“Mr. Watson, Come Here … “
I doubt that Alexander Graham Bell could have ever foreseen the advent of the cell phone or the dreaded telemarketer, but a day late I celebrate the invention and inventor of the telephone by posting this charming little video.
Bell’s journal contains the following entry for March 10, 1876:
I then shouted into M [the mouthpiece] the following sentence: “Mr. Watson, come here — I want to see you.” To my delight he came and declared that he had heard and understood what I said.
I asked him to repeat the words. He answered, “You said ‘Mr. Watson — come here — I want to see you.’” We then changed places and I listened at S [the speaker] while Mr. Watson read a few passages from a book into the mouthpiece M. It was certainly the case that articulate sounds proceeded from S. The effect was loud but indistinct and muffled.