We’ve Got Your Number

Ruby Dee was in the midst of a hilarious bit in her one-woman show, “My One Good Nerve,” when a cell phone rang not once, not twice but three times somewhere in the front rows. Dee did not miss a beat, though some in the audience at the Canon Theater in Beverly Hills would have been happy to wring the neck of the insensitive patron.

Turn to Sunday, Dodger Stadium, Eric Karros at bat against the St. Louis Cardinals when the sudden ringing of a cell phone caused some fans, though not Karros, to take their eyes off the ball. They missed his homer, a highlight in an otherwise forgettable Dodger outing.

Civility is flagging. Cell phones are a problem at concerts, movies, sporting events, libraries--even funerals.

In the company of strangers, a ringing cell phone is an avoidable affront. For doctors and other emergency personnel, a pager will deliver the message without the racket.

Posted signs kindly asking “Please turn off your cell phone” can also help, but clearly there are many among us too rude to comply. With an estimated 60 million Americans owning the devices, what’s a person to do? Offenders are everywhere, including the woman who forgot to turn off her cell phone as her plane rolled down an LAX runway for takeoff. Hello, who’s there?

Laurence Fishburne stepped out of character during a performance of “The Lion in Winter” on Broadway when a cell phone rang persistently. He chastised the rude theatergoer and got a standing ovation. We add our own.