It is part of human nature to see patterns in randomness. We see someone talking with their hand to their ear, and we automatically think, cell phone. In the 1928, they would have thought, mental patient. For all we know this person is heading to the doctor because of an ear ache. As others have pointed out, there are no cell phone towers. If I must defy logic, then I would say this person is talking to their mothership, and telling them it's too soon to cause the stock market to crash. Give it a year.