Another masterpiece by Normura (TN) of Japan here we have a switchboard operator working hard at her job.  So exactly what was her job?  Well back in the early days of phone calls there was no "direct calls".  All calls had to be physically connected by one of these switchboard operators in order for you to talk.  This meant the operator had to listen to all calls to know when the call was over.  They would then send to the billing department who made the call, to whom the call was made, and how long the call was.  Of course the switchboard operater was trained to monitor multipe calls at the same time (each wire on their board is a different call) and trained not to easedrop on actual conversations.  

One of the more sought after "on the job" toys this Switchboard Operator really captures the essence of this critical communications industry job at the time.  Drawing on power from 2 D-cell batteries this toy does the following:

1.  The switchboard itself has a spinning light that makes the entire board flash.  

2.  At the same time she moves both hands up and down to connect different calls.  

3.  Her head moves slightly while running and can be manually turned to different positions.  

4.  From the inside comes a "ringing" sound (although it is a little raspy ... watch the How it works video to see why).

The smart combination of bright colors with the industrial drab gray switchboard really makes this gal jump to the front of the desireability line.