Fountain Pens in Movies and TV

[An old bloke]

'...left in July 2008 after being offered a take it or leave it 90% pay cut.'

Talk about being pushed out the door!

[catbert]

Yes it's true that Countdown was the first show to be shown when Channel 4 was launched.

Yup, I was watching at the time.

It's still a popular quiz show, but Carol Vorderman, made famous as the first woman to appear on Channel 4, and the co-host/arithmetic expert on the show for 26 years, left in July 2008 after being offered a take it or leave it 90% pay cut.

I also thought Carol V was the first woman to appear on C4, though technically Ted Moult's assistant, Mary, beats her to it by about 30 seconds. YouTube link

Didn't know about the pay ultimatum. Pretty despicable.

[FredRydr]

...Smiley mostly uses ballpoints. Here perhaps a Sheaffer Targa....

Exposed and captured traitor Bill Hayden (played by Ian Richardson) uses Smiley’s Montblanc as he makes his final requests to George Smiley (Alec Guinness) in the interrogation compound.

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iPhone 8 shot of a Toshiba TV screen. (I ended up watching all six episodes again!)

[catbert]

...Smiley mostly uses ballpoints. Here perhaps a Sheaffer Targa....

Exposed and captured traitor Bill Hayden (played by Ian Richardson) uses his Montblanc as he makes his final requests to George Smiley (Alec Guinness) in the interrogation compound.

iPhone 8 shot of a Toshiba TV screen. (I ended up watching all six episodes again!)

Looks like a Montblanc 12 or 14.

[catbert]

Glimpses of the 'cardinal's hat' cap band on Smiley's Montblanc 12 or 14 when Hayden 'forgets' to return it and Smiley asks for it back.

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[FredRydr]

This BBC version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was released in 1979. Any idea when that model Montblanc was being sold? Also, just how many cheques did Hayden write in that scene, anyway? (Hint: supposed to be one, but continuity goof made it two.)

[catbert]

This BBC version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was released in 1979. Any idea when that model Montblanc was being sold? Also, just how many cheques did Hayden write in that scene, anyway? (Hint: supposed to be one, but continuity goof made it two.)

The 12/14/22/24/32/34 series was 1959–70. Seems in character for Smiley not to have the latest thing. Montblancs of the 1970s (121, 220, 221, etc.) had similar but more angular styling, more exposed wing nibs.

[catbert]

A 60 Minutes profile showed a picture of David Cornwell (John le Carré) in the 1960s writing with a Parker 51, possibly.

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[guyy]

Veronika Voss (Rosel Zech), a disgraced Nazi movie star addicted to morphine autographs a photo in Fassbinder's Veronika Voss. The recipient of the autograph is played by Fassbinder's mother.

I can't quite identify the pen, which looks fairly large. Soennecken? An MB? There might be a snowflake on the end of the cap. There's another fountain pen on a film producer's desk, but that one is even more difficult to identify. It's similarly cigar shaped and may be just the same pen placed in a tulip.

[guyy]

Having seen the second and third installments of the BRD trilogy, i went back and rewatched the first, the Marriage of Maria Braun.

I had seen this one quite some time ago, and loved it—as many folks do. I forgot that there is a fountain pen that has an important role in the opening scene. As bombs fall on the city office where Hermann & Maria Braun are in the process of marrying, Maria grabs the necessary papers, throws herself on the ground and has the official sign them. The pen is cylindrical and seems to be missing its
cap, but see it from too great a distance to identify it. The pen and signature bring out the transactional & contractual way the characters interact throughout the film.

[jill]

Hello! I've recently seen the show "Anne with an E", it's absolutely phenomenal in so many ways... I have reached out to many pen makers, and they pointed me in the direction of the Waterman Ripple Ebonite pen or the Waterman 54. This is the closest I can find to the original, although the clip and gold bands differ slightly... hope this helps (:

[carlos.q]

"For Greater Glory: The True Story of Cristiada" is a 2012 film on a rather obscure subject: the 1926-29 "Cristeros war" waged by sectors of the catholic population against the repressive Mexican government. In the movie Andy García plays the atheist general "Enrique Gorostieta" who is brought out of retirement to lead the Cristero army. In this scene García uses a blue Parker Vacumatic to write in his journal:

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Though Gorostieta is portrayed as a wealthy man who owned a soap factory it is impossible that he would use a pen during the late 1920's that was launched by Parker in 1933.

[Ugly Old Guy]

What did Ol' Ebby and Bobby use in 'A Christmas Carol'? A Fountain Pen, or a Dip Pen? I don't recall.
Accountants (Bobby) and Loan Sharks/Money Lenders (Ol' Ebby) don't/didn't own or use a pencil, then or now, after all.

I think I remember Bobby had a blotter and a bottle of ink on his desk or counter work space.

[guyy]

Though Gorostieta is portrayed as a wealthy man who owned a soap factory it is impossible that he would use a pen during the late 1920's that was launched by Parker in 1933.

It’s worse than that: the blue version didn’t come out until about 1940.

[catbert]

Downton Abbey (the movie) opens with a fountain pen signing a letter

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and a glimpse of a gold crescent filler.

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[FredRydr]

Downton Abbey (the movie) opens with a fountain pen signing a letter...and a glimpse of a gold crescent filler.

I wonder if before the company's demise many Conklins made it across the pond to the UK.

[carlos.q]

Last night I watched "The Guns of Navarone" (1961) for the fourth or fifth time since I was a kid. Though there are no fountain pens in the movie, there is a scene where David Niven's military "service record" shows fp writing with a stub nib:

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In an unrelated scene, German soldiers use a Dodge truck to pursue the allied commandos...

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[FredRydr]

And I'm watching The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society again. Here, Guernsey farmer Dawsey Adams signs his letter to London author Juliet Ashton in 1946 relating what happened during the Nazi occupation.

Osmia?

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Then Miss Ashton seems to have a regular supply of fountain pens in her handbag for note-taking on Guernsey.

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iPhone 8 photos of a Toshiba TV screen.

[An old bloke]

The enlarged photo of the nib appears to read 'MENTMORE', and possibly 'OSMI' below that (above in the photo).

[An old bloke]

While not the same nib, this seems to confirm the above.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?v...=1&FORM=IRPRST