18.2.16

The Singing Telegrams Bay Area Residents Use

By Charles Sullivan


Throughout the history of humanity many varied forms of communication have been used. From the very simple messages that had to be delivered physically on horseback, or through the smoke of a fire, to the world wide web and cellular technology that is now widespread. There are however still older forms of communication still available to use, mostly as a joke though. One of these forms of communication is the singing telegrams bay area residents use around the globe.

The telegram is a method of communication that was popular throughout the 19th and 20th century. It was as popular as the telephone since before the traditional telephone was invented. Basically, what it was, was a simple, written message that was sent through various means, either a wire or a broadcast. In it's early days it was sent through Morse code.

This method of communicating was most often used to deliver news that was of a serious nature. They were not used to talk about things in general, they had very specific uses, for example delivering the news of a death or a birth was one of the most popular uses. Telegrams that are sung take away the seriousness of a telegram and replace it instead with something comedic.

In 1933, a popular telegram company at the time received a telegram that wished a Hollywood movie star a happy birthday, from an adoring fan. The public relations director of the company at that time was struck by an inspiration when the birthday message to the celebrity was received. He decided to put a spin on the method of delivery for the telegram. He had one of the operators sing the message over the phone to the celebrity. This was how the very first singing telegram happened.

Because telegrams were most often associated with deaths and funerals and other such serious news, this public relations director wanted to make them fun and in doing so give them another use, which he hoped would make them more popular. However this idea of his was not well received by the company, and he was told that he had made the company a laughing stock.

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.

Nowadays there are many different private companies all over the world that offer this telegram service, as it is still very popular. Instead of a telephone delivery it is now delivered in person, making it much more theatrical. The messenger is required to dress up, usually along the theme of what the message is of and it is sung to the recipient personally. There are other options however, a popular way of doing it is to burn the whole performance onto a dvd and send it to the person, if they cannot be contacted through the traditional means or are in another country.

Being one of the oldest forms of communication, sending a telegram now means a very different thing than what it meant years ago. It is virtually unrecognizable from what it originally was. Instead of serious it is humorous, and instead of being delivered over long distances it is now delivered in person, usually.




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