By the 1950's, the form and function of the telephone had become fully mature and well established. Western Electric felt it was time to focus on finding other ways to grow. The Princess phone thus marked a radical departure from previous design philosophy, becoming the first model designed from the ground up from a marketing perspective instead of a pure engineering one.
In another sign of their shift focus to more market-oriented culture, the Princess phone was also the first phone to have a trademarked model name instead of a model number. This was done purely for marketing purposes. A model number would not do, not only because model numbers are not as memorable, but because they cannot be trademarked. This is an issue that comes up time and again. Another example in recent times is when Intel decided to name their processor the Pentium, instead of continuing the tradition they had with their previous CPUs of giving them model numbers like 80386, 80486, etc. Intel did not want competitors like AMD using those same model numbers as they had done in the past with the 386 and 486, but Intel found out they could not apply for trademark protection of a model number, so they named it the Pentium, or "five" in latin for 80586.
The design of the Princess phone was done by Henry Dreyfuss Associates, and it would be the last telephone design to be overseen personally by Henry Dreyfuss himself.
The Princess model went into production in 1959, and although radically different in form from previous models like the 500/1500/2500, the technology in it was EXACTLY the same as other fourth generation telephones, just repackaged slightly. It was initially available in any color EXCEPT black, with a plastic housing and dial face, matched color coiled handset cord, and a matching color plastic handset. Black was finally added to the line in 1963. Legend has it that black was added to the pallete when Jackie Kennedy ordered a black one. Is there any truth to this legend? Who knows...
Initially, the Princess design had some serious deficiencies. The external ringer was not well received. The base was too light, and the weight was unevenly distributed, because the network was on one side of the dial, and the other side was totally empty. Legend has it that Bell Labs insisted on leaving that space empty "for future developments," but it made the Princess phone very prone to scooting around while the user tried to twirl the dial. To make matters worse, it has been said that Bell Labs was well aware of this problem from data they gathered during field trials, but for some reason, they chose to ignore their own findings. The Princess phone thus initially became known as the "three handed phone," requiring one hand to dial, one hand to hold the handset, and one hand to hold the phone in place while dialing. The other problem with the Princess phone was that it was very easy to knock the handset off the cradle.
The external ringer was later replaced with a single-gong internal ringer, and the problem with the base scooting around while dialing was partially solved by the addition of a lead weight (later replaced by the M-type single-gong ringer). Ultimately, the touch tone models made this problem almost a total non-issue. However, the problem of knocking the handset off the cradle always remained, and this caused some people to hate the Princess phone forever.
Despite all these problems and design shortcomings, the Princess phone remains one of the most beloved telephone designs of all time.
Although some various production changes and tweaks would occur over the over the years, the basic design remained almost totally unchanged from 1959 right up through the divestiture of AT&T in 1984. Production continued after divestiture under the name AT&T Technologies until 1986, when the Indianapolis Phone Works plant was finally closed in 1986, and production moved offshore. AT&T introduced a new "Signature Princess" series made in Mexico in 1993, but it was poorly received and short lived.
The vast majority of telephones made by Western Electric were made for the Bell System, although they also made special models without Bell System markings for independents, which were sold through Graybar. Western Electric also made some special models of the Princess for business institutions.
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