Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Ballpoints, not for writing?

Caught during the “Breaking Barriers” episode of the PBS series Pioneers of Television, Tom Willis (Franklin Cover) of The Jeffersons speaking to his wife Helen (played by Roxie Roker):

“Helen, I can’t find my fountain pen.”

“Use one of the ballpoint pens. There are lots of them on your desk.”

“Ballpoint pens are not for writing. They’re for making marks. I need a pen with a point. Now what have you done with my pen?”

“I don’t know, I might have taken it to do the marketing list.”

“You wrote with it?”
Some ballpoints are a pleasure to write with: writing with, say, a Parker T-Ball Jotter is a breeze. But I understand where Mr. Willis is, as they say, coming from. The clip begins at 47:33.

Related reading
A 1963 Jotter ad : A 1964 Jotter ad : A 1971 Jotter ad : Five pens

comments: 4

David Steinlicht said...

I really like the uni-ball pen. Wet ink, but in a ballpoint. (Yes, I recently did a comic that praises the uni-ball pen.)

http://cornercomic.typepad.com/in_this_corner/2014/04/ode-to-the-uni-ball-pen.html

Michael Leddy said...

David, you have a new reader. :)

Which one are we talking about? I like the 0.38 mm Uni-ball Signo — a lot.

David Steinlicht said...

Michael,

I like the blue-black medium point Vision Elite. It's got a cap like a fountain pen. Makes everything I scribble down feel important.

Welcome to the comic strip! I'm sorry to tell you that I'm wrapping it up at the end of May. It's been ten years and it feels like enough. There are only five new comics left.

But, please browse the archives.

--David

Michael Leddy said...

“Makes everything I scribble down feel important”: necessary in any pen. :)

I’ll be browsing.