Original subtitles

(phone system dial tone)

‐ [Operator] Operator.

‐ [Narrator] It's the most widely used device

on the planet.

‐ [Operator] This is a recording.

‐ [Narrator] One‐and‐a‐half billion are sold every year,

more than televisions, computers, and cars combined,

generating $410 billion in annual sales,

(crowd cheering)

and it's changed the very fabric of our lives.

‐ I've been talking from here

all the way down to the office downtown.

(phone key toning)

‐ I think Alexander Graham bell would be shocked

to know what our phones are capable of today.

‐ [Narrator] And while it's evolved dramatically

over the past 150 years, (computer modem dialing)

every version shares one unifying feature.

‐ The ability to communicate to someone through voice,

what a transformation in human experience.

‐ [Narrator] But in 1874,

the telephone is just a dream shared by two visionary men,

one forgotten by history‐

‐ He couldn't have described my invention better

if he'd copied it.

‐ [Narrator] And the other, who gets all the credit.

‐ Watson, come here.

‐ I heard you!

I heard what you said!

‐ [Narrator] Bitter rivals who will stop at nothing

to make their vision a reality.

‐ Bell and Gray are watching each other like hawks.

‐ [Narrator] This is Telephone Wars.

‐ Ahoy?

(intense dramatic music)

‐ [Narrator] It's 1871,

and the United States is rapidly shifting

from an agricultural society to one of industry.

‐ Life is moving fast and things are changing fast.

During the Civil War,

the US government passes the Transcontinental Railroad Act.

There's a real push to bring America back

and to push westward across the continent.

‐ [Narrator] And along with the transcontinental railroad,

telegraph messages can now reach coast to coast.

‐ One important thing about almost all communications

and information technologies,

when these inventions come along,

they're invariably used first for business applications.

So, the telegraph is a really important business tool

for coordinating large‐scale industry.

‐ This was business.

This was important communiques.

But people weren't sending Dear John letters via telegraph.

‐ You would have to go to an office.

You wrote out a message.

You were charged by the symbol.

You wanted to keep it short and it wasn't cheap.

‐ [Narrator] A 10‐word telegram

from New York to Chicago costs a dollar,

$20 in today's money.

(pensive music)

And one company controls 90% of the telegraph business:

Western Union.

Its president, William Orton,

rules an empire of 5,000 telegraph offices

and 137,000 miles of wire.

But Orton isn't satisfied.

‐ [William] Where do we go from here?

‐ [Narrator] He wants to increase his revenue,

and he's willing to pay for it.

‐ And so, Western Union has a contest

asking inventors to come forward with a system

that can transmit multiple messages

across a single telephone line and win a million dollars.

A million dollars at this time

is the equivalent of about $20 million today,

so this is an enormous prize and it gives you some sense

of just how important this innovation would be

to Western Union.

‐ [Narrator] And one brash immigrant from Scotland

reading about Orton's challenge

believes he can win the prize.

‐ [Alexander] A million dollars.

My God.

‐ [Narrator] His name is Alexander Graham Bell.

‐ Bell was interested in communication

of the human voice from childhood.

His mother was deaf, his father was a teacher of the deaf.

He gave a lot of thought into how sound works,

how communication works.

It motivated a lot of his early work.

‐ Bell started tinkering at an early age.

While he was still a teenager,

he was reading and thinking about new inventions.

He was starting to make his own.

He had that kind of restless making urge.

(knocking on door)

‐ [Narrator] But like many inventors,

he can't afford his own lab,

so he relies on his local machine shop.

‐ Excuse me.

I wish to see the man who made these devices.

‐ One moment.

‐ These devices were not made correctly.

I'd like to know who worked on them.

‐ That was me, but I had no idea what they were for.

If you told me more, perhaps I could do better?

(soft electronic music)

‐ They're for transmitting sound over a wire,

a way to send more telegraph messages.

‐ Bell says, "I think I can do something

"with sound waves and electricity

"and figure out how you could send two, three, four messages

"over a wire at the same time."

‐ [Narrator] The shop worker Bell confronts

is 20‐year‐old Thomas Watson.

‐ When Alexander Graham Bell meets Thomas Watson,

he wasn't looking for this guy.

It was a chance meeting.

But they connect.

They are two sides of a coin.

Bell is a kind of dreamer.

He's the idea person.

Thomas Watson is an engineer

and he's someone who can see how to take those raw ideas

and mold them, transform them.

