50's Fad:Telephone Booth Cramming

The year was 1959. Fidel Castro marched into Havana, Cuba. There was a race riot in Collins Park,Delaware: a “negro” George Rayfield bought a house and moved into an all white neighborhood. Police had to use dogs to disperse an unruly crowd. Sidney Poitier, Pat Boone and Jack Paar were heroes. Ruby Dee, Maria Callas and Marilyn Monroe were heroines. Firestone tires, Tang and canned fruit were advertised in Life magazine. It was the April 6th issue that carried a photo by Joe Munroe of telephone booth cramming in California. This issue contained the series ‘How the West was won.’

Durban, South Africa is a thriving port city of 3.5 million on the KwaZulu-Natal coast, a popular tourist site. Fifty-one years ago in Durban, 25 college students crammed into a telephone booth. They were looking to set a Guiness Book Record in a non-existent event; they did. Entering this competition 19 students at London University stuffed themselves in a wider telephone booth. In Britian this fad was called “telephone box squash.” 34 in Modesto, California. In Canada 40 fraternity students stuffed themselves in a wider telephone booth on its side. Then the fad went underwater. Female and male co-eds stuffed themselves in a telephone booth underwater in a pool at a Fresno, California motel.

With no rules nor guidelines this event was unable to sanction itself. So came rules:
· The telephone booth crammers must either receive or place a telephone call
· The door can remain open
· ½ half a person must be within the telephone booth
· The booth must be upright

Now the competion moved into the technique and organization stage. Various planned packing styles emerged. The two more popular were the sandwich style and the crosshatch technique invented at MIT.
Out west at St. Mary's College, Moraga, California the preliminary telephone booth stuffing was in the booth in the Aquinas Hall dormitory. Perhaps posters were put up. "Come participate in a Big Event! Guiness Book of Records. Individuals and Teams compete."
Was this a fraternity competition or a new college sport? What did they call it? Off with the shoes. Off with the shirts. Who will be on the bottom? This must have been hilarious!
When Life magazine photographer, Joe Munroe and wife Virginia were assigned to cover this event a glass telephone booth from across town was hauled to the campus. This photograph of 22 students appeared in Life magazine on April 6, 1959. The only recognizable face was Ray Motta.

At the recent Fiftieth Anniversary celebration March 30, 2009 the students performed a reenactment at St. Mary’s College. Ray Motta was there. Ron and Don Dorito reported that they were on the bottom in 1959. Ted Tsukahara was at the Anniversary celebration as an observer retelling this story of how the West won.

1.8 million telephone booths have been disconnected in the recent five years. Now we know who cares.