In the good old days when illiteracy was the normal human condition, handwriting was something to be proud of—and looked it. The Declaration of Independence was signed with grace and style, but if John Hancock could see the dim and squiggly John hancocks of Americans today, he might be discouraged about the future of democracy.
Invitation to Flourish. The fine art of handwriting began to splutter into decline with the invention of the fountain pen. In order to hold enough ink, it was a fat, heavy, unwieldy instrument, calculated to muscle-bind the most graceful hand. To make a smaller pen feasible, the manufacturers reduced ink flow by tightening up the nibs—thereby eliminating calligraphy’s swinging thicks and thins. The end came late in World War II, when a U.S. quartermaster, looking for a pen that would not leak at high altitudes, discovered the ballpoint and ordered millions. At low altitude, ballpoints also had the advantage of being able to forge through vast amounts of carbon paper—a favorite war material of the armed forces.
The ballpoint not only makes writing a bore and calligraphy impossible, but shows up every early morning tremor. Today, though, the art of handwriting is exuberantly on its way back. The reason is a new kind of pen with a point of chemically treated fiber or nylon, through which the ink flows in broad, brushlike strokes at the lightest pressure —an invitation to arabesque and flourish that the ballpoint never knows.
The Rebellion. The fiber-tipped pens are the hottest counter-top item in years. In Japan, where most of them are made, some 30 companies are turning them out at a clip of more than 500,000 a day and falling behind the demand. The most popular is the 490 Pentel, made by the Japan Stationery Co. Ltd.—an old Tokyo company which once specialized in making fude (pronounced fooday), the brush that was the traditional Japanese writing instrument.
U.S. manufacturers have rushed in to capitalize on the new look in longhand. Esterbrook brought out a fine-pointed felt-tip pen last January, and in June went so far as to adapt its regular cartridge-fueled pen to a nylon-nibbed version with replaceable point called the Wonder-riter. Other major U.S. pen-makers have kept to disposable versions like the Japanese, at about the same 500 price. No advertising seems to be necessary. “We just keep ordering more and more, and we’re usually out of them,” says Gladys Slavitz, co-owner of the Beverly Stationers in Beverly Hills.
President Johnson orders them by the gross, mainly to autograph photographs. Actress Joan Fontaine uses them for everything, as does Vogue’s Managing Editor Diana Vreeland, and many another executive large and small. Said one of them last week: “I’m not only writing bolder—I’m thinking bolder.”
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