Fountain Pens In Movies And Tv

[BaronWulfraed]

It's print media, not movie/TV but...

 

Ink & Sigil (Kevin Hearne), recently published, has a pen reference on page six, that will lead many to cringe...

 

 

... I snatched a sheet of stationery and selected an Aurora 88 pen from my coat pocket. It was presently filled with a rust-colored ink using cinnabar for the pigment and a varnish infused with ground pearls, fish glue, and the vitreous jelly of owl eyes. ...

 

The character is able to cast spells using various inks and drawing odd shapes (thus the book title).

 

 

Addendum:

A few chapters later we get a Visconti with pine soot carbon black laced with ground stag-beetle carapace (sounds a bit like a nano-particle glitter ink), a limited edition leather-wrapped/skull Caran d'Ache with pit-viper venom and cochineal, and mention of a Montblanc (no mention of the ink components -- though there is a short chapter where the character goes on about the difficulty of collecting a spoonful of live tardigrades from moss to make the ink used for healing sigils).

 

I'm wondering if the author is actually a fountain pen user, of just browsing something like a Fahrney's or FPH catalog.

Edited September 8, 2020 by BaronWulfraed

[mana]

In "Curtain: Poirot's Last Case" (2013) Poirot pens down his last letter to his friend, Captain Hastings, with a fountain pen that appears to have a Wahl adjustable nib, a stubby broad at that with the slider in the forward position (harder nib). You can kind of hear it too, thought is was cool.

[inkstainedruth]

In "Curtain: Poirot's Last Case" (2013) Poirot pens down his last letter to his friend, Captain Hastings, with a fountain pen that appears to have a Wahl adjustable nib, a stubby broad at that with the slider in the forward position (harder nib). You can kind of hear it too, thought is was cool.

Trying now to remember whether what the Poirot series on Masterpiece Mystery did with Hickory Dickory Death, where -- in the book at least -- ink figures prominently: the murder victim borrows a housemate's (green) ink so she doesn't have to go shopping for a bottle of "Quink" right away....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Ink Stained Wretch]

In a rerun the other day I saw a Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode titled "The Saint."

 

Oh, I suppose that I should put some spoiler space in here before I say anything more.

 

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The episode had Stephen Colbert as a guy who was faking rare or previously undiscovered religious documents. He was an expert on the type of pens to use and he had inks that passed inspection that sought to establish the ink's age. He had a unique way of making the ink appear a lot older than it was when forensic tests were done on it. For writing regular things he used a fountain pen. I couldn't see what fountain pen he was using, but that's what he used for some documents. Other documents seem to have been done using dip pens. Fountain pens, old paper, dip pens, home made ink that fooled investigators into thinking it was real vintage, this guy had it all going on. On top of that he could forge signatures and old writing styles. It was quite a pleasant surprise .

[inkstainedruth]

Oh, I remember that episode. That's when I figured out that his Colbert Report "persona" was just that -- a character. I didn't remember him using fountain pens, but that would have made sense for a forger to be using FPs and dip pens to mimic the hands used in the documents.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Misfit]

This isn’t from a TV show or movie. It’s from a game called Design Home.

 

 

 

I figure anywhere that shows a fountain pen is worth a mention. Someone has to deliberately choose the fountain pen image.

[eerestis]

In the recent movie Tove, Tove Jansson signs the contract for the Moomin serial with a Parker 51 owned by the American businessman offering the deal. There are at least two other fountain pens in the film, but I couldn't identify them.

[ddntp]

Any Spanish thrillers lovers here? "Contratiempo", I believe this is a Faber-Castell Ambition Rhombus.

 

[inkstainedruth]

Recently my husband and I have been binge watching old episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on BBC America (it's now up to season 5).

There was an odd episode in season 4 called "The Muse".  An alien entity sought out creative people and basically fed off their brainwave energy as she "guided" them.  She had arrived at the space station and had found her new "protege": Jake Sisko, son of the station Starfleet commander.  She gives Jake, as a gift, a pen which had belonged to some famous alien poet, to help get his creative juices really flowing, and paper (rather than the tablet he usually worked on).  I'm afraid the image isn't the best quality -- I did a screen shot off of the IMDB page for the episode; if it doesn't come through (it's my first attempt at using the new format rather than the old Upload button), here's the URL for the image: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708631/mediaviewer/rm1733083392/.  

