Our Telephone Theatre
The Hotline:1980-1990
By Arlene Levin
(c) 2021
“Leave your message after the tone.” There was a time when this simple request struck fear in the heart of a caller. Leaving a recorded message was a challenge for many. Inhibited and self conscious, they worried how they would sound to the listener. “I’m not going to leave a message on a machine. I’m gonna just call back”. “I wouldn’t have an answering machine. I think it’s insulting.” “I prefer answering services”. And then there were the other callers, “I just wanted to leave a quick message. I didn’t expect her to be home answering the bloody phone!”
The year was 1980 and the telephone answering machine and the recorded message were slowly but surely taking their place in our daily communication. That was the year I opened my Telephone Theatre with “The Hotline”. How did I get there...Let me start at the beginning.
The King Tut exhibition was coming to Toronto. During November and December 1979, thousands would walk past my McCaul St. studio on their way to the Art Gallery of Ontario. I was looking forward to the show as well but thought “I live in the largest artist’s community in the country. Maybe we can encourage visitors to see art that’s a little more contemporary than Tut.” So, The Queen Tut Exchange was born and the Canada Council funded it.
A prominent local community arts administrator actually said to me, “I can understand why they gave you money to produce a printed calendar, (there was none at the time) but what is so great about calling a telephone number and listening to a voice reading a list of galleries and what’s being shown?” I was shocked. Her comment was so unenlightened I couldn't find words to respond. Where would I start? Do I bother to tell her “Unlike the antiquated print calendar you support, a telephone info line can be updated at a moments notice and is accessible to thousands.” I guess she missed that part!.
We published our monthly calendar in the artist run publication "Only Paper Today" but The Queen Tut Telephone Hotline was the biggest challenge. A 3 minute recording, it changed weekly updating art and gallery news along with special artists events. In Toronto, Now Magazine and Slate Gallery Publication started shortly after our project closed. I always wondered if they were inspired by our efforts.
During the project, The Art Information Hotline received 20 to 30 calls a day. As an experiment I left a blank tape on the side of the machine that could receive messages. Even though not invited, callers began to leave comments. I was fascinated. Most times they just hung up but some asked questions. Some made lewd comments. It was obvious callers wanted to talk. I kept wondering “Who are these people? What do they have to say?”
In the new year the Tut Exhibition closed and Queen Tut went dormant. After 4 months of 20 hour days I was a mass of quivering protoplasm. I was tired, burnt out and disillusioned. Dressing in the morning was an accomplishment. I needed to get away. I found enough money to go to Paris for 3 weeks to see a friend. I decided I would deal with the Hotline when I returned.
I arrived home with a new sense of self-worth and a brighter outlook. Now I thought, "The Hotline". The Queen Tut final message was still broadcasting. Were there 10 calls a day, were there 40?” I never counted because every time the machine clicked registering a call, I shuddered as it reminded me I had to decide its future.
In my studio I had 2 telephone answering machines, an active telephone number and a small listening public. For some reason I just couldn’t pull the plug. In a way I felt I owed something to these loyal listeners. My friend Janis was the voice on line during the project. I thought, “Now this is all up to me. What am I going to do.?”
I knew I had to change the message but I had no direction so I decided to "stall". I don’t recall my first recording but it probably went something like this, “Thank you for calling. No new information is available at this time so please call back in a week. And, you can leave a message after the tone.” I thought, “Who are these callers out there? Let’s hear what they have to say!” That was the beginning of the great unleashing. Pandora’s box was open.
“Ya mean you’re giving me a chance to talk. Far out”
‘You have a great voice."
"I sure would like to meet you sometime. Here’s my number. Call me back.”
They began to talk and I began to listen. Callers thought I had a seductive voice. Initially I reasoned that since the number was in the phone book as “The Hotline” a woman’s voice would sound provocative no matter what she talked about. Over time I was proven wrong. Callers were definitely attracted to my voice.
In the meantime, a new direction for the Hotline slowly became apparent. One persistent caller pressed forward, “You said a week. I’ve been calling for 3 weeks. Look, I don’t care what ya say, tell bad jokes, but please change the message before we all die of boredom!”
With that challenge I was hooked. I had to change the message. But just like many others at the time, I too was intimated by the thought of leaving a recording, especially since it would be so public.
“OH I’m so glad you called”
Pause
“Really, when did that happen?”
Pause
Oh no, was anyone hurt?”
Pause
“I’m go glad you’re safe”
Pause
“Yes, of course you can,
so leave your message after the tone.
Callers were confused but intrigued. They kept calling and I kept changing my message. As my recordings developed I continued to use the one sided telephone conversation. Sometimes I would take significant words from callers messages and work them into my recording. When performing, I would emphasize those specific words. For example, a caller said, “my name is Justin”. My follow-up message might include, “Well, we arrived just in time”.
Since I never responded to callers directly, this was my way of acknowledging their recordings. I was never sure if they got “my message to them” but is was fun. To include as many caller's words as possible I discovered when arranging their key phrases with small connectives, I began to create images and meaning. This was the beginning of my free form blank verse messages. Now....if you squint your eyes and hold your breath, with a big stretch and lots of imagination, this could be poetry.
An early excerpt.....The underground was quite safe
Amongst the cobwebs and starmeat
With a bit more confidence I found my voice. I branched out into current events and commentary on the state of the universe.
For the first 9 months I changed the message almost daily. During that time I honed my writing and performance skills. The answering machine allowed me to hear my recording with every call. Listening to my voice thousands of times helped me shape my sound.
