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Dick Tracy and ‘handie-talkie’ paved way for Motorola’s first cellphone call in 1973 – Chicago Tribune

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The very first cellular telephone call took place 50 years ago this week, Chicago.

And though it happened on a street in New York City, the DynaTAC (Dynamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage) prototype was designed and built in the Chicago area. (Visit the Chicago History Museum to get a closer look at a later version of the brick-shaped handset.)

This innovation was part of a technological evolution that was inspired by comic strip detective Dick Tracy’s wrist phone — according to former Motorola executive Martin Cooper, who made that first call — and predated by the company’s “handie-talkie” walkie-talkie and a two-way radio portable radio custom-built for Chicago police.

So the next time you use your smartphone, don’t forget its Chicago roots — and be thankful it’s significantly smaller than the 2.5-pound, 10-inch long original cellphone.

Become a Tribune subscriber: it’s just $12 for a 1-year digital subscription. Follow us on Instagram: @vintagetribune. And, catch me Monday mornings on WLS-AM’s “The Steve Cochran Show” for a look at “This week in Chicago history.”

Thanks for reading!

— Kori Rumore, visual reporter

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Chester Gould, creator of "Dick Tracy," with Mary Pat McCormick, 10, and her brother Michael McCormick in Gould's office in Tribune Tower in 1962 trying new two-way wrist radios.

Chester Gould, creator of “Dick Tracy,” with Mary Pat McCormick, 10, and her brother Michael McCormick in Gould’s office in Tribune Tower in 1962 trying new two-way wrist radios. (Chicago Tribune archive)

Vintage Chicago Tribune

Weekly

The Vintage Tribune newsletter is a deep dive into the Chicago Tribune’s archives featuring photos and stories about the people, places and events that shape the city’s past, present and future.

Creator Chester Gould initially called his comic detective “Plainclothes Tracy.” Read more here.

Motorola handie-talkie portable two-way radio, model SCR536, circa 1941.

Motorola handie-talkie portable two-way radio, model SCR536, circa 1941. (Motorola)

In 1947 the company, which had since its founding in 1928 been known as the Galvin Manufacturing Corp., changed its name to Motorola Inc. — a name company founder Paul Galvin had given the car radios his company made — and introduced the first commercially available portable two-way radios, the 250 milliwatt “handie-talkie” radiophone. Read more here.

Police officer Michael Capesius holds a new portable two-way radio being field tested for Motorola at East Chicago police station on March 21, 1967, in Chicago.

Police officer Michael Capesius holds a new portable two-way radio being field tested for Motorola at East Chicago police station on March 21, 1967, in Chicago. (Val Mazzenga/Chicago Tribune)

The 4-inch by 10-inch radio could be used in and, for the first time, outside an officer’s car. Read more here.

Martin Cooper holds a Motorola DynaTAC, a 1973 prototype of the first handheld cellular telephone, in San Francisco in 2003.

Martin Cooper holds a Motorola DynaTAC, a 1973 prototype of the first handheld cellular telephone, in San Francisco in 2003. (Eric Risberg / AP)

Like skyscrapers, improv comedy or even a good hot dog, the cellphone was born in Chicago but quickly claimed by New York City as its own. Cooper was standing on Sixth Avenue just blocks from Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan on April 3, 1973 when he dialed his Chicago-built cellphone prototype. Read more here.

To celebrate the two-year anniversary of the nation's first commercial cellular system, right here in Chicago, Ameritech Mobile Communications showed off the latest technology in September 1985, a brief case telephone with a built-in transceiver.

To celebrate the two-year anniversary of the nation’s first commercial cellular system, right here in Chicago, Ameritech Mobile Communications showed off the latest technology in September 1985, a brief case telephone with a built-in transceiver. ( John Dziekan/Chicago Tribune)

A bunch of grown men ran a race to determine who would be the country’s first commercial mobile cellphone customer. The event at Soldier Field included play-by-play by former Cubs announcer Jack Brickhouse. Read more here.

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Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Ron Grossman and Marianne Mather at rgrossman@chicagotribune.com and mmather@chicagotribune.com.



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