Olivetti? Check. Deviled eggs? Check. 1/2 pint of Stout? Checked and correct!
An embarrassment of riches
Greetings… just came back from a typewriter heaven of sorts…
here’s just a glance at about 1/5 of the collection…
Olivers, Royals, Remingtons and more....
A very nice man, Mr. Chico, is moving house, some years after closing his typewriter business. I bought more than a dozen portables, but he still has many, many big, classic, and vintage desktops, and some IBM and Adler and etc. electrics–and a lot of mechanical adding machines.
Not shown, many many more electric adding machines, checkwriters and etc.
Here’s the rub. His place has to be cleared out by Wednesday, March 16 — the next day, a broker will buy everything that’s left at his property.
He would like to sell more machines, but only to someone who’s going to buy a decent number at a time; I don’t think he has time to meet people for onesies and twosies….
His place is about 35 miles northwest of Philadelphia, about 20 minutes from Conshohocken exit of I-76 in PA.
SO… one — go look at these pics–most of the machines are for sale–but not all, such as a few of the super rare ones….
here’s a gallery of pics I made quickly there….
http://gallery.me.com/michaelmcgettigan#100327
If you think you can come down to Philadelphia, pronto, and are ready to snag a lot of these machines for cash, please email me at phillytyper@gmail.com, and I will pass along his tel. I can’t get into what I think he will charge, but based on what I paid for the ones I got, he’s very fair. Do be ready to see some cool machines that you can’t buy, as he’s not selling them all! He also has 45 jam jars full of typewriter spares and two cabinets of spare parts as well, for any repair techs out there.
cheers
–mcget
Filed under Uncategorized
Typewriter Roller Call–as I.T.A.M. ends
With just 90 minutes before the first International Typewriter Appreciation Month closes, here’s a sheet that’s traveled through all my typers
For pictures to match, see “Too Many Typers?”, above. Cheers, mcget.
One sheet, a dozen platens, er, a few typos.
Filed under Uncategorized
What is “Slow”, Anyway?
Encountered as we walked quickly across Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia...
“FOR THE CURIOUS…” read the sign taped to the young woman’s jacket. “I am slow-walking the length of Rittenhouse Square, a distance that, at a normal pace, takes a little over two minutes. I will begin at the southwest corner and end at the northeast corner, where I will resume “normal” speed. Please join me for any length of time should you so desire.”
My wife and I were out on a Sunday afternoon walk, and suddenly our cadence seemed blisteringly fast. I tried and managed to keep, er, down with her for only half-a-dozen five-inch strides. My wife waited ahead, impatiently. I caught up with her, we waited again for the slow walking young lady. Another man read the sign, and slowed his pace, but again, for less than a dozen steps. We watched from a distance as she sloooowly reached the end of the Square, and suddenly shifted back into a regular walk, blending with the crowd.
I had no idea that we’d encounter this, but what a message!–how long should things take? Are we moving too fast? What do we miss as we speed-walk through Rittenhouse Square, or “process words” at incredible velocity? I babbled on about this little bit of performance art for the next few blocks as if I’d been hit by lightning, or maybe espresso. My wife wasn’t so sure, and we completed our rounds at our usual pace. But tomorrow, I may try stepping down from, say 45 rpm to a long-playing 33 & 1/3… and see what happens.
Filed under manual typewriter
Handful of Stalwarts Defy Wintry Mix for Philly Type-IN No. 2
Freezing rain & snow, with a few locusts mixed in, made for a miserable Saturday & nearly iced the Type-IN. But the day was saved by a few folks who escaped meteorological house arrest. A Mr. Jon Roth astonished all (well, the barmaid and myself) by arriving first, from far-flung Cape May, NJ. Mr. Roth, a writer and editor, packed a Royal Aristocrat. Cape May has a wealth of Victorian architecture, but no apparently no typewriter repair shops whatever. Jon checked out some of the machines, especially mcget’s (er, mine) Olivetti Lettera 32 and Olympia SM9 and cried out, “Crikey, this is so easy!” and promptly had an epiphany (which the bar maid didn’t even blink at–as these happen in Fergie’s all the time, she said) which we have reproduced in part:
Second machine on deck was a French-made Hermes 3000, purchased (twice) by Philadelphia Inquirer movie writer Steven Rea. Bryn Mawr College had not one, but two Jens representing them: web-designer Jen Yuan, again with her Olivetti Valentine and Jen Callaghan, who runs a writers’ program at the school. Trophy Bikes mechanic and devout cyclist TJ Seningen stopped by to complete the group. I had no clue when scheduling the Type-IN that Feb. 5th was also World Nutella Day–but Ms. Yuan, better-informed, unpacked a jar of this high-calorie chocolate spread, along with bread and knives so that we essentially were celebrating two events in one, as well as an extra day’s intake of carbs. A pair of writers from Geekadelphia were also on hand and refrained from remarking on the hazards of mixing Nutella and manual typing–we hope their story will be discreet about this practice.
