The Picturephone was first demonstrated at the AT&T Pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York, opening with an inaugural call from Lady Bird Johnson. The Picturephone was envisioned as a futuristic moneymaker, but in reality it was not popular with customers when it became commercially available in 1970. It was expensive and in order to work, both parties would need to have one. The bandwidth needed to carry video calls was also a challenge. Lastly, callers felt that being “camera ready” for conversations was invasive (a problem surely felt by many people today!)

Collection of AT&T Archives and History Center.

Compare this traditional copper wire cable to the sleek fiber optic cable here. Copper wires were no match for the ever expanding telephone and new computer usage.

Collection of AT&T Archives and History Center.

The white plastic casing is not original to the cable.

Collection of AT&T Archives and History Center.