Drippy Musings
31 Famous People & Pens posts. The pens of presidents, writers and spies: Truman's bill-signing pens, Eisenhower's Parker 51, Mark Twain's Conklin Crescent, James Bond's Montblanc. Thirty-one posts on who wrote with what.
Between the ages of 7 and 10, I set out on a quest to watch every James Bond movie made up until that point. Over the course of several summers, I was in a state gadget and spy bliss. I’ve keep up with Agent 007 ever since then. When an opportunity too good to pass…
It was a dark and stormy decade, but I finally found a publisher for my novel, “Little Victories“! The aptly named Last Chance Press released it today, which, coincidentally, is the 9th anniversary of ThePenMarket.com’s launch! I guess good things are meant to happen on August 5th. I should buy a lottery ticket. Here’s the…
Pens play a key role in “Hector and the Search for Happiness.” They save the day on more than one occasion. However, if you haven’t heard of this movie, yet, let me introduce you. “Hector and the Search for Happiness” is a warm British comedy that slipped in under my radar in 2014. It is…
I have reached a state of predictability. While out on a date with my girlfriend to see “The Intern,” a pen-and-pencil set flashed across the screen. Without missing a beat, she turned to me with a whispered question, “So, what type of pens were those?” “Cross Centuries, my dear.” For those who aren’t familiar with…
Back in October of 2013 I discussed General MacArthur’s Big Red Parker Duofold and General Eisenhower’s Parker 51s used to sign the surrender treaties at the end of World War II because I had seen one of them in Paris’ Museum of the Army. The plot thickened when the museum responded with no knowledge of…
It isn’t uncommon for folks to write in asking what type of pen they have. I look at it as a fun challenge to i.d. the pen. Unless it is an old Victorian era pen, I usually do okay figuring out who made it. For a brief period in the 1970s, Mont Blanc changed its…
It only seems fitting that a pen company get the nation’s leading animator to sell it’s pens and pencils. Who wouldn’t trust Walt Disney when it comes to picking a new writing instrument?! Walt Disney famously became a spokesperson for Wahl-Eversharp and its line of Skyline pens. The way Disney discusses the responsiveness of the…
Neil Simon is one of my favorite playwrights, and I wasn’t 3 minutes into the film adaptation of his autobiographical “Biloxi Blues” (1988) when I spotted an Esterbrook LJ in the hands of Matthew Broderick, the star of the film playing Eugene Jerome (a.k.a. Neil Simon) as a young, wise-cracking soldier from New York experiencing…
Tish, a pen collector in Canada, also takes painstaking measures to recreate battle scenes such as this one from the War of 1812. Here is the Spanish Succession at Blenheim. British warriors take on the Roman army in this stunning recreation. Not all pen collectors are famous, but they might still have vast talents that…
For the longest time, dead people were the sole focus of our “Famous People & Pens” series. Then I got it through my thick skull that many of our living customers are actual working writers, and…HEY!…why not profile them and their work?! There is a reason I was never hired as a rocket scientist by…
Normally, we don’t highlight famous people using disposable pens, but Stephen Colbert earns our special recognition for his use of a gel click pen by Pilot. Why? Because he just proved himself to be the world’s greatest pen salesman! “Wait, Nathaniel,” you say. “Greatest satirist we can buy, but greatest pen salesman? How do you…
Pen afficianados are a pretty polite group of people, but in case you weren’t sure to do about all the great gifts you got this holiday season, don’t forget to write your thank you notes. Even notorious murderer and thief Clyde Barrow was courteous enough to write a thank you note. He made sure to…