‐ [Narrator] One day, the pair will create

a revolutionary new communication system using sound

that will become the foundation

of a $180‐billion company with more than 200,000 employees.

But for now, Bell just wants to win

Western Union's challenge.

He thinks he may have cracked it with a system

he calls harmonic telegraphy, if he can get it to work.

‐ Bell's idea for the harmonic telegraph

is that one set of wires

will be connected to dozens of transceivers on each end.

Each transceiver is operating at a different frequency,

so simultaneous messages can be sent

over the same set of wires.

‐ [Narrator] But Alexander Graham Bell

is not the only one vying for the million‐dollar prize.

A thousand miles to the west,

prolific inventor Elisha Gray,

with nearly 70 patents to his name‐

‐ That's all I need for today.

‐ [Narrator] Already has a cozy relationship

with Western Union.

‐ Gray is very fastidious, he is driven,

he is an inventor, and he's very hands‐on.

‐ [Narrator] He also has been trying to figure out

how to send multiple messages along a single telegraph wire,

with no luck.

(high‐pitched tones)

‐ Charles?

What are you doing?

‐ [Narrator] Then, in 1874,

Gray discovers his nephew playing with an electrotome.

‐ The electrotome is a device

that was used in the 19th century

to "cure" various elements with an electric shock.

‐ Gray notices that by holding the electrotome's wand

in one hand and touching the metal tub with the other‐

‐ Let me try it.

(high‐pitched toning)

‐ [Narrator] He can generate sounds at different pitches,

like a musical instrument.

(pensive music)

Like Bell, Gray believes transmitting messages

at different frequencies could be the way

to send multiple telegraphs over one line.

To refine his theory,

Gray attaches an electrified plate to a violin.

Gray's new device is one of the world's first

electronic musical instruments and he's awarded a patent.

He is able to play different tones from his instrument.

Now, he needs to figure out how to transmit them.

(slow dramatic music)

Gray's cutting‐edge invention

is widely written up in the paper

and catches Bell's attention.

He now realizes Gray is not only a competitor,

but ahead of him.

‐ Signal to 1A.

‐ [Narrator] Bell goes all in

on trying to build a working harmonic telegraph

before Gray can do it first.

‐ No signal on 1A.

‐ Signal to 2B.

‐ [Narrator] But no matter what he tries,

Bell can't get it to work.

‐ [Thomas] No signal on 2B.

‐ [Narrator] And his hope of winning

Western Union's million‐dollar prize is slipping away.

(pensive music)

‐ [Narrator] At the height of the Industrial Revolution,

America is also expanding westward.

It becomes increasingly clear

for businesses to survive this rapid growth,

they need better and faster ways to communicate.

‐ Most communication in mankind's history

is about shortening distance and time.

"How quickly can I get a message there

"and over what distance?"

This is the great challenge.

(crickets chirping)

‐ [Narrator] Alexander Graham Bell is among the many

vying to win a lucrative prize from Western Union.

‐ I'm sending a signal to 2B.

‐ [Narrator] He and his colleague,

Thomas Watson, are still struggling

to make their harmonic telegraph system work.

‐ No signal on 2B.

‐ [Narrator] And they're almost out of funds.

(pensive music)

‐ Bell had no money.

He didn't have a lot of backing.

For a long time, he was really living kinda hand to mouth.

‐ What pays the bills is he teaches people who can't hear.

‐ [Narrator] Thanks to that job,

he's about to get a lifeline.

‐ Thank you.

Senator, this is my daughter Mabel.

‐ [Narrator] One of Bell's students is the daughter

of prominent Boston lawyer Gardiner Greene Hubbard.

He's spent years lobbying Congress

to make the telegraph a public utility like the mail,

but with little success.

‐ In 1870, Western Union controls

an astonishing 90% of the telegraph market.

William Orton is a 19th‐century colossus

who essentially runs an empire

that can charge exorbitant rates

and to which people are at his mercy,

and that's gonna make him very unpopular.

‐ Let's have lunch next time I'm in Washington.

‐ [Narrator] Hubbard wants nothing more

than to take Orton down.

‐ I'm going to invest in your work

on one condition.

You drop out of Orton's contest

and work on a new telegraph system for me.

‐ Understood.

‐ Hubbard becomes one of Bell's chief benefactors.

‐ Gardiner Greene Hubbard recognizes

in Alexander Graham Bell, a potential goldmine.

‐ [Narrator] But while Bell needs the money,

he has bigger aspirations.

