Produced by Wilding Picture Productions, Inc. in the late 1940s, A Miracle for Mrs. Smith is a short film that shows viewers how the Bell telephone system works and how Western Electric manufacturers the materials and products used in the telephone industry. The film opens with footage of a football game: the quarterback throws a touchdown pass and the crowd cheers. Football players practice the touchdown pass on the practice field (01:10). Mrs. Smith, an American housewife, sits in her living room (01:51). The film tracks Mrs. Smith’s phone call to the butcher along the miles of telephone line. A long-distance telephone operator puts calls through while sitting at the switchboard (04:16). An instructor for the Bell communications system talks to female trainees about the Bell system organization. The film shows the Bell Telephone Laboratories building (06:13), where scientists work on new models of telephones. Bell phone designers fit a phone handset to a man’s head (07:33). Women work on the assembly line making Bell telephones (09:09). A man starts the production of telephone wire (10:05). Two men take copper wire and pare it down into smaller gauge wiring. A man puts a protective steel case on a phone cable that will go underwater (11:09). The film shows a town’s central office switchboard (11:55). Men and women go to work at a Western Electric building (12:10). Vacuum tubes are made and used to amplify voice calls (12:43). A woman works with crystals that will be used for radio and telephone circuits (13:23). Women inspect parts used in the telephone industry as part of quality control efforts (14:22). The film shows viewers the inside of one of Western Electric’s remote repeater stations (15:28). A train moves through Western Electric’s yard, which is filled with raw materials (17:01). A team of installers set up equipment for a telephone company’s central office (18:24). Reels of cable are moved by crane. Men load supplies into boxes along a conveyer belt. Footage shows a hurricane hitting a community (20:35), then Western Electric teams repairing the community’s damaged telephone lines.
Western Electric Company (WE, WECo) was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company that served as the primary supplier to AT&T from 1881 to 1996. The company was responsible for many technological innovations and seminal developments in industrial management. It also served as the purchasing agent for the member companies of the Bell System.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com