Typewriters

[Travis]

I've been heavily thinking about getting an old Underwood typewriter lately, and the topic came up in an unrelated thread, so I decided to start this one. Who out there uses a typewriter. What do you have? What do you want? What do you know. What resources do you know about?

 

[JazzBaby]

Well in an ideal world I would own Nathan Leopolds Underwood on which he typed the ransom note in the Leopold/Loeb case in 1924 (I don't mean to sound morbid, I'm just a bit of a crime buff) but I guess that's considered police evidence and will never be mine...So any pre 1950 Underwood or Remington would make me incredibly happy, especially if it resembles the one Ewan McGregor uses at the start of Moulin Rouge (so around the 1899-1900 period).

I just don't feel vintage typing on my laptop, but if I didn't have it then I wouldn't be able to converse with you nice people, would I?

 

[Mike in Seattle]

I've often thought it would be fun to have an office in an old 20's building and have all period equipment & staff - wooden file cabinets, candlestick phone, manual typewriter, secretary with a steno pad full of shorthand, maybe even a telephone switchboard, bookkeeper with green eyeshade and cuff protectors, pouring over a real ledger and clicking numbers into a hand-crank adding machine - and have people come in for interviews, give them a typing test, etc. I think the reactions would be priceless. Said reactions, of course, would be caught on modern video.

 

[Elaina]

I write and I hate using pen and paper. Sometimes the computer isn't satisfying enough and I use an Imperial portable from 1919 I found in an old office building fixing to be torn down about 15 years ago, and asked if I could have it (obviously the old gent said I could). I also have a 1960's electric I used in high school for my small engine repair class that I've kept working, but it's falling apart now. Other then that, I know diddly squat about typewriters.

 

[Travis]

I was just looking on craigslist.org and found someone giving away a "working old typewriter." So I called the guy and he had no idea what brand it was or what year it was and didn't seem to really care. All I got was it was a manual one and its a portable since he said it's in a case that was made for it. He apparently found it in his attic. It's about an hours drive from here but I'm going to go pick it up tomorrow afternoon. It may be some late 60's model, which I'll probably use to get some practice until I get my Underwood, or it could be a goldmine for me, who knows?

 

[Travis]

I've often thought it would be fun to have an office in an old 20's building and have all period equipment - wooden file cabinets, candlestick phone, manual typewriter, secretary with a steno pad full of shorthand, maybe even a telephone switchboard, bookkeeper with green eyeshade and cuff protectors, pouring over a real ledger and clicking numbers into a hand-crank adding machine, - and have people come in for interviews, give them a typing test, etc. I think the reactions would be priceless.

I'd work in that office in a heartbeat. So when do I start?

 

[JazzBaby]

I've often thought it would be fun to have an office in an old 20's building and have all period equipment & staff - wooden file cabinets, candlestick phone, manual typewriter, secretary with a steno pad full of shorthand, maybe even a telephone switchboard, bookkeeper with green eyeshade and cuff protectors, pouring over a real ledger and clicking numbers into a hand-crank adding machine - and have people come in for interviews, give them a typing test, etc. I think the reactions would be priceless. Said reactions, of course, would be caught on modern video.

Your secretary should have cat-eye glasses, a Brooklyn accent and do nothing but file her nails all day and crack gumlol

 

[JazzBaby]

I was just looking on craigslist.org and found someone giving away a "working old typewriter." So I called the guy and he had no idea what brand it was or what year it was and didn't seem to really care. All I got was it was a manual one and its a portable since he said it's in a case that was made for it. He apparently found it in his attic. It's about an hours drive from here but I'm going to go pick it up tomorrow afternoon. It may be some late 60's model, which I'll probably use to get some practice until I get my Underwood, or it could be a goldmine for me, who knows?

Fingers crossed...let us know either way.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I used a manual typewriter for the entire fifteen years I worked in radio, ending in 1997, and probably banged out ten thousand pages of copy during that time. The main model I used was a late '40s vintage Royal office machine, which was just about indestructible. I'd go thru a couple of ribbons a year, and maybe oil the carriage assembly once a year, and it never needed any other maintenance. Plus the sheer percussive force needed to operate it helped wake me up (my workday started at 3 AM!)

