his name was used for the telephone
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Don Ameche
moviep8tri8 — 19 years ago(May 27, 2006 10:57 PM)
in the early 1940's, after ameche had starred as alexan2000der graham bell, the role was so popular, people referred to the telephone as the ameche.
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toshguy — 15 years ago(December 22, 2010 05:25 PM)
Billy Wilder and Charless Brackett wrote that in their script for Ball of Fire from 1940, but I don't know if it was actual slang or if they thought it up and people started using it after hearing it in the film.
I'm here, Mr. Man, I can not tell no lie and I'll be right here 'till the day I die -
jstatser — 10 years ago(March 08, 2016 09:42 PM)
It seems kind of odd, that a role in a biographic film would lead to such a wide spread phenomena. But Ameche for phone was in use from almost the minute the film came out in 1939 until the early 50's. Along with just saying Don Ameche invented the phone. The earliest reference seems to be 1940 film Go West, Groucho Marx proclaims, "Telephone? This is 1870, Don Ameche hasn't invented the telephone yet".
It wasn't as if Ameche was particularly a super star or that the Movie was a block buster. I heard it as a kid in the 50's and could not figure it out. I had never heard of Ameche, certainly didn't know the movie. Even when explained to me i didn't get it.
No one called a light bulb a Spencer Tracy, who played Edison in 1940. Still a puzzle to me.
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TonTon — 3 years ago(July 03, 2022 07:37 AM)
Not odd. Back then movie stars were often a major part of the culture and also a major part of in-jokes and references. That occurred a lot back then and more so than today.
As for Ameche's star power, he was actually a big star in his day. Here is Ameche's box office ranking:
1938: 16
1939: 20
1940: 21
1941: 22
THE STORY OF ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL was a huge hit. The film had its premiere in San Francisco and major stars like Tyrone Power were in attendance. The fact that it was a popular expression for so long is a testament to how effective it was. "The Ameche" sounds a lot more impressive than "The Tracy." Maybe that's a reason why it stuck.
The Ritz Brothers referenced Spencer Tracy in one of their routines "Spencer Tracy invents electricity."