‐ At some time, I would very much like to discuss with you

my ideas about voice transmission.

‐ I understand, son,

but the priority is your harmonic telegraph.

I suspect Mr. Gray is moving very fast.

There may, however,

be a way to (pausing) slow him down.

(pensive music)

‐ [Narrator] In Chicago, unaware he has a rival in Bell,

Elisha Gray is racing to win Western Union's prize.

In February 1875,

Gray files a patent for his harmonic telegraph system,

even though he hasn't actually built it yet.

‐ A patent doesn't mean that you have to have that device

ready‐made so that you can show it to the patent examiner.

(pensive music)

‐ [Gardiner] Gray is getting close to securing the prize.

He has to be stopped.

‐ Hubbard doesn't let Gray's patent application stop him.

He hires a lawyer to lean on a DC patent official

named Zenas Wilber.

‐ Wilber had personal struggles.

He was an alcoholic.

Later on, he was an embezzler.

He was a little bit of a desperate figure.

‐ I'm sure in a few months

I'll be able to reimburse you in full.

I will make it up to you.

‐ In the 1870s, the unregulated world of patents

is ripe for corruption.

People had the opportunity to make enormous fortunes,

but also graft and corruption at a scale

unlike any other period in American history.

‐ So, there are then a bunch of maneuverings

in the patent office,

some of which we know about and are above board

and some of which we don't know about

and are not sure if they're above board.

‐ Mail this, please.

(pensive music)

‐ [Narrator] After two months,

Gray still hasn't heard if his patent is approved.

In the meantime, he discovers something startling:

A rival has applied for a similar patent.

‐ "The United States Patent Office is informing you

"of a patent interference

"involving your application for musical telegraph."

Signed, "Patent Examiner Zenas F. Wilber."

How could Wilber issue Bell's patent so quickly?

I've read Bell's claim, and it seems to me

he couldn't have described my invention better

if he'd copied it.

‐ Personally, I would go for the kill.

I'm a nice guy 'til somebody punches me,

and then I'm gonna punch back three times.

‐ [Narrator] For a frustrated Gray,

months of research and hard work

seem gone without explanation.

Then, he finds new inspiration

that puts him back in competition with Bell.

‐ Can you hear my voice?

(deep electrronic music)

(dramatic music)

‐ [Narrator] Alexander Graham Bell's powerful allies

have secured patent approval for a new device

that can send multiple telegraph messages at once.

The only problem:

he still hasn't successfully built it.

‐ Mr. Watson, can you come here please?

This connection is not working.

‐ [Travis] Just having the idea

is only part of the effort.

Someone has to know how to build this idea.

(dramatic music)

(crickets chirping)

‐ Maybe we should just quit for the night.

‐ No.

Let's see if we can get it working.

I'll disconnect the battery.

(invigorating music)

What did you just do?

‐ I'm unplugging the read to get unstuck.

‐ Don't stop.

Keep plucking.

‐ [W] He not only hears

the fundamental frequency of the reed

that his assistant is plucking,

he hears a whole range of harmonic tones and overtone.

(invigorating music)

‐ [Narrator] Bell is trying to transmit a simple vibration

to build his harmonic telegraph,

but stumbles onto something even better.

‐ We can do it.

‐ Do what?

‐ We can transmit a voice!

‐ [Travis] This was the eureka moment.

Bell essentially mimicked

how the inner ear and the human brain

interprets and measure sound.

‐ [Narrator] Bell is now able to send complex sounds

over a telegraph wire.

It's the first step toward a working telephone.

‐ [W] With the right sort of microphone or transmitter,

you can basically carry the voice over the wire

and then it's translated back into sound at the receiver.

(invigorating music)

‐ [Narrator] A thousand miles away,

still working to resolve the interference claim,

Elisha Gray continues on his elusive quest

for Western Union's prize,

but something distracts the famed inventor.

‐ Hello, boy.

Sorry to bother you.

Would you mind if I had a try?

Can you hear my voice?

‐ Yes sir, I can hear you.

(dramatic orchestral music)

Hello, hello?

‐ [Christopher] Gray started to think,

well, could the thing that's moving

between the two points be an electrical signal

rather than just a physical vibration?

‐ [Narrator] It's the same breakthrough just made by Bell.

Gray quickly begins work on his version of the telephone.

And after learning that Bell is also pursuing the same goal,

he's desperate to beat him.

