History Main / RippedFromThePhoneBook

* ''WesternAnimation/{{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 ''Film/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.

*** "You can vandalize my property as long as you buy stuff!"

* In ''Film/TheTerminator'', Kyle Reese does this with the page containing the listing for "Sarah Connor". Averted by the Terminator himself later in the film, since its flawless memory allows it to instantly memorize the listings.

* In ''Film/{{Unknown}}'', the hero rips a page from the phone book in a public phone booth.

* Hilariously [[UpToEleven 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.
* Similarly in ''AngelsAndDemons'' when Vittoria Vetra rips the page from a priceless document by Galileo (likely the only one left in the entire world) to the shock of Dr Langdon, rather than waste time copying it.
* Done in ''TheDreamTeam'' 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.
* In ''Film/TheLastBoyScout'' 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!
* ''{{Frantic}}''. Creator/HarrisonFord 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.

* In one episode of ''[[LoisAndClark The New Adventures Of Superman]]'', 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.
* Done by one Rock Star in an episode of ''{{CSI}}''; he was tracking down an ex-groupie who had given birth to his son.
* IntrepidReporter Carl Kolchak regularly did this in ''KolchakTheNightStalker''. In one episode he went to find a number in his office phone book but discovered he had previously ripped out the page. He used the phone book of fellow reporter Ron Updyke - and ripped the page out of it too.
* In ''VeronicaMars'', Nathan Woods rips out the page of a phone book while looking for Alicia Fennel's address.

* Toaster does this in ''TheBraveLittleToaster''.
* Bender does this in ''[[{{Futurama}} 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.
* ''TheSimpsons'': Lisa does this to Dr. Nick's ad in ''My Sister, My sitter''.
* Mary does this in ''MaryAndMax'' 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.

This can be TruthInTelevision, although it might just be LifeImitatesArt. 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 TechnologyMarchesOn, where 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.)

* Hilariously [[UpToEleven 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 it's hinges and takes it with him. Well, he was in a hurry.

* Glory with the Magic Box ad in the ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' 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.

* Bender does this in ''[[{{Futurama}} Bender's Big Score]]'' when he is searching for Fry in the past.
** Presumably his brainwashing messed with a robot's abillity to memorize information instantly.
** Actually, 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.

* In one episode of ''[[LoisAndClark The New Adventures Of Superman]]'', there was a plot point where Clark Kent 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 he promptly tore a page out of a copy in the phonebooth.
** Actually it was Lois who tore the page out. She's like that.

* ''{{Frantic}}''. Creator/HarrisonFord 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.Addis Ababa

* In ''BackToTheFuture'', Marty searches for Doc in a phonebook in a cafe and rips the entire page out for one number. The cafe owner doesn't seem to mind; maybe he was used to seeing it happen all the time in Bogart flicks.

* In ''[[{{Terminator}} The Terminator]]'', Kyle Reese does this with the page containing the listing for "Sarah Connor". Averted by the Terminator himself later in the film, since its flawless memory allows it to instantly memorize the listings.

* In ''TheLastBoyScout'' 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!

* ''{{Film/Superman}}''. 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.

* ''{{Frantic}}''. Creator/HarrisonFord 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.

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 who's name begins with B. Perhaps it helps to [[RuleOfDrama 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.

* ''{{Frantic}}''. HarrisonFord 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.

** Actually it was Lois who tore the page out. She's like that.
* Done by one Rock Star in an episode of ''{{CSI}}''; he was tracking down an ex-groupie who had given birth to his son.

* In ''[[VeronicaMars Veronica Mars]]'', Nathan Woods rips out the page of a phone book while looking for Alicia Fennel's address.

** Presumably his brainwashing messed with a robot's abillity to memorize information instantly.

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* In ''[[{{Terminator}} The Terminator]]'', Kyle Reese does this with the page containing the listing for "Sarah Connor". Averted by the ''{{Terminator}}'' later in the film, since its flawless memory allows it to instantly memorize the listings.

* Glory with the Magic Box ad in the ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Shadow".

* In ''[[{{Terminator}} The Terminator]]'', Kyle Reese does this with the page containing the listing for "Sarah Connor" (this might be justified as him trying to protect the other Sarahs on the same page). Averted by the ''{{Terminator}}'' later in the film, since its flawless memory allows it to instantly memorize the listings.

'''Examples'''

* In one episode of ''[[LoisAndClark The New Adventures Of Superman]]'', there was a plot point where Clark Kent 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 he promptly tore a page out of a copy in the phonebooth.
** Actually it was Lois who tore the page out. She's like that.

* Done by one Rock Star in an episode of ''{{CSI}}''; he was tracking down an ex-groupie who had given birth to his son.

* Toaster does this in ''TheBraveLittleToaster''.
* Bender does this in ''[[{{Futurama}} Bender's Big Score]]'' when he is searching for Fry in the past.
** Presumably his brainwashing messed with a robot's abillity to memorize information instantly.
** Actually, 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.

* 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.
* IntrepidReporter Carl Kolchak regularly did this in ''KolchakTheNightStalker''. In one episode he went to find a number in his office phone book but discovered he had previously ripped out the page. He used the phone book of fellow reporter Ron Updyke - and ripped the page out of it too.
* 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!
* In ''[[VeronicaMars Veronica Mars]]'', Nathan Woods rips out the page of a phone book while looking for Alicia Fennel's address.

* In ''[[{{Terminator}} The Terminator]]'', Kyle Reese does this with the page containing the listing for "Sarah Connor". Averted by the ''{{Terminator}}'' later in the film, since its flawless memory allows it to instantly memorize the listings.

This can be TruthInTelevision, although it might just be LifeImitatesArt. 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.)

* ''{{Frantic}}''. HarrisonFord does this to a page with the gym a witness is at, as he's beginning to get frustrated over how his wife has disappeared.



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