Typewriter Talk / Typewriters in the Movies

**Posted by Markmotown** 18-9-2017 11:57:29

I'm preparing for a public screening of Reds (1981) for the centennial of the Bolshevik Revolution. Lots of clacking typewriters in that, as all of the main characters are journalists and writers. I came across this shot of Warren Beatty as Jack Reed rattling an old Underwood.

**Posted by Fleetwing** 18-9-2017 14:27:35

Jack Reed? Thought he was known as "John," but I haven't seen the movie (or read anything about him).

Sounds like an interesting event. It's been a long hundred years, hasn't it? I just watched the first installment of the PBS "Vietnam" series last night -- hard to believe how long ago this was already.

**Posted by Markmotown** 18-9-2017 15:06:04

Yes, John Reed in the book, but the characters keep referring to him as "Jack" in the movie.

Somebody needs to press "pause" on this whole forward-march-of-time thing.

**Posted by Markmotown** 19-9-2017 08:17:17

I went through the whole 3 hours and 15 minutes of the movie last night. In addition to the Underwood, Jack Nicholson's character (Eugene O'Neill) has an Oliver (5?) with black keys.

Maureen Stapleton's character, Emma "EG" Goldman looks to have a straight-keyboard Hammond Multiplex on her desk in Russia, covered in letters from the West.

And when John Reed (Warren Beatty) and Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton) are hammering-out correspondence during the Russian Revolution, it looks like they're doing so over a folding, three-bank portable--either a Corona or Erika(?)

**Posted by Markmotown** 15-10-2017 20:30:14

There are a few typewriters in the new movie Dr. Marston and the Wonder Women. Many of the early scenes (circa 1920s) feature a Royal 10 in the middle of the doctor's lab area. There appears to be an Underwood four-bank portable and some other models as the story progresses into the 1940s and 1950s.

At one point, the character, Elizabeth, who'd been hired as a secretary, is pounding away with great emotion on her typewriter. She gets to the end of the line, returns the carriage and continues pounding on the keys at a ferocious rate, BUT THE CARRIAGE WASN'T MOVING AT ALL!

Apparently I was the only one bothered by this.

**Posted by Fleetwing** 16-10-2017 09:12:53

I guess she was so overwrought she didn't notice the machine was broken!

**Posted by SquireDante** 03-11-2017 20:49:24

Just watched You've Got Mail and two electric Olympias are shown. They said the name but I forgot what it was.

**Posted by Uwe** 04-11-2017 17:17:04

SquireDante wrote:
Just watched You've Got Mail and two electric Olympias are shown. They said the name but I forgot what it was.

http://typewriter.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?pid=1436#p1436

**Posted by dboeren** 07-11-2017 12:48:22

In The Hudsucker Proxy there are a couple of newsroom scenes with typing going on. Looks like the female lead uses a wide carriage Royal KMM or KGM. At 1:42 you can briefly see what looks like a Royal Quiet Deluxe or similar on the deck behind her too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgX1clgR-7w

**Posted by SquireDante** 15-12-2017 16:47:17

My sister and I watched Airplane! the other night and I saw what looked like a couple Royal KMGs in the room where the pilots guiding Striker are situated. As for the movie, it's got to be the edgiest and least PG comedy I've ever seen. Gotta say I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.