‐ Bell and Gray are watching each other like hawks.

They know that they're both

working on similar message systems

that are going to take advantage of tones or sounds.

‐ [Narrator] But there's one piece of the puzzle

they're both struggling with:

how to make the transmitter.

Gray believes he's found the key.

In early 1876, he files his patent for a telephone

with a liquid transmitter.

Worried Bell might be ahead of him,

he travels to Washington

to deliver his application in person.

(upbeat music)

‐ [Christopher] Gray's patent application

comes in at the intake office,

sets it aside,

ready to enter in the log book for the day.

‐ [W] Gray's is buried down on the bottom of the pile

because he comes early in the morning,

a bunch of other applications come in.

‐ [David] Bell's savvy patent attorney

finds out about it and says,

"Alexander, we need to get down to the patent office

"and get that patent in."

‐ [Narrator] Bell too has solved his transmitter problem

using magnets.

He and Hubbard traveled to Washington

to file his own patent with their inside man, Zenas Wilber.

(dramatic music)

‐ [Zenas] Take a look at this.

Gray's patent application.

Take it.

‐ One of the questions about what happened that day

is how Bell's patent changed as a result.

‐ [David] In the border, he writes in

what amounts to a description of Gray's technology.

(dramatic music)

Bell's attorney demands that the clerk stamp it right there

and put it in the register book,

that way securing Bell's claim

to have been the first to patent this transmitter.

That's enormous for the future of the patent of a device

that will transform the world.

(invigorating music)

‐ They're approving Bell's patent?

‐ [Narrator] Once again, Bell beats Gray to the punch.

‐ [Travis] Gray is wanting to sue over this.

His lawyer tells him it's not worth it.

Can you imagine looking back in time,

giving up the patent rights to the telephone?

‐ [James] Elisha Gray was a real engineering genius,

but he wasn't someone with the drive

to be an entrepreneurial success.

He didn't have the killer instinct.

‐ [Narrator] Elisha Gray's allies aren't giving up

without a fight.

Bell has the patent,

but he still hasn't created a working telephone.

(dramatic music)

‐ Ah, Watson. It's finished I take it?

‐ [Watson] Yes, sir. I'm here.

‐ [Narrator] Alexander Graham Bell

is granted his telephone patent in 1876,

but he still needs to create a working prototype

and he feels the pressure to work fast.

(upbeat music)

But after a long year of trial and error,

trying to transmit his voice...

‐ This connection is not working.

‐ [Narrator] Bell begins to lose hope.

(dramatic music)

‐ Watson, come here. I want to see you.

‐ I heard you. I heard what you said.

‐ What did I say?

‐ You said, "Watson, come here.

"I want to see you."

‐ Switch places.

(dramatic orchestral music)

‐ Uh, Mr. Bell,

do you understand what I say?

(dramatic orchestral music)

(laughing)

‐ [Travis] Before Bell, the telegram was the only way

for real‐time communications

and it was sending simple messages

in dots and dashes in morse code.

Imagine that compared to actually being able to hear

a real voice on either end.

That's something that many more people

would be excited about

and it actually tied humanity together.

(beeping)

‐ [Narrator] Bell's vision will revolutionize communication,

creating an industry that connects the world

in ways he never dreamed.

But first, he must persuade Hubbard

to give up competing with Western Union

and back his invention.

‐ [Alexander] I think we're really onto something here.

‐ [Gardiner] Voices you say?

‐ [Alexander] Yes.

And if we can refine the process,

this could replace the telegraph.

‐ [Gardiner] What is this going to cost me?

‐ This was not what Gardiner Greene Hubbard

had signed up for.

He had signed up for like a quick invention

that would get a patent.

‐ [Travis] Fortunately for Bell,

Hubbard actually has the foresight

to realize that this telephone

might be even larger of an idea than the telegraph.

‐ [Narrator] Hubbard insists

they should promote Bell's new device

and he knows just where to do it.

In the spring of 1876,

Philadelphia hosts a massive World's Fair

to celebrate the centennial.

Some 10 million people attend.

‐ These World's Fairs were a collective national

pats on the back,

but they were also promotional events

for people who had some new idea

and they wanted to show the world

what they could do.

You could call them consumer trade shows.

And if you can impress the audience,

then perhaps you can make your product eventually a reality.

(dramatic music)

‐ [Narrator] Bell's telephone demonstration

includes a familiar face.

‐ [Elisha] Mr. Bell.

‐ Mr. Gray.

