An old friend came down from our attic.
It tugged my memories. The gray, dignified look, the smell of ink ribbon, the sound made by a key’s strike. At once I was back in my bedroom during the summer after sixth grade, when Mom finally allowed us kids to practice writing and create whatever we wanted on her prized typewriter. (It had been her high school graduation present in 1951. May I look so poised when nearly 60.)
A book I read this past summer showed me I wasn’t the only writer influenced by a manual machine. Charles J. Shields writes, in Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee (in which he refers to the famous author by her first name, Nelle, and talks about Nelle’s childhood friendship with Truman Capote):
Mr. Lee gave them the 1930s equivalent of a word processor: a rugged, steel-chassised, black Underwood No. 5 typewriter…Depressing a key lever raised the corresponding letter from the semicircular comb, shifted the carriage, and resulted in a satisfying “Clack!” as the letter struck an ink ribbon and imprinted its shape on a sheet of paper. Just operating it was fascinating. But that was not Nelle and Truman’s ambition. They wanted to use it to write stories.
Ah, the stories we typed in my day. The poems – Pebbles is my dog/She sleeps like a log – masterful. Best was the novel I was finishing – Parrot, the Jungle Girl – handwritten over the school year on lined paper, in pencil, of course. One hundred twelve pages when finally finished that summer. I worked hard on typing, double-spacing and correcting with our ink-erasing pencil that had a little brush on one end. I only made it through page 19. But it’s neat to retain these efforts, this first typeset story by me. (A quote from p. 17: “Morning had lit up the sky.”)
Oh… I wish I had my first typewriter, a little manual Olivetti I bought for $80 in babysitting money when I was 15. It was white and orange-red. Boy, I haven’t thought of it in ages… It would serve a piece of art now.
Love this.
And I loved my typewriters. The shared one, and then the two different ones I was given.
What memories, Deanna. Thank you. And now that my fingers are finding the letters again, those old poems and stories are like good friends standing behind me smiling.
Fresca, I think I can picture it. Was it a Star Trek design? ;o)
Wow, Deb, cool: “those old stories and poems are like good friends standing behind me smiling.” Great way to put it.
I still have my typewritten stories in a bread bag. They’re getting old and ratty. Destination! The Stars. Enchantress from Another World!! (exclamation points and all) I had a Royal, too, and I remember buying cheap ribbon, undoing the old spool and threading new ribbon on it. It’s amazing how memories come back so quickly. :)
Funny thing. Caroline found my old typewriter in the attic and INSISTED she be allowed to bring it down and use it. It remains on a little table in the school room where she types a sentence or two now and again. In fact, all the kids discovered it over Christmas. I should go out and see what they typed. I was surprised the ribbon still worked. Thought it would have dried up in the extreme attic temperatures.
How I love the clack clack clack of the keys, the returning of the carriage, the smell of the ink. And those old ink erasers with brushes on the ends. Priceless! And carbon paper, and White Out, and scraps of that correcting tape. Holy smokes!
I love Telling It Slant. I mean it. It’s a remarkable, wonderful book. I’m pretty sure Lisa (Ohlen Harris) recommended it to me. It’s one of those you’ll go back to again and again. The picture of you all covered in prose has me smiling.
Beth
p.s. Buck has his grandfather’s old Royal typewriter, a real beauty. I have an old electric blue IBM Selectric. A real whiz bang marvel of modern technology in its day — but the dang thing is SO heavy, it will probably stay upstairs when the next person lives in this house. . .
I meant to get back sooner to these wonderful comments. Jodi, I’d love to look over your shoulder at those stories. They sound like a younger, imaginative you. I think we did the same thing with ribbons a few times.
Cherie, I was surprised our ribbon made it so well through years in the attic. We heard they still carry them at Office Max, so we may shell out for a new one! Did you find any typewritten gems out in your school room?
Beth, we had an electric monster like that – heavy, yes, but definitely a great tool in its day.