I still have two typewriters I use occasionally, a late '30s Royal and a late-1910s L. C. Smith. Both are heavy iron-and-steel machines, and I expect they'll outlive me.

I learned to type as a little girl on my mother's Smith-Corona portable, which she got for her high school graduation in 1957. Still works like new!

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Your secretary should have cat-eye glasses, a Brooklyn accent and do nothing but file her nails all day and crack gumlol

A definite Selma Diamond role...

 

[JazzBaby]

A definite Selma Diamond role...

Let me know if you ever start that office - I'd do that job for free!

 

[DeeDub]

I love typewriters, but use computers more

I have three typewriters. For most things, I use a computer and printer, but I always look for a reason to use a typewriter.

I use an IBM Selectric II for filling out forms, typing file labels, and other things that aren't easily done with an inkjet or laser printer. I've used this machine and others like it for over 30 years and I still enjoy it.

I have an IBM Executive that was made for Hewlett-Packard. One of the keys prints the old HP logo. Unlike the Selectric, it only has one typeface, but that is a proportionally-spaced typeface similar to Century Gothic. I stored this one for over 20 years in what I thought was a protected storage environment. Now it needs extensive maintenance.

(You've probably heard of the Executive since it allegedly was used to type a memo that reflected badly on then-candidate Bush. I won't go into that silliness here since it's been flogged beyond reason throughout the Internet.)

Finally, one of my most prized possessions is my grandmother's Smith-Corona Clipper portable typewriter. (Photo below.) This is the machine I played with as a child and may have been the cause of my typewriter fetish. It's still fully operational and has a fresh ribbon. (I can't find a new double-edge, safety razor at the local drugstore but I can get new ribbons for a 60-year-old typewriter at the stationery store next door. Go figure. [huh])

What I'd like to have is an IBM Selectric Composer. One of the arguments in favor of word processors is that you can make corrections and reprint the corrected file. A Composer not only let you make corrections, you could program it to stop and wait for you to type in some text, e.g., to do form letters and the like.

 

[Travis]

Now that's nice. If you want to, oh, I don't know, get rid of it, I'd be willing to take it off your hands.

 

[DeeDub]

Now that's nice. If you want to, oh, I don't know, get rid of it, I'd be willing to take it off your hands.

Sure. Right after rigor mortis sets in.

 

[JazzBaby]

With my usual worldly King Solomon-esque wisdom, I suggest you cut the typewriter in half, and each take a piece.

Problem sorted.

 

[Travis]

With my usual worldly King Solomon-esque wisdom, I suggest you cut the typewriter in half, and each take a piece.

Problem sorted.

That would indeed solve that problem. The downside being the creation of a whole gang of new problems. Oh well, we'll both find ours soon enough, I can feel it. Maybe it will help with my writer's block.

 

[JazzBaby]

That would indeed solve that problem. The downside being the creation of a whole gang of new problems. Oh well, we'll both find ours soon enough, I can feel it. Maybe it will help with my writer's block.

J.D Salinger could come to my house and tell my what to write, and it still wouldn't get rid of mine. I feel like I've been writing this novel for the last 40 years, which is bad when you're 22!

 

[Travis]

J.D Salinger could come to my house and tell my what to write, and it still wouldn't get rid of mine. I feel like I've been writing this novel for the last 40 years, which is bad when you're 22!

I think I've been working on my screenplay for just about the same amount of time, and I'm only 24. But it's not just my screenplay that's bothering me, I haven't written anything since September. I broke my hand and had to take time off from writing as a result. I never was able to get back into the swing of it. I do seriously think a typewriter might be a way I can motivate myself to just writing anything. Once I get back into the flow of things, I'm sure things will fall back into place.

 

[JazzBaby]

I think a typewriter would help me too. Every time I switch on the laptop to write I end up playing computer games or something.

Or posting messages on forums...lol

 

[Elaina]

Have you guys ever thought of "writing" via the mini recorders? I've written several books that way, and with voice recognition programs it's not a terrible problem getting it to the computer, and you have to edit anyway.