Jane Barbe

Jane Barbe (pronounced BAR-bee) (July 29, 1928 – July 18, 2003) was an American voice actress known as the "Time Lady" for the recordings she made for the Bell System and other phone companies.

Life and career
Barbe, a Florida native who grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, studied drama at the University of Georgia. After graduating, she worked as a copywriter, though due to her poor spelling, she opted to read her first commercial out loud to her boss instead of submitting it in writing. He was so satisfied with her performance he asked her to record the commercial herself.

In 1963, she began recording messages for the Audichron Company (now known as ETC) announcing time, temperature and weather, as well as recordings for early voice mail systems. In the ’70s and ’80s, she regularly recorded the intercept messages used when a number is disconnected, and started sharing recording duties with (AT&T voice) Pat Fleet in 1981 who eventually took over Barbe's role.

Through the years, Barbe's voice became well-known through the phone companies’ use of her recordings, as well as her messages recorded for voice mail clients. The time announcements she recorded for NBS (now NIST) are used on radio station WWVH.

Recordings with her voice are also used outside the United States, in Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, and other countries. Although her native dialect was Southern, while studying drama she learned to adopt the “General American” speech she would use for most of her work. When asked to record time and temperature messages for the Australian phone company, she perfected an Australian accent by listening to recordings of Australian speakers.

Other work
Barbe was also a former professional singer, meeting her husband while touring with the Buddy Morrow Orchestra, and gained a bit of notoriety in later years appearing in commercials and on television shows based on her recognition as the “Time Lady.” As a result of her extensive work, she founded the Atlanta branch of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

She also did voice-over work on TV and films including the voice of Southern author Margaret Mitchell in the documentary The Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind in 1988.

Barbe died July 18, 2003, in Roswell, Georgia, at age 74 of complications from cancer. She is survived by her husband, John Barbe, her daughter, Susan Stubin of Passaic, New Jersey, her son David Barbe, of Athens, Georgia, and seven grandchildren.