HELLPPP!! 1980s cellphone needed

[adude23]

Hi there,
Am doing a show in April and we need an mobile phone from the 80's
I'm in the UK and wouldn't mind buying one or if someone out there would send it to me and let me send it back when I'm finished that would be GREAT!!
Please let me know if you could help me or know anywhere that could
thanks in advance
~adude~

 

[hsaunier]

Re: HELLPPP!!

Try "Vintage cell phone" on ebay. Found several there.

 

[adude23]

Re: HELLPPP!!

Thank you, Will have a look
~adude~

 

[gafftaper]

Re: HELLPPP!!

You've got about 4 hours on this one. Good luck!

 

[adude23]

Re: HELLPPP!!

WWaaayyyy too expensive . . . my budget for the whole 'properties' department is £100 or $135.86 if you will.
So i'm really looking for an item around the £10 mark or someone who could lend me or hire one out to me
thanks guys
~Adude~

 

[gafftaper]

Re: HELLPPP!!

Contact your local colleges/universities, community, and pro theaters. Someone in the area will have one available for loan or rent for cheap. Around here I can get just about anything for less than $25 depending on who I'm dealing with. The most important part of theater tech is making local connections.

 

[adude23]

Re: HELLPPP!!

Ok thank you,
I have asked around i just thought too use controlbooth as it's one massive local connection and i wasn't sure what i'd come accross
thanks again
~Adude~

 

[gafftaper]

Re: HELLPPP!!

No problem Dude! Unfortunately, as massive as this group is most of us are a few thousand miles away. Good luck.

 

[bobgaggle]

Re: HELLPPP!!

Wait, what's wrong with a chunk of scrap 2x4, a bandsaw and some paint?

 

[gafftaper]

Re: HELLPPP!!

Wait, what's wrong with a chunk of scrap 2x4, a bandsaw and some paint?

Excellent idea. It is after all just a big brick... and I wouldn't be surprised if that's how the original product was created.

How far away is the audience?
This solution fits my favorite category "good from far but far from good!"

 

[cdub260]

Re: HELLPPP!!

Adude23, I think I may have found something on the lines of what you're looking for. It's a fake replica of an 80's style cell phone in your price range. Since the price is listed in pounds, I'm going to go out on a limb here and speculate that it's being sold by a company in the U.K.

 

[adude23]

Re: HELLPPP!!

Thank you that's brilliant!
I'm going to take the idea of making one and if that turns out erm. . .crap lol then i will defiantly be buying one of those
Thanks for your help guys!
Another problem solved by the CB team
~adude~

 

[adude23]

Re: HELLPPP!!

Oh and the audience are going to be quite close as the orchestra are going to be on stage . . .that'll be a tight production. . but it's an am dram company with kids so i don't think that the audience will care much if the phone that's in one scene is made from ply LOL
And if they do then they've bviously got nothing better to do
thanks again
~adude~

 

[derekleffew]

Re: HELLPPP!!

Now that the question has been asked and answered, just getting around to moving this thread into the Scenery Dept., as it's a Props question; and we don't get enough traffic to warrant Properties having its own area.

/ ...stomps off grumbling "Nobody ever gives 'props' to props..."

 

[adude23]

I did have a look at scenery but didn't know which to put it in,
I will know in future thank you!

 

[jessamarie6]

I ran into this problem recently. I ended up buying and altering newer land-line cordless phones, which have a look similar to older cell phones.

Just a thought for everyone, this is quickly going to be turning into a big problem for theatres, so start planning now. Spread the word to actors, techies and maybe even the community as a whole that you are looking of rold cell phones. when people get a new one request that they donate their old one to you instead of recycling it. These are things we are going to be needing in productions, and we won't have them unless we start saving them now.