In a brief respite from their 24-hour-a-day vigil performing a vital community service, telephone operators await relief from the heat and enjoy one of their few diversions; watching the delight of neigborhood children when the ice man arrives.

Joe Csatari dedicates this painting to all the telephone operators who played such an important part in the early years of telephony. In 1976, Csatari succeeded his friend and mentor, Norman Rockwell, as illustrator of the Boy Scouts of America calendar. Joe designed two U.S. commemorative postage stamps and a series of collector's plates. His illustrations have appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, McCalls, Readers's Digest and Outdoor Life.