Why Do All Telephone Numbers In American Films Begin With "555"?

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STAGE AND SCREENWhy do all telephone numbers in American films begin with "555"?

  • FOR MANY years, 555 was unassigned as a dialling code in the US and could thus be used to prefix fictional numbers with impunity. Due to expansion, the code has recently been assigned, but scriptwriters and others maintain the use. BT maintain a list of unissued numbers for the use of authors and scriptwriters in this Britain.

    John O'Shea, Birmingham ([email protected])

  • THE 555 convention is now so firmly entrenched and so widely known that it formed a plot point in the unjustly maligned 1994 film, Last Action Hero. The young protagonist, having magically "fallen into" his favourite movie, tries to convince Arnold Schwarzenegger's square-jawed fictional cop that they're really in a picture. One of the lad's tactics is to ask several people for their phone numbers and question the coincidence that they're all 555. Arnie's frustrating response is, "That's why we have area codes."

    Ian Shuttleworth, Crouch End, London N8 ([email protected])

  • BACK in the 1980s someone did a pop song called "867-5309", which caused no end of annoyance to people in each area code who happened to really have that number.

    Kiva Offenholley Park Slope Brooklyn, New York ([email protected])

  • I NOTICED recently that Hollywood seems to be getting bored with the 555 cliche. In Conspiracy Theory Mel Gibson writes his phone number, which does not start with 555, but carefully obscures several digits instead.

    Paul Stancer, Hong Kong, China ([email protected])

  • TO REACH Directory Inquiries for a city in the United States, one dials 555-1212 (preceded by the city's area code if one is calling from elsewhere). I'd speculate that movies' use of 555 stems from this. Otherwise, when the film actor flips open a matchbook and dials a number written within it, the most plausible explanation is that he's calling an amnesiac who has forgotten their own number, but who recommends calling Directory Inquiries to obtain it.

    W D Handy, ([email protected])

  • KIVA Offenholley comes the closest to what I understand is the reason for the 555 numbers. Apparently there are enough screwballs in the American audience who actually dial up the numbers they see or hear on the screen that it was becoming a problem. Since the 555 exchange was for many years dedicated to Directory Assistance (dial 555 and any four additional numbers and you will get the information operator), any number beginning with 555 was safe to use in a TV show or movie. Anyone who wants to challenge me on this is welcome to telephone me at 1-203-555-3265.

    W V Dunlap, Hamden, Connecticut, USA ([email protected])

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