Between the typewriter and the word processor there was a time - 1961 to 1975 or thereabouts - when one technology ruled the world of typing: the IBM Selectric!
Let's look back at the future of writing...
The Selectric typewriter, launched in 1961, was a radical departure from the traditional typewriter. Out went the individual type bars striking an ink ribbon...
...and in came the revolutionary golf ball typing head! Initially called a 'mushroom head' the golf ball tilted and rotated to match the right character with the right keystroke.
The golf ball was designed to do many things by IBM. Firstly it would speed up typing: removing key jams and producing cleaner, evenly spaced type. It was almost impossible to jam.
Secondly it would allow you to change fonts or even alphabets by swapping between golf ball heads. Scientific notation, Cyrillic script, italics - all were now easy to incorporate into your typing.
The Selectric was an instant success and would eventually capture three quarters of the US business typing market. Later models allowed immediate corrections to be made by incorporating correcting fluid into the type ribbon cartridge.
The Selectric, in the guise of the IBM 2741, also became the standard computer print terminal of the IBM range by the mid-1960s.
However the company missed a trick with this...
...as the golf ball head was not compatible with the ASCII standard for computer characters. IBM rejected the idea for unknown reasons.
I know, it's illogical!
In 1964 IBM paired the Selectric with a magnetic tape memory to create the MT/ST (Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter). This was one of the first true word processor, recording keystrokes on magnetic tape so they could be edited and reprinted.
Len Deighton wrote the first published novel on a word processor in 1970, using a hired IBM MT/ST to compose his novel Bomber. The MT/ST was so large it had to be winches into his London home through an upstairs window.
Another notable first for the Selectric was discovered in 1984: Soviet spies had inserted keystroke loggers into the Selectrics at the US embassy in Moscow. Hidden magnetometers in the machines recorded and then transmitted the keystroke patterns to the KGB.
In the UK the Selectric golf ball head was turned into the nightmare-inducing character Wordy, in BBC's Look and Read schools programme. Who thought this was a good idea?
So here's to the golf ball typewriter: once the very model of innovation, now just a footnote in the history of type.
Still more fun than unjamming a modern printer though...
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
What do Batman, Spiderman, Bettie Page, Madonna and women wrestlers have in common? Well I'll tell you: they all feature in the life of today's featured pulp artist.
Today I look back at the career of "the father of fetish" Eric Stanton!
Eric Stanton was born in New York in 1926. His childhood was marred by many illnesses, and confined to bed he learnt to draw by tracing comic books. He was fascinated by strong Amazonian women like Sheena, Queen of the Jungle and soon began creating similar cartoons.
After high school Stanton joined the Navy in 1944, putting his skills to use in drawing aircraft recognition cartoons. Post-war he got a job with cartoonist Gordon 'Boody' Rogers, creator of Babe: Amazon Of The Ozarks.
Given the weather is getting warmer I feel obliged to ask the following question: is it time to bring back the leisure suit?
Let's find out...
Now we all know what a man's lounge suit is, but if we're honest it can be a bit... stuffy. Formal. Businesslike. Not what you'd wear 'in da club' as the young folks say.
So for many years tailors have been experimenting with less formal, but still upmarket gents attire. The sort of garb you could wear for both a high level business meeting AND for listening to the Moody Blues in an espresso bar. Something versatile.
Today in pulp... Blade Runner! Let's look back at the classic 1982 movie and see how it compares to original novel.
"It's not an easy thing to meet your maker..."
Blade Runner is based on Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? However 'inspired' may be a better word, as the film is very different to the book.
In the novel Deckard is a bounty hunter for the San Francisco police. The year is 1992; Earth has been ravaged by war and humans are moving to off-world colonies to protect their genetic integrity. They are given organic robots to help them, created by the Rosen Association.