Martin Tytell
Encyclopedia
Martin Kenneth Tytell was an expert in manual typewriter
s described by The New York Times
as having an "unmatched knowledge of typewriters". The postal service would deliver to his store letters addressed simply to "Mr. Typewriter, New York". His customers included many notable authors and reporters, many of whom had clung to their manual typewriters long after personal computers became standard.
Tytell was born on December 20, 1913 to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, and grew up in Manhattan
's Lower East Side
. He worked in a hardware store in his youth and first learned about typewriters at age 15 after disassembling an Underwood 5 typewriter on his gym teacher's desk at Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn and watching it being repaired. He had obtained a contract to maintain typewriters for Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital
before graduating from high school. He received his bachelor's from St. John's University in Queens
and earned an MBA
from New York University
, attending college primarily at night.
Tytell met his wife, Pearl, in 1938 after he sold her a typewriter at an office she managed. He died in the Bronx of cancer on September 11, 2008 while also suffering from Alzheimer's disease
.
.
In 1941, Tytell created a patented process that allowed him to sell Remington and Underwood Noiseless typewriters that listed for as much as $135 and offer them for sale for $24.95 with a one-year guarantee, and aimed to sell 500 of these typewriters each week. That same year, Tytell developed a coin-operated typewriter that would be available for use in hotel lobbies and train stations which would be available for 10 cents per half hour, modeled on a similar device used in Sweden.
Tytell enlisted in the United States Marine Corps
during World War II, but was kept out of action due to his flat feet and knowledge of typewriters. In the military he created foreign language typewriters, including French language typewriters for paratroopers who were air-dropped as part of the Invasion of Normandy.
He was in the typewriter repair business for some 70 years, most of which was spent in his Tytell Typewriter Company, located on the second-floor store at 116 Fulton Street since 1963, which advertised itself as offering "Psychoanalysis for Your Typewriter." He worked in a white lab coat and handled typewriters that could produce 145 different languages and dialects and claimed that he had 2 million typefaces in stock. He created typewriters that could print hieroglyphics or musical notes and invented models with carriages that operated in reverse for languages such as Arabic and Hebrew that are written right-to-left. An erroneously inverted character he placed on a Burmese language
typewriter became the standard in Burma. Customers included David Brinkley
, Dorothy Parker
and Andy Rooney, as well as both Dwight D. Eisenhower
and Adlai E. Stevenson. In 1980, when David Brinkley
needed a Great Primer discontinued by Royal a decade earlier, he was able to find two at Tytell. "How many do you want?" was Tytell's response after Brinkley called. Brinkley bought two, what he described as a lifetime supply.
was convicted of perjury in 1950 based on evidence that extensively relied on claims that documents passed to Soviet agent Whittaker Chambers
had been created on a typewriter Hiss and his wife had owned, after the prosecution showed that the typewriter's unique combination of printing pattern and flaws matched those on the documents in question. Hiss's lawyers then hired Tytell to create a typewriter that would be indistinguishable from the one the Hiss's owned. Tytell spent two years creating a facsimile Woodstock typewriter whose print characteristics would match the peculiarities of the Hiss typewriter, which was used as one of the primary justifications for an unsuccessful appeal of the verdict in the case.
The senior Tytell retired from the typewriter business in 2000, and his son closed the repair shop in 2001, converting the Fulton Street space for use by the forensic document research business that the family operated.
Tytell's son Peter is a forensic document expert, a practice that father and son developed to trace anonymous letters and documents such as wills to their source, using the unique "fingerprint" of each particular typewriter. Peter testified for the prosecution to help gain a conviction in a case that involved documents that were said to connect President John F. Kennedy
to Marilyn Monroe
and mobster Sam Giancana
, and made use of typewriters owned by the Tytell's repair store. His son's expertise was utilized in the investigation of the Killian documents controversy
, which involved six documents critical of President George W. Bush
's service in the Texas Air National Guard
and the use of four of these documents which were presented as authentic in a 60 Minutes Wednesday
broadcast aired by CBS
on September 8, 2004.
Martin Tytell's daughter, Pamela, earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University in New York City. She lives in Paris, France where she publishes and teaches. Author of numerous articles on psychoanalysis which have appeared in Encyclopaedia Universalis, Magazine Littéraire,etc., her book La Plume sur le Divan: psychanalyse et littérature en France [Paris: Aubier-Montaigne, 1982] was translated into Japanese and Italian. She is Maître de Conférences in the French University system and "Grandes Ecoles".
Typewriter
A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces...
s described by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as having an "unmatched knowledge of typewriters". The postal service would deliver to his store letters addressed simply to "Mr. Typewriter, New York". His customers included many notable authors and reporters, many of whom had clung to their manual typewriters long after personal computers became standard.
Tytell was born on December 20, 1913 to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, and grew up in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
. He worked in a hardware store in his youth and first learned about typewriters at age 15 after disassembling an Underwood 5 typewriter on his gym teacher's desk at Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn and watching it being repaired. He had obtained a contract to maintain typewriters for Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital is a prominent university hospital in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools: Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons and Cornell University's Weill Medical College. It is composed of two distinct medical centers, Columbia...
before graduating from high school. He received his bachelor's from St. John's University in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
and earned an MBA
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, attending college primarily at night.