(dramatic music)

Gentlemen and lady,

I invite you to listen on this receiver here.

I will transmit my voice from a device down the hall.

‐ [Narrator] It's the moment of truth

for Bell's new invention.

If it works, it has the potential

to revolutionize communication

and earn Bell and Hubbard a fortune.

‐ [Alexander] To be or not to be, that is the question.

‐ [Travis] Put yourself in Gray's shoes.

How calm would you have remained

if you would've been sitting there,

seeing your life's work in front of you?

(invigorating music)

‐ [Alexander] Aye, there's the rub.

‐ I believe I heard him say,

"Aye, there's the rub."

‐ [Narrator] Bell's device captivates the public,

earning him the exhibition's top prize.

‐ [David] People can't believe

what they're seeing and hearing.

The fact that human voices seem to be emerging

from this contraption.

It's beyond magical.

(invigorating music)

‐ [Alexander] Thank you.

‐ I give you credit.

My submission to the patent office had a similar idea,

but of course I hadn't actually built a telephone.

‐ [Narrator] It looks like Gray is defeated,

but he still has a powerful ally

in Western Union President, William Orton,

who wants to wage war on Bell

and he's bringing in the big guns.

‐ I think you know, Edison.

(dramatic music)

(intense music)

(pensive music)

‐ [Narrator] Just one year after Bell presents his telephone

at the centennial celebration in Philadelphia,

his new device begins to pop up in select locations.

‐ The inventory's ready!

‐ [Narrator] Including the place

where Bell first met Watson,

his local machine shop in Boston.

‐ Usually, the early adopters

were only making a call to a couple of places

not far from home.

They might be doctors who wanted to connect themselves

to a hospital,

to receive calls in the middle of the night

or business people who were wealthy,

who often wanted a single line

from their house to their place of work.

‐ Making a telephone call could be an ordeal

in the early days.

For one thing,

you didn't just pick up the receiver

and ask the operator,

connect me with such and such and you'd get connected.

It would be a call connection delay, could take time.

‐ [Narrator] And the quality of the call is terrible.

‐ People described the sounds of these early telephones

as being filled with other people's voices,

crosstalk, weird sounds of like wind and static,

weird high‐pitch sounds like chirping.

You had to yell to make yourself heard.

And the further the line went,

the signal got quieter and quieter.

‐ [Narrator] Some are just plain scared

of the new technology.

‐ There was something called telephone terror,

which was a fear of picking up this thing

and talking into it.

And it was widespread.

‐ Goodbye!

(pensive music)

‐ [Narrator] Bell's investor isn't afraid.

He knows Bell's invention needs vast improvement,

but he sees a windfall.

On July 9th, 1877,

the Bell Telephone Company launches

with Hubbard as president

and Bell as chief electrician and largest shareholder.

It will eventually become known

as the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, AT&T.

(dramatic music)

As the business community begins embracing the telephone,

Western Union president, William Orton, realizes this toy,

as he once called it,

could soon replace the telegraph

and take down his multi‐billion dollar

communications monopoly.

‐ What does he do?

He reaches out to one of the greatest inventors of all time.

(pensive music)

‐ I think you know, Edison.

(pensive music)

‐ Thomas Edison,

and he brings him on board

and there's a race now underway.

He's hoping that Thomas Edison can help Western Union

beat Bell to the punch

and come up with a better telecommunication system

that will serve business.

(pensive music)

‐ I think Edison here can help us

make a better telephone than Bell.

‐ [William] What about the patents?

‐ I'll deal with the patents.

(tense music)

‐ [Narrator] In just a few short months,

Edison devises a game changing innovation

to Gray's and Bell's original telephone designs.

His upgraded transmitter offers callers

a much clearer line of communication.

‐ Very often, it's better to be second

and see what the other guy has done,

learn from his or her mistakes

and build a better mouse trap.

(dramatic music)

‐ Orton forms the American Speaking Telegraph Company

to compete.

By combining Gray and Edison's work

Western Union now has a better phone

and a built‐in infrastructure of telegraph lines.

(dramatic music)

Bell Telephone sues for patent infringement.

(dramatic music)

Orton is ready for the fight.

(dramatic music)

But fate steps in.

He suffers a stroke and dies.

Without Orton, his lawyers settle the lawsuit.

‐ Personally, I don't think Orton would have settled.

I think Orton would have fought it out

because I think Orton was confident that,

that he could manage the technology in such a way

that he could have a very sophisticated,

very successful network.

