***** The Typewriter *****

Composer Leroy Anderson completed one of his most famous pieces -- "The Typewriter" -- in 1950, and it was first performed three years later to be recorded by the Boston Pops Orchestra for Decca Records.

Since then it has been performed uncountable times -- right through to the present -- often by famous orchestras, and frequently playing up the comedic nature of the physical "typewriter" typing that is integral to the piece.

In the 1963 film "Who's Minding the Store", Jerry Lewis mimes typing on an invisible "air typewriter" to the entire piece, and you can find many examples of individuals making videos of themselves recreating his performance.

But look closely. There's something of a problem, both in Lewis' original filmed performance and virtually all of the recreations of that performance.

At the end of each "typing line" the right hand is used to "push" the invisible typewriter carriage to the left to start the next line.

But ... this is backwards. Unless you're using a typewriter designed for, say, Hebrew or Arabic (unlikely in this case), the carriage must be pushed to the RIGHT by the LEFT hand to get back to the start of each line.

Lewis did it wrong, and pretty much everybody since then has duplicated his error.

Not the end of the world, but amusing. -L