The typewriter ribbon

Yesterday I spent part of the afternoon getting a new typewriter ribbon for the prop typewriter. There is a small old office equipment store I see every day on the way to Sean's school so I stopped there. The place is incredible. It is filled to the ceiling with faded signs, old typewriters, calculators, videotapes and junk. It would make a great set. The proprietor was a funny guy named Eddie who could be Lou Jacobi's twin brother. He said the shop's been there for 38 years. To change the ribbon, he cut the old ribbon off, got the new ribbon and manually wound it on to the old reel. I helped him by holding the new ribbon reel with a screwdriver. We had a nice chat and he offered to sell me some selectric balls (I've been thinking of getting some). This is one of those places where you have no idea how they pay the rent. It's fun to know that they still exist.