JUL 16, 23 (3/3) .. FROSTBITE FRANK AND ETAOIN SHRDLU AND GULLIBLE

By Cap Chastain July 16, 2023 ETAOIN SHRDLU, Frostbite Frank 2022 - 23, Guest Contributor(s), Gullible, Newspapers 4 Comments

After some long deliberation with Patti, I more or less had decided not to finish a complete recounting of Frank’s text messages and an email about his topic ETAOIN SHRDLU.

Then, literally a few minutes ago, Gullible posted this comment : The Anchorage Daily News was set by linotype when I worked there in the early 1960s. Fascinating to watch.

So I replied to Gullible : Gullible I found it absolutely fascinating to read about linotype from Frank’s journal. In fact, because of your comment, I am going to do a Part 3 that will wrap up Frank’s texts and email. 

In my humble opinion, for this Post to make one, small, teeny-weeny, itsy-bitsy, whit of sense (ETAOIN SHRDLU for goodness sakes!!) you need to check out yesterday’s Post dated JUL 15, 23.

https://babakaps.net/?p=53827

– – – – – – – –

The below writing finishes what Frank sent me.

I should expand on my earlier text message to you : The intense heat generated by the machines, the smell of the soy-based printer’s ink, and the overwhelming noise of all these moving parts working in unison were a symphony of efficiency.  I’m sure a modern paper has a fascinating “paper trail” from roll to readable edition, but I suspect it has gone nearly silent.  Where 40 men smeared with black ink tended black monsters eating, printing, cutting, folding, collating, and stacking papers, there is now one technician in a soundproof cubicle looking at the work-flow on a computer screen.  Where exposed gears, spinning press rollers, and giant shears used to do the work in plain sight, they are now quietly shrouded and fully automated.
 
I think I have an error in my earlier description of the printing, too:  a memory came back after I had sent the first part of this story to you.  I believe that the metal-lettered tabloid sheet was pressed into a paper mache page, which was baked dry and used to mold a fresh positive page in paper mache.  It was the positive paper mache page that was wrapped onto the print roller, and which ultimately transferred ink onto the newsprint.
 
Just in case some of you don’t know what paper mache is check the below link.
 
 
How on earth could paper mache get successfully involved in the above process?
 

I think l’ll do some research and expand this story past the details of my 63-year-old memories.

 
P.S.: I asked my host here in La Jolla if he remembers our 6th-grade field trip to the San Diego Union, and he does.
 
Wowie Frank. Your friend and you go WAY BACK together.

Smiles as you face tomorrow, Monday the 17th Frank.

Cap and Patti and all of our followers.

4 thoughts on “JUL 16, 23 (3/3) .. FROSTBITE FRANK AND ETAOIN SHRDLU AND GULLIBLE”

  1. Michael

    You piqued my interest with the mention of this seemingly archived to the Smithsonian museum with the detailed examination and explanation of the infamous Linotype machine! Shades of the 50’s-60’s and just barely into the 70’s! I know this machine well. I was a graphic arts major in both Jr. high and High school! Although I darn near flunked Typing 101 in Jr. high I most certainly mastered the art and technique of setting type on the ‘Lino’. Matter-of-fact so fast that I could read the copy, fill that line, then manually raise the line of type to the next gate, drop my hands back down to the keyboard and had already typed more of the new line. I basically had to wait for the ‘Lino’ to catch up with me. Obviously much of the delay came from the machine having to inject hot lead into the new mold of verbage a noticeable time delay! But one had to be quick and I was! And shop foreman working after school hours printing the school newspaper and business flyers and cards. I did work for a short while in downtown L.A. for The Herald-Examiner but the newer automated type-setting machines were starting to dominate. By then, the Lino operator’s duty was to feed a pre-punched IBM tape into the reel, let the machine do it’s own thing and constantly monitor the ‘pots’ to insure they were fed their lead ‘pigs! And let me tell you they were hungry guzzlers of those! Uncle Sam drafted me away from that job and another. I was working 2 full-time jobs back then. Thus ended my vocation as a young printer. The Army drafted me in ’68, I didn’t want to go to war so I signed-on for an additional year to become a Tank and Diesel mechanic. If I was going to Nam, I desired to go with the ‘Big Guns! By the grace of God the Army sent me to Germany. I am eternally grateful for God watching over me. Mixed in with a lot of the Ol’ Irish leprechaun luck!
    Missing both of you here but I think you’re not missing the low-desert temps. lol
    Have a Truly Blessed afternoon!
    Love always,
    Michael

    Reply ↓
    1. Cap Chastain Post author

      Hi Michael. Amazing. Whodda Thunk? First Gullible, and then in short order, YOU show a real “spark” of interest in the Linotype Machines of “yesteryear”. All prompted by Frostbite Frank and his text messages to me. Patti and I are having a difficult time “visualizing” the process of Linotype Machines producing Newspapers with journalists using a totally different keyboard (ETAOIN SHRDLU) than that of the more traditional QWERTY Keyboard. The ability to type using two different keyboards is like those people who can readily speak several different languages. Thanks for you great comment Michael. Cap and Patti

      Reply ↓
    2. Gullible

      What a perspective you have on the adaptation of type over the years. Your lines about waiting for the machine to catch up with you, reminds me of my experience with typewriters in the early 1960s.

      My job as a reporter at the Anchorage Daily News had me typing my stories on what I am sure what the first prototype of typewriters ever. It was slow and required a severe thrashing with one’s fingers to get the key to strike the paper we used. Miserable.

      My next job as a legal secretary involved using one of the first new electric typewriters and I loved that machine. It was fast and wonderful.

      My next job as a legal secretary was a set back. The machine
      was a “revolutionary ” IBM Selectric, with the letters on a round ball.

      It may have revolutionized typewriting but to me it was a ghastly machine. When you reached the end of a line of type, the carriage took the scenic route back to the left side of the page, passing thought Tibet, Italy, and all of the US states to get there.

      To say it was slow is to demean the word “slow.” I cried daily.

      Reply ↓
      1. Cap Chastain

        Oh My, OH My Gullibe. Thanks so very much for first initiating interest in Frostbite Frank’s ETAION SHRDLU and Linotype Machines. Then second your interest stimulated me to continue with this topic. Then Michael joined in the fun! Now here you, a former newspaper reporter, and legal secretary, are back with more insights. Love it. Cap and Patti

        Reply ↓

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