And there was The Music, it all came from the radio. Every time I heard what I called “Hotline Music” I’d jump up, find a tape, pop it into the deck and hit record. My scripts were less than 3 minutes long and most times they were written to the music.
You may ask, how did callers find the number. That’s a great question. Queen Tut callers were joined by sex hunters. Telephone Sex Lines were rapidly gaining popularity. With this in mind, many found The Hotline in the telephone book. It was just that simple. Others got the number by word of mouth.
It was June 1981. The Hotline was receiving about 100 calls a day. There were lots of hang-ups with callers leaving only 10 or 20 messages. At that point I was pretty comfortable with The Hotline’s development. I was able to transcribe their messages and still have time to prepare my daily recording.
I was still fascinated. All kinds of people called The Hotline, people from all walks of life, ethnic backgrounds, economic groups...men, women, children. They called for all kinds of reasons, ask all kinds of questions and said all kinds of things.
Everyone wanted to know “What is this? What is “The Hotline?” Well, the only thing everyone knew for sure was that my messages were recorded and caller’s messages were being recorded too. We didn’t know if someone was telling the truth or just acting but it was irrelevant. The Hotline was its own reality. True or false, no one was any more or any less than what they said at the time they were being recorded. That’s the reason I call this performance, telephone performance in a telephone theatre and The Hotline and the machine and the telephone are the stage.
And perform they did. People who never put moon and June together were writing poetry. Groups got around the telephone and sang songs in 3 part harmony. There were even little skits with 2 or 3 actors. Listening and transcribing their messages was a riveting adventure. Each day I delighted in listening to “my public” exploring their creativity.
Suddenly in 1991 the Hotline seemed to be under attack. My “warhorse” Sanyo Answering Machine began clicking non-stop as calls started to come in. “What’s going on?” I thought. I listened for messages but most calls were just hang-ups. Hours later I finally got a message from a regular caller. “I had a lot of trouble getting through. You may not know this but the reason your line is so busy is because Dunford printed your number in the newspaper today." “What!” I screamed. I was outraged, I felt violated. “Why would he do this without permission" I thought.
It was true. June 5 1981 Gary Dunford, a columnist for the Toronto Sun wrote about The Hotline and printed the number in his story. He said he called a few times and left messages asking me to call him back. As a practice I never return phone calls. I am anonymous and I keep my callers anonymous too.
The next day, with The Hotline still clicking no-stop with calls, I finally got through to Dunford. On the phone I introduced myself by repeating my telephone number as my name. “Hello, this is 595...”and repeated the number. He knew who I was and why I was calling.
His tone was almost flirty and uncomfortable at the same time in a passive aggressive way. I guess he too thought the line was somehow sexual. I asked, “Why did you think it was ok to print my number in the newspaper without permission?” There was a long pause. He said, “I thought the line was public. So many people have the number”. “Yes, lots of people call my line but it wasn’t publicized until you took it upon yourself to print it in the newspaper.”
I can’t remember the exact conversation. I was pre occupied thinking about the communication mess Dunford created. It was a long time before The Hotline settled down.
By 1986 calls tapered off to about 10,000 a month with outgoing Hotline messages changing only 3 or 4 times during a 30 day period. I continued to ask callers to leave messages which I listened to and transcribed.
That was the year I made the Hotline Excerpt Tape. I wanted to share the voices, the sounds, the words and the music that were a little window into the secret world of our Telephone Theatre. The tape included my outgoing recordings along with an incredible cross section of messages callers left over the years. Recently I posted this sound experience at www.soundcloud.com At the site, search for "Telephone Theatre 1980-90."
In 1990, ten years after it started, I officially closed my Telephone Theatre: The Hotline.
Here is the last message:
"This is a true story
It was years ago,
I was in Istanbul at the palace of Topkapi.
It was September, the hollyhocks had just gone to seed.
I picked some of those seeds...
Seeds for pink and some for a dark blood red hollyhock,
the colour of which I’d never seen before.
I said "Some day I'll have hollyhocks from Topkapi growing in my garden”.
I wrapped up the seeds very carefully and put them in my backpack.
Years later, at the bottom of my wooden treasure chest
I found the old stained piece of paper still folded around those hollyhock seeds.
They were buried under old letters and pictures, yellowing postcards and
brittle road maps. They were buried under the solid bits and pieces of this travellers memories. I planted those seeds in my garden... and they grew.
Sometimes we collect the seeds that grow in our gardens from very unusual places. Sometimes we don't even recognize the seeds until they start to grow...and that's what happened to us here.
When this telephone theatre began I had no idea I would be planting seeds that would grow in so many gardens. Over the years people of all ages and interests called this number.
Some called to listen and to perform, others to wonder and some to understand,
to dream, to imagine.
BUT everyone at some point asked the question
"What is this? Why do you do it?..."
Well, my answer is quite simple,
This is Telephone Theatre. And Telephone Theatre is what you make of it and what you do with it. I created this theatre because you were there as audience and performer, critic and
co conspirator and besides all that, it was fun.
Now it's time to take the seeds that we started here so many years ago...out of this darkened theatre and into the light for this is our final curtain call.
And to you this final thought...It comes from the Viking Book of Runes...
It's called the Gateway...
Now close your eyes
Visualize yourself standing before a gateway on a hilltop. Your entire life lies out behind you and below you. Now, before you step through the gateway, stop and review the past, the learning and the joys, the victories and the sorrows, everything it took to bring you here. Observe it all, bless it all, and release it all for in letting go of the past you reclaim your powers for the future
And now, take a deep breath and...
Step through the gateway...now."
I really enjoyed this telephone theater story ! Engaging and inspiring!
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