Obituary: Jane Barbe, 74
the "Telephone Lady"
Jane Barbe, 74, voice heard round the world
By J.E. GESHWILER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you've never heard Jane Barbe speak, chances are you've never used
the
telephone.
For 40 years, hers was the recorded voice that gave you the time and
temperature or told you how to reach the appropriate party or
instructed
you to wait until an operator was available or simply said you'd better
call back another time.
She didn't talk to just an Atlanta audience. Telecommunications
companies
around the country, even around the globe, employed her as their voice.
One of those companies calculated that during the mid-1980s she spoke
to
10 million of its customers a day.
The graveside service for Mrs. Barbe, 74, of Roswell was Monday. She
died
Friday of complications from cancer at North Fulton Regional Hospital.
Roswell Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
A drama major at the University of Georgia, Mrs. Barbe was hired as a
vocalist with the Buddy Morrow Orchestra, where she met her husband,
John
Barbe, the band's music arranger.
Relocating to Atlanta a few years later, she took a job as a copywriter
at an ad agency. As she told the Journal-Constitution in 1987, "Here I
am,
writing copy as a college graduate, but my spelling is atrocious. The
first copy I wrote, a commercial for Big Apple [grocery stores], I took
into my boss' office and asked, 'Since this is for radio, may I read
it?'
so he wouldn't see my spelling. So I read it. He liked it and asked me
to
do the voice work for it. That was my first radio commercial."
In 1963 she began making recordings for Dacryon, a pioneering voice
mail
company. "A good voice is not enough," her husband said in the 1987
article. "It's talent and a sense of timing. Jane's timing is so
accurate,
she can speak to a tenth of a second to fit the technical demands of
the
voice systems."
Conversationally, Mrs. Barbe had a Southern accent, but on the job, she
spoke in unaccented American English, using a tone described as
authoritative but friendly. "She spoke into a microphone, but she
focused
on talking to you, the listener," said Mike Miller, recording services
manager for Electronic Telecommunications Inc. in Atlanta.
"Just to show how versatile Jane was, at the request of Australian
phone
company officials, she did time and temperature messages with an
Australian accent that she perfected after listening to recordings of
Australians talking," her husband said.
Mrs. Barbe realized not all her phone recordings were well received.
She
told the Chicago Sun-Times in 1992 that "I know people get frustrated
sometimes at the sound of my voice. One day I heard my own mother in
the
other room bang down the phone and say, 'Oh, shut up, Jane!'"
Mrs. Barbe worked with her husband to produce commercial jingles for
advertising clients, including Delta, Orkin, Rich's, Southern Bell and
local banks.
"Jane was one of the absolute top voice talents in Atlanta," said Kathy
Hardegree, president of Atlanta Models and Talent Inc. "Some artists
can
be difficult to work with; not Jane. She had a sparkling personality as
well as a delightful talent."
"Jane was one of the founders of our local union," said Melissa
Goodman,
executive director of the Atlanta branch of American Federation of
Television and Radio Artists. "She helped build it and as a board
member
for several terms gave it direction."
"Jane did a lot of volunteer work at North Fulton Regional Hospital and
at
church," her husband said. "They even asked to her to answer the phone
at
church, not knowing what she had been doing all these years."
Survivors include a daughter, Susan Stubin of Passaic, N.J.; a son,
David
Barbe of Athens; and seven grandchildren.
Please CLICK HERE for more information about Jane Barbe, and an audio tribute to her.