(pensive music)

‐ [Narrator] In 1884,

just a decade after Bell first began

pursuing his new invention,

workers set thousands of poles to string long distance lines

between Boston and New York.

It's the first major step toward a national system.

But Bell isn't enjoying his success,

as his patent is challenged more than 600 times.

The constant allegations of stealing his rival's design

and fending off patent challenges

takes more than just an emotional toll on Bell.

They threaten to destroy his entire business.

And he's about to face his greatest challenge, yet.

(dramatic music)

(pensive music)

‐ [Narrator] It's 1886, and the Bell Telephone Company

now has over 19,000 subscribers,

114,000 miles of telephone wire

and is bringing in $3 million a year,

the equivalent of $85 million, today.

But they're about to face the greatest legal challenge

to their patent, yet.

‐ One of the companies that's a Bell rival,

which is called the Pan‐Electric Company,

tries to recruit the United States government against Bell.

It does eventually go forward.

The Department of Justice sets up a team

to fight Bell.

‐ [Narrator] And they have a star witness on their side.

Zenas Wilbur, the former US patent examiner

who approved Bell's telephone patent

over rival, Elisha Gray's.

(dramatic music)

On May 22nd, the Washington Post

prints Wilber's bombshell confession.

‐ [Zenas Voiceover] "I am convinced that, by my action

"while Examiner of Patents that,

"Elisha Gray was deprived of proper opportunity

"to establish his right to the invention of the telephone".

(dramatic music)

‐ Wilber says, this was all completely corrupt.

He says, Bell's lawyers

had me disclose Gray's invention to them.

Bell wrote some of that invention

into his own patent application.

The other piece of evidence which comes out much later

is a handwritten copy of Bell's patent,

where there's a section that's written up the margin

as though it wasn't in the original and it's been added.

‐ [Narrator] But Wilbur's claim doesn't stop there.

He says that as Bell was leaving,

he slipped him a hundred dollar bill.

‐ Wilbur, at this point, is not a credible witness.

He's an alcoholic.

He's dissolute.

He's changed his story various times,

but he provides ammunition for Bell's enemies to claim,

all of this was a fraud.

‐ [Narrator] The case goes all the way to the Supreme Court

where the final decision is a razor thin, four to three,

in Bell's favor.

This will be the last major challenge to Bell's patent,

and the last statement from Zenas Wilbur

before he goes to his grave.

(dramatic music)

‐ [Zenas Voiceover] "I am fully aware

"that this will be denied by professor Bell,

"but nevertheless, it is true."

‐ [Narrator] In 1901,

25 years after submitting his own telephone patent,

Elisha Gray writes a letter to a magazine editor,

staking his claim.

‐ [Elisa Voiceover] "I was wrong in assuming

"and believing professor Bell had fairly made his invention.

"Mr. Bell, having obtained my secrets,

"claimed my discovery as his own

"and by this means, got credit for my invention".

‐ [Narrator] One week later, Gray dies.

(dramatic music)

‐ The Bell Gray controversy continues to animate people

and the excitement of telling the stories

about the machines that built America

is understanding that in any given moment,

it isn't one individual versus another,

but it's the give and take

between friends, between allies, between enemies,

between rivals, that competition between them

that makes the invention such an interesting story.

‐ [Narrator] The invention Bell and Gray battled over

will go on to help revolutionize global communication

beyond either man's wildest dreams.

(dramatic music)

‐ It domesticated this idea.

It made telecommunications, over time,

utterly necessary for many aspects of daily life.

That machine, including all the wires,

all the exchanges,

spun off so many important inventions

like the transistor, subminiature vacuum tubes,

microphones.

‐ It's a device that many of us sleep next to.

It's the first thing we check when we wake up.

And the last thing we check when we go to sleep.

(dramatic music)

‐ [Narrator] Bell becomes a celebrity.

In 1915, the 67‐year‐old

makes the ceremonial first trans continental phone call

from New York to San Francisco.

His trusted friend, Thomas Watson, is on the other end.

Bell's status, as father of the telephone,

is now firmly embedded in the American consciousness.

‐ It's an astonishing story.

It's a remarkable achievement of human creativity

to make it possible for you to pick up a device,

decide who you want to speak to,

in any other part,

well, of the country, the city, now, the world,

and to be able to actually to do it.

It's astonishing.

It takes my breath away.

‐ Ahoy.

(pensive music)

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