Phonevision: on-demand movies for $1!

By at 9:59 pm Friday, Jul 24

An ambitious effort to arrange a financially happy marriage between TV and Hollywood, Phonevision gives TV set owners a chance to order movies by telephone, at $1 each. Once the order is placed, a simple gadget attached to the TV set and connected to the home telephone unscrambles the movie on the TV screen. Hollywood collects its profit and the set owner is charged on his telephone bill. Last fall Hollywood released for the Chicago test more than 90 films made during the past three or four years.
The above was from Time magazine, January 8, 1951.

David Pescovitz

Collector of anomalies, esoterica, and curiosities.

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