Olympia SF/Traveller Typewriter Ad Copy

Olympia SF Typewriter : The Individual

(from the Ruston, Louisiana Daily Leader, November 26, 1971)

As Olympia has now shown the world, a typewriter does not necessarily have to look like a typewriter. The styling of the Olympia SF Deluxe will be appreciated by those people who like something special. And fresh colors too. ..like Cosmos Blue and Mars Red. It's amazing how many special benefits have been engineered into this small machine. Margin stop scale with stops tor left and right: three different line-spacings. 1. 1 1/2.,2; Vertical paper support for easy reference to typed material and two color ribbon plus stencil position. It adds that personal touch that makes a nice Christmas gift for anyone.

Canadian Olympia Traveller de Luxe

I went back to Bremerton Office Machines this morning, where I found the most interesting typewriter I have ever seen. It was designed in Germany in 1969, outsourced to Yugoslavia in 1972, (mine was made in 1980), and mine was most likely sold in Canada in 1980, and resold in Bremerton, WA, USA in 2013--a true Traveler! Mechanically, it is an Olympia SF, with a two-color ribbon. It is quite compact, and somehow quite heavy. I was able to test it and a Remington Noiseless--the Olympia seemed quieter to me! I thought that the whole typewriter was plastic, until I lifted off the ribbon cover--only the black panels are plastic. 

The carrying case/lid is plastic, and stamped with the name "UNIS". UNIS stood for Udružena Metalna Industrija Sarajevo, (United Metal Industries, Sarajevo, in Croatian) and manufactured Olympia Traveller typewriters under licence for many years (most 1970s compact Olympias were made by UNIS.) More about UNIS can be found here: http://oztypewriter.blogspot.com/2012/02/yugoslavian-typewriter.html

and http://machinesoflovinggrace.com/ptf/unis.html

The Traveller is a very sturdy typewriter. The margins are set in the rear. It is also rare in the United States. 

The carrying case/lid.

The Traveller looks very much at home on the M/V Kitsap, which, coincidentally, was also built in 1980! 

I have since moved the dealer label to the rear of the machine.

The only advertisements I could find for this model were in Canadian newspapers:

From the Brandon (Manitoba) Sun, August 28, 1980

Special Thanks to Richard Polt

A few weeks ago, I asked Richard Polt if he had an extra rear panel to a 1950s Royal Quiet Deluxe. He said he did, "But it's pink." I asked if he could send the other pink panels, and he did--in its case! Thanks to him, my $2 Royal Quiet Deluxe is now much less drab.

He is also a great resource of information on prewar Remington Portables His site devoted to them is below:

 http://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/rem-portables.htm

 The new case

 The dark gray panels are original, but the pink panels are new. I love the differences in texture between the two colors. The pink panels are from a 1957 or later Quiet Deluxe that was Mr. Polt's parts machine. The push-button mechanism is built into the front panel. The red panel with the word "Royal" on it is original to this front panel (the original front panel had a gray panel)

In this picture, it is less pink, but tanner. 

The tan/pink panels have a crinkle finish, while the charcoal panels are very smooth. The new case is in much better condition than the case it originally came in (which I now think was not original either, after seeing other charcoal Quiet Deluxes on Etsy and Ebay with gray-lined cases.)

The end result reminds me a lot of the late-1950s Speed King:

Royal Speed King, circa 1959. Notice the bulky keytops, which were found on the Futura, and the later Safari. This was a lower end alternative to the Quiet Deluxe and the Futura, lacking the Futura's keyset tabulator.

All About the Olivetti Lettera 22

In 1949, well-know industrial designer Marcello Nizzoli designed a new compact portable typewriter for Olivetti. Called the Lettera 22, it was very compact, weighing only eight pounds. Despite its compact size, it offered a keyset tabulator, and basket shift. The keyset tabulator was only found on office typewriters, and basket shift was uncommon in most European portable typewriters, let alone a compact portable. In addition to these features, the Lettera 22 offered automatic paragraph indentation (achieved by holding down the margin release key while returning the carriage). 

The Lettera 22 was offered in many versions over the years, including many made for Sears, such as the Tower Chieftain, and the Sears Courier. By the time the Courier was introduced (1966) the Lettera 32 had replaced the Lettera 22 for most of its American and European markets. Production of the Lettera 22 moved to Mexico, where it continued until at least 1970. (The Lettera 32, introduced in 1964 continued until 1977 along with the Lettera 31/Dora.) 

