Fountain Pens in Movies and TV

[Lady Onogaro]

In Hector and the Search for Happiness, Hector (Simon Pegg) wants to order from the duty free store on the plane, but needs to fill out paperwork. He can’t find a pen. Edward (Stellan Skarsgard) lets him borrow his, but tells him that it costs more than his car and he had better return it. At the airport, Hector fumbles with his map and realizes he still has Edward’s pen. He runs to return it and Edward decides to show Hector what his happiness is.

It is a Visconti, though I cannot tell if the model was one that costs more than Hector's car.



Fred

It looks like a Rembrandt, which costs about $100.00

[ChrisC]

Sheikh Yamani, who was Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister and no doubt had tons of money at his disposal, chose a relatively modest Sheaffer of some kind:

yamani.png

[Neo]

In Hector and the Search for Happiness, Hector (Simon Pegg) wants to order from the duty free store on the plane, but needs to fill out paperwork. He can’t find a pen. Edward (Stellan Skarsgard) lets him borrow his, but tells him that it costs more than his car and he had better return it. At the airport, Hector fumbles with his map and realizes he still has Edward’s pen. He runs to return it and Edward decides to show Hector what his happiness is.

It is a Visconti, though I cannot tell if the model was one that costs more than Hector's car.



Fred

It looks like a Rembrandt, which costs about $100.00

Maybe this is Hector's car.

[stub]

Sheikh Yamani, who was Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister and no doubt had tons of money at his disposal, chose a relatively modest Sheaffer of some kind:

Looks like a Sheaffer Imperial w/ Dolphin nib

[ChrisC]

Sheikh Yamani, who was Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister and no doubt had tons of money at his disposal, chose a relatively modest Sheaffer of some kind:

Looks like a Sheaffer Imperial w/ Dolphin nib

I wonder why he doesn't have a Montblanc or some other more up-scale pen

[carlos.q]

"William Paley", the character played by Frank Langella in the 2005 film "Good Night, and Good Luck" uses what appears to be a Parker 51 or 61 in this shot.

goodnite.jpg

[Neo]

In the latest Peanuts movie, Charlie Brown used a fountain pen for the first draft of his book report on War and Peace.

[Miss Fountain Pen]

This isn't movies or TV, but it's close enough. I was just browsing some books on Amazon, and I ran into one with a fountain pen on its cover:

http://www.amazon.com/Simply-English...8140673&sr=1-4

Can anyone identify the pen? I'm stumped.

[Neo]

In the NOVA episode "Inside Einstein's Mind," he is shown using fountain pens throughout his life. The pens seemed to get nicer as Einstein got older, but I was unable to identify any of them.

[mrcharlie]

In the NOVA episode "Inside Einstein's Mind," he is shown using fountain pens throughout his life. The pens seemed to get nicer as Einstein got older, but I was unable to identify any of them.

I just watched this; there were two pens used in the episode and two bottles of ink. All were anachronistic. The pen he starts using is an all black Parker of some sort or some pen using a Parker style arrow clip. It had little if any metal furnishings. The second pen was nicer or shiny-er looking, black with a metal band/ring at the front of the section. I don't think I ever saw the cap of that one, and I didn't recognize it.

Both were meant to have been used by Einstein pre-WW2, and the first was meant to have been used during WW1, and neither looks anything like a pen from those periods. They look like post WW2 c/c pens.

The two ink bottles were today's Parker Quink and today's Waterman bottles with the labels soaked off. No company sold ink in a glass bottle with a plastic cap pre-1920, and probably not even pre-WW2, so anachronistic even in the vague sense of what an ink bottle for the time could have looked like never mind the specifics.

Another case of a TV show wanting to not be anachronistic and so using a "fountain pen" instead of a ballpoint, but then failing to realize that fountain pen technology changed drastically during the short period of history where they were the dominant writing instrument and that grabbing any old FP and ink bottle could still be an anachronism.

[bluesea]

Not sure if this was mentioned... Wood handled dip pens in John Huston's The Man Who Would Be King. Rudyard Kipling ,portrayed by Cristopher Plummer, is seen writing in his office. Its also seen when the characters played by Sean Connery and Michael Caine sign a contract in that same office.

Found this vid, didn't look any further.


