12.29.2009
Pluperfect PDA (2)
By: Joshua Glenn | Categories: Haw-Haw, Popular

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Det. Lt. Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) fiddles with his PDA while interrogating Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) about the murder of Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney). From Otto Preminger’s Laura (1944).

Oblong shape, glass screen, fingers and thumbs positioned to the sides of the object… yep. It’s another pluperfect PDA!

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He’s probably texting with HQ, right? Oh, wait. It seems he’s downloaded a sports app…

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The witty repartee in this scene, about the game McPherson is playing while on a murder investigation, no doubt inspired the quatsch examination-room dialogue (Adam Sandler tells Seth Rogen to stop playing an iPhone game) in Funny People.

Ringtone: “Swinging on a Star”

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Second in an irregular series of posts locating Personal Digital Assistants that have somehow ended up in the pre-PDA past. Readers are encouraged to send us examples of this phenomenon!

SIMILAR HILOBROW SERIES: DOUBLE EXPOSURE — the stratagems of Middlebrow | EGGHEAD — a gallery | FITTING SHOES — famous literary footwear | LATF HIPSTER | PANTENE MEME — a found gallery | SHOCKING BLOCKING — cinematic blocking

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Joshua Glenn is a Boston-based writer, publisher, and cultural semiologist-for-hire. He does business as KING MIXER, LLC. He is coauthor and/or co-editor of TAKING THINGS SERIOUSLY, THE IDLER'S GLOSSARY, THE WAGE SLAVE'S GLOSSARY, the object-oriented story collection SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS, and the kids' field guide to life UNBORED. He is co-founder of the websites HILOBROW and SEMIONAUT; and co-founder of the science fiction imprint HILOBOOKS. He produced and co-designed the iPhone app KER-PUNCH. He manages a secretive online community known as THE HERMENAUTIC CIRCLE. In the '00s, Glenn was an editor, columnist, blogger (BRAINIAC), and new media producer at the BOSTON GLOBE. In the '90s, among other things, he published the philosophy/pop culture zine HERMENAUT; co-produced the DIY website and early online social network TRIPOD; and was an editor at UTNE READER.

3 Comments to “Pluperfect PDA (2)”

  1. Matthew Battles says:
    December 29, 2009 at 12:38 pm

    I thought cigarettes were the tool of choice for mid-twentieth century Americans with a manual fixation. But this proves that technology’s imperium is so perfect in its effortless expansion that it even reaches into the past to meet our needs.

  2. Joshua Glenn says:
    December 29, 2009 at 4:03 pm

    Yes.

  3. Peggy says:
    December 29, 2009 at 5:11 pm

    Cigarette cases were the perfect cover for an addiction ahead of its time.

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