Nerdist podcaster Chris Hardwick sent a 1934 Smith Corona typewriter to a vintage typewriter collector that you may know. His name is Tom Hanks. Here is the beautiful machine he was sent.
The gift was sent in an effort to get T.Hanks' attention and to perhaps enlist him for an interview on the Nerdist podcast. This effort worked quite well apparently. Here is Mr. Hank's typewritten response:
(Click the pic for larger image.)
As you can see, it's written on Playtone stationery. Playtone is Mr. Hanks' production company.
Anyhow, this is not about Playtone, or Tom Hanks or Nerdist. But it is about vintage typewriters.
Before the days of netbooks and iMacs and what nots, the literary cognoscenti were left to fend with their manual machines and believe it or not, there are some nice stories about the marriage of writer and typewriter.
What follows is a brief rundown of some pretty impressive authors and the machines they used to forge their stories.
I don't mean to be editorial here but this is hands down my favorite writer ever. You might recognize her from her novel Strangers on a Train, which was made into a wonderful Hitchcock film.
(Side note: apparently Hitch and Highsmith did not get along well at all.)
Or, you might recognize the popular Ripley books. The Talented Mr. Ripley was a major force in the genre of psychological thrillers at it's time. So much so that Ms Highsmith wrote a couple of sequels about Mr Ripley.
The first Ripley novel was made into film more than once. You are probably familiar with the 1999 release by Anthony Minghella featuring Matt Damon and Jude Law.
There is another film though, made much earlier, that took the book to screen. While the ending of the story got a bit twisted for the purpose of the filmmaker's vision, the 1960 French film Plein Soleil is a remarkable piece of art to behold. And it probably never would have been seen by American audiences if not for the efforts of an eyebrow master named Martin Scorcese who brought the film to video in the 90's. Plein Soleil (French for Purple Noon) featured French matinee idol Alain Delon. Here is a picture that is not of a typewriter:
I could easily write pages just about Patricia Highsmith but having established her progeny let's take a look at her typewriter of choice, after she moved from pencil to buttons.
Ms Highsmith used a coffee colored Olympia de Luxe, and for fellow Highsmith aficionados with some frequent flier miles to spare, it's on display at the Swiss Literary Archive. For those of you who do not have a Swiss vacation lined up in the near future, there is this:
Moving on.
Whether you are a fan of The Fountainhead or not, it's pretty much understood that Ms Rand was a very important part of modern literature, even though it's been postulated that her works were pretty rife with political overtones. Here is something really interesting though:
Theorists have speculated that Ayn Rand, who was born "Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum" took her pseudonym from the typewriter she used. (Remington Rand).
Oh how I wish it were true, but alas, due to recent studies by her biographers it seems that the name on the face of her machine was just a coincidence. The proof of this lies in the fact that Ms Rand took on her pseudonym while still in Russia, in 1925, and there is correspondence to back this up. The Remington Rand machine was not built until 1927 when the Remington Company merged with Rand.
Still, I'm sure she felt quite proud typing out the story of John Galt while looking down to see her name:
We can't talk about typewriters and authors without mentioning the original Big Papa. I had the pleasure of visiting Ernest Hemingway's Key West home and among the six-toed cats that were descendants of Papa's original pets, there was a transcendent walkway that extended from the main house to his writing room. In upper 90 degree weather, with no air conditioning, Ernest would walk across to his study each morning and write, standing up, for hours, at his Royal Arrow.
If John Steinbeck were alive today, he would have all of the coolest new aps on his smart phone. Way before typewriters were commonplace, he was on it.
In terms of style, his method of cranking out his novels is just as regal as the stories he told.
Behold the Grape Wrather at his Hermes Baby:
If you have held on and read this far then I promise it's about to be worth it for you. Would you like a blessed typewriter? Do you like Douglas Adams? Well guess what. The Hermes Standard typewriter that Mr Adams used to write The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is out there. It recently sold at auction for $25,257.94. So you could probably cop it for your own collection at about 40k.
Or if you are like me, then we can just look at a picture of it and nod and smile.
He even signed it:
Finally...I was going to leave this last one to my own enjoyment but I know there are several of you out there that will appreciate this last bit enough to make the above reading and clicking worth your time.
I am a huge Raymond Chandler fan. You too? How weird.
Chandler's Philip Marlowe stories have been a delectable obsession for many readers throughout the years but if you want to check out how deviously delightful the man really was, then you are in for a treat. If you are a fan then you really should check out the legacy of The Blue Dahlia Gambit. That's just classic old school Hollywood magic.
Let's take a journey back to the early 30's and imagine hanging out with Uncle Ray while he knocked out classics like The Big Sleep on his Underwood Noiseless. You can't hear it but you can look at it.
I'll help:
Cheers,
Don Theo III
No comments:
Post a Comment