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Ripped from the Phone Book

145 statements
27 feature instances
19 referencing feature instances

Ripped from the Phone Book	type	FeatureClass
Ripped from the Phone Book	label	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book	page	RippedFromThePhoneBook
Ripped from the Phone Book	comment	Whenever an investigative character looks up information in a telephone directory and find the one piece of information they've been looking for, they'll rip out the entire page from the phone book. A lot of the time, the directory was one of those found next to a public telephone, which mean that our Sam Spade or Intrepid Reporter has just ruined the chances of anybody else looking up anybody whose name begins with B. Perhaps it helps to show how rushed and straight to the point they are but you'd think people in those professions would have gotten used to carrying around a pen and notepad. This can be Truth in Television, although it might just be Life Imitates Art. In either case, it can get very frustrating after the Oh-don't-know-how-many-times one has gone to look up something in the phone book at a public pay phone only to discover several pages missing, including the one you needed. Of course, this is getting rarer as phone books at public telephones, and indeed public telephones themselves, are increasingly hard to come by. Factor in Technology Marches On (as of the 2010's people can simply type the number into their cell phone, or take a photo of the page they need with a camera phone) and it'll likely be a dead horse before long. See also Just Take the Poster. Not to be confused with Ripped from the Headlines. Examples
Ripped from the Phone Book	fetched	2023-12-02T10:30:59Z
Ripped from the Phone Book	parsed	2023-12-02T10:30:59Z
Ripped from the Phone Book	processingComment	Dropped link to AngelsAndDemons: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
Ripped from the Phone Book	processingComment	Dropped link to IntrepidReporter: Not an Item - FEATURE
Ripped from the Phone Book	processingUnknown	AngelsAndDemons
Ripped from the Phone Book	isPartOf	DBTropes
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_1979d5b4	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_1979d5b4	comment	Mary does this in Mary and Max when looking for the address of an American, wanting to ask a question about the country. She does this because her mom drags her along (causing to rip out the page in the progress) after she's trying to flee the post office, having been caught shoplifting.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_1979d5b4	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_1979d5b4	featureConfidence	1.0
Mary and Max	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_1979d5b4
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_22532d78	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_22532d78	comment	In the season 3 pilot of Fargo, when Maurice arrives at Eden Valley, he looks up E. Stussy in a gas station's phone book and rips out the page with his address in full view of the attendant. Not only does it lead to him killing the wrong person, it also provides evidence that the killing wasn't random.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_22532d78	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_22532d78	featureConfidence	1.0
Fargo	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_22532d78
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_261c8d3f	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_261c8d3f	comment	The Simpsons: Lisa does this to Dr. Nick's ad in "My Sister, My Sitter".
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_261c8d3f	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_261c8d3f	featureConfidence	1.0
The Simpsons	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_261c8d3f
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_2c4a4759	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_2c4a4759	comment	In the first episode of Huntik: Secrets & Seekers, Lok Lambert goes into a phone booth to find Dante Vale's phone number while fleeing from the Organization. He eventually finds the V section and tears the pages out and runs out of the booth just as it gets blown up by one of the Organization's monsters.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_2c4a4759	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_2c4a4759	featureConfidence	1.0
Huntik: Secrets & Seekers	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_2c4a4759
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_2e2efbf9	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_2e2efbf9	comment	In Back to the Future, Marty searches for Doc in a phonebook in a cafe and rips the entire page out for one number.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_2e2efbf9	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_2e2efbf9	featureConfidence	1.0
Back to the Future	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_2e2efbf9
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_405294e3	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_405294e3	comment	The F.B.I.: In "The Monster", fugitive Francis Jerome looks up the phone number of the woman he is hunting in a directory in a phone booth, then calls her to make sure she is there. When she answers, he hangs up and rips the page from the phone book.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_405294e3	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_405294e3	featureConfidence	1.0
The F.B.I.	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_405294e3
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_4bfae3e9	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_4bfae3e9	comment	In The Light Fantastic, a scheming and ambitious wizard discovers the one piece of information that makes sense of a major crisis threatening the existence of the Disc itself. Rather than share the vital knowledge, and in order to discredit his rivals and boost his claim to the Arch-Chancellory, he bribes the Librarian with bananas note A magical accident has just transformed the human Librarian into the form of an orang-utan to locate all the copies of this particular Book, plus cross-references to it in other books, and check them all out on his ticket - so that nobody else can find them.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_4bfae3e9	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_4bfae3e9	featureConfidence	1.0
The Light Fantastic	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_4bfae3e9
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_66ea3059	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_66ea3059	comment	In Kangaroo Jack, Lewis looks through a phone book to find someone who knows about kangaroos. He comes across a page about wild life and tears it out.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_66ea3059	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_66ea3059	featureConfidence	1.0
