The Shining Typewriter?

[scoodidabop]

What the heck? Where's all the nerdy details on the typewriter(s) from The Shining? There's debate on which white Adler typewrite model was used from what I've seen. Then there's the blue one! Wha?? What's up with the blue one!? Adler as well? The Kubrick traveling exhibition only seems to display the white Adler model.

I'm picking up a local 1940's Adler tonight that's pretty close but not exact. Would love to see if anyone has figured this out already. My Google-fu is turning up next to nothing when it comes to details on the blue and white Shining typewriters.

 

[scoodidabop]

Apparently it's known but not discussed too much. Google turns up the model as a "TIPPA S" or something like that but it's an Adler Universal 39 this according to the r/typewriter subreddit. The blue one is Adler too - presumably the same model - but that color seems rare in this model. There's a decent amount of newer dark blue Adlers and some vintage lightblue/white carriage units on the market too.

From a story perspective it makes sense that a writer has more than one typewriter. Unclear weather this change in color was intentional by Kubrick, and if so what it represents in the story. The only time we see the white Adler is when Jack is throwing the tennis ball at the wall, whatever that means.

 

[joberg]

I'm on the same boat as you man; would love to have a blue one...never saw one in my many trips to antique stores (Europe +Canada +U.S.)

 

[Moviefreak]

What the heck? Where's all the nerdy details on the typewriter(s) from The Shining? There's debate on which white Adler typewrite model was used from what I've seen. Then there's the blue one! Wha?? What's up with the blue one!? Adler as well? The Kubrick traveling exhibition only seems to display the white Adler model.

I'm picking up a local 1940's Adler tonight that's pretty close but not exact. Would love to see if anyone has figured this out already. My Google-fu is turning up next to nothing when it comes to details on the blue and white Shining typewriters.

From the theories I have read about the grayish blue colored typewriter, it seems to be intentional shifts between the two, by Kubric. If he needed that color and couldn’t find one, perhaps the art department painted one?

One theory:
Historian Geoffrey Cocks – believes that the typewriter's color shift has significance to his theory that Kubrick's film has "a deeply-laid subtext" about the Holocaust. "That typewriter, that German typewriter – which by the way changes color in the course of the film, which typewriters don't generally do – is terribly, terribly important as a referent to that particular historical event."

 

[scoodidabop]

It's easy to imbue any wild theory into good art - this Holocaust thing seems far fetched but I'm open to the idea if there's more evidence.

Had a dream about Jack typing last night. More image searching isn't turning up any dark blue Adlers in this model. If they didn't produce this typewriter in blue then it's possible that film production did this intentionally. The blue typewriter crept into my subconscious overnight, insofar that the modern presentation which combines the white typewriter with the "all work" pages seems all wrong now.

 

[joberg]

It's a possibility; Art Dept. could've painted that prop a specific color for the movie

 

[keesmod]

Some E-bay fortune (cheap) and the info above has made it possible for me to recreate the following scene.

 

[joberg]

It's a beauty for sure...you lucky dog you

 

[scoodidabop]

Oh dang!!!

 

[Knightmare]

Some E-bay fortune (cheap) and the info above has made it possible for me to recreate the following scene.

View attachment 1787466

Awesome