What kind of typewriters have been favored by writers and celebrities?
Here are the results of some research by me and my correspondents (particular thanks to Robert Messenger): • John Ashbery: Royal Aristocrat • Isaac Asimov: pink Selectric (on cover of his Opus 200) • Paul Auster: Olympia SM 9 (There’s a book about Auster’s Olympia.) • L. Frank Baum: Smith Premier • Brendan Behan: Remington portable (1920s) • Saul Bellow: Royal KMG • Stephen Vincent Benet: Remington portable (duotone, 1920s) • Ingrid Bergman: Smith-Corona Skyriter • Marlon Brando: Royal De Luxe • Gwendolyn Brooks: Underwood 6 • Helen Gurly Brown: Remington Rand • William S. Burroughs: 1950s, various typewriters, since he was constantly pawning them–many of his manuscripts were done on a Remington; Naked Lunch typed from handwritten notes by Kerouac, presumably on Kerouac’s Underwood; 1965 Paris Review interview: Facit Portable; cover of Word Virus anthology, 1970s photo: Olympia SG1. (See Naked Lunch for Burroughs’ imaginary typewriters.) • Robert Caro: Smith Corona 210 • Raymond Chand
