By the Typewriter: Joe Van Cleave
With a YouTube Channel with nearly 32,000 subscribers and 965 videos to date, the founding member of the ABQwerty Typewriter Society shares his insights and foibles.
Describe your ideal typing experience.
I would like to be sitting on the porch of a cabin in the mountains, the air is cool but I am warm in the morning sunlight, the sound of a flowing stream nearby, an aromatic cup of coffee at my side, and the words keep coming and coming nonstop, the typewriter (a medium-sized portable) responding flawlessly to my every keystroke, the words filling page after page.
What kind of a typist were you as a teenager?
I took typing class in 10th grade, and for typing essay papers had access at home to our Hermes 10 electric. I was not a great typist but could touch type adequately.
What typewriters are on your desk?
I have two desks side-by-side in my office, plus the video table at which I film my YouTube videos. On the left desk is the IBM Selectric 721, next to the Royal KMM. On the right desk is the Olympia SG1. Here on the video table is an SCM Electra 220, my latest infatuation.
Have you ever gotten into trouble for typing?
No, I don’t believe so. I’ve almost gotten in trouble for NOT typing, in the sense of not finishing school projects until the evening prior to their due date. Also, I almost got into trouble while in the US Navy on USS Constellation (CV64) for using my Senior Chief’s bright red Selectric II without asking him; he subsequently relented and permitted me use of the machine after regular business hours (i.e. when he was at the Chief’s Mess or in the rack).
What typewriters are you embarrassed not to have tried yet?
Olivetti Linea 88 and Lettera DL; many of the Eastern European large standards; I don’t have much experience with the early typewriters in what today we would consider nonstandard configurations. Also very little experience with indexing typewriters. I’ve not been a collector of historic machines but rather of machines I can use.
What’s your favorite typewriter no one has heard of?
My experience is not so vast that I’ve come across machines no one else has seen. But the Silver-Seiko made Royal Saturn electric is not very common, though not that rare. I also have an M.J. Rooy compact folding typewriter — not that common, but many collectors have heard of them.
What’s the last typewriter you used?
Royal Mercury (for addressing envelopes).
What typewriters have you used and enjoyed most?
Royal KMM; Olympia SG1; Olivetti Studio 44; Olympia Splendid (33); Olivetti Praxis 48; Hermes 3000.
What typewriter did you feel as if you were supposed to like, but didn’t?
Hermes Rocket/Baby and Smith-Corona Skyriter.
What are your feelings about novels with typewriter protagonists?
The story has to work on its own, regardless of the typewriter element, otherwise it’s just a bad story with a typewriter in it!
If you could be a typewriter, which one would you be?
Underwood 5. A design dating back to the early 20th century, that seems to still be relevant today, and just works well.
What’s the last typewriter that made you laugh?
The made-in China Olympia Traveller C. Based on the Silver-Seiko Japanese machine but with poor material quality. Surprisingly, it produces rather good quality type.
The last typewriter that made you cry?
The Olivetti Praxis 48 made me cry because I was unable (thus far) to repair the powered carriage return problem. Yet I love using that machine.
You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers known to use typewriters, dead or alive, do you invite?
Hunter S. Thompson; Ray Bradbury; William Gibson (he typed the manuscript for Neuromancer, his first novel).
Email interview conducted and edited by Mary Beth Klatt. Have any suggestions for future profiles for By the Typewriter? Leave a note in the comments or message me.