Kangaroo Jack	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_66ea3059
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_77e519cc	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_77e519cc	comment	Cradle of Fear: After getting the email containing the address where the Snuff Films are made, Richard goes to a newsagent and surreptitiously rips the page showing the location from a street directory.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_77e519cc	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_77e519cc	featureConfidence	1.0
Cradle of Fear	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_77e519cc
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_8ae673e5	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_8ae673e5	comment	Downplayed in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In the last scene when Clem tracks down Joel at his apartment, we see her in the car holding a ripped out telephone page with Joel's address marked up.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_8ae673e5	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_8ae673e5	featureConfidence	1.0
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_8ae673e5
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_8ffd1b86	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_8ffd1b86	comment	Doctor Strange (2016) starts with the villains breaking into Kamar-Taj's library to steal a page from a Tome of Eldritch Lore depicting a Dangerous Forbidden Technique, which they do just by ripping the page out, showing their contempt for the Ancient One who owns it. As Strange points out at the end of the movie, they should have stolen the whole book, given that it warns why it's a Dangerous Forbidden Technique.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_8ffd1b86	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_8ffd1b86	featureConfidence	1.0
Doctor Strange (2016)	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_8ffd1b86
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_9058ad7e	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_9058ad7e	comment	In The Terminator, Kyle Reese does this with the page containing the listing for "Sarah Connor". A Deleted Scene has Sarah doing it when she finds Cyberdyne Systems in a rather tattered phone book. Averted by the Terminator himself, since the cyborg's flawless memory allows it to instantly memorize the listings.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_9058ad7e	featureApplicability	-1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_9058ad7e	featureConfidence	1.0
The Terminator	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_9058ad7e
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_92b530e0	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_92b530e0	comment	In Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, Gabriel holds on to a page from a phonebook that Grace retrieved for him. Lampshaded when he notes: Somewhere there's a New Orleans phone book missing one of its "C" pages.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_92b530e0	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_92b530e0	featureConfidence	1.0
Gabriel Knight (Video Game)	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_92b530e0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_a183d57f	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_a183d57f	comment	Futurama: Bender does this in Bender's Big Score when he is searching for Fry in the past. This was a take-off on the aforementioned example from The Terminator. Bender was a robot going into the past to kill Fry, and there were many different joking Terminator allusions in that sequence. Only problem is that in the aforementioned example the robot didn't rip it out. Ah, well.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_a183d57f	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_a183d57f	featureConfidence	1.0
Futurama	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_a183d57f
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_abb70593	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_abb70593	comment	The Magician: In "The Illusion of the Fatal Arrow", a Professional Killer is given Tony's name from his employer while he is in a phone booth, and immediately rips the page with Tony's name and address out of the directory.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_abb70593	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_abb70593	featureConfidence	1.0
The Magician	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_abb70593
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_b0bb89d8	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_b0bb89d8	comment	Superman: The Movie. Lex Luthor is looking through a book in his library to find some information about a meteor landing in Addis Ababa. When he finds it, instead of just showing it to his henchmen he rips it out and hands it to them.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_b0bb89d8	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_b0bb89d8	featureConfidence	1.0
Superman: The Movie	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_b0bb89d8
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_c14809	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_c14809	comment	Done in The Dream Team by Billy when he and the group are searching for their missing psychiatrist in a hospital. One of the group, Henry, does note that what Billy did is vandalism, but Billy shrugs it off and it's never brought up again.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_c14809	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_c14809	featureConfidence	1.0
The Dream Team	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_c14809
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_cac1f772	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_cac1f772	comment	Done by one Rock Star in an episode of CSI; he was tracking down an ex-groupie who had given birth to his son.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_cac1f772	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_cac1f772	featureConfidence	1.0
CSI	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_cac1f772
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_d6a2059f	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_d6a2059f	comment	In The Last Boy Scout, Jimmy Dix (Damon Wayans) uses a pay phone (in a police station no less) to get an address so he can track down where Joe Hallenbeck (Bruce Willis) is. He rips the page from the phone book as Joe's daughter looks on. She then traces the information he wrote down, and rips that page out of the phone book and follows him, leaving the phone book back at the police station with two missing pages!
