TypeTown #9: "Oh boy, I'd like to be like my dad."
📺 Fred Rogers PLUS modern kids' reactions, Mondrian machines, BBC radio, and inky massacres...
Welcome, one and all. Let’s make the most of this beautiful day.
Now, bear with me, my North American friends.
Because as a Brit, I’d happily existed for the last 39 years without ever hearing the words ‘Fred Rogers’.
But when the Netflix algorithm recommended
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
last week, what self-respecting typewriter fan is going to say no to a two-hour dose of Tom Hanks?
Fast forward 120 minutes, and I’m heading down an internet rabbit hole covering 40 years of U.S. kids’ TV.
And when you’ve been going for that long, well… typewriters are inevitable.
Watch the video below for six minutes of magic.
Hands up, please, if any of you remember this episode from your own childhood?
“I remember when I used to go to my dad’s place where he worked. Some of the people there would let me try the typewriter. And I would find some of the different letters — I was just learning to read then, so I was very much interested in letters — I’d find the different letters and try typing. Later, when I learned a little better, I knew just where to put my fingers. Sometimes moms and dads use typewriters, either at home or at work. Do you know anybody that uses a typewriter?”
The kids are all right
Sticking with the theme, here’s eight more minutes of joyful gold as a handful of modern youngsters try to figure out how to use a typewriter.
Eight-and-a-half million viewers can’t be wrong.
“😮 This is fun!”
“It’s a devotional act.”
As TypeTowners, we’re an educated bunch - right?
We’ve all got our favourite books.
But one artist pushed his dedication to new levels, paying homage to 100 literary classics in a series of public performances.
Tim Youd took each of his chosen books, travelled to the city in which they were written, and pounded out the full text onto a single piece of paper.
The result was a test of endurance for Youd, his typewriter, and the poor, unfortunate pieces of paper that proved his unwitting victims in this rather inky massacre.
Here he is doing his thing outside a New York cafe…
Next to the canals of Venice…
Overlooking the Bixby Bridge in California…
And even in a St. Louis bookstore window display…
READ»
Typing a novel, word for word, as art
-
The Straits Times
READ»
Tim Youd Q&A Interview
-
Curator
WATCH»
Artist Talk: Tim Youd
(52 minutes)
Reporting the closure of Smith-Corona
From the BBC archives, here comes a fascinating radio broadcast from 1995 in which Alistair Cooke reflects on the closure of the Smith-Corona Company.
Cooke laments:
“The typewriter is dead and it surely deserves a decent burial or at least a worthy obituary.”
Twenty-seven years on, and 18 years next month since Cooke’s own passing, I think we can all agree that, on this prediction at least, he was not quite on the money.
The programme is still available online (
listen here
). There’s also a
complete transcript
.
Best of all, though, is
Cooke’s full five-page typewritten script
, including scribbled notes.
Worth pausing the platen
📬
A prisoner’s only writing machine
—
The New Yorker
📬
Why use a computer when you can use a typewriter?
—
USA Today
📬
'Until I drop dead': Meet one of Ontario's last typewriter repairmen
—
CTV News
And finally… typewriters in the wild
In this magnificent Mondrian-inspired machine…
In
Vietnam Typewriter
, a 2018 artwork by Canadian artist
Raphael Mazzucco
…
And on Lady Gaga’s bed…
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT: An admission
A big thanks to all who’ve bought me coffee over the last few weeks. But, alas, I must confess: I
hate
the stuff.
So in the interests of transparency, I’ll be using all future donations to fund a tea habit that would leave even the Mad Hatter slack-jawed.
And so with that said — and with all the usual caveats of absolutely no pressure, expectation or hard sales push… if TypeTown brightens your week, I’m open to
coffee tea.
(Thank you again to those who donated last time. It’s hugely appreciated.)
Please share the love
Alternatively, please take a second to ❤️ and comment below — or share this post to your social networks, neighbours, grannies or anyone else who might like it. Whatever you do to spread the word, I promise it never goes unnoticed. Thank you!
Until next time
PS: New here?
TypeTown
is a fortnightly celebration of the typewriter’s place in modern (and not so modern) culture.
Never too late to discover Fred, and a pleasure to listen to the eternally posh Alistair Cooke - thanks for the audio clip!