Why Would You Give A Kid A Typewriter?

[icyfroth]

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Tom Hanks has sent a letter and a Corona brand typewriter to an Australian boy who wrote to him about being bullied over his name, Corona, Australian television networks reported on Thursday.

Corona De Vries, an eight-year-old from the Gold Coast in Queensland state wrote to the Hollywood star after he and his wife, Rita, had spent more than two weeks in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 in the Australian beach resort.

The boy had written to Hanks saying: "I heard on the news you and your wife had caught the coronavirus," Channel 7 News reported. "Are you ok?"

He said he loved his name but people at school called him the coronavirus, which made him "sad and angry".

"Your letter made my wife and I feel so wonderful!" Hanks replied in a letter typed on a Corona typewriter which he had taken to the Gold Coast.

"You know, you are the only person I've ever known to have the name Corona -- like the ring around the sun, a crown," the double Oscar winner wrote to the boy. 

"I thought this typewriter would suit you," an image of the letter aired by Channel 7 News showed. "Ask a grown up how it works. And use it to write me back."

Hanks handwrote at the end: "P.S. You got a friend in ME!"

https://www.msn.com/en-au/entertainment/celebrity/tom-hanks-sends-typewriter-to-bullied-australian-b...

He's all heart isn't he, Tom Hanks?

Fancy sending a kid an obsolete piece of machinery. Why didn't he send him a laptop or something?

[myoclon1cjerk]

That Corona will still be fully functioning in 50 years. A computer will be fried in 3.

[davewil1964]

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@myoclon1cjerk wrote:
That Corona will still be fully functioning in 50 years. A computer will be fried in 3.

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As long as he can get ribbons for it.

[tasfleur]

What a fabulous thing for Tom Hanks to do.  That child will probably keep the typewriter for the rest of his life as something so very precious to him.

[domino-710]

I like gifts - with meaning - they become treasures.

[not_for_sale2025]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

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@myoclon1cjerk wrote:
That Corona will still be fully functioning in 50 years. A computer will be fried in 3.

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As long as he can get ribbons for it.

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Don't you watch The Big Bang Theory? You never, ever play with an item in mint condition or a treasured item. You just look at it in awe and appreciate the specialness of being the owner. I doubt he will ever consider getting a ribbon. He will want to keep it just as Mr Hanks gave it to him.

[domino-710]

I'm not so sure nfs.

If I were 8 years old & received such a gift - I'd not only be answering him as asked - to type his reply - I'd be quite happily banging away - often.

And yes - the ribbons are still produced in the US.

[icyfroth]

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@domino-710 wrote:

I'm not so sure nfs.

If I were 8 years old & received such a gift - I'd not only be answering him as asked - to type his reply - I'd be quite happily banging away - often.

You might.

I doubt very much the kid will though.

He might well treasure it and keep it in a safe place, but why would he use it?

He would have a mich quicker and easier way of typing and printing than using obsolete and cumbersome (compared to modern) technology.

And yes - the ribbons are still produced in the US.

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[domino-710]

Not difficult.

"You know, you are the only person I've ever known to have the name Corona -- like the ring around the sun, a crown," the double Oscar winner wrote to the boy. 

"I thought this typewriter would suit you," an image of the letter aired by Channel 7 News showed.

"Ask a grown up how it works. And use it to write me back."

Hanks handwrote at the end: "P.S. You got a friend in ME!"

[domino-710]

Just an aside :

"People still use typewriters because they still work. They offer a distraction-free alternative to the modern day methods for producing a document. They challenge the user to be more efficient and see their errors on paper." Writers and journalists have also spoken of their love for the ageing machine.

[not_for_sale2025]

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@domino-710 wrote:

I'm not so sure nfs.

If I were 8 years old & received such a gift - I'd not only be answering him as asked - to type his reply - I'd be quite happily banging away - often.

And yes - the ribbons are still produced in the US.

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He's 8 living in 2020. I'm sure he would view it as something that is usually found with Dinosaur bones. But this one was given to him by Tom Hanks - that is what makes it something special to be treasured.