Alexander Graham Bell, of course, invented a telephone. Not the first one, though, but his Bell telephone worked better than earlier models and so history chose him to make it simple. This movie deals with his true story and, as Hollywood tended to do, some made up parts.
The picture became so popular that its star's name, "Ameche," actually became synonymous with telephones, as in "Get me my brother on the Ameche." I used to think that was some after the fact PR but I actually heard someone in an old radio show use the expression once.
This ad offers some images that aren't easy to understand unless one already knows the story, along with way too much text in an attempt to explain it all. Most prominent is the face of Ameche--here not long away from being Charlie McCarthy's radio announcer!--pressed up against that of Loretta Young, indicating a love story, with Henry Fonda nearby, indicating a love triangle...which it actually isn't.
A good cast. Fonda, of course, would remain an A list actor all his life, even winning the Oscar for what turned out to be his final role in the 1980s.
Ameche's career faded drastically but eventually, in the '80s, he had one of the biggest comebacks in film history with a spate of big name hits, above the title billing and award nominations!
Bell's telephone, on the other hand, has largely been supplanted by other means of communication.
In 1939, though, I would have used it a lot and thus been curious about the man who invented it. I'd have gone.
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