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September 3, 1942. "New York, New York. Newsroom of the New York Times newspaper. Reporters and rewrite men writing stories, and waiting to be sent out. Rewrite man in background gets the story on the phone from reporter outside." Medium format acetate negative by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information. View full size.
What an extraordinary photograph. I'm sure the supervisor knows the difference between working and goofing off.
There are probably more typewriters here than meets the eye. These typing desks seem to have a 'hideaway' feature whereby the top panel can be swung open and through an elaborate system of links and levers the machine is raised to a comfortable typing height.
I see one woman behind the partition, deep in thought or at least wondering when this woman and her camera are going to 'wrap it up'.
The first few minutes of this movie from 1939 will give you a Hollywood version of a busy newspaper office.
Here at last are the Underwood typewriters I expected!
I looked for prices online but the nearest I could find was a Remington Portable for $30 in 1942 which is about $566 today - the price of a cheap laptop.
That one on the right looks like quite a bit older. It's probably running Windows XP.
Oh wow GlenJay thanks for the updated photo!
I was going to comment on the spare "open" 1942 office and declare that no modern worker would tolerate it but here they are in 2016 with just a short privacy shield between them and 1942!
That's a snazzy array of neckties our guys are wearing.
... comment on those incredible ugly ties?? They are awesome in a weird way, too.
No, that's right: her -- famous? -- line from Sunset Boulevard was "don't bother with rewrite, take it direct!" (And that it was another 'Times' altogether we'll overlook.) One has to be curious about the choice of reading material of the man at right: guilty pleasure or was he "doing research"?
Here's a shot from 2016 of the newsroom in the current Times headquarters on Eighth Avenue. Not a typical day because they are celebrating a Pulitzer Prize. But the postures on the floor look similar.
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