Good-morning, kittens and dawgs, we’ve grown comfortable in our world of technology. When we have a letter or school paper or book to type up, we use word processing software on our computer. This makes life easy peasy for us now, but back in the day – long ago or recent past we used typewriters for these jobs. In today’s edition of All Things Vintage I give you the Underwood typewriter.
Isn’t this a beauty?
The mechanics on these vintage machines are heavy and tiresome. I used similar typewriters in high school typing class, but none were quite this old and all were hard to use.
According to Wikipedia William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, and Robert E. Howard all authored their works using Underwood typewriters.
Not being much of a literature guru, I found it neat to learn about these movie/TV series using an Underwood typewriter.
In the 1962 thriller, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Joan Crawford’s character Blanche Hudson uses an Underwood typewriter.
The main character in the film Moulin Rouge (2001) uses an Underwood typewriter.
Steven Spielberg 2002 film Catch Me If You Can, Carl Hanratty shows Frank Abagnale a forged check, which he says was made with “a stencil machine and an Underwood”.
The Netflix original series House of Cards episode “Chapter 26” uses an Underwood typewriter given to the main character, Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) by his father, who had said to him “This Underwood built an empire. Now you go and build one of your own.”
Written by Leroy Anderson in 1950 and first performed by the Boston Pops, I found a Jerry Lewis skit using The Typewriter song that’s sure to make you smile and make your day a little more fun.
Have you typed on a non-electric typewriter? Would you like to have a vintage typewriter just for the fun of it? How fast can you type?
Applauds and special thanks to the incredible A2Z Team for hosting all the April fun!
Arlee Bird @ Tossing it Out
Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh
Heather M. Gardner
Jeremy @ Hollywood Nuts
AJ Lauer
Pam @ An Unconventional Librarian
Damyanti Biswas @ Daily Write
Zalka Csenge Virág @ The Multicolored Diary
Joy Campbell @ The Character Depot
John Holton @The Sound of One Hand Typing
This is a quick & painless way for others to find good tunes in Blogosphere by joining my no strings attached music hop, just add your music post URL below and WHA-LAH, instant traffic directed to your site.
Now, I invite you to hop with me in checking out some of the amazing A2Zers playing along this year and I hope you’ll come back more All Things Vintage.
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Oh Cathy, that was wonderful! We have an old typewriter (one of Mr. Quantums antiques), and the Jerry Lewis song is one which he often listens to!
When I was in high school, I had a Royal manual that I got from my aunt. In the middle of sophomore year, the “k” fell off, and I discovered just how many words use the letter K. When my brother needed to have a paper typed, Mom borrowed an old one (about this one’s vintage) from my grandmother instead of having mine fixed. Life with Mom… when I graduated high school, I got an electric that I didn’t like as well as the Royal, but at least it had a K.
I never typed on something this old but I grew up with typewriters and typed many an essay on it. It was frustrating when I made a mistake so was so happy for white out
I have typed on a non-electric typewriter, however with as many mistakes I type I will gladly go with more modern technology.
I have typed on an old typewriter!! No idea what kind it was though. And when I started university, I couldn’t afford a computer, so I had an electronic typewriter that had a tiny screen that could show you about two lines of text, and had a small memory. It was a bitch to write essays on — but by that time, they had to typed or the teacher would not mark them. I kinda miss it now – it would be fun to write some of my poetry out with an actual typewriter.
Beautiful! I learned how to type on a manual typewriter in Typing 1. In Typing II, we had electric typewriters. There was a world of difference between the two. I was forever locking the keys up in the manual typewriter at my then-outrageous speed of 40wpm. haha
My copy speed and my composing speed are worlds apart. If I am copy typing, my speed is probably about 80 or so. If I am composing, my speed is more like 120 or so. I can type as fast backward as I can forward and I can usually feel the mistakes as I make them. I almost always correct as I go. Sometimes I get distracted and don’t notice the mistakes.
I loved typing class. It was one of the more fun classes. Our teacher played music for us to type to the rhythm. I loved it!
We have an old Royal manual typewriter that weighs about a zillion pounds. We would put it into service but finding the ribbons for it is not so easy.
Have a blessed evening!
As a child, I used a non-electric typewriter, but I didn’t truly know how to type. When I was a young adult, I received as a gift a fancy electric typewriter. Pressing a key and moving back erased the previous letter so I could erase mistakes. It also made copies. I learned how to type on that machine. It helped me prepare to use a computer. I think I can type about 70 wpm.
Love,
Janie
Love this post. I’m usually a competent typist. One online typing test website claims I type about 73WMP.
I actually have an Underwood Typewriter. I posted several pictures of it on my blog not too long ago. I have used a non electric typewriter in the past, but it’s surprising how much harder they are to operate.
Wow, that is a beauty! I have typed on a typewriter like that and remember the keys being so hard to press! My first typewriter was a non-electric and I remember when I first got the electric typewriter, how much easier it was to type. So glad we don’t have to use those anymore!
I can type 65-70 words per minute with a decent accuracy. If only my brain could work as fast, I might have my book finished already!
Great movie trivia there too. Thanks for the reminder of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane. One of my favorite movie lines come from that movie, spoken by Betty Davis: “But ya are Blanche, ya are in that chair.”
Great choice for U. Have a great week Cathy!
Michele at Angels Bark
Ah yes, I remember the Underwood brands. I don’t remember what brand we had in typing class, but I’m sure glad we don’t have to use those darn manuals anymore. I did horribly with those things. Made lots of mistakes, erased holes in my papers, and used an lot of white out.
I think I managed to get to about 40 or 50 WPM back in typing class, but I make a lot of mistakes so thank goodness for Word programs. I’m not a fan of typing on typewriters.
My father was a very fast typist. He used to amaze me with his typing.
Arlee Bird
A to Z Challenge Co-host
Tossing It Out
Hi, dear Cathy!
When I was in my early teens my parents enrolled me in a typing workshop and, most likely, I learned how to type on an Underwood. I was a fast typist and that skill came in handy when I became a television news producer and needed to bang out pages of copy to beat the daily deadlines. Our fingers really got a workout on those old manual typewriters and it was a pain changing the ribbons on them.
That Jerry Lewis scene was priceless. He is a comedy genius and 90 years old now!
Thank you very much, dear friend Cathy!