Last entry in phonebook, circa 1950s [Telecom]

When I moved, in 1953, from rural NH (where the nearest phone was a wall-mounted crank type at the general store) to Springfield, Mass., (where we had a dial phone) of course I had to read that novel thing, the Phone Book. I have a vague recollection that the last entry was something like "Zzyzzy zzyggy zzyges", obviously concocted to always be the last entry.

I also recall, even more vaguely, that six years later, I noticed the same last entry in a phone book in Chicago. That made it more than just some local thing in western Mass.

Google doesn't turn up anything related from various spellings of the "Zzy..." nonsense name.

Anybody know what this (apparently) wide-spread last-in-the-book entry was?

Reply to
Mike Spencer
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Try Whitepages.com. I did an "advanced" search for people whose last name began with "Zzy" and got 47 hits. And congratulations to Z. Zzy of Philadelphia for being the last one...

--Gene

Reply to
Gene S. Berkowitz

May years ago, the New Yorker magazine had a squib about this; it was some stamp company who wanted to be able to tell people to find them as the last entry in the book. It's probably gone national as a listing for sale to the highest bidder....

Reply to
Julian Thomas

I remember Zzzzy Zzzzy Ztamp Ztudios which had an Enterprise number. As I remember it was the last entry in all New York State books. Outside the state, I can't help you. Oh this would be circa 1964.

Reply to
davidesan

me> When I moved, in 1953...to Springfield, Mass.,....the last entry me> was something like "Zzyzzy zzyggy zzyges"...

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com replied:

I'm pretty sure that wasn't the one. I was a stamp-collecting kid, one of the widely advertized, big-time stamp dealers was just down the street from me and I would have made some sense out of "Ztamp Ztudios".

It was "Zzyzzy zzyggy zzyges", except I may have too few 'z's or 'y's there somehow.

Reply to
Mike Spencer

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