"The Typewriter"
Leroy Anderson
Martin Breinschmid with Strauß Festival Orchestra Vienna
Fascinating. I’ve got a 1972 Smith-Corona 10” portable (in it’s case) in excellent condition sitting under a pile of stuff in my attic. I may have to investigate the market for it.
I gave my dad’s old Smith-Carona to my youngest daughter. She also has my turntable and all my LPs. What was old is new again. Love that kid.
FYI, medical transcription is on life support in America now. In fact, I was recently been laid off when my job was sent to India....but this article brought back some long-buried memories of the "olden days", lol!
Mrs. Prince of Space
I always wanted one of those marvelous IBM Selectric typewriters. That was a wonderful machine.
Oh boy, and I just threw out my old 1970s Smith-Corona two years ago. Glad I still have the 100 year-old Remington portable from my high school days.
Sorry, no dice. Real writers re-write. Once I discovered the sheer joy of software outlining, spellchecking, fonts, and the ease of massive paragraph editing and every level of rewrites, let alone digital storage and a variety of printing options, it was all over.
This article is for dilettantes, not people who actually write.
Typing was the most useful class I took in high school. I learned on an old Royal manual with blank keys.
I am old enough to have actually taken “Typing” in high school. We sat in front of typewriters with our fingers in the home position typing things without looking at the keyboard ... I sucked at it.
I have my own typing style that is totally incorrect, and can maintain 55 -60 wpm on a keyboard. I see no reason to revert to analogue typing.
The IBM Selectric II is the gem of typewriters. My church has one in a back hall, and it even works. I type a service program on it occasionally.
I used to make a good wage typing papers on my old manual machine, back in college, because when the electricity went out and your paper was due, there was Tax-chick tapping away in the soft glow of candlelight.
Fool. If he looked around, he could have had one for about $10.
I used a typewriter for years and years. Getting a word processor was a Godsend. Typewriters are a novelty item, only to those who never had to actually use them to make a deadline. Gack. If I never have to use one again, it’ll be too soon.
These Rubes are either idiots or Luddites.
In the late 80s, Smith Corona made the best of both worlds : A manual electric with memory disks and a built-in correction ribbon.
I took typing in HS, but learned on my mother’s old 1920s Remington. I loved the heft and the smack of the keys on the paper, made a mess with the ribbon (an actual, ink-soaked cloth ribbon), and thought my HS Selectric II was a soulless, cheap substitute. However, I’m with the writer who says that computer editing is a God-send to actual writing.
Love the link! TY!!!