mardi 16 février 2016

The Singing Telegrams Bay Area Residents Use

By Charles Sullivan


Over humanities recorded history there have been many different ways of communication used, both simple and complex. Simple in that humans once used horseback and smoke signals to communicate with one another. Nowadays there is a global communication network and much of the earths human population is a part of this network. There are still communicational relics that are left over from the past, usually used for the purpose of a joke one of these forms of communication is that of the singing telegrams bay area residents use in many cities.

The telegram was a form of communication used widely before the telephone was invented. What it basically was is a simple written message that was delivered through wire in it's earliest forms and later on through broadcasts. In it's earliest form it was in Morse code.

Telegrams were for the most part seen as quite serious things, as they were often used to deliver some kind of serious news to the recipient. People usually did not use them just to chat about things, like we use our cell phones today. Singing telegrams are a more humorous way of delivering a message.

Telegrams that are sung got their start in the year of 1933. A company at that time that specialized in receiving and delivering telegrams was the first to sing one to a recipient. It was the idea of the public relations officer of that company. One day they received a telegram from a fan wishing a Hollywood star a happy birthday. The PR officer had the brilliant idea of getting the operator to sing the message to the recipient as opposed to just reading it like normal.

The PR officer wanted to change the view that people had of telegrams. Instead of them dreading them because of the possibly bad news that they carried, instead he wanted people to be happy when they heard them. This idea was not received well by his superiors and the company was made a laughing stock because of this. However he had started something that endures on to this day.

The invention of the telephone made telegrams obsolete, so very few telegrams were being sent from the 1960's and on wards. In fact the only incantation of a telegram that is really used to this day is that of the singing telegram. Evolving from that first sung happy birthday message it has since turned into a humorous way of delivering good news.

State funded companies such as the one that came up with the first sung telegram no longer participate in this practice. Instead there are many private companies that now offer this service. It is much more of a theatrical service now than it was before. The messenger is usually required to dress up as something that relates to the message that they are singing and they are delivered straight to the recipient wherever they may be. Although this is the usual method of delivery the message may be delivered other ways, such as on a DVD.

Telegrams are now virtually unrecognizable from what they are originally were. It is now an act and is used to deliver funny, or good news as opposed to the serious messages that this form of communication was known for before. The modern world has swallowed it and adapted it to it's purposes.




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