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_d6a2059f	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_d6a2059f	featureConfidence	1.0
The Last Boy Scout	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_d6a2059f
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_da861da1	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_da861da1	comment	In Veronica Mars, Wallace's estranged father Nathan Woods rips out the page of a phone book while looking for Alicia Fennel's address.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_da861da1	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_da861da1	featureConfidence	1.0
Veronica Mars	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_da861da1
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_df07d96e	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_df07d96e	comment	In one episode of Lois & Clark, there was a plot point where Lois was looking for information on an individual but it wasn't in the phone book nor yellow pages. It was however in the white pages and she promptly tore a page out of a copy in the phonebooth.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_df07d96e	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_df07d96e	featureConfidence	1.0
LoisAndClark	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_df07d96e
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e033006e	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e033006e	comment	In Unknown (2011), the hero rips a page from the phone book in a public phone booth.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e033006e	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e033006e	featureConfidence	1.0
Unknown (2011)	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e033006e
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e293455a	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e293455a	comment	Glory with the Magic Box ad in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Shadow". And a different use of the trope is shown in Season 7's "Showtime". A Potential steps off a bus and goes to a public phone to look up Buffy's address, only to find the page ripped out. Having identified herself by turning to the torn page, the Bringers move in to kill her.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e293455a	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e293455a	featureConfidence	1.0
Buffy the Vampire Slayer	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e293455a
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e718e33b	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e718e33b	comment	Frantic. Harrison Ford does this because he's getting increasingly frustrated over his attempt to get hold of an off-duty concierge who might have seen where his missing wife got to.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e718e33b	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e718e33b	featureConfidence	1.0
Frantic	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e718e33b
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e98de0bd	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e98de0bd	comment	Hilariously taken to the extreme in Knowing when Nicolas Cage's character crowbars an entire door (which of course has information written on it) off of its hinges and takes it with him. Well, he was in a hurry.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e98de0bd	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e98de0bd	featureConfidence	1.0
Knowing	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e98de0bd
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e9eda396	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e9eda396	comment	A variant in Disconnect, where Ben's father rips the page with Jason's picture from the school's year book for later use.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e9eda396	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e9eda396	featureConfidence	1.0
Disconnect	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_e9eda396
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_eb3a4552	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_eb3a4552	comment	Guns, Girls and Gambling: Having discovered the Asian Elvis's real name in the Elvis Elvis's apartment, John Smith goes straight to a nearby phone booth and looks him up in the phone book, then rips the page out to have his address.
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_eb3a4552	featureApplicability	1.0
Ripped from the Phone Book / int_eb3a4552	featureConfidence	1.0
Guns, Girls and Gambling	hasFeature	Ripped from the Phone Book / int_eb3a4552

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Ripped from the Phone Book	processingCategory2	Narrative Devices
Ripped from the Phone Book	processingCategory2	Phone Tropes
Back to the Future / int_d05bc66b	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind / int_d05bc66b	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Frantic / int_d06a524b	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Guns, Girls and Gambling / int_d05bc66b	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Oldboy (2003) / int_d05bc66b	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Superman: The Movie / int_d05bc66b	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
The Game (1997) / int_d05bc66b	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
The Last Boy Scout / int_d05bc66b	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
The Terminator / int_d05bc66b	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Unknown (2011) / int_d05bc66b	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
RippedFromThePhonebook	sameAs	Ripped from the Phone Book
Kolchak: The Night Stalker / int_d05bc66b	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
The Magician / int_d06a524b	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Veronica Mars / int_d05bc66b	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Gabriel Knight (Video Game) / int_d05bc66b	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
Mary and Max / int_d05bc66b	type	Ripped from the Phone Book
The Brave Little Toaster / int_d05bc66b	type	Ripped from the Phone Book

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