Bless you, Mr. Rather, for sharing this delicious piece of music history. Back in the late 50s and early 60s, all the elementary school students went to symphony concerts geared for young listeners. “Typewriter” was always the most popular piece played. It brings back SUCH wonderful memories. (Trivia: The best gift I ever received from my husband was an expensive keyboard for my computer—I did massive amounts of typing—that precisely emulated the touch and sound of the IBM Selectric 2 typewriter. I’ve used it for 25 years, with a tiny thrill each time I touch a key.)
There was always a beautiful sound in my little newsroom in Kansas (CBS in Hays) when all our typewriters were going and the AP and NWS teletypes were going. The sound of freedom, I always said. Thanks for the reminder.
What a delightful piece of nostalgia, and I have a recording of the music, as well as a typewriter of the vintage - a 1936 Royal Arrow portable. It's the one mom bought for college, that went to Shanghai with her in 1947, saw me through high school, and went to college with me in 1967. I recently had it overhauled at a shop in St. Louis, and it's still a fine-working piece of machinery.
"Perhaps it is so easy to change our thoughts that we don’t stop to think as much before we write, or speak." (from the article)
This is likely since we had no cut/copy/paste functions, and any additions or major corrections meant re-typing the whole *@#! page. Better to hand-write (horrors) a draft copy on a yellow legal pad and then transcribe the completed thoughts to the typed page. It was indeed another time, and I still kind of miss the'ting' of the bell that warns of the end of the right-hand margin.
So good, my mom was a legal secretary before me, did contract typing as a side job after. She could pound out something like100 words a minute on a manual. This guy is too much.
I believe that Jerry Lewis did something like this in one of his movies. I read that he was musically inclined. If someone can verify this I’d appreciate it.
Thank you Dan, and Elliot, for bringing back fond memories. My mother excelled at 3 things. She typed at 80 words per minute (error free), she took shorthand at 120 words per minute and her hand writing was a thing of beauty. I never excelled at any of those things, I can't take shorthand, I type at around 35 (on a computer keyboard on a very good day,) and my hand writing is almost indecipherable. My mother used what she called the"rhythm method" of typing; that is she struck a rhythm and she was in her zone. Back in those days mechanical typewriters had built in bells, when a typist came to the end of a preset line, a bell would ring and she/he would pull the return carriage lever to go to the next line. If anyone put her off her rhythm she was furious. We had a parakeet, named Tippy, who would sit on the carriage as she typed and make the clicking sound of the keys. Mom would get furious and try to push him off with her hand, much to the amusement of the rest of us, including Tippy.
I learned to type in jr. high on an upright underwood typewriter with blank keys. We had a diagram on the chalkboard to look at. I was good and the memory of the keys stayed with me from then on through the invention of the computer. This musical rendition of the typewriter brings back those memories. ( I’m now 78)
Old Hollywood joke: when he got bored, Jack Warner would go out and walk around the lot, and always stop by the Writer's Building. And if he didn't hear a lot of clacking from the typewriters, he'd shout "I don't hear a lot of work going on!" And the typewriters would all start clacking away.
As an English major in the late 60's, the sound of my Olivetti typewriter is like a comfort food. Now that my wonderful UC Berkeley English department is losing student enrollment, I am wistful thinking of the days, and nights, I spent with Jane Austen , T.S. Eliot, Diockens or Shakespeare and my clickety clack typewriter. Sigh. Thanks for the memories.
NO no no! You didn't ring a little bell when you got to the end of the line. The typewriter gave a ring when you reached the end of travel. Archeologists will be confused now.
Bless you, Mr. Rather, for sharing this delicious piece of music history. Back in the late 50s and early 60s, all the elementary school students went to symphony concerts geared for young listeners. “Typewriter” was always the most popular piece played. It brings back SUCH wonderful memories. (Trivia: The best gift I ever received from my husband was an expensive keyboard for my computer—I did massive amounts of typing—that precisely emulated the touch and sound of the IBM Selectric 2 typewriter. I’ve used it for 25 years, with a tiny thrill each time I touch a key.)
There was always a beautiful sound in my little newsroom in Kansas (CBS in Hays) when all our typewriters were going and the AP and NWS teletypes were going. The sound of freedom, I always said. Thanks for the reminder.
What a delightful piece of nostalgia, and I have a recording of the music, as well as a typewriter of the vintage - a 1936 Royal Arrow portable. It's the one mom bought for college, that went to Shanghai with her in 1947, saw me through high school, and went to college with me in 1967. I recently had it overhauled at a shop in St. Louis, and it's still a fine-working piece of machinery.
"Perhaps it is so easy to change our thoughts that we don’t stop to think as much before we write, or speak." (from the article)
This is likely since we had no cut/copy/paste functions, and any additions or major corrections meant re-typing the whole *@#! page. Better to hand-write (horrors) a draft copy on a yellow legal pad and then transcribe the completed thoughts to the typed page. It was indeed another time, and I still kind of miss the'ting' of the bell that warns of the end of the right-hand margin.
Ohh this is so wonderful !!!!
I am 76, and love my laptop but how much I loved my old typewriter !!! This video is just awesome... how to thank you both !!!!!! Much 💕 !!
So good, my mom was a legal secretary before me, did contract typing as a side job after. She could pound out something like100 words a minute on a manual. This guy is too much.
I believe that Jerry Lewis did something like this in one of his movies. I read that he was musically inclined. If someone can verify this I’d appreciate it.
Thank you Dan, and Elliot, for bringing back fond memories. My mother excelled at 3 things. She typed at 80 words per minute (error free), she took shorthand at 120 words per minute and her hand writing was a thing of beauty. I never excelled at any of those things, I can't take shorthand, I type at around 35 (on a computer keyboard on a very good day,) and my hand writing is almost indecipherable. My mother used what she called the"rhythm method" of typing; that is she struck a rhythm and she was in her zone. Back in those days mechanical typewriters had built in bells, when a typist came to the end of a preset line, a bell would ring and she/he would pull the return carriage lever to go to the next line. If anyone put her off her rhythm she was furious. We had a parakeet, named Tippy, who would sit on the carriage as she typed and make the clicking sound of the keys. Mom would get furious and try to push him off with her hand, much to the amusement of the rest of us, including Tippy.
I learned to type in jr. high on an upright underwood typewriter with blank keys. We had a diagram on the chalkboard to look at. I was good and the memory of the keys stayed with me from then on through the invention of the computer. This musical rendition of the typewriter brings back those memories. ( I’m now 78)
:-) I remember it well! :-) On a more serious note: Dumptrump! VOTE BLUE!!!
Old Hollywood joke: when he got bored, Jack Warner would go out and walk around the lot, and always stop by the Writer's Building. And if he didn't hear a lot of clacking from the typewriters, he'd shout "I don't hear a lot of work going on!" And the typewriters would all start clacking away.
I have a yellow Continental typewriter from the 1930’s. It is beautiful and is treasured…my computer is only a necessity.
Love that line: somethings been lost in the move away from typewriters.
As an English major in the late 60's, the sound of my Olivetti typewriter is like a comfort food. Now that my wonderful UC Berkeley English department is losing student enrollment, I am wistful thinking of the days, and nights, I spent with Jane Austen , T.S. Eliot, Diockens or Shakespeare and my clickety clack typewriter. Sigh. Thanks for the memories.
Thanks very much, Dan. That is one of my all-time favorite pieces of music. I never saw the video tlll now.
NO no no! You didn't ring a little bell when you got to the end of the line. The typewriter gave a ring when you reached the end of travel. Archeologists will be confused now.
I use typewriters to write my fiction. My favorite is a 1960 Torpedo 18b.