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L.T. Hanlon

Cine-Kodak K-100, Ultra-16, and Bigfoot!

August 9, 2019August 9, 2019 L.T. Hanlon3 Comments
Photo of a 1950s-era Cine-Kodak K-100 turret movie camera. This 16mm camera has three lenses on front and a leather-and-polished aluminum body.
Cine-Kodak K-100 16mm movie camera.
Photo of a typewritten sheet of paper with the following text. Friday, August 9, 2019. Chicago, USA. It's a big, wide, wonderful world! Smith-Corona Galaxie Deluxe. Assuming the weather cooperates Saturday and Sunday, I'm going to give my Ultra-16 movie camera a whirl. The camera began life in the 1950s as a Cine-Kodak K-100 Turret, an amateur camera famed for filming countless high school and college football games. A cousin of this camera, the CineKodak K-100 non-turret model, was used to capture the Patterson—Gim1in bigfoot film in 1967. These 16mm cameras come equipped with a standard gate giving an aspect ratio of about 4:3. However, the Cine—Kodak Is one of several camera models that can be modified so that wasted film space is exposed to create a 16:9 image. I had this updating done just after we moved down to this condo — or up, actually, since we're on the 54th Floor. Until now, however, I just haven't had the time, interest, or inclination to lace up the camera and put it through its paces. I only have one 100—foot roll of film, so I'll have to be fairly selective about what I film. I'm thinking maybe Lake Shore Drive, North Michigan Avenue, and Oak Street Beach, then some street photography if there's film left. After this project, there's Russian windup Super-8 camera I need to try out.
Oops! That should read “Patterson-Gimlin film.”
Here’s a fascinating Cryptomundo item about the camera and the famous film.

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Suddenly, it’s 1967!

August 2, 2019 L.T. Hanlon7 Comments

Photo of a beautiful SCM Smith-Corona Galaxie Deluxe typewriter manufactured in 1967. The machine's exterior is painted in colors associated with the era. In this case, a greenish-blue color called seafoam green complemented by creamy beige accents.

Photo of a typewritten page that contains the following text. Suddenly, it's 1967! I'm not often overwhelmed by an impulse purchase, but my acquisition of this SCM Smith—Corona Galaxie Deluxe has me hungering for a big bowl of Whip'n Chill. This typewriter is amazingly mint — and mint-colored too, even down to its seafoam green platen rubber. I had never considered buying one of these SCM's until trying one out at the American Writers Museum in Chicago earlier this year. Until then, I had dismissed 1960s-era Smith-Coronas as occupying the same ecological niche as AMP-era Harley-Davidsons. But that all changed when I put one of these Galaxies through its paces at the museum. The keys were snappy, the touch secure, and the machine made a reassuringly solid machine sound. Clearly. I'd misjudged these Smith—Coronas. Despite being more than a half—century old, this Galaxie Deluxe responded lovingly to my touch and laid down nice, dark letters. And it likes calling attention to itself in red too! In terms of fit and finish, my new mechanical companion does sport more than a little plastic, but the plastic is of high quality, the sort of plastic that's engineered to play rough and look nice. One feature of this mid—1960s typewriter is something I've never seen before: a typeslug and corresponding key that can be replaced. On my machine, that switcheroo feature is a numeral

 

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Ladies and gentlemen: This is Magnatype!

July 27, 2019July 28, 2019 L.T. Hanlon7 Comments

Photo of a typewritten page in which the size of the letters is at least twice as big usual and consists of the following text. Saturday, July 27, Chicago, USA. I just acquired a Remington-Rand 5 Streamline typewriter that dates from the late 1930s. What’s really cool about this vestige of the Machine Age is that its typeface is massive. It delivers 6 characters per inch as opposed to the 10 you get with most pica typewriters or the 12 delivered by elite. This old Remington also makes me feel like I’m driving a manual shift. And not four on the floor, but three on the tree! I even like Remington' s trademark for this huge collection of letters: MAGNATYPE. What’s not to love?

Below is a comparison of 6 cpi Magnatype and 10 cpi pica.

tc_072719_compare

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‘Mission: Impossible’ office supplies

June 30, 2019June 30, 2019 L.T. Hanlon1 Comment

Photo of a typewritten page with the following text. Sunday, June 30, 2019. Chicago, USA. Selecting mission specialists. As a kid, one of my favorite TV series was the original Mission: Impossible. I always enjoyed the ritual introduction that included Briggs or Phelps learning of the mission and then choosing his team members. With some notable exceptions they generally selected the same folks. I've always assumed that the photos of those not chosen were in-jokes. I have a similar approach in mind when I buy office supplies, and often ask myself how a pen, pencil, eraser, or other implement will complement my analog outlook and typewriter collection. One relatively recent addition to my IMF team is the Pilot FriXion erasable pen. It works almost like something Barney Collier would come up with. FriXion pens use a special, heat-sensitive ink that can be easily quote erased unquote when rubbed with its dedicated eraser. I placed erase in quotes because the ink doesn't exactly go anywhere. It's still there and, when exposed to a cold environment like in the freezer will return to visibility. This also means that if you leave paper with writing from such a pen in, say, a locked car on a hot day, your class notes could vanish. But only until you toss that notebook in the freezer. Rocketbook makes several notebooks that expand upon this capability magnificently. The company's Wave notebook is erased by putting it in a microwave oven. Its Everlast notebook employs a specially coated paper (or plastic; I’m not exactly sure what it's made of) that allows FriXion ink to be wiped off with a damp microfiber cloth. I used both kinds of notebooks and am pleased with how they work. FriXion pens also perform excellently on regular paper.

