Fountain Pens In Movies And Tv

[ParramattaPaul]

1 hour ago, inkstainedruth said:

Well these were charter tours but the overseas flights were booked on regular airlines (often Pan AM).  There was often a refueling or flight change stop in Frankfurt (or sometimes Shannon Airport in Ireland; the trip to Rome the refueling stop was Milan).  But for the most part were not charter companies per se.  (The only one I remember that was?  Some Danish (I think) company when we were coming home from a trip to Copenhagen.  Halfway across the Atlantic, after a refueling stop in Iceland, the plane turned around and went back to Keflavik -- the pilots were apparently having trouble with the hydraulic brakes, and it was going to be easier to get repairs/parts done there than in Labrador, the next refueling stop, before going on to JFK.  When the plane turned around, I didn't realize that there was a problem at first until the pilot came on the speakers -- I just thought "Oh, are we to the point where we're doing the shorter route arc-ing around the Arctic Circle?"  

There was a guy and his dad in the tour group, and my mom was sitting next to the son; he was a big guy (easily 6'5") but my mom said that his hand was cold as ice -- the guy was PETRIFIED.  We got back to Keflavik okay, but when we landed there was a line of emergency vehicles along the side of the runway, just in case....  Then we sat in the terminal for several hours while the authorities tried to figure out how to put a 707's load of passengers up for the night in Reykjavik -- at the time (early 1980s, the population of Reykjavik was about 29K) and they didn't know if there would be enough available hotel space....  

Of course mostly I remember of that night in Iceland was that (it being May) the sun went down around 11 PM local time; and my mom woke up at 3 AM and looked at her watch and THEN realized that she hadn't had to turn on a light to see her watch....  Oh, and I could NOT convince my mother to let me buy an Icelandic sweater... (years later I got a Lopi pattern book and KNIT myself one...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

The only flight I was on that turned around was another military charter.  We left Sydney enroute to Saigon and turned around an hour after departure when the captain got word that the American soldier who overslept showed up at the airport.  There was an anonymous phone call saying that something had fallen off the airplane.  That little ruse cost the US government an unknown amount for the cost of the fuel but saved some poor sod (I'm guessing an officer) a court-martial.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

On 5/30/2022 at 7:43 AM, Larry Barrieau said:

Before the 1950's there was a morning mail delivery and another one in the afternoon.  The mailman would give you your mail and take any of  your outgoing mail back to the post office.  They would sort it and put it in a sack and bring the sack to the train station.  Your mail could make it to towns not too far away in less than a day.  I have old postcards that have short messages like, "Can't wait to see you at the station tomorrow morning."   

 

That sort of thing had a name;  Hmm, what was it?   um   Oh, I know!  SERVICE.

 

I remember there being two mail deliveries a day in at least the mid-'50s. Now, well I have a particularly bad local Post Office. They lose mail and lie about it, and other lovely antics ☹️.

[Ceilidh]

<line of emergency vehicles>

 

This made me smile (I was born in the Air Force). No doubt "emergency vehicle" is more comforting to passengers, but to pilots and ground crew, they're known as "crash trucks."

[Gloucesterman]

5 hours ago, Ink Stained Wretch said:

 

I remember there being two mail deliveries a day in at least the mid-'50s. Now, well I have a particularly bad local Post Office. They lose mail and lie about it, and other lovely antics ☹️.

Many newspapers used to publish a morning AND afternoon edition. Some had an "Extra" if there was additional important news...

[ParramattaPaul]

9 hours ago, Ceilidh said:

<line of emergency vehicles>

 

This made me smile (I was born in the Air Force). No doubt "emergency vehicle" is more comforting to passengers, but to pilots and ground crew, they're known as "crash trucks."

Air traffic Controllers also call them crash trucks.  Having to deploy them usually means one of two things for controllers; a "save" and an "atta-boy", or a long arduous accident investigation and some second guessing, haunting memories, and the possibility of PTSD.

[Mr.Rene]

I just saw in I DREAM OF JEANNIE....Dr. Bellows (Hayden Rorke) filling his Parker 51 aerometric..He takes a Classic Sheaffer ink bottle...nice to see on TV.

[Parker51]

On 5/30/2022 at 7:43 AM, Larry Barrieau said:

Before the 1950's there was a morning mail delivery and another one in the afternoon.  The mailman would give you your mail and take any of  your outgoing mail back to the post office.  They would sort it and put it in a sack and bring the sack to the train station.  Your mail could make it to towns not too far away in less than a day.  I have old postcards that have short messages like, "Can't wait to see you at the station tomorrow morning."   