@3:39
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucKHRfso7nw

[Kaputnik]

[QUOTE=mrcharlie;155116]

...Another case of a TV show wanting to not be anachronistic and so using a "fountain pen" instead of a ballpoint, but then failing to realize that fountain pen technology changed drastically during the short period of history where they were the dominant writing instrument and that grabbing any old FP and ink bottle could still be an anachronism.

The more knowledgeable one is about any sort of technology, the more one spots this sort of anachronism without even trying. If it were my job to make sure that everything in a scene was right for the period, I might get the pens right, but people on furniture, drapery, and stapler forums would be writing in to point out all the other mistakes.

[TSherbs]

In David Bowie's video for "Lazarus," released last week, he uncaps a fountain pen as he is song-writing. Someone else can determine the brand. The video is haunting and quintessential Bowie. RIP.

[Dragonmaster Lou]

[QUOTE=mrcharlie;155116]

Another case of a TV show wanting to not be anachronistic and so using a "fountain pen" instead of a ballpoint, but then failing to realize that fountain pen technology changed drastically during the short period of history where they were the dominant writing instrument and that grabbing any old FP and ink bottle could still be an anachronism.

Well, it was less anachronistic than it could've been, I suppose. Then again, I'm not sure how easy it would have been to properly acquire period pens, so using more modern pens that at least somewhat look the part without being true period pens is probably okay in my book. It got the "feel" right even if it still whiffed on some of the details.

[Neo]

In the NOVA episode "Inside Einstein's Mind," he is shown using fountain pens throughout his life. The pens seemed to get nicer as Einstein got older, but I was unable to identify any of them.

I just watched this; there were two pens used in the episode and two bottles of ink. All were anachronistic. The pen he starts using is an all black Parker of some sort or some pen using a Parker style arrow clip. It had little if any metal furnishings. The second pen was nicer or shiny-er looking, black with a metal band/ring at the front of the section. I don't think I ever saw the cap of that one, and I didn't recognize it.

Both were meant to have been used by Einstein pre-WW2, and the first was meant to have been used during WW1, and neither looks anything like a pen from those periods. They look like post WW2 c/c pens.

The two ink bottles were today's Parker Quink and today's Waterman bottles with the labels soaked off. No company sold ink in a glass bottle with a plastic cap pre-1920, and probably not even pre-WW2, so anachronistic even in the vague sense of what an ink bottle for the time could have looked like never mind the specifics.

Another case of a TV show wanting to not be anachronistic and so using a "fountain pen" instead of a ballpoint, but then failing to realize that fountain pen technology changed drastically during the short period of history where they were the dominant writing instrument and that grabbing any old FP and ink bottle could still be an anachronism.

Thank you, Mr. Charlie.

[carlos.q]

During the 2002 film "The Pianist" the main character uses a pen to write a note, that looks a lot like a Pelikan IBIS, which would have been correct for the historical setting:

Pel140-1.jpg

However, in another scene, the pen (not necessarily the same one) looks like a Pelikan 140, which was manufactured after the war's end:

Pel140-2.jpg

[carlos.q]

Another instance in which TV producers seem to get their props wrong. In this week's episode of "Marvel's Agent Carter" (which supposedly takes place in 1947) Peggy is handed a pen that seems to be a modern Pilot Metropolitan:

cartermetro1.jpg

In another scene, a floating black pen becomes important to the plot. Once again it looks like a Pilot Metropolitan:

cartermetro2.jpg

One thing is for sure: a Parker 51 it ain't...

[Anne]

In the movie "The Last Witch Hunter", the character Vin Diesel plays gifts Michael Caine's character with a Sterling Silver Waterman 402, in what I believe they call the "snail pattern".

[carlos.q]

Caught this awful shot off the TV while watching the movie "M", the 1951 version not the one by Fritz Lang. In this closeup, a policeman crosses out a name from a list of suspects unaware that the next one on the list (Martin Harrow) is the child killer that both police and gangsters are looking for.

M1951.jpg

Even though the movie is B&W, the pen seems to be a cocoa P51.

It was a blast to see Raymond Burr, who later became famous as "Perry Mason", play the part of a two bit gangster.

[mgmmaze]

In the video game Until Dawn Peter Stomare has what looks to be like a Mont Blanc (no marks of course). What was funny 3 people I know messaged me saying dude there is a fountain pen in this game