The Phantom of the Operator

In this 66-minute documentary featuring footage culled from industrial and promotional films made between 1903 and 1989, director Caroline Martel demonstrates—quite entertainingly—that the humble telephone operator played (and continues to play) a key role in the development of global communications. These often-hilarious clips, mostly from short films produced by Bell and Western Electric, reveal the operators in all their retro glory—sporting outrageous coiffures, wearing outmoded fashions, and using outdated equipment. But Martel employs the vintage footage to make a serious point: these generally underpaid and overworked women were the advance guard of a globalized labor force that now offers much greater opportunities for female workers. Although many telephone operators have since been replaced by automated systems, their contributions to the communications workplace (and, indeed, to labor in general) are recognized in this funny but also thought-provoking homage. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (E. Hulse)