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This 1940 film – originally titled as "A Continent Is Bridged" – is a dramatized documentary produced in celebration of the 25th anniversary of transcontinental voice communications. It was sponsored by the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. (AT&T), the world's largest telephone company then founded by Alexander Graham Bell.

The film highlights the history of the telephone, from Alexander Graham Bell’s invention to the linking of New York City and San Francisco by transcontinental phone line on January 25, 1915, with the final connection made at the NevadaUtah state line. It explains the basics of telephony and details how AT&T departments worked together to achieve longdistance telephony.

A telephone call, which for marketing purposes is claimed to be the first transcontinental telephone call, occurred on Jan. 25, 1915, a day timed to coincide with the Panama–Pacific International Exposition celebrations. However, the transcontinental telephone line was first completed on June 27, 1914, and successfully first voice tested in July 1914.

The film was narrated by popular American radio news commentator Edwin C. Hill.


HISTORICAL BACKGROUND / CONTEXT

The original long distance telephone network actually started in 1885, in New York City. By 1892 this line reached Chicago. After introducing loading coils in 1899, the long distance line continued west, and by 1911 it reached Denver, Colorado. The president of AT&T, Theodore Vail, committed the company to a transcontinental line in 1909.

On June 27, 1914, after affixing 4,750 miles (7,640 km) of telephone line, workers raised the final pole at Wendover, Utah, actually on the border between Nevada and Utah state lines. Then, Theodore Vail, the president of AT&T, succeeded in transmitting his voice across the continental U.S. in July 1914.

Six months later, amidst the celebrations surrounding the Panama–Pacific International Exposition, on January 25, 1915, Alexander Graham Bell, in New York City, repeated his famous statement "Mr. Watson, come here. I want you," into the telephone, which was heard by his assistant Dr. Watson in San Francisco, for a long distance call of 3,400 miles (5,500 km). Dr. Watson replied, "It will take me five days to get there now!" The Alexander Graham Bell call officially initiated AT&T's transcontinental service. The phone call was merely symbolic. Dr. Watson was at 333 Grant Avenue in San Francisco to receive the call, placed by Bell from the Telephone Building at 15 Dey Street in New York City. President Woodrow Wilson and the mayors of both cities were also involved in the call.

Later, President Woodrow Wilson spoke to an audience in San Francisco from the White House and is quoted as saying "It appeals to the imagination to speak across the continent." However, President Wilson was concerned with the "devaluation of the individual" as AT&T celebrated the achievement of the company rather than distinguishing individual inventors, contributors, and innovators.


Telephone History: First Transcontinental Phone Call | Documentary | 1940

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NOTE: THE VIDEO DOCUMENTS HISTORICAL EVENTS. SINCE IT WAS PRODUCED DECADES AGO, IT HAS HISTORICAL VALUES AND CAN BE CONSIDERED AS A VALUABLE HISTORICAL DOCUMENT. THE VIDEO HAS BEEN UPLOADED WITH EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. ITS TOPIC IS REPRESENTED WITHIN HISTORICAL CONTEXT.