According to this Vanity Fair video, Tom Hanks has the “secret talent” of changing the ribbon on a circa 1960s (stunning pastel green) Hermes 3000 typewriter. Watch as he does just that.
Next up: watching paint dry.
Just kidding. This is a cute video. It reminds me of a time, maybe three years ago, when I was at a Digital Detox event at Children’s Fairyland in Oakland. The organizers had set up tables of typewriters for people — milennials — to play with and I sat nearby watching as they struggled to figure out how to operate them. Most gave up just trying to load the sheet of paper but one gal didn’t. She walked right over to me and asked if I could help her out. She knew I was old enough to have typewriter-using knowledge!
I remember thinking, at the time, that I should start a YouTube channel for young people on how to work obsolete devices. Now Tom Hanks has upped and stolen my thunder. Thanks, Hanks… ;)