This vintage comic pic of a guy getting clocked by a desk top–OW–led to a clear-eyed, cutting essay by author Claire Vaye Watkins about the writing world shaped mostly by white men, and its effects on a woman navigating it.
Category Archives: Olympia SG-1
Philly’s PRETZEL PARK Type-IN gets some media coverage
WHYY/Newsworks was nice enough to send a photog/reporter to cover last Saturdays clack-a-thon in the park. Have to laugh that the first photo is of me obviously chiding a young person: “Errrmph! Please type with just two fingers to avoid key jams–it’s like you’ve never used a manual typewriter before, really!”
Here’s the link to the Newsworks story.
And here are a few pics:
Young people encounter vintage typing machines…
Bryan Kruk always brings some lovely machines; here’s a pair of Olivetti ICOs — one in matte black and one in a glossy piano black. Bellissimo, Mr. K!
Ah, such a crisp design could only foster concision!
Let’s have a closer look at that OLIVETTI ICO, shall we? What’s really astonishing is that this machine types as beautifully as it looks! Thank you, men and women of Olivetti, S.A.
SAVE THE DATE: Oct. 25th • 5th Annual Type-IN • Philadelphia
Please note TIME CHANGE! Gather at 2:30 p.m. for 3 p.m. start.
IBM in the Ivy League
Matriculated! Or curated, at any rate…. The Institute of Contemporary Art ( icaphila.org )at the University of Pennsylvania wanted visitors to their 50th Anniversary Exhibition (now through Aug. 17.) to be able to type their thoughts. Left an Olympia SM-9, a massive Olympia SG-1, and an IBM Selectric II to choose from… They went with the Selectric–still period correct, certainly a design classic worthy of the ICA and impossible to jam. Will monitor the scene and see what gets typed….
Filed under IBM SELECTRIC, manual typewriter, Olympia SG-1, Olympia SM9, public typewriting
Manual Reporting, ca. 1962
Here’s a double row of newspaper pros clacking their stories backstage at the 1962 Academy Awards. Photo by William Lovelace/Express/Getty Images–as seen in AdWeek’s 3/24 issue, which noted that West Side Story won Best Picture back then. There must be two dozen machines; bet that made an awesome sound.
Should be tonight on NBC Nightly News @ 6 or 6:30!
Well, dang — here’s the link
http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/51935953#51935953
Nice montage– Tom Hanks, the Pope and me — ha!
OH– and a nice, web-only piece about Magic Margins and Ryan Adney, Right Here.
May 19, 2013 · 5:15 pm
New PBS drama packed with cool, super-smart women–and typewriters!
Some of the original code-breaking women of Bletchley, in a vintage photo.
Must-watch TV — Last Sunday, the Bletchley Circle debuted on PBS. It follows the adventures of the unsung, code-breaking women of Bletchley into their post-war years. They re-unite to find and stop a serial killer. It features grungy, secret offices packed with obscure typewriters, flying fingers and terse conversation among sharp, seriously quirky women with great accents. They ride into London inside astonishingly beautiful train cars. In other words, geek Valhalla. Here’s a link. (yes, you can watch the first episode online)
Filed under manual typewriter, Olympia SG-1, private typing, public typewriting
Poster for the NYC Type-IN
- OK, here’s the revised poster with complete info….
- — And here’s a pdf file to print out and stick up in cafes, thrift stores and English Departments! (And book stores, firehouses, typewriter repair shops, etc.)
- Type-IN1
PLEASE, RSVP via Comments, and let us know where you’re coming from, what typewriter(s) you are bringing and if any of them are for the swap. Me for example: Michael McGettigan–Philadelphia. Olivetti Lettera 32, Olympia SF to swap.
Thanks and hope to see lots of machines, and the people who love them on the 21st.
— mcget
POPULAIRE to make US debut!
THE CHIC FRENCH ROM-COM WITH A SPEED-TYPING COMPETITION AT ITS HEART comes to New York Feb. 28. The New York Times reports that “Populaire”, about a “high-speed typist and her debonair boss” will come to the Paris Theater as part of a French film series.
Even better: the Weinstein Company will bring “Populaire” to the U.S. as a feature film, with a July release scheduled.
Just a place holder on their site, but here’s a link to the press kit for “Populaire.” Have contacted Weinstein Co. about opening night type-ins! Check those thrift stores for red carpets. I suppose we should send some letters of encouragement to HWC for ITAM:
David Glasser, COO
The Weinstein Company, LLC
345 Hudson St. New York, NY, 10014
February 7, 2013 · 8:42 am
phillytyper 