Fountain Pens in Movies and TV

[carlos.q]

I've posted a bit in a thread by the same title on the FPN site and I thought it would be nice to have a similar thread here. The difference is that, besides saying "I saw X pen on this TV show or movie" (which you can still do) maybe we can spice things up a bit by adding a picture of your find. Doesn't have to be anything fancy really: I just take pictures right off the TV set with my iPhone.

So without further ado, I'd like to start off with ABC's new TV show "Forever". In this week's episode the good (and immortal) doctor writes up his notes with a FP. Can you identify it, because I can't.

forever01.jpg

Another view:

forever02.jpg

[AtomicLeo]

Ooooo very nice. I posted this in the Lounge but the show "Sleepy Hollow" featured a fountain pen in this week's episode and was part of a twist at the end of the episode. Can't find a pic, but one of the baddies on the show altered the pen in such a way that another character on the show inadvertently signed a document with his blood. The pen looked very modern, but I could not identify it.

[Kaputnik]

No pictures, but I do notice occasionally if fountain pens show up, particularly if it's a movie taking place in our ballpoint era. In The Gray, Liam Neeson's character writes a letter with what is almost certainly a Lamy Safari.

The Korean movie Old Boy (I couldn't get through Spike Lee's American remake), has its protagonist held captive for fifteen years, for mysterious reasons. While he's being held, he is provided with a fountain pen and notebooks to keep a journal. My best guess on the pen model was a Pilot Cavalier, someone else on another forum thought it was some kind of Waterman. We also see him giving himself a crude tattoo with a piece of wire and the bottle of ink. Okay, actually I can give a screenshot from this.



In The King's Speech, we see an expensive looking fountain pen from the perspective of its holder, the ailing King George V. He is signing a decree which will allow his son Edward to act on his behalf. The signature is an illegible scrawl. Of course, in a short time, the king will die, and Edward will abdicate after a few months, making way for George VI. I wondered at the time, though, what the pen was. Some sort of Onoto, perhaps?

[carlos.q]

Ooooo very nice. I posted this in the Lounge but the show "Sleepy Hollow" featured a fountain pen in this week's episode and was part of a twist at the end of the episode. Can't find a pic, but one of the baddies on the show altered the pen in such a way that another character on the show inadvertently signed a document with his blood. The pen looked very modern, but I could not identify it.

I couldn't identify the pen either. This is the scene where the John Noble character (Henry Parrish) engages in some devilish nibmeistering so that it will nick the Orlando Jones character's finger and a contract will be signed in blood:

Parrish.jpg

[carlos.q]

Sometimes the FP is not seen, but its effects are. I remember when I first saw the train station scene from "Casablanca" where the rain washes away the words on a letter. Powerful stuff!

Casablancatrainstation.jpg

[Neo]

In The Muppet Movie, when Kermit was sitting down to call everyone in his Rolodex to save the Muppet studio.

[Tsuki yo]

In Twin Peaks, the character Harold Smith uses a Pelikan M800 or M600 to transcribe Donna's story, the same pen makes an appearance in a few other characters hands throughout the series, but it's only in Harolds hand that I could tell what it was.

In the movie Needful Things, Leland Gaunt uses a slim silver pen, it looks like a fountain but could also have been an ornate point holder I suppose.

In What Dreams May Come the character Annie uses a Parker 61 to write in her journal and pen her suicide note. She's really hard on the nib too in one particular scene, I was cringing the whole time.

And of course, Col. Hans Landa not only uses a but also fills a fountain pen in the first scene of Inglorious Basterds, but I can't tell what kind it is, seems to be a button filler or something equally interesting though.

[carlos.q]

From the 1973 movie classic "The Exorcist" a pen that seems to be a Parker 45:

exorcist.jpg

[carlos.q]

During the 1964 political thriller "Seven Days in May" a senate committee has FP desk sets available for use:

sevendays.jpg

In another scene, an Esterbrook desk set is clearly seen at a Pentagon office.

[carlos.q]

In the BBC series "Sherlock" there is an episode ("The blind banker") where a check is made to Sherlock using a golden FP. This is taken from a very brief scene that shows the nib:

Sherlock.jpg

[jacksterp]

How in the world do you hold a pen like that?

[sharmon202]

I saw Radar use a fountain pen this week on M*A*S*H and a set on a desk in Different Strokes.

[gbryal]

I noticed two one fountain pens in the movie Radio Free Albemuth but couldn't tell what kind.

radiofreealbemuthpen.jpg

[Kaputnik]

How in the world do you hold a pen like that?

