Five people in a telephone booth Phonebooth stuffing is a sporadic

fad A fad or trend is any form of collective behavior that develops within a culture, a generation or social group in which a group of people enthusiastically follow an impulse for a short period. Fads are objects or behaviors that achieve short- ...

that involves a number of people consecutively entering a

telephone booth A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; usually the user steps into the booth and closes the booth ...

until either the phonebooth can accommodate no more, or there are no more individuals available. Competition to beat prior records of numbers of people has been an aspect of the fad's popularity; however, that has decreased over the decades, in part because of the reduced prevalence of fully-enclosed booths.

Spread

The origins of the fad are unclear, but it was only one of several that had likely originated and become widespread in the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

-years. By early 1959 the fad had spread to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kn ...

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. On March 20, 1959, students at the

Durban, South Africa Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

set a world record when 25 of them were able to squeeze at least the greater portions of their bodies into a standard upright phonebooth. The participants ranged in height from . Very little unoccupied volume remained; when the phone rang, nobody inside had enough space free to pick up the handset and answer it.

Subsidence

Although it had been referred to as "one of the all-time great fads" by the Bridgeport Post, it had come to be regarded as passé by the end of 1959. It was akin in meteoric rise and fall to the earlier fads of flagpole sitting,

goldfish swallowing The act of swallowing live goldfish was a fad popularized in American colleges in the late 1930s. History Although it is not clear how the fad emerged, various people have made claims. A 1963 letter to ''The New York Times'' claimed that it was s ...

, and

panty raid A panty raid was an American 1950s and early 1960s college prank in which large groups of male students attempted to invade the living quarters of female students and steal their panties (undergarments) as the trophies of a successful raid. The ...

s, and to the later fad of

streaking Streaking is the act of running, often naked, through a public area for publicity, as a prank, a dare, or a form of protest. Streaking is often associated with sporting events, but can occur in more secluded areas. Streakers are often pursued b ...

.badfads.com
"Telephone booth stuffing." Retrieved October 5, 2007 While still practiced contemporarily, it has not again achieved the social currency it had in the late

1950s The 1950s (pronounced nineteen-fifties; commonly abbreviated as the "Fifties" or the " '50s") (among other variants) was a decade that began on January 1, 1950, and ended on December 31, 1959. Throughout the decade, the world continued its re ...

References

category:1950s fads and trends category:history of the telephone category:public phones {{popular-culture-stub

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Subsidence

See also

References