This article is from "Atop The Town" in either the Indianapolis Star or News circa 1942.  

With the new telephone book scheduled to appear on the streets November 18, we are devoting some fond last-minute study to the old dog-eared volume which ranks in our household with our Bible, our Boston cookbook and our checkbook.  We'd been pretty casual about it, taking it to the light only for the names sought at the moment and sparing scant time on its richly human documentation.  We were brought up sharply, however, on hearing a little story concerning the last two names in the listings -- H. McArnold Zyxwythe and Uriah R. Zzowzed.  

It seems that three young strangers came to town in the pursuit of gainful employment and took an apartment together.  Just out of college, and the world not yet caught by the tail.  The young men found that they could not afford three separate listings in the telephone book.  And, as their plans presupposed being called a good deal, they went into a huddle and came out of it with a beautiful inspiration.  Concocting the ingenious surname Zyxwythe, they prefixed it with a mixture of their own names, and qualified for the caboose.  It was a practical arrangement.  All they had to tell their friends was, "Just call the last number in the phonebook!"  Or, at least, that was how matters stood in 1940.  

All went well until 1941 when competition arose.  Another group of young men arrived here to seek their fortunes ... six strong this time, and all set to live together as happy bachelors in a pueblo out on Pennsylvania street.  They, too, were confronted with the telephone problem, but they didn't take any chances with alphabetical vagaries.  Employing two Z's and a Czslovakian mixture, they presented the Bell people with this masterpiece -- Uria R. ZZozwed.  The Zywythes were beaten to the draw.  

Calling the Zzowzed number the other night, we learned from a pleasant-voiced young man that one should only pronounce the vowels.  According to him, (though it wasn't quite clear to us) if you leave out a few of the collected Z's, you get something which sounds like, "You are soused."  Other pronunciations are frowned on by the old Virginia Zzowzeds, the Lexington Zzowzeds and even the Zzowzeds out in Dubuque, Ia.(sic) He says that bringing up the rear has been extremely satisfactory in spite of numerous calls from the idly curious.  

Youth, hoever (sic), is notably thoughtless.  We can't help but sympathize with the poor, honest-to-goodness Z people who used to be in at the photo-finish.  A Mr. Zwicker has been muscled into a poor third by all this fenagling (sic), and two ladies named Zwick (Mrs. Lottie and Corrine) have been pushed way back into the bulk of the manuscript.  It just shows how something phoney can worst you everytime, if it's clever enough.  

According to Mr. Shea at the telephone company a good deal of jockeying for first place goes on, too.  There's more fighting for the pole and more A A A's than in the 500-mile race.  If you turn to the first page of your book, you'll find that the riot of triple A's has shoved the more common A B C\'s and A-1\'s well back in the field.  Even the A A Million Population Wrecking Company is eating the dust of fourteen predecessors, while the poor private citizen doesn't get a lookin (sic) until way down the line where a Mr. AAbye, with two A's to his credit, rates but forty-seventh place.  

Another article is from "Inside Indianapolis" by Lowell Nussbaum in the Indianapolis Star circa 1942
Zzzzzzzzzzyz
THE ZYXWYTHES are gone, but the number lingers on.  All of which is just another way of saying that the three young men who coined a name to get the last listing in the phone book, all have moved out of their bachelor apartment and their places have been taken by three others, who also took over the phone listing.  The three originals were Bob Howard, how married and a Navy yeoman; Ernest McIlwain, who has moved to Gary, and Kermit W. Arnold of the State C. of C.  When McIlwain moved out, Harry Hull, of the Triple A offices, took his place.  Then Howard and Arnold left and now a couple more AAA boys have joined Hull.  And they still have the same phone, listed as H. McArnold Zyxwythe.  The only trouble is that it's no longer the last listing in the phone book.  A Mr. "Uriah R. Zzowzed" squeezed them out of last place.  In the next issue of the phone book we'll be looking for a Mr. Zzzzzzzzzzyz.