what is the GOLDEN TOUCH??!?? (Underwood Typewriters)

Рет қаралды 3,304

Күн бұрын

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@Interrobang2626 Жыл бұрын

You pulled out your copy of Typewriters by Anthony Casillo and I immediately paused the video, went online, purchased a copy, and came back to finish your video. Didn't realize I needed it until I saw it. Thanks for the inspiration.

@brankomijatovic5023 Жыл бұрын

Having recently picked up an Underwood Leader, I can say there is definitely a difference in features between the models. The leader is the base model, doesn't have tabs OR Margin release. It has little page holders that you can literally keep typing and smash the typeface into. It also only came with one typeface. It also seems there is no ability to change the weight of the keys. It has space for the feature in the frame under the ribbon cover, but there is no lever. The other models added these features and had typeface options too. But I will say the underwood leader is a wonderful machine to type on, great action and comfortable for me as a 10 finger touch typer. Great Video!

@Saboda53 Жыл бұрын

Wow, some great insights here, Sarah, and your research is commendable! As an actual, former Mad Man copywriter (Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi, Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, etc.), I thought I might weigh in. So yes, those disembodied gold gloves ARE creepy! (Then again, a lot of stuff in ads, films and TV shows from 70 years ago are creepy today.) I’m the guy with the gold-plated Royal Quiet De Luxe, and when I see it sitting there on my desk all gold and shiny, I often wonder, why gold!? Why this odd fascination with gold!? I mean honestly, it looks arguably tacky today. Of course, a little research reveals that we humans have had a long love affair with gold: “The Midas Touch” from Greek mythology (probably where Underwood’s “Golden Touch” came from), “gold fever,” Poe’s “The Gold-Bug,” the San Francisco Gold Rush of 1849, etc., etc. But it seems, best I can tell, that there was a special obsession with gold in this country in the 1950’s! There’s the film “The Solid Gold Cadillac” (highly recommended, by the way), Studebaker’s “Golden Hawk” automobile and, of course, Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel “Goldfinger”. I suspect the “Golden Touch” branding was simply Underwood’s effort to ride this gold wave. Who knew?

@hitbyabus4615 Жыл бұрын

Sarah in one video: i love this machine so much, it’s probably my favorite and i just love the way it types. Sarah in the next video: i got rid of it

@jeffreysnodgrass5451 Жыл бұрын

Great video. You knocked it out of the park with this one. I have a 1964 Olivetti Underwood 21, my baby and everyday driver, and it has Underwood Goldentouch keycaps. I think Olivetti adopted them for the Undie 21, which was meant for the US market, where consumers knew Underwood. These keycaps appeared in the 1950's on Underwood machines before Olivetti acquired them. My Undie 21 types like an Olivetti, though, with that wonderful spongey touch to the key action.

@mrs.blennerhassit92 10 ай бұрын

Great video! The ad actually says "you'll type with up to 26% less effort".... not that you'll type 26% faster. You'd probably type a little faster, and break fewer nails.😅

@rrhabbo Жыл бұрын

- Yep... these models have many subbranding of a subbranding mouthfuls. - Are hard to tell exact manufracture/release date per machine in case the serial no. is worn out and unreadable, but should all have started in '56-59. - "Deluxe", "Ace" and "Universal" 'golden-touches' have all exact same features as far as I've seen, are the most updated and feature-rich machines among this subbranding, so likely none were released until 1957 and on (there seems to be little time difference as some mass production seemed to happen during this time). So practically, these three main lineups are the same thing.. just with different titles perhaps because of potential differencial targeting for America/Europe/etc markets? It's noteworthy that Deluxes are still soo common (most common) to find online. - Then there's the simpler models that aren't AT ALL easy to find on stores like even ebay. These lack some or all typewriter-aid-sidekeys that Deluxes have, most lack the paper retainer tube too, but there's a hybrid one among these older releases that has 1 extra sidekey and even the frigging paper-retainer-tube, I own it and its called "Hideaway", in gorgeous white color. The white units are just very photogenic and inspiring, honestly. - The lower-tech 'Underwood golden touches' should mostly feature the following lineups: Leader, Star, Collegiate, Hideaway. Maybe they were all available in the same year and we don't know it (1956). There might be more model lineups under this special 'golden touch' subbranding era, but that needs a lot more digging, these were the ones I could identify. - There's some considerable & alternate features that makes it confusing to tell apart which were the priorities settled by the manufracturers back then, like two alternative space-bar sizes to pick, two alternative front metal cover styles to pick, even alternative company logos even... (maybe because of branding/market targets the company decided to keep it with variants again? All of these variables were offered not only with the simpler models but also the Deluxe models... - In my region (Caribbean Latin America), my dad remembers using some white units around the years 60s, as a journalist, which would likely be Deluxes with that beautiful white paint. He claims these were the most common imported ones into the country during those times. Models that came in colors like Teal/obvious Grey weren't all that popular over here, let alone the more fancy colored ones. From a psycological look, and considering the cheerfulness that caribbean countries like this display, it's to me no surprise at all that we had picked the most inspiring and stunning color even for work. By stunning I don't want to mean distracting, certainly this scheme inspired joy at the time of putting the effort to type, whereas one could assume by color psycology theories, that those faded colors inspired another feeling that allowed people to work, but more under a solemn umbrella of mindset. Anyways, after hearing my dad's tale I started hunting for some of these whities on ebay. I managed to get myself a Hideaway and Collegiate (both white themed w/smooth half-moon black keys). Now even though he doesn't mind the few missing keys on the Hideaway, he hates that the Collegiate lacks the paper-retaining tube. I watered him down by showing him the Leader and Star models that also lack it, now he's happy to display this Collegiate model as the older item, which we consider should be the one from 1956, if anything. That's it. If anybody has more precise info or knows all the serial numbers that belong to these 'golden touches variations', even though there might be more, let me know :) Glad there's more people reminiscing with these.

@cwmoser Жыл бұрын

Nice to know another "Typewriter Collector". I have a #5 and a #11 Underwood along with an Oliver No 5, a couple of Selectrics, and some Royals. You do make very informative videos on typewriters. Thanks for the videos.

@saulysw Жыл бұрын

Great editing in this video, you really have nailed that skill. Also, where the hell did you find those gloves? Did you make them?

@JustMyTypewriter Жыл бұрын

Amazon has all

@saulysw Жыл бұрын

@@JustMyTypewriter Yes… except good typewriters. There are none of those there.

@FrankRomerophoto Жыл бұрын

Nice video. :). Golden gloves and a trusty typewriter make me a heavyweight champ of writing tasks, even without a golden touch!

@grzegorzbielski8262 Жыл бұрын

Alton Gansky describing his Underwood Diplomat also mentioned "golden touch" :) m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/rKupZYeJZ7aKm9E

@hitbyabus4615 Жыл бұрын

2:20 is that a portable machine?

@bwhog 8 ай бұрын

Glare... room lights reflecting off the typewriter into their eyes, making it hard to work. I totally get that. As far as for the key shape, this would most be noticeable on a trained typist who used correct fingerings and correct hand position. As for as directing adds at Men, that is definitely, to me, directed at the people controlling the money for the office. Remember, Underwood, like Royal, as an independent entity, was on its way out at the end of the 1950s. They just couldn't get it together when compared to Smith-Corona and even THEY made the mistake of merging with Marchant which became something of an albatross around their own necks.