Not entirely sure whether it's a dip pen in actuality (modified with a weird section to look "futuristic" for the setting of the series, several centuries into the future) or a fountain pen; but the implication from context is that it was some sort of pen that you didn't have to refill often, which suggests a fountain pen.   

Interesting that the episode's original air date was in the spring of 1996, and I'm now wondering when the studies about handwriting vs. typing/keyboarding were done/published (I think the posts I've read in other threads suggested that the results of the studies, at least, were published way more recently than that).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Theroc]

In the TV series Hannibal, Mads Mikkelsen's character uses a fountain pen to write dinner invitations. Curiously, he writes them on what appears to be a lectern, while standing. With only the tip of the nib making contact with the paper, you might say he's writing from the shoulder. Being Hannibal Lecter, his handwriting is, of course, impeccable.

We can only see the nib and section, but it's quite clear it's a S.T. Dupont. Most likely from the Orpheo/Olympio series.

 

Correction:

My memory failed me somewhat. It was not a lectern, but a desk. He is, however, standing.

And the pen is from the Defi series not O/O.

I've attached a few screen shots. The scene lasts over a minute. Right at the start of the last episode of the 2nd season.

 

[BorisoftheStars]

I'm pretty sure the Warner Bros. used a fountain pen when signing a contract in the hulu trailer opening. Not sure I can post it here since it's supposed to be for hulu members viewing only.

[Vasilis97]

Is this pen a real model or something the writers came up with?

( 5:10 -5:40 )

 

[chromantic]

A Faber-Castell Ambition OpArt plays a small but key role in the Spanish suspense movie The Invisible Guest on Netflix.

[Nyoko]

James Cagney in the movie "Footlight Parade" 1933. It's a fun musical comedy. He seems to be holding a Parker Duofold Big Red in his hand (my best guess). You can see the pen pretty clearly but it's small so not too detailed.

[loganrah]

14 hours ago, Vasilis97 said:

Is this pen a real model or something the writers came up with?

( 5:10 -5:40 )

 

Don't know about the name of it, but it looks like any number of early 20th century black ebonite lever fillers. The slight roundness to the lever could suggest a Waterman, but I can't see nearly clearly enough. 

[Anne-Sophie]

In the first part of Good Bye Radar on MASH, I finally saw a close up of Col Potter dip pen and holder, it looked very simple, not an Esterbrooks.

 

In Ashes to Ashes on Columbo, the undertaker, has a double pen holder, being the 70's, I suspect that the pens are ballpoints.

 

 

[Anne-Sophie]

 

Columbo, By the Dawn Early Light. A close up of the Colonel writing with one of his desk pen shows a Parker 51 fountain pen, I focused on the nib, and it has the familiar hooded shape.

 

It was on TV, if you have the DVDs from the show, feel free to freeze the frame and find out if it is indeed a Parker 51 desk pen.

[Paul-in-SF]

On 1/13/2011 at 11:18 PM, Leftytoo said:

In the British TV serial "As Time Goes By", each episode begins with a woman writing a letter with a Conway Stewart, maybe a 100, judging by the steeply tapered cap.

 

Bob

I'm coming in years later to thank you for at least tentatively identifying that pen (there were several requests in the years after this post, including one from me), but also to correct you that the person writing the letter is a man. In fact it is Lionel, as a young man, writing to Jean from Korea. That is the letter, in fact, that got lost in the post, which is how they lost touch for 38 years, the premise of the series. 

[HogwldFLTR]

Lionel Barrymore's desk in "A Wonderful World" has a dip pen. I couldn't find it previously mentioned.

 

 

Also Bond uses an acid carrying MB 146 in "Octopussy."

 

James Bond Has No Ordinary Mont Blanc - Vintage Fountain Pens: Sheaffer, Parker, Inkwells, Buy Sell Trade at ThePenMarket.com

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by HogwldFLTR

[Ink Stained Wretch]

Just saw one I'd never noticed before this past Saturday night.

 

The movie was Unknown World (1951).  It's about scientists, and a couple of other guys, drilling deep into the Earth 🌎 to find a place for humanity to live just in case of thermonuclear war. More here.

 

The female scientist writes all of her journal entries using a fountain pen. You can't see more than a dark nib, from her perspective, but it's certainly a fountain pen. I couldn't identify the pen, except that it's an open nib type, because you can't see much other than the nib.

 

The movie is full of pseudoscience and factual blunders, but I remember it from when I was a kid and didn't understand much of it. You do get to see plenty of black & white film of Carlsbad Caverns during the course of the movie .