 

That sort of thing had a name;  Hmm, what was it?   um   Oh, I know!  SERVICE.

I apologize in advance for going off topic as this is a comment on an earlier entry rather than a mention of a pen in television or a movie.
 
Even in the 1970s it was possible to get overnight delivery at a reasonable cost for packages by post from places hundreds of miles away. I recall at Miami University our class placing orders for some records for class and them arriving the following day, being mailed up from Nashville. 
 

Back then there was one organization providing this service, the government sponsored US Post Office. 
 

Something which is sometimes ignored when there are discussions about the benefits of private businesses engaging in competition is that for some activities there can be a benefit to the public of having a single higher volume government run monopoly as it can achieve due to high market penetration and having many service delivery points a higher quality of service at a lower cost to the user. I believe this should not be a question of (We Can’t Talk about) beliefs, but instead a sober belief free exercise in accounting.

 

Now back to Pens. 

[Misfit]

A new series on PBS called Magpie Murders features an author who starts his novels in notebooks using a fountain pen. A character mentions his expensive pens. 
 

Here are screenshots of the show. 
 

[ParramattaPaul]

Iteresting.  The grip he uses in the second photo is one that Rosemary Sassoon mentioned in her book.

[Misfit]

I hope someone identifies the pen. The nib had an S on it. Oh and maybe an h.

 

I can only think of Sheaffer. 

[Olya]

1 hour ago, Misfit said:

I hope someone identifies the pen. The nib had an S on it. Oh and maybe an h.

 

I can only think of Sheaffer. 

Definitely a Sheaffer, modern. I dont know all the models, but something like a 200 or some such.

[Misfit]

@Olya makes sense. The writer was from now, though the series has a way of going to the 1950s to show his characters from his books. 

[Olya]

8 hours ago, Misfit said:

@Olya makes sense. The writer was from now, though the series has a way of going to the 1950s to show his characters from his books. 

Not the first case of "this is set in the ca. 1930s, but the pen is a metal pen first made in the 2000s, but hey it's a fountain pen, so who cares?!" 😁

They amazingly do this even in some period pieces where they source accurate pens, in some cases accurate for a specific person (e.g. the exact type Einstein used or a Parker 51 for Liz II) in others for any character, and still manage to give other characters super modern pens... If I remember right a Parker IM (the older with the metal grip section) made it into a programme (forgot which one, The Crown?) about Churchill, though a (or this?) fictitious Churchill used a period accurate(-ish?) green striped Pelikan...

I googled the Sheaffer I think it is and it must be the 100!

[ParramattaPaul]

Correct me if Im wrong.  My understanding from the one episode I've watched.  The story begins with the writer of s serial of period detective novels dying -- in the today -- from what the local constabulary believe is a suicide.  The publishers are notified at the same time noticing that the final chapter of his recently submitted manuscript is missing its final chapter.  The soon to be director does not believe it was a suicide and -- again, in the today -- to investigate for herself, and to hopefully find the missing chapter.  At the same time, the fictitious detective (the novels' protagonist) and his off-sider also begin to investigate.  So, the story takes place in two time periods -- the today, circa 2022, and an earlier time frame, the one depicted in the writer's novels.

 

So, the writer using a modern pen would be correct.

[Misfit]

@ParramattaPaul you are correct. I used a clunky way to say the writer was from now.  “In the today” does make it clear. Thank you. 

[Parker51]

The pen appears to be a Sheaffer 100 in brushed chrome with a current retail price of $35.00 or 35 euros.

[Misfit]

6 hours ago, Parker51 said:

The pen appears to be a Sheaffer 100 in brushed chrome with a current retail price of $35.00 or 35 euros.

Hmm, I guess compared to a (it is a UK show) Biro, $35 would seem expensive. I’d guess the prop people had a budget. 😉. 

[Monophoto]

Episode 2 of the Netflix series Traitors includes a couple of scenes of the main characters using fountain pens.  Not clear what pens they were using.

[ParramattaPaul]

5 hours ago, Monophoto said:

Episode 2 of the Netflix series Traitors includes a couple of scenes of the main characters using fountain pens.  Not clear what pens they were using.

What is the story line of 'Traitors'?

[Paul-in-SF]

2 hours ago, ParramattaPaul said:

What is the story line of 'Traitors'?

 

Set in Britain in post-WWII, apparently. Brits working for US intelligence sub rosa to find Russian moles in British intelligence. Summary based on IMDb.