In attempting to come up with a reasonable answer to this, I’m trying to guess what else she could be holding…?
Perhaps she really is a time-traveller, sent back through the decades to make a jaw-dropping cameo appearance. Or maybe she was a maverick genius, secretly testing out advanced technology for the government and caught on camera at the wrong moment.
Whatever the explanation, this footage from a Charlie Chaplin promotional film in 1928 showing a woman apparently using a mobile phone has left viewers stumped.
There’s a logical explanation here somewhere. I’m just not sure when I’ll find it.
1) No cell towers.
2) no microelectronics back then. Electronics by today’s standards were PRIMITIVE then.
3) Who would she be talking to?
4) All bundled up like that, how do we know it’s really a woman?
Occam’s razor. It’s NOT a cell phone. What it *could* be is fun to speculate on. However, still photography doesn’t hack it. Can we see the moving pictures, please?
Igor
Snuff was quite popular among women during that era, as was the jeweled snuffbox…
She may be covering her mouth while coughing. That would explain the clenched fist.
The shadow cast by the person in question doesn’t seem quite consistent with the shadow cast by the fellow walking in front of her. I think it’s a hoax.
Also note the shadow of the horse versus the woman. If the woman is actually holding her hand in this position she could be shading her face from the early or late day sun. The horse could have been added later. So is the really tech marvel of this 1928 pic photo shop?
I saved the pic and modified it with fill light.
It now looks like she is carrying a suit on a hanger, the hanger hook is in her left hand holding it high to aid the right hand which is lifting the suit clear of the ground.
@Rich – I see the right hand, now that you mention it…. could be.
Hey it’s a “Joe Biden telling CBS News that Democrat Franklin D Roosevelt went on television to reassure America after the 1929 stock market crash – although Republican Herbert Hoover was president during the crash, which predated television” moment!