Gernsback had been interested in television since 1909 when he published his first article on the "telephot.," or videophone.  In fact, he invented the word "television."  For him, television and the telephone were seen as natural allies and that videophone success was simply a matter of developing the technology.  Television for him meant primarily live television and live television didn't mean entertainment programming, it meant face to face communication in the same way that telephones were mouth to ear.  Or mouth to ear to mouth to ear, if you want to be aggravatingly pedantic about it.

It isn't surprising, therefore, that the telephot played a big part in most of his scenarios about the future.  Perhaps the most famous, or infamous, of these was the opening chapter of Ralph 124C41+ where Gernsback's titular superman hero "meets cute" with his future girlfriend when a crossed connection sends her call from Switzerland to his machine accidentally.

 Apparently wrong numbers are a permanent part of the human condition.

They chat amiably in sizzling romantic dialogue that would not be equalled in literature until the publication of the Wing Nut Wholesale Catalogue for 1952.  After about a half an hour of pure grade A treacle she mentions in passing that she's trapped in a snow-bound chalet about to be destroyed by an avalanche and a ray of hope returns to the reader that this banter therefore can't last forever.

Never let it be said that Gernsback never focused on the dark side of technology.

Tales of Future Past | Ephemeral Isle | Freelance Writing | Radio Plays | Shop