2/15/2016

Use The Singing Telegrams Bay Area Residents Recommend

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.

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.

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.

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.

When the telephone became popularized, telegrams fell by the wayside. From the 1960's the use of the telegram dropped drastically. The only telegrams that are used in today's day and age are ones that are sung to their recipient. This evolved from that very first sung telegram to the celebrity for his birthday to the funny way of delivering a personal message that we know today.

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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