Mob wrote: »

Well if they've mastered the technology to transmit information across time in a hand held device, why haven't they developed the technology to implant it cybernetically?

Saying they would use a hand held device at all is ridiculous.

It goes back to my theory of them being students. Too cheap for an implanted timephone!

King Mob · 29-10-2010 12:19pm

humanji wrote: »

It goes back to my theory of them being students. Too cheap for an implanted timephone!

So they could afford the old fat lady holo-disguise and the package deal to tour Hollywood's golden era, but not the timephone app for their internal Iphones?

It's a bit far fetched :rolleyes:

humanji · 29-10-2010 12:22pm

seamus wrote: »

It may not even be a conventional phone. Logically, if you are going to travel through time, you would have to do it in space. Travelling through time does not include travelling through space, so if I was to transport myself back an hour ago, I'd find myself 70,000 miles away from the earth, because it won't have reached my point in space yet. There's also the obvious risk that I might "materialise" inside something else.

Where am I going with this? Any theoretical time traveller would have come from a craft in orbit. So they could be communicating with that. A hand-held device made to look like a hearing aid would arouse less suspicion than someone talking to themself.

But it's only a hearing aid

Well, (and this is going into pure fantasy now), timetravel could possibly be affected by gravity, in which case the traveller would still be anchored to the earth. This would solve the time and space problem.

I may use that in a script. NOBODY STEAL MY IDEA!

Torakx · 29-10-2010 12:23pm

Maybe it was an intelligence agent monitoring Chaplain with his pre 1940's mini walkie talkie."yes sir, the boots fit perfectly,nobody will recognise my disguise...mwuahaha....haha...hahahaha!"
Because lets admit it, "it" looks like a man talking into his hand lol
So either edited footage or my former suggestion :P
ok he/she may have been testing their hearing aid also.

Penn · 29-10-2010 12:27pm

humanji wrote: »

Well, (and this is going into pure fantasy now), timetravel could possibly be affected by gravity, in which case the traveller would still be anchored to the earth. This would solve the time and space problem.

I may use that in a script. NOBODY STEAL MY IDEA!

But, even if you stayed anchored to the earth, you could materialise right in the middle of something which was in that spot at that time. A wall of a previous structure. Right where a car was driving. Where a cow was standing. Hell, you might even materialise one a road in front of a lorry instead of in the middle of it.

meglome · 29-10-2010 12:29pm

MonkieSocks wrote: »

Looks like one of these,

http://www.hearingaidmuseum.com/gallery/Carbon/WesternElectric/info/westelect34a.htm

You could have hit the nail on the head there.

humanji · 29-10-2010 12:29pm

King Mob wrote: »

So they could afford the old fat lady holo-disguise and the package deal to tour Hollywood's golden era, but not the timephone app for their internal Iphones?

It's a bit far fetched :rolleyes:

You obviously don't know students.

Actually, does anyone know if theres a full excerpt with the scene before and after available? Just curious because it seems strange that a film crew wouldn't notice the woman there, so I was wondering if it's actually a character in the film. It does kind of look like she's more trying to hide her face (like she was spying on the first guy) than holding something.

The talking is easily explained by the fact that it wa a silent movie, so if she thought her face was hidden, she'd have no problems talking to the crew.

King Mob · 29-10-2010 12:34pm

humanji wrote: »

You obviously don't know students.

Actually, does anyone know if theres a full excerpt with the scene before and after available? Just curious because it seems strange that a film crew wouldn't notice the woman there, so I was wondering if it's actually a character in the film. It does kind of look like she's more trying to hide her face (like she was spying on the first guy) than holding something.

The talking is easily explained by the fact that it wa a silent movie, so if she thought her face was hidden, she'd have no problems talking to the crew.

I think some of the articles mentioned it was a piece of footage from a behind the scenes thing.

mobile phones in 1928 - film footage

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