I recently posted about the CBS TV interview with Tom Furrier that asked how his shop Cambridge Typewriter had fared during the pandemic.
The evening news feature also included my 15-year-old daughter and aspiring writer, Abigail.
Abigail had asked similar questions of Tom during the summer by email and published the results—typewritten—in her analog quarterly magazine, The Letterbox.
Below is Tom’s gracious interview, answering:
How many machines have you repaired in your 41 years as a repairman?
Why do you think people still like to use typewriters today?
Who are some memorable customers you’ve had?
Do you have any interesting repair stories you’d like to tell us?
How has the pandemic impacted your shop?
Finally, if you were a typewriter, what kind would you be?!
Next week I’ll tell you a little more about how we produce the magazine.
The Letterbox
Modeled on Cricket, the literary magazine for children founded in the '70s by Blouke and Marianne Carus, Abigail started The Letterbox with a twelve-page first issue. We scanned and printed the typed and hand-drawn pages. These we machine-stitched and distributed by mail. Over the year, each issue grew in subscribers and size, reaching its current twenty pages.
An Interview with tom furrier
On the last question: in interviews, Abigail tries to ask one out-of-left-field question which actually reveals something about the interviewee. (Such as asking the librarian who runs Teen Typewriter Poetry where she would shelve herself in the Dewey Decimal System!)
It was fun to come up with a question that stumped Tom.
An Analog Production
Next week I’ll tell you more about how we produce the magazine.