You are not logged in. Would you like to login or register?



29-3-2022 21:57:42  #1


The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has strong typewriter game

Just finished the fourth season and wow, they have a consultant who knows what is what IMHO for just the typewriters! Lots of them, and every one exactly the most plausible machine that character would have on their desk. It is 1960: Royal KMMs in the Village Voice newsroom, because they work and never wear out; an erstwhile Columbia professor with a pretty Olympia we glimpse as his typist takes dictation; a new Royal Futura on the desk of a savage careerist reporter. And my favorite has to be the probably second-generation Studio 44 on the desk of the talent manager's secretary. A little shabby but stylish. It is nice when folks attend to details -- and whoa nelly does this show do that!

 

05-4-2022 22:16:27  #2


Re: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has strong typewriter game

We have been watching the series called "A Place To Call Home" on Acorn.

Few typewriters in scenes at hospital, police station, and at the Ash Park mansion.

Young daughter, Anna, is a budding author and she starts with Olivetti machines and later in the series goes to an Olympia SM2.  Her machines track with the year-by-year passage of time through the 1950's and into the 1960's.

It is by no means a "typewriter movie"...but they are there from time to time and they sound like they have new platens.

 

06-4-2022 10:34:36  #3


Re: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has strong typewriter game

Pete E. wrote:

...but they are there from time to time and they sound like they have new platens.

I worked with a sound engineer in a recording studio a few years ago to capture the sounds of five different typewriters. This was post-production work for a film, and we placed great emphasis on accuracy, which meant that I supplied the exact same models as were used in the film.

Five microphones were used to record each machine while I typed. The sum of these microphones was blended and edited to create the exact sound that was required for each typewriter scene in the film. This included massaging speed to match the on-screen action. 

Conversely, having worked on-set for a television production that involved a number of typewriters, the sound created by those machines as they were being used by the actors was never recorded. The sound crew was completely focused on the actors and their dialogue. 

The typewriter sounds you hear in film and television are unlikely created by the machines you're seeing on screen. Such sounds are normally added in post, and I don't know how many sound engineers go to the length of using matching models during this process. I suspect most use a more generic approach and edit the sound files to achieve the effect required for the scene.

Long story short, the sound of new platens you heard is most likely not authentic, and more likely the result of editing to achieve a desired effect.


On-set filming of close-up typing action: A stand-in (a proficient typist was actually used) types in place of the actor, and note the absence of any sound recording equipment. The stand-in was casted on the basis of the similarity of her hands to the actor's. An amusing side note is that we had to stabilize the table with additional stands and sandbags to reduce the shake created by the Selectric.


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

06-4-2022 11:05:29  #4


Re: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has strong typewriter game

In the new HBO series "Julia," there are a few typewriters featured. Thinking about the sound of the machines, there is one shot featuring an IBM Selectric, but the distinctive hummmm is not there. The sound of the Royal HH seems a little "light" to me, then again, I've never heard one which was just a couple years old. 

Phil Forrest

 

11-4-2022 15:58:15  #5


Re: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has strong typewriter game

Another British TV series we have been watching is "The Hour" running on Acorn TV.

Follows the development of a TV production company for the BBC in the UK in the mid-to-late 1950's.

During an episode or two centering around the Suez Canal Crisis in 1956-57, the anchor of the TV show is seen typing with a plastic Hermes Media 3 that was not made until the early 1970's.

A couple of Olivetti's from the late 1960's also make appearances.

But in the main new room, they do have several 1940's to 1950's desk-top Royal hard at work.

But no such issues with old cars and vintage clothing and set decor which is period-correct.

Prop master must have been exhausted after doing all that work and did not put too much thought into securing some old typewriters.

 

20-4-2022 17:51:51  #6


Re: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has strong typewriter game

This seems to be turning into a "typewriters in film and v" thread, which I do not think exists yet here that I have seen but I find fun. Hope it does not chap the more experienced folks.

Last night I enjoyed the Naomi Watts film "The Wolf Hour" (Amazon Prime), and was unexpectedly greeted by very deft typewriter casting.

(SPOILERS) in the opening credits we glimpse a battered 50s QDL on the desk of a seriously stuff-crammed hoarder's apartment, which we subsequently learn is occupied by an author who wrote one novel which became a Major Success. But when we meet her she is hopelessly blocked and otherwise afflicted...until halfway through she decides to make another go of it, and pulls out NOT THE ROYAL but (dum dum) an Olivetti Studio 44 from the white case at the back of a closet. Which plays quite a role in the rest of the action.

And other than some continuity weirdness with the machine itself (is the ribbon cover off? On?) it strikes me as such a great touch. Because the first book was written in the early 70s, when a struggling writer would certainly conceivably still be nursing along her college QDL...but once she hits it big and is a "real writer" she gets a fancier machine, to show she's arrived -- and promptly can't write.

I enjoyed the movie, and the typewriter casting, very much. Or maybe I just love Studio 44s. I REALLY do love them.
 

     Thread Starter
 

21-4-2022 11:03:40  #7


Re: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has strong typewriter game

lazydog wrote:

This seems to be turning into a "typewriters in film and v" thread, which I do not think exists yet here that I have seen but I find fun.

I think there has been a couple, certainly this one comes to mind: Typewriters in the Movies


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

20-11-2022 02:04:15  #8


Re: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has strong typewriter game

Typewriters seem to be showing up a lot more in the television side of things.  Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix has had multitudes.  I was also pleased to see a lovely Olympia SM3 in Better Call Saul.


Typewriter Service Tech (and avid nerd)
 

Board footera

 

Powered by Boardhost. Create a Free Forum