That is a crystal radio receiver, the fire hydrant provides the ground and the umbrella is the antenna. Crystal radios were popular in the 20s and 30s since they don't require batteries. Powered by the radio signal.

In old movies, radio is referred to as "the wireless". "Listening to the wireless" was a favourite pastime of some.

Dammit, I forgot my radio, umbrella, and cumbersome single earphone again! And not a fire hydrant in site!

That's a LOT of wires for a "wireless" phone 😮😄

When she plays the record the caller requested... it's basically spotify!

those two girls were cuties

Wonderful! Although some may tend to confuse the old technology used here with the modern mobile communications concept and say move along now, there's nothing new to see here, this newsreel footage is truly remarkable as it demonstrates the revolutionary concept of personal, mobile communications. While they may be using a crystal radio set, with a fireplug for ground and an umbrella for an antenna, it's clear they contacted an operator, who played their favorite song. The newsreel hinted that the woman's husband would soon have to carry one as well to be able to be within reach wherever he was. Cumbersome and primitive, it clearly presaged the future.

The audio sounds like I am waiting on the trolley in Mr. Rodger's "neighborhood of make believe" to arrive.

I could swear I saw them take a selfie.

In these times they made no duck face, they would have made a flapper face.

"Eve's wireless" The first thing Eve whips out of her bag is... wires!

That guys was simply a crystal radio set. Easy to make it look otherwise, she listened, and told her friend what was being broadcast.

First rule: If a headline ends with a question mark, the answer is always "No".

You gotta admit that antenna umbrella was pretty clever. I would not have thought that they even imagined wireless phones back then. Alexander Graham Bell not only imagined it a good while before this movie, but actually was able to transmit sound through light according to what I read although he never developed wireless phone technology. That experiment of transmitting sound through light years later formed the basis for the fiber optic cable. The Wikipedia article on him has all this and more. I'm not a science buff and I'm sure others know far more about this than I do, but I found just the fact he even thought about these things pretty incredible to say the very least. Bell stated that he thought that the device he called the "photophone" which transmitted sound through light was the greatest invention he ever made, greater than the telephone. I don't know about the invention actually being greater, but proving sound could travel through a light beam was mind blowing to me especially considering how long ago that happened. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell#First_experiments_with_sound

A dream 100 years ago... actually a premonition of what´s coming

Brilliant. It was a civilian form of military field phones of the era. I love it. Be careful on the ice in those heels, girls! ;-)

Why did KZfaq recommend this to me 100 years later

I remember those days, only had dial up internet

The restorations are great but the sounds you choose to add could use some serious 2nd thought

That incredible amount of Snow!!!

Guys, calm down again! This is not a wireless Telephone, it is just a "crystal" radio detector. In the 1920s, everything portable was simply called a wireless phone with headphones plugged into it and listening to music. That was because the first turntables were also "Grammo Phones"! That has nothing to do with what we classify as a "mobil-phone" today! And that the lady from the office sent music with her grammophone by telephone, that should be seen as a possible future vision ... or was in the studio where the grammophone lady was hooked up with a radio station! You can also see clearly (at least people who know about it) that the lady on the right is clearly holding a crystal detector in her hand. So ... with the thing you could only receive local radio stations without having your own power supply on the device. In the 1920s it was something huge that you could listen to the radio anywhere with such a crystal detector, regardless of a power supply. Logically, one then tried out such ideas as was shown here in the film. But it had absolutely nothing to do with telephoning. And then you shouldn't forget that radio broadcasting was something completely new in the 1920s. As a result, the crystal detectors were also something completely new!😉 And as you can see in the picture, Morse connections between ocean ships were called wireless telephones. ...(and by the way, this crystal was the first forerunner of all modern semiconductor diodes) thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/GP3V7ZeeQ_YSahbY_AxvXDf0D04=/fit-in/1072x0/public-media.si-cdn.com/filer/16/8a/168af5de-fa04-4e17-82fd-3c58af8c0599/1909-jan-31-nevada-state-journal-reno-nv-sm.jpg

"Wireless," they say as Eve brings out a piece of wire and wraps it around the fire hydrant.

Indoors we used a cast iron radiator as the earth , was magical when I was 10 years old, sold as kits back then , kids could set them up.

I love flapper girls. I just had a Somewhere in Time moment with the DJ girl in this film.

Lovely girls. I wonder where their lives took them.

that appears to be a 100 year old mp3 player. the disk player converts the music where it is electronically sent over the air to the hydrant phone. little known fact that hydrants were just before cell towers.

These time traveler for sure know how to troll ppl from 21st Century

“And won’t hubby have a time when he has to carry one?” is a genuinely funny line even today

Love the xylophone background music 🎵

When you needed a helping hand to make a phone call.

the lady in the hat is actually my grandmother, she used too tell me when I was young.. "I did a thing with a video camera once" or something like that, she referred to this. she died in 1979.

Sometimes I find my smartphone more complicated to use than this one.

Looks great. Where can I buy one of these newfangled devices? My smartphone doesn't even connect to a fire hydrant, or have one of those range-boosting umbrella antennas. I'm still in the stone age.

Mixing unrelated telephone video footage and crystal radio footage, with digital tech (the fake subtitles) causes many people to believe this is what happened. It really enhances a lack of social intelligence and contributes to fools gold theories surrounding retrocausality. As interesting and thought provoking as it is, it also enhances the misunderstanding of the gullible.

Yeah it’s a radio receiver, still pretty interesting. Also, the ladies are fashion goals. 😍

The first ever iPhone...caught on film, the deluxe model with the free umbrella reception adaptor....my how things have changed.....you don’t get a free umbrella now

Imagine time traveling back to this time with something technologically advanced like a Fold 4 in your pocket. People would think you're a wizard.

they knew more about radiowaves than we do today, wow!!

