This will be aired Thursday evening 10/19/10, 6 pm ET, cable TCM (check local listings).
This is a film from the 1950s in which a CEO suddenly passes on leaving his executive staff without a leader, unsure how to proceed, and who among them should take over the company. The film opens with the CEO sending a telegram calling for a special board meeting.
I mention it here because the telephone and telegram are used extensively in this film, plus it is an entertaining movie. (Admittedly, some of it gets a little hokey and corny).
Most phones shown are the six-line 500-style set.
In one scene, they're trying to reach an executive who has left for his weekend cabin. They decide to phone the turnpike interchange to see if he can be intercepted when he passes through. Now, I'm not sure how much traffic there was on interchanges in the 1950s, but I in
2010 most interchange toll booths have many lanes and long lines of drivers, and such an intercept request would be laughed at.There's also some jockeying by major shareholders, not much different than what goes on today.