The small field precluded a Typing Competition, though we did see several letters completed. No one opted for a splash of Clinique’s budget “Happy” fragrance–so this mailing was totally scentsless! (sorry) Finally, we did perform a Typewriter Roller Call. This involves a sheet of paper starting in one typing machine, where its owner (or whoever is sitting in front of it at the time) types the make and model, their name and perhaps a sentence or two. (as shown here) Then the page goes from machine to machine, with each person typing a line or two, in that machine’s particular typeface… till the page is full.
This page travelled through several typewriters--and survived!
Now, what would be interesting is to see a few Typewriter Roller Calls, single-spaced, so as to get a lot of typewriter fonts onto a single sheet….
Thanks to all, and now it’s time to get clacking on some letters for International Typewriter Appreciation Month. Why, yes, I can be reached at the address below! :
Michael McGettigan
c/0 Trophy Bikes
3131 Walnut St.
Phila. PA 19104 USA
Footnotes:
Mr. Roth is an editor at Exit Zero, a well-done online guide which will make you want to go to Cape May sooner rather than later.
Ms. Yuan has hacked cats into dogs and shows how here.
Fergie’s Pub is run by Fergus Carey & would be a wonder just for their newspaper ads which (truthfully) declare: “NO TV!”, but they don’t stop there, making sure to have plenty of craft beers on hand, as well as good food & really sturdy tables.
Type-IN minus 1!
Okay, we’re finally seeing those RSVPs coming in for the Philly Type-IN Chapter 2; and an rideshare/car pool request from Cape May NJ…
— Jon is looking to car pool up from the southern tip of the Garden State. If you can help him out (he’s a “non-threatening 23-year-old” who will pay for gas!)…
email. jon@exitzero.us pronto, as he’s hoping not to make the long drive alone in his own otherwise empty car.
Confirmed typing machines — Hermes 3000, Royal Safari, Olympia SF Cursive, 1924 Remington portable, Olympia SF Cursive, Olivetti Lettera 32, Olympia SM9, and perhaps a few others. We’ll have at least half a dozen typewriters to swap (just ourselves) and we hope to see some others, too.
Guaranteed for the swap: Two Hermes, one works, one might, both need platen knobs… a Smith-Corona, a Remington, and a new,(read Chinese-made) Olympia Traveler C, maybe more… What models of Hermes? How much? Sorry, can’t get into those details here! Come to the typer swap at the Type-IN and all will be revealed.
If you’ve been doing this for a while… you probably have a few typewriters that you know are not really getting used the way they should. Sooooo…. load them into the car, drive carefully down to Fergie’s Pub, conveniently located next to a parking lot in Center City Philadelphia, and bring them to the swap. (if you need any more last minute advice, just email phillytyper@gmail.com — tonite)
ALSO NOTE: we had some parents asking about an 11-year-old who digs typewriters attending… Fergie’s is a restaurant upstairs, I believe… my 12-year-old son has come in for lunch with me many times. As long as they can type (er, better than me, at least!) we’d love em to come by and even better, join the typewriter swap and etc…
cheers, mcget/phillytyper
Filed under Uncategorized
Philly Type-IN, Chapter Two
Philly Type-IN, Chapter Two--wherein we type up a nice Olivetti Valentine's Day note!
OK, some updates. One, if you think you are going to win the Typing Competition Speed Challenge, you better keep practicing–word has it that Matt “Manyfingers” Cidoni will be coming to this second Type-IN. Matt dusted everyone at the last Type-IN with his brilliant command of the keyboard. So be on your game or get left behind.
Two–What is a Typewriter Roll Call? Hint: you need a little paper and a lot of typewriters to accomplish one. And we aim to do a proper TRC at this next Philly Type-IN. If you can RSVP with the make(s) and model(s) of the typewriters you are bringing, that will help us a bit as we work over our detailed seating chart! RSVP to phillytyper@gmail.com. More than that we can not say.
Finally, we’d really like to see a bit more swappiness on the 5th–Sooo… if you see a nice typer at a thrift store, or you’re looking to thin your herd, or get some new machines — do bring some extra typers to trade.
sincerely,
— mcget/the Type-IN.
Leaving some words behind…
Little things to keep our minds off of the big things... pushing forward with each letter stamped into being....like oars, the typebars beat against the paper, then fall back, each movement seemingly too small to matter. But somehow, a few thoughts fill the page, and we've moved a bit closer towards the next day.
Filed under Olympia SM9
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