JetPens explains how Pilot FriXion pens work. These folks are a great resource for pens, paper, notebooks, and more. You should also give Rocketbook notebooks a try.

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Typewriters highlight museum exhibit

June 22, 2019June 22, 2019 L.T. Hanlon4 Comments
Photo of several people using some of the eight typewriters available for visitors to try out at the American Writers Museum in Chicago.
Test driving typewriters is a big attraction at Chicago’s American Writers Museum, which just opened its “Tools of the Trade” exhibit.

Oops! Never mind my comment below about the birthyear of Gwendolyn Brooks’ Hermes Rocket. I totally misread that as “1954.” It actually is from 1964 — and I wish I were of a similar vintage!

This photo of a typewritten page shows the following. Saturday, June 22, 2019, Chicago, USA. Smith-Corona Silent—Super; 1954; Pica. Museum exhibit is just my type. Thanks to my ex-boss Laura Strom, I got to accompany her to the preview of a new exhibit at Chicago's American Writers Museum called Tools of the Trade. It’s about typewriters mostly. In addition, visitors can test drive the actual models that are featured in most of the displays. I especially enjoyed trying out an Olympia SG—1 and appreciated its snappy, powerful operation. Another outstanding model on view for testing was a Smith—Corona Super Sterling whose incredible response surprised me. As for the behind—glass typewriters once owned by famous folks, the most amazing one was a 1902 Bar-Lock owned by Jack London. The thing looks like an Enigma machine — there are separate keys for upper- and lower-case letters. There's a 1926 Underwood 4-Bank once owned by Orson Welles that I found particularly interesting since its keys are so tiny that I can’t possibly imagine Orson managing to have plunged his sausage snappers onto them with any degree of accuracy. Other celebrity machines on view once were the prized possessions of Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, Ray Bradbury, and Mae West. My favorite celebrity typewriter was the Hermes Rocket owned by Gwendolyn Brooks — made in 1954 just like me! There’s also a 1939 Royal Portable DeLuxe owned by Jerry Siegel, co—creator of Superman. This exhibit is definitely worth seeing.

Museum display shows Gwendolyn Brooks' Hermes Rocket typewriter. The typewriter is streamlined and graceful, just like Brooks' writing.

Museum display shows Jack London's 1902 Bar-Lock typewriter. This machine bears little resemblence to later typewriters and has separate keys for uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as keys for numbers seemingly scattered at random. It could pass for a spy coding and decoding device.

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They rubbered me the right way!

June 14, 2019 L.T. Hanlon6 Comments
Photo of a Smith-Corona Silent-Super portable typewriter. It is painted in what the manufacturercalled desert sand and on the left front bears a decal indicating that at some point in its life the typewriter was sold or serviced by Windward Office Machines, a company on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.
Thanks to J.J. Short Associates Inc., my Smith-Corona Silent-Super manufactured in 1954 is ready to keep making good impressions on readers for another 65 years.

This photo of a typewritten page contains the following text. Friday, June 14, 2019. Chicago, USA. Smith-Corona Silent-Super, 1954, Pica. Free enterprise in action. Even when a vintage typewriter Is In near—perfect condition there’s always one item that's likely to be in bad shape: the rubber platen. Old platen coatings become hard and contribute to noisy typing and poor letter impressions. Typing with a second sheet or even a plastic piece behind your main paper can be partial and temporary solutions. But a permanent fix requires replacing the rubber. Some folks have managed to do the job themselves using rubber hose cut to fit and then heat-shrunk. But that’s way beyond my technical capabilities, so I was dee-lited to learn that J. J. Short Associates Inc., a family—owned company Just outside Rochester, N.Y., has risen to the occasion and is now replacing rubber for typewriter platens, feed rollers, and other components. The company completed my platen’s recoating quickly and at a reasonable price. This is a great example of free enterprise!

Need your platen stripped and re-rubberized?
J.J. Short Associates Inc. is ready to do the job.

 

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‘High Chaparral’ improves with age

June 10, 2019June 9, 2019 L.T. HanlonLeave a comment

Frame grab of opening title for The High Chaparral shows a bright orange slowing rider on a rearing horse with the show's title superimposed in a white, western-style typeface.

Photo of a typewritten page with the following text. Lately, I've been watching all available episodes of The High Chaparral on YouTube and have a new appreciation for this series. Seeing the show all these decades later is really amazing. What I didn't know the first time around is that the story is inspired by the life and times of a real historical character, Pete Kitchen. What's really astonishing is that long before political correctness and diversity were rammed down popular culture's throat with a toilet plunger, The High Chaparral depicted essentially a blended family of European-Americans, Mexicans and Indians. In an era in which Mexicans were generally portrayed as hopeless stereotypes, Victoria and her brother, Manolito, are characters with depth and subtlety. In one of my favorite episodes, an English nobleman comes to the Arizona Territory to try to get Victoria to return to England as his wife. It turns out the guy had met Victoria and her bother in Paris years ago, where their father, Don Sebastian Montoya, had sent them to school. I sometimes forget how long ago this show was made, since the producers were even able to get Cochise's 94-year-old grandson, Nino Cochise, to portray the Apache leader.

 

“The High Chaparral” on YouTube.

Fan website devoted to the series.

Arizona rancher Pete Kitchen, who provided much of the inspiration for the show.

Note: An earlier version of this post appeared in a blog of mine several years ago.

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