If you didn t notice, that s not an umbrella, it s an antenna

Ooh! Two real beauties of the time, with what was then a. Great bit of kit. Wonder what they would think of our mobiles?, Er no love, it goes in your pocket.. no really it does.Very elegant dress styles then too.

The Pathe newsreel shows the girl on the left talking on the phone,even though she's not using a mouthpiece. Of course she's using a one way radio. Pathe made a cute newsreel, but it seems they were misrepresenting things to get a good story.

I’ll have to admit, it was more fun not explained but perhaps, the scene in Charlie Chaplin’s “The Circus” makes a lot more sense now.

That’s an early Spotify.

honestly i only clicked on it because i wanted a better look at the two flapper ladies lovely faces.

(Phone convo) Woman: Netflix and chill bae? Guy: 😎

they were twins.while im working in textile factory those days I see them.ooops I mean I saw them in the videos.wew.I almost blew my cover.

I thought those chicks were HOT until I realized the one on the left is my Great Grandma!!

"Hello, could you play 'Johnny B. Goode' please? You don't have that? Well that's quite alright. Your grandchildren will love it"

Im more concerned that all the snow has been shoveled from the sidewalk onto the street! :/

To see how much of a difference a 100 years can make ..only 100 years...

IPhones: we came a long way baby

I think that's a wireless radio not a phone. The "text" saying it's a phone may not have been original with the film.

0:50 IPHONE and Iphone case. In it's original packaging. Wow!!

Reminds me the motorolla brick I had in the mid 90's

This is a compilation of portions of unrelated films and I suspect the silent-movie-notes are fake...and the "phone" is the little ear-size speaker like a headphone is just a little ear-size speaker 'headphone', and when she speaks, she speaks to her sister (same face structure, same noses, same body build, etc) standing physically right beside her to turn up the volume or fine-tune the radio dial a bit; She is not using a cellular phone as cellular phone antenna towers were not installed anywhere, and telephones were all strictly wired land-lines. They were only catching radio signal waves with a portable radio. This is a *portable radio prototype* before transistor radios were invented.

This isn't London but likely New York as evidenced by the super broad street and the atypical vintage american fire hydrant.

There's alot of history you wouldn't believe even if you saw it

I'm in love with the umbrella!!

Just after this was filmed, she hopped on Bumble.

It's just a portable radio...

Even 100 years ago some people were desperate for mobile phones.

1:16 They were really beautiful.

How beautiful.....

Man those fire hydrants we see today are ancient but built to last.

What beautiful girls! And elegant too!!

I want one of those type of phones now.

the girl at the 1 minute mark is so beautiful. i hope she lived to have a fulfilling life and lived until a ripe age.

lmao the umbrellas as the antenna

This is just a piece of fun, cleverly put together... Can anyonei lip read? Or know anyone who can? Love those hats!

That's how time travellers videos is done haha

Then you suddenly see the people in a frazzle, mobile wireless phones.!

Well there goes our elderly lady time traveller video that keeps doing the rounds onyoutube.......lol

They just removed all the snow from the sidewalk and threw it into the street. Those snow banks are huge.

Just one way crystal AM broadcast radio, Fire hydrant ground, umbrella antenna

Wireless as long as you are standing anywhere next to a fire hydrant or such thing for grounding and have nothing to say to anyone, just listen. Perhaps we should go back to those days where at least half the people have their mouth shut for any good length of time enough to actually really listen to another person.

"Well,I guess guys,it's one of them new fangled space phones I suppose!" -Uncle Klunk

The way this had absolutely NO ELECTRICITY required to work just compensates completely the lack of commodity. Even today a no-batteries or charge device would be received as a technology wonder, actually

this was the cool and latest thing back then

Yo todavia conoci una Radiola que tenia para poner disco de vinilo , era un aparato de 1960's

Fascinating that the concept was already there imagine how the future society will see us in 100 years

OMG IS THAT SNOW!! I HAVEN'T SEEN MORE THAN AN INCH IN 10 YEARS!!😮

Another put on. The mic that lady is holding near the gramophone is not where the sound comes from near the needle, it comes out of the horn below the disk player. There is a copy of a newspaper from 1905 that had a huckster holding a candlestick phone next to his motorcar outside. (copy) "The Collins wireless 'phone will eliminate many of the problems whilst motoring away from a garage". He got investors the scam was it was magnetic like a hearing loop today, no range at all. Radio in '05 was all dots and dashes still. The lady on the right fiddles with the cats whisker while the other listens. Impossible, as the thing was hard to find a hot spot on otherwise silence. Touchy as hell and not for portable use.

Was a receiver not a transceiver. In other words, a radio.

Better than the one I own.

Umbrella antenna was a cool idea

We haven't progressed much in 100 years

😂 can you imagine people having a wireless phone and talking to themselves in the street?🤔

Yes those were the olden days , but times have changed.

what haven't European people created technology wise? openly shared with the world...blessings from Mexico City..

imagine if shes calling a coordinates to her neighbor

Girl you should upgrade. That power bank is ridiculous

I'm more amazed they used the term "hubby", hehe.

Cell phones today are essentially radio’s.

Amazing. Never knew before. Thx.

Imagine that there's 3 people standing by the fire hydrant and when they are waiting for their call to get pick up they staring to each other.

no idea why, but I really enjoyed that.

The lady with the attractive earphones, microphone and gramophone is lovely!

Even then AT&T charging $4.99 per minute roaming charges

¡Qué lindas las tres! ¡Qué radio ni ocho cuartos!

It’s a Hello Girl !