Communications and Our Town (1947)

[Music] I'm a telephone company repairman one afternoon I was sent out to do a little rescue [Music] job a telephone pole doesn't make a very good Landing field for a model [Music] airplane [Music] I asked the boys their names one was named Pete Morrison lived nearby the other boy was Joe White he lived down the block but I couldn't get tough with the boys I knew they hadn't done it on purpose I told them they'd have to be more careful next time though telephone lines are a mighty important part of our Town's Communication System I asked the boys if they knew what communication meant Joe said he guessed it meant people talking to each other that was right in a way but Communications is much more important than just talking when you crook your finger at somebody that means come here that's a kind of of communication too just like talking it transfers an idea that's what communication means transferring an idea do you know what would happen if all our communication suddenly stopped working I asked the boys that why for one thing I said there wouldn't be any programs on the radio no more serials or adventure stories no more funnies either radio and newspapers are kinds of communication too but communication is a lot more important than cereals and funny papers suppose you became sick all of a sudden and your mother decided to call the doctor if the phone was out of order it might be hours before he could be reached and that could be serious without Communications Our Town wouldn't get along well at all but we could still talk to each other Pete said Pete was right talking together face to face is a form of communication that's the simplest kind we have but when we aren't that close together when we're so far apart that we can't even shout to each other then we need another kind of communication I showed Pete and Joe what I meant even when you're several blocks apart you can still talk together over a telephone wire we might say the wire ties you together Communications tie everybody in our whole Community together like that the postman carrying the mail also helps connect everybody in our community our community is tied together by many different lines of communication while I was talking to the boys I had an idea we played a game of Make Believe We pretended a roll of tape was Pete's house and another roll was Joe's house an insulator was a church it even had a steeple Joe's pocket knife was a butcher shop and the notebook was the boy school I put a wire between Joe's house and Pete's there was a telephone connection at Pete's house and the connection at Joe's house the telephone wire tied the boys houses together in the same way we connected the boys houses with the butcher shop and with the school but that was only one way in which these places are tied together we can send letters between them too you know so I borrowed some writing paper from the school we pretended the pieces of paper were letters as the boys knew a letter could be sent from Pete's house to Joe's The Butcher Shop could send a bill to Joe's house mail could be sent between all these places but what about the church Pete wanted to know I said sure we can telephone or send mail to the church too but there's another way a church can communicate with us isn't there the boys couldn't guess how they hadn't thought of the church bells the bells say come to church come to church I explain that you hear certain kinds of communication what does the alarm clock say it says get up time to go to work what does a factory whistle say it says everybody quit work time to go home what does the siren on the fire truck say it says get out of the way there's a fire but I explained there are also kinds of communication that you see instead of here when a policeman raises his hand what does his signal mean that's right it tell tells the people in the cars to stop or go even flashes of light in code can communicate ideas signs are also signals some signs don't even need words like this one other signs come right out and say it they give a warning to keep people from getting hurt people read newspapers that tell the latest happenings they receive letters that carry messages from friends people go to the movies to see and hear a story I explained to Pete and Joe that our town works better because it's tied together by Communications but I said Communications also tie us to other towns we played make believe again pretended Iraq was a big city far away when I asked the boys what kind of community tiest to the city Pete thought of one right away mail he said then Joe thought of another kind of communication telephone long distance I connected our town and the city with a long-distance wire after they leave our town I said telephone wires run along the highway and across the fields and over the the rivers all the way to the city and in the city there are telephone operators and switchboards which make it possible for us to talk with people in almost every country in the world but I said there are other longdistance Communications besides the telephone radio doesn't even need wires in Split seconds through the air it brings voices from abroad and makes us neighbors of people half a world away we have television too so that we can see as well as hear events happening far away you see communication ties us to everyone everywhere there are simple kinds like talking together and complicated kinds like television but simple or complicated all are important well I had to go about then but before I left Pete told me he had an idea he said that he and Joe would try to find out just how many different kinds of communication they could find in their neighborhood say I'll bet they had fun how would you like to try that [Music] [Applause] [Music] idea