Tytell met his wife, Pearl, in 1938 after he sold her a typewriter at an office she managed. He died in the Bronx of cancer on September 11, 2008 while also suffering from Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
.
Tytell Typewriter Company
The Tytell Typewriter Company opened in 1938 at 123 Fulton StreetFulton Street (Manhattan)
Fulton Street is a busy street located in Lower Manhattan. It is in New York City's Financial District, a few blocks north of Wall Street. It runs from Church Street at the site of the World Trade Center to South Street, terminating in front of the South Street Seaport...
.
In 1941, Tytell created a patented process that allowed him to sell Remington and Underwood Noiseless typewriters that listed for as much as $135 and offer them for sale for $24.95 with a one-year guarantee, and aimed to sell 500 of these typewriters each week. That same year, Tytell developed a coin-operated typewriter that would be available for use in hotel lobbies and train stations which would be available for 10 cents per half hour, modeled on a similar device used in Sweden.
Tytell enlisted in the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
during World War II, but was kept out of action due to his flat feet and knowledge of typewriters. In the military he created foreign language typewriters, including French language typewriters for paratroopers who were air-dropped as part of the Invasion of Normandy.
He was in the typewriter repair business for some 70 years, most of which was spent in his Tytell Typewriter Company, located on the second-floor store at 116 Fulton Street since 1963, which advertised itself as offering "Psychoanalysis for Your Typewriter." He worked in a white lab coat and handled typewriters that could produce 145 different languages and dialects and claimed that he had 2 million typefaces in stock. He created typewriters that could print hieroglyphics or musical notes and invented models with carriages that operated in reverse for languages such as Arabic and Hebrew that are written right-to-left. An erroneously inverted character he placed on a Burmese language
Burmese language
The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the constitution officially recognizes it as the Myanmar language, most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese. Burmese is the native language of the Bamar and related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar, as well as...
typewriter became the standard in Burma. Customers included David Brinkley
David Brinkley
David McClure Brinkley was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997....
, Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles....
and Andy Rooney, as well as both Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
and Adlai E. Stevenson. In 1980, when David Brinkley
David Brinkley
David McClure Brinkley was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997....
needed a Great Primer discontinued by Royal a decade earlier, he was able to find two at Tytell. "How many do you want?" was Tytell's response after Brinkley called. Brinkley bought two, what he described as a lifetime supply.
Forensic analysis
Alger HissAlger Hiss
Alger Hiss was an American lawyer, government official, author, and lecturer. He was involved in the establishment of the United Nations both as a U.S. State Department and U.N. official...
was convicted of perjury in 1950 based on evidence that extensively relied on claims that documents passed to Soviet agent Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers was born Jay Vivian Chambers and also known as David Whittaker Chambers , was an American writer and editor. After being a Communist Party USA member and Soviet spy, he later renounced communism and became an outspoken opponent later testifying in the perjury and espionage trial...
had been created on a typewriter Hiss and his wife had owned, after the prosecution showed that the typewriter's unique combination of printing pattern and flaws matched those on the documents in question. Hiss's lawyers then hired Tytell to create a typewriter that would be indistinguishable from the one the Hiss's owned. Tytell spent two years creating a facsimile Woodstock typewriter whose print characteristics would match the peculiarities of the Hiss typewriter, which was used as one of the primary justifications for an unsuccessful appeal of the verdict in the case.
The senior Tytell retired from the typewriter business in 2000, and his son closed the repair shop in 2001, converting the Fulton Street space for use by the forensic document research business that the family operated.
Tytell's son Peter is a forensic document expert, a practice that father and son developed to trace anonymous letters and documents such as wills to their source, using the unique "fingerprint" of each particular typewriter. Peter testified for the prosecution to help gain a conviction in a case that involved documents that were said to connect President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
to Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
and mobster Sam Giancana
Sam Giancana
Salvatore Giancana , better known as Sam Giancana, was a Sicilian-American mobster and boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957-1966...
, and made use of typewriters owned by the Tytell's repair store. His son's expertise was utilized in the investigation of the Killian documents controversy
Killian documents controversy
The Killian documents controversy involved six documents critical of President George W. Bush's service in the Air National Guard in 1972–73...
, which involved six documents critical of President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's service in the Texas Air National Guard
Texas Air National Guard
The Texas Air National Guard is the air force militia of the U.S. state of Texas and a component of the Texas Military Forces...
and the use of four of these documents which were presented as authentic in a 60 Minutes Wednesday
60 Minutes II
60 Minutes II was a weekly primetime news magazine television program that was intended to replicate the "signature style, journalistic quality and integrity" of the original 60 Minutes series.It aired on CBS on Wednesdays, then later moved to Fridays at 8 p.m...
broadcast aired by CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
on September 8, 2004.
Martin Tytell's daughter, Pamela, earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University in New York City. She lives in Paris, France where she publishes and teaches. Author of numerous articles on psychoanalysis which have appeared in Encyclopaedia Universalis, Magazine Littéraire,etc., her book La Plume sur le Divan: psychanalyse et littérature en France [Paris: Aubier-Montaigne, 1982] was translated into Japanese and Italian. She is Maître de Conférences in the French University system and "Grandes Ecoles".