My Type
It must have been something to pound out news stories amid the din and smoke of those early newsrooms. If I close my eyes, I can see myself back in the Thirties lost in a newsroom. Well, I have to learn to type first. I rue the day that I was never talked into taking a typing course in high school. Back then, Mom typed all my papers. In my collegiate years, my best friend, Chuck, pounded out papers on Romantic Poetry and Twentieth Century Authors, and all he asked in return was a few cold beers. Thanks Chuck! These days my keyboarding skills are still pathetically, embarrassing but I get the jobs done somehow. Elenka just shakes her head and rolls her eyes.
Me? I just keep click, clacking away.
Typing was the most important skill I learned in high school. You need some serious finger muscles to type on the typewriter pictured.
ReplyDeleteWell, at least you're not an old relic like those Underwoods! I feel great to be able to type as fast as I do!
ReplyDeletei couldn't wait to take typing in 7th grade, seemed so fun. i actually enjoyed it! of course now keyboard is a mandatory study in elementary school now!
ReplyDeleteFor some reason I took a full year of typing. Torture, but I'm glad I know how.
ReplyDeletei learned to type on one of these and in my prime i was very, very fast. i think a lot of those reporters in the early days were two finger fellows, hunt and peck harrys. i saw a short documentary on archer mayer, the mystery writer, and he was slamming away with his index fingers.
ReplyDeletei still have a huge, heavy old royal sitting near my computer desk. used it as a kid at home.
ReplyDeleteNever learned typing. Just learned to love such old machines and their memories..
ReplyDeleteI loved my father's old typewriter! He used to tap tap tap away for hours, after he retired. (he did hunt & peck btw) Drove my mom crazy, but I was very inspired when I'd come back to visit them. I used to go to the nurse's office during many high school typing classes, but somehow learned. Do you know Abraham at PPL, reference & book repair librarian? He's part of the group that goes to type on old typewriters at that café at Longfellow Square.
ReplyDeleteI just had a conversation with a group of friends about how they learned to type. My close friend David said he took a typing class in High School and when his dad found out he had signed up for it, his dad told him he didn't need the class. The secretaries will be doing all the typing. He said he was glad he didn't listen to his dad on that one. Who knew back in those high school days that typing would be so important in today's world?
ReplyDeleteYour photo today brought back memories. I remember my mother typing on one very similar to this. You needed strong fingers to strike those keys.
I took typing but I seem to mostly just peck around on the keyboard!
ReplyDeleteI wish I'd learned to type!
ReplyDeleteI learned to type on a machine just like that! And it was always called "typing" in those days; nowadays it's "keyboarding." It's a skill that's served me well, including second jobs where I typed and typed and typed for something like 2 cents a line (though that wasn't one of the highlights). Nowadays I type faster than I think. Makes for interesting sentences at times.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I get so nostalgic...
ReplyDeleteI was in college track courses in high school, but a typing class was held after school and my mother insisted that I learn to type so I could type my college papers. That ended up being a great idea. I even typed papers for college friends to make spending money. And, with the advent of computers, it has become a very good skill to have.
ReplyDeleteNice looking typewriter.
ReplyDeleteSomehow I can see you back there in that newsroom too Birdman, with a pencil stuck behind your ear etc. yes I can definitely picture it :)
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