Way back when (the seventies), telephone customers increasingly chose to buy and install phones not manufactured by Western Electric, the manufacturing arm of the Bell System. So the Bell System came up with the "Design Line" series of telephones that customers could purchase. Not really though. Early phones came with this disclaimer: "The telephone housing is your property. To assure quality of service, all working parts, e.g., dial, cords, and electrical components remain the property and responsibility of the Bell Telephone Company." Western simply stuck the working components of existing Bell telephones into contracted housings. Customers still had to pay rent on the guts. Finally around 1980, customers were allowed to own the phone outright. These sets were marked "CS" to denote that distinction. In 1986 manufacturing was moved out of the US.
This sort of thing simply marched to its death starting in the late eighties:
Here is a 1976 version of the Micky Mouse phone:
Sports an original Bell issued number card with the 219 area code. Indiana.
This was a standard Model 2500 desk phone with a Micky Mouse housing (insert joke here).
The Bell 2500 above.
So at about at the end of it and here is an example:
A Trimline phone totally encased in a Micky Mouse housing. I added the Southern Bell service award and a commemorative centennial paperweight to the picture.
I hope to spend some time here this week, but I do have laundry to do in prep for my vacation!
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