Nows and Forevers

Gee, Paul, did you really drive to Doylestown, Pennsylvania, to see author James Michener’s typewriter? Well, I did go to Manhattan earlier this year to see Robert Caro’s …

Welcome to the Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, where they have Michener’s workspace and notes and other memorabilia. I have read a handful of Michener’s books: “The Bridges at Toko-Ri” (I wrote a book report in middle school), “Tales of the South Pacific” (you know it by “South Pacific” the movie and musical), and “Space,” which I read on a trip back East in high school when I was living in Southern California. Gotta be honest, I like vintage Michener, before he wrote super-long, super-dense books. (I’m Team Tolstoy and Team (Herman) Wouk if I want an epic.)

But just like with Caro, I’m fascinated by Michener’s writing process. He wrote on an Olympia SM-3 Deluxe. Olympia is the Mercedes-Benz of typewriters, favored by Michener (even after computers), Harlan Ellison, Charles Bukowski, Patricia Highsmith, Elmore Leonard, Wallace Stegner and Robert Penn Warren, among others.

Pretty good company, if you ask me.

Neil Simon and I had Olympia SM-9s, which are from the late 1960s (just like me) and it’s probably the best of the bunch. Call me a traditionalist, but my first and favorite typewriters have always been Smith Coronas. The feel is just perfect.