PHOTO: COURTESY OF FORDHAM UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, MESSMORE & DAMON COLLECTION

AT&T Communications LLC built this futuristic booth, whose look was inspired by sources ranging from Frank Lloyd Wright to "The Jetsons," for a circa-1975 trade show. The booth was designed by now-legendary Messmore and Damon Inc., a New York company that started in model making and then expanded into animatronic dinosaurs and exhibits at world's fairs. While the stand suggested next-century digital technology with displays of portable computers, AT&T was mired in the analog past, unable, for example, to phase out landline phones requiring operator assistance until 1978.