Early Lettera 22 typewriters are generally painted tan. The color falls between tan and light green. Those made after 1959 are generally painted light blue. Early Lettera 22's come in two tone brown cases, while later ones can be found in the later blue case (with a black stripe). 

If you have an early Lettera 22 that was purchased in the Seattle area, the odds are very good that it was sold by The Typewriter Clinic. The Typewriter Clinic was the only Olivetti typewriter dealer from 1954-1959. (E.W. Hall sold Olivetti calculators in the early 1950s.) 

The Typewriter Clinic, at 1912 Third Avenue. Both of these buildings were demolished in 1961 to make way for the Securities Building Garage.

The first newspaper advertisement for the Olivetti was in the Clovis (New Mexico) News-Journal on September 29, 1953.

The second newspaper advertisement for the Olivetti Lettera 22 appeared in The New York Times on October 16, 1953:

Dealers in Montana began to carry it in 1954. Many of the first Olivetti dealers in the United States were in smaller towns and cities. The exception to this seems to be Washington State. The Typewriter Clinic began advertising the Olivetti Portable in November, 1953. There appear to be no Olivetti advertisements in the Spokane papers. 

All About the Royalite

In 1953, a new compact portable was released into the European marketplace. Called the Halberg Traveler, it soon gained the attention of Royal McBee Corporation, who saw the benefits of having a small, entry-level typewriter, to compete with the Adler Tippa, Hermes Baby, Smith-Corona Skyriter, just to name a few. Royal bought out Halberg by 1955, and renamed the small portable the "Royal Royalite." They also smoothed out the design, replacing the gull-wing ribbon covers with a lift off ribbon cover. The earliest Royalites were all green, with dark green keys.

The first ad for the Royal Royalite, which appeared in The Seattle Times, December 14, 1956.

Later models can be found in an attractive, two-tone gray color scheme, and other related models can be found in anything ranging from solid charcoal (Dart, Companion), to two-tone black and gold. (Eldorado). 

The Royalite did not catch on well in Seattle until 1959, when the city's largest department store, The Bon Marché noticed it. By this time, The Bon Marché had stores in most of Washington State, and in Ogden, Utah. Until The Bon Marché began carrying the Royalite, the primary sellers of Royal Royalite typewriters were jewelers, and five-and-dimes, such as Kress and Woolworths.  Kress ran this ad on November 9, 1958 in The Seattle Times:

The Bon Marché ran this ad on August 16, 1959, listing all of the Royalite's features:

By 1962, MacDougall's, which was in its final years, began advertising the Royalite; MacDougall's closed in 1966, and was soon replaced with a parking lot.

In Oregon, the Royalite caught on very quickly. The J.K. Gill Company was the first dealer to advertise the Royalite, on December 18, 1955 in The Oregonian:

On July 30, 1958, Meier and Frank, which was Portland's equivalent to The Bon Marché, began advertising the Royalite:

By 1959, they were calling the Royalite "the biggest portable value." This ad appeared in The Oregonian on March 13, 1959:

They continued to advertise the Royalite, until it was discontinued in the 1970s. By this point, it had become a plastic-shelled typewriter.

Maison Blanche, New Orlean's equivalent to The Bon Marché began advertising the Royalite in 1958. These were the first ads for the Royalite in New Orleans. The Royalite was first advertised in the Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer in 1957. However, their major department store, Higbee's, did not begin advertising the Royalite until 1959:

Below is the Higbee Company's ad for the 1960 Royal Royalite:

 A typical later-model Royal Royalite. This one was made in 1962.

In New York, Macy's began offering the Royal Royalite as a prize in the "We Love New York Contest" of 1958. Three were available as prizes. 

Tasteless Dealer Decals

On a Remington Standard 5--Image from Etsy.com. I think that this sticker would look even worse on a larger typewriter. Only 20,000 of this model were made.

On an Olivetti!

Smith-Corona Corsair Manual

Here is the owner's manual for my Smith-Corona Corsair. (It came from a Corsair Deluxe, but all of the features apply.) It will work for all plastic, English-made Smith-Corona portables, as well as the Sears Scout, and Sears Tutor.

 The back of the manual. The manual is roughly legal-sized.

 The front of the manual

 My Smith-Corona Corsair.