achieved a level of popularity unusual for musical
theater and inspired many references, parodies,
and imitations in popular culture throughout the
decade. When it closed in 2000, it was the longest-
running show in Broadway history. “Memory,” mean-
while, was both a popular hit and an instant stan-
dard. It is said that, at any moment in the United
States during the mid-1980’s, “Memory” was playing
on a radio station somewhere, and it was one of the
decade’s most requested songs.
Further Reading
Eliot, T. S.The Complete Poems and Plays: 1909-1950.
New York: Harcourt, 1952.
Snelson, John.Andrew Lloyd Webber. New Haven,
Conn.: Yale University Press, 2004.
John C. Hathaway
See also Ballet; Broadway musicals; Music;Phan-
tom of the Opera, The.
Cell phones
Definition Wireless telephones connected to
networks capable of transmitting calls across
wide areas
The development of cellular telephone networks in the
1980’s sparked a steady increase in the use of wireless com-
munication during the decade, producing changes not only
in communications but also in economic activity and social
interaction generally.
Prior to federal approval of the first large-scale cellu-
lar telephone network in 1983, wireless telephone
technology was relegated primarily to marine, emer-
gency, and military uses. Private mobile telephones
were expensive, cumbersome, and extremely lim-
ited in functionality and coverage. Wireless commu-
nication “cells,” constructed around centralized re-
lay towers, had been proposed in the late 1940’s, and
cellular technology had slowly progressed since the
first experiments of the 1960’s. During the 1970’s,
the Motorola Corporation, under the direction of
Martin Cooper, moved to the forefront of cellular
telephone technology by developing a practical
handheld mobile telephone, while American Tele-
phone and Telegraph (AT&T) utilized its federally
sanctioned domination of telephone service in the
United States to develop the first large-scale trial
cellular networks. The viability of the Motorola hand-
held telephone combined with the breakup of AT&T
in the early 1980’s gave Motorola the advantage in
the race for federal approval of commercial cellular
networks.
The First Generation In September, 1983, the Fed-
eral Communications Commission (FCC) granted
Motorola permission to market its handheld mobile
telephone and develop a cellular network for its
use. The DynaTAC 8000x, known colloquially as
“the Brick,” was ten inches long, rectangular, and
weighed twenty-eight ounces, yet its relative por-
tability constituted a dramatic improvement over
earlier mobile telephones, most of which required
fixed installation. The FCC also approved use of the
Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) developed
by Bell Labs in the 1970’s for the construction of cel-
lular telephone networks. In the years that followed,
numerous companies rushed to establish cellular
telephone networks in the United States and Can-
ada. Aided by “call handoff ” technology developed
in the 1960’s, which allowed cellular telephone users
to enjoy uninterrupted service while moving from
one communications cell to another, these compa-
nies laid the groundwork for what became known as
the first generation of cellular communications. Uti-
lizing radio frequencies in the frequency-modulated
(FM) spectrum, cellular networks were connected
to the land-based telephone system and utilized the
same system of area codes and seven-digit numbers
as did land-based service.
The use of cell phones remained restricted to a
small minority of Americans during much of the
1980’s. Networks, although growing, were available
only in major urban areas until the end of the de-
cade. In addition, cell phones and cellular service re-
mained prohibitively expensive for most consumers.
The DynaTAC sold for approximately four thousand
dollars, and service typically cost hundreds of dollars
per month. Thus, early cell phones were utilized pri-
marily for business purposes, becoming closely iden-
tified with young urban professionals, or yuppies.
Growth and Development Despite the relative ex-
clusivity of cell phones, the number of cell phone us-
ers increased dramatically in the United States dur-
ing the latter half of the 1980’s, as the relatively low
cost to phone companies of establishing cellular net-
works continued to fuel the growth of those net-
works throughout the decade. In 1985, cellular tele-The Eighties in America Cell phones 189