Century 21 Calling

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Century 21 Calling is a 1962 stealth advertisement for telephone technology (in this vein, much like Once Upon a Honeymoon). It aired as a short feature with Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode 906, The Space Children.

It was directed by Jerry Fairbanks and features ample footage of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair.

Not to be confused with any instance of advertising for a certain real estate firm.


Tropes used in Century 21 Calling include:
  • Chewing the Scenery: The two...teenagers mincing about the fair, nearly bowling people over.
  • Landmark of Lore: The then-new Space Needle, Monorail and what is now the Pacific Science Center.
  • Mighty Whitey: Heavily implied by the short, as the two teens treat various ethnic persons at the Fair like dolls.
  • Society Marches On: And on and on and on.[context?]
  • The Voiceless: The two main characters never speak.
  • Zeerust: Zig-zagged; a number of the then-new advances have become ubiquitous. Other uses (such as phoning the house in order to start the oven) have been found too fanciful... although the late-2010s idea of the "Internet of Things" is bringing that particular idea back into the public consciousness.