Fountain Pens in Movies and TV

[FredRydr]

...He actually endorsed the early Conklin Crescents around the turn of the century, but would have used dip pens most of his life. And I don't know when Sheaffer introduced that style of nib exactly (1950s? 60s?), but certainly well after his time....

He was in bad straits in his later years from a series of poor financial decisions, so he took on sponsorships, first for Wirt fountain pens until snatched away by Conklin.

[Scrawler]

Okay, here's an easy one. What is wrong here? This is from the beginning of the American PBS program on Mark Twain, narrating about his prolific writing. He lived from 1835 to 1910.
<snip>

Sorry about the quality. I grabbed my iPhone and snapped the TV screen.

People who make movies really ought, at minimum, browse forums like this, or consult people like myself. I have heard, however, that props people do not treat valuable antiques very well, and even lose them, which is why many collectors will not hire out their pens for this purpose.

[An old bloke]

An associate of mine has a restored vintage ex-police Mini-Minor. He's been approached numerous times by movie production companies to use his car in period dramas. He knocks them back every time because he knows their track record through other restorers who have made the mistake of lending out their cars.

[carlos.q]

I was surprised to see on the news that the local governor signed a law with a bunch of Pilot Varsity pens:

PilotVarsities.jpg

[Rapidray]

That is interesting...the governor of Puerto Rico???

[Kaputnik]

I was surprised to see on the news that the local governor signed a law with a bunch of Pilot Varsity pens:

PilotVarsities.jpg

Very interesting. Since, in such cases, the signer typically hands the pens to people in the room as souvenirs, I wonder if they felt disappointed that the pens weren't something a little more upscale. No worries about the cost to the taxpayer if he was willing to buy them out of his own funds.

On the other hand, Varsities do write remarkably well, and are very reliable. No embarrassment with buying a bunch of ****** luxury pens and finding that a couple of them won't write.

[carlos.q]

That is interesting...the governor of Puerto Rico???

Yep.

[FredRydr]

In the second of the two-episode series on Mark Twain, the narration talked about written correspondence among members of the Clemens family in 1885, and on screen there was a BCHR slipcap Conklin crescent-filler placed on a letter. Not anywhere near as sloppy as the Sheaffer inlaid nib (above), but still about 20 years premature.

Picky. Picky. Picky.

[calamus]

Best I could do with my phone's camera and the TV screen. Kept playing the show forwards and backwards trying to get the best shot until my wife and son were ready to throttle me. This is from Season 3 of "Jeeves and Wooster," an episode called "Hot Off the Press." No idea what the pen is. Wish I could have gotten a better look.

[Scrawler]

[QUOTE=calamus;247911]Best I could do with my phone's camera and the TV screen. Kept playing the show forwards and backwards trying to get the best shot until my wife and son were ready to throttle me. This is from Season 3 of "Jeeves and Wooster," an episode called "Hot Off the Press." No idea what the pen is. Wish I could have gotten a better look.
<snip>

It looks like a modern Pelikan.

[Kaputnik]

A lot of people here are fairly quick to notice a fountain pen that is grossly wrong for the era, such as an early 1900s Conklin in 1885 as mentioned above.

But how many of us would spot an anomalous dip pen? Think of this as either the nib, the holder, or both. I would probably be fairly easy to fool, unless the camera lingered long enough on the nib for me to identify it positively as a modern brand. With the holders, I really have only the vaguest notions of what was available when.

[BlkWhiteFilmPix]

There's one (Pelikan) on Sir Michael Caine's desk in Last Love, in which Mr. Caine plays an American widower living in Paris.

It's there as he seals envelopes enclosing handwritten letters.

[oldstoat]

[QUOTE=Scrawler;247924]

Best I could do with my phone's camera and the TV screen. Kept playing the show forwards and backwards trying to get the best shot until my wife and son were ready to throttle me. This is from Season 3 of "Jeeves and Wooster," an episode called "Hot Off the Press." No idea what the pen is. Wish I could have gotten a better look.
<snip>

It looks like a modern Pelikan.

Yes it is. Possibly a 400.

[An old bloke]

A lot of people here are fairly quick to notice a fountain pen that is grossly wrong for the era, such as an early 1900s Conklin in 1885 as mentioned above.

But how many of us would spot an anomalous dip pen? Think of this as either the nib, the holder, or both. I would probably be fairly easy to fool, unless the camera lingered long enough on the nib for me to identify it positively as a modern brand. With the holders, I really have only the vaguest notions of what was available when.

The movie for dip pens collectors to review for selection and vintage has to be "Miss Potter", the 2006 Beatrix Potter movie. I suspect they will find the props department did justice to correctness.

[calamus]

A lot of people here are fairly quick to notice a fountain pen that is grossly wrong for the era, such as an early 1900s Conklin in 1885 as mentioned above.

But how many of us would spot an anomalous dip pen? Think of this as either the nib, the holder, or both. I would probably be fairly easy to fool, unless the camera lingered long enough on the nib for me to identify it positively as a modern brand. With the holders, I really have only the vaguest notions of what was available when.

The movie for dip pens collectors to review for selection and vintage has to be "Miss Potter", the 2006 Beatrix Potter movie. I suspect they will find the props department did justice to correctness.

If you look at the previous page of this thread, post #247 I believe, there is a shot of "Miss Potter" wielding a fountain pen. The scene is set in 1905, but the pen appears to be from a somewhat later decade.

[An old bloke]

A lot of people here are fairly quick to notice a fountain pen that is grossly wrong for the era, such as an early 1900s Conklin in 1885 as mentioned above.

But how many of us would spot an anomalous dip pen? Think of this as either the nib, the holder, or both. I would probably be fairly easy to fool, unless the camera lingered long enough on the nib for me to identify it positively as a modern brand. With the holders, I really have only the vaguest notions of what was available when.

The movie for dip pens collectors to review for selection and vintage has to be "Miss Potter", the 2006 Beatrix Potter movie. I suspect they will find the props department did justice to correctness.

If you look at the previous page of this thread, post #247 I believe, there is a shot of "Miss Potter" wielding a fountain pen. The scene is set in 1905, but the pen appears to be from a somewhat later decade.

The specific scene to which I referred was the one in which she is in the estate agents office to purchase her farm. There is an array of dip pens, pen stand and an inkwell on the desk.

[BlkWhiteFilmPix]

Montblanc 149 in Jack Ryan's pocket when FBI Special Agent Dan Murray stops by Ryan's office in Clear and Present Danger

[catbert]

Looks like a Jinhao X450 on Last Week Tonight.

LastWeekJinhao.jpg

Video here: https://youtu.be/NpPyLcQ2vdI?t=545

[carlos.q]

Pixels (2015): As alien invaders disguised as 1980's video game characters attack the Earth, a Waterman Phileas sits on President Cooper's desk.

Phileas.jpg

[catbert]

A Sheaffer Snorkel is mentioned but not seen during a recitation of possessions in Truffaut’s Tirez sur le pianiste/Shoot the Piano Player (1960).

tirezsnork1.png

tirezsnork2.png

The entire exchange:

Fido (kid): What's that?
Ernest (driver): A musical lighter.
F: That's great.
Momo (other guy): Show him your watch.
E: Look. And I've got a gadget that rings when the parking meter is up. (pauses)
F: Is that it?
E: A new Snorkel-brand pen from America with automatic refill and retractable nib. A fiber belt from Oceania. A hat for the tropics. My suit's from London, made of Australian wool. I have vented shoes of Egyptian leather. I've got so much stuff I could puke.

tirezsnork3.png

tirezsnork4.png