Some people do hold their pens fairly high up, but this did seem rather extreme. Still, although I don't know Korean script, and can't judge his handwriting, the actor did seem to be writing quite easily this way. I wondered if it was because Asian forms of writing had traditionally used brushes rather than pens, and you would tend to hold those fairly high. That's just wondering, though; it could just be a quirk of this actor. Someone who actually lives in Korea, or has been there, might be able to comment.

[carlos.q]

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD
Episode: The things we bury

1945: After the end of WW II, SHIELD Agent Carter interrogates the evil Nazi/Hydra Dr. Werner Reinhardt, while a pen lies on the table between them:

shield.jpg

But the best part of the scene is the dialog about the pen:

Reinhardt: "That was a neat trick."
Carter: "I'm sorry, I don't follow doctor"
Reinhardt: "It's a pen. You wanted to see what I would do with it. After all, there are so many uses. No? Escape, confession, homicide... suicide."
Carter: "It's true. I wanted to find out what kind of man you were. You didn't use the pen so now I know."
Reinhardt: "Pens are also used for signatures."

[carlos.q]

BBC's "Sherlock", episode: The Great Game
Sherlock Holmes examines an envelope addressed to him:

Sherlock envelope.jpg

Sherlock: "She used a fountain pen. Parker Duofold. Iridium nib."
Watson: "She?"
Sherlock: "Obviously."
Watson: "Obviously."

[pengeezer]

BBC's "Sherlock", episode: The Great Game
Sherlock Holmes examines an envelope addressed to him:

Sherlock envelope.jpg

Sherlock: "She used a fountain pen. Parker Duofold. Iridium nib."
Watson: "She?"
Sherlock: "Obviously."
Watson: "Obviously."

OK,I realize that I haven't seen that episode(the series is excellent),and that perhaps some poetic license is used in the script
writing--it may be possible that a woman wrote that(women tend to make their handwriting intentionally legible). But(unless it has been shown) there
is NO WAY in the world that Holmes could know that it was a Duofold.


John

[Kaputnik]

OK,I realize that I haven't seen that episode(the series is excellent),and that perhaps some poetic license is used in the script
writing--it may be possible that a woman wrote that(women tend to make their handwriting intentionally legible). But(unless it has been shown) there
is NO WAY in the world that Holmes could know that it was a Duofold.


John

I love that series, which I've watched on Netflix. I remember, however, thinking the same thing about the Duofold remark. And "iridium nib"? Sounds as if the writers just picked up some fountain pen buzzwords.

[pengeezer]

OK,I realize that I haven't seen that episode(the series is excellent),and that perhaps some poetic license is used in the script
writing--it may be possible that a woman wrote that(women tend to make their handwriting intentionally legible). But(unless it has been shown) there
is NO WAY in the world that Holmes could know that it was a Duofold.


John

I love that series, which I've watched on Netflix. I remember, however, thinking the same thing about the Duofold remark. And "iridium nib"? Sounds as if the writers just picked up some fountain pen buzzwords.

Agreed. If the writers had done their homework,they would've found that every fountain pen had iridium;making Sherlock
look foolish. Mr Cumberbatch should be giving all the writers a dope slap to the back of the head.


John

[carlos.q]

OK,I realize that I haven't seen that episode(the series is excellent),and that perhaps some poetic license is used in the script
writing--it may be possible that a woman wrote that(women tend to make their handwriting intentionally legible). But(unless it has been shown) there
is NO WAY in the world that Holmes could know that it was a Duofold.


John

I love that series, which I've watched on Netflix. I remember, however, thinking the same thing about the Duofold remark. And "iridium nib"? Sounds as if the writers just picked up some fountain pen buzzwords.

Agreed. If the writers had done their homework,they would've found that every fountain pen had iridium;making Sherlock
look foolish. Mr Cumberbatch should be giving all the writers a dope slap to the back of the head.


John

I also found the "iridium point" comment a bit odd.

Then I figured that this dialog may have been taken from one of Conan Doyles sixty works (fifty-six short stories and four novels) about Sherlock Holmes. After all, Conan Doyle wrote these stories up to 1927 and the Parker Duofold was introduced in 1921. I could then properly imagine Sherlock examining the writing on an envelope and concluding that it was different from the usual dip pen of the time, but more of a new fangled "iridium point" pen.

"Elementary!", I said to myself.

However, the events in Conan Doyle's works occur up to the year 1907. So it does not seem plausible that the dialog was taken from one of his stories. The only logical conclusion is that the writers for the TV series did not do their homework.

"Obviously."