The Remington Rand typewriter again


Michael Stuart Kelly

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The Remington Rand typewriter again

I received an email from Barbara--one that contains information that should be easy to check by anyone interested.

Barbara sent me an email from Joan Blumenthal (or part of one). I asked Barbara it it was OK to publish it and she said please do. It's certainly short enough for fair use.

Here goes:

Sure I heard the story from Ayn. She was very fond of her Remington Rand typewriter and said that was the origin of her name.

How come nobody else has thought of asking Joan?

What a weird subculture we live in...

Michael

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Oh, you know, now it'll be that Barbara fabricated email or some trash. Evidence will be demanded, IP addresses will be tracked. She will be accused of creating a virtual Joan and routing everything back to herself through a series of anonymous third world servers. You know how devious she is . . . :)

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This may not be the first time somebody has suggested this, but the thought occurs to me that Rand made the story up to protect her family. We know that this is why she kept her birth name a secret. She could easily have figured that having a ready explanation for her adopted name would help to discourage prying.

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Nobody thought to ask Joan Mitchell Blumenthal because every story that might make Ayn Rand look bad was hatched by TheBrandens, is kept under lock and key in a secret location, and can only be had by those who ask them nicely :)

At least, that's why Jim Valliant hasn't bothered to ask, and persons who suck up to Valliant wouldn't either.

Robert Campbell

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I think it's overdetermined.

The typewriter story was good copy, it kept the inquisitive off the trail as far as her family was concerned, and the people she told it to didn't speak or read Russian.

Robert Campbell

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So I'm reading this thread and I glance up at the TV and CNBC is advertising how they are going to run an investigative story on the Remington (arms) company.

This story never ends. Randian corruption has permeated every aspect and facet of American society. I can't wait to see the Rand part. By buying her typewriter she helped provide the start-up capital for a major purveyor of death and destruction. At least that's the slant of the prosecutor's brief I'm working on.

--Brant

wrong side of the bed

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I think it's overdetermined.

The typewriter story was good copy, it kept the inquisitive off the trail as far as her family was concerned, and the people she told it to didn't speak or read Russian.

Robert Campbell

Continued "controversy" over this issue shows a lack of comprehension of human nature on the part of those who cannot credit that or fathom why Rand would tell such a story. It is a telling self indictment, and a prime symptom of what can only be called ARID (Alice Rosenbaum Identity Derangement) Syndrome.

Edited by Ted Keer
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I think it's overdetermined.

The typewriter story was good copy, it kept the inquisitive off the trail as far as her family was concerned, and the people she told it to didn't speak or read Russian.

Robert Campbell

Continued "controversy" over this issue shows a lack of comprehension of human nature on the part of those who cannot credit that or fathom why Rand would tell such a story. It is a telling self indictment, and a prime symptom of what can only be called ARID (Alice Rosenbaum Identity Derangement) Syndrome.

Excellent Ted!

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This is still of interest elsewhere in Rand-land:

http://forums.4aynrandfans.com/index.php?showtopic=12291&view=findpost&p=107785

http://remingtonrand.dhwritings.com/AynRand.html

Now these here are murky waters, but does anyone doubt that she told the story to Peikoff? Or within his earshot?

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Of course Rand couldn't have gotten her name from a Remington Rand typewriter. That doesn't mean that she couldn't have created the story years later or passed it on having heard it from others. Obviously these people wouldn't have known what Rand told a reporter or two in the 30s, 40s or even early 50s.

My guess is that Rand told it to Fern Brown who "retrojected" it into her memory and she (Rand) also told it to Nathaniel, Barbara and Joan Blumenthal among others.

The only problem I have is that if AR told it to NB, BB and JB why don't others recall having heard it second-hand.

-Neil

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The only problem I have is that if AR told it to NB, BB and JB why don't others recall having heard it second-hand.

It was Rand's anecdote. It is rude to go around telling other people's anecdotes. It's like giving away movie plots. This is all Social Interaction 101.

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Ted,

You write:

It was Rand's anecdote. It is rude to go around telling other people's anecdotes. It's like giving away movie plots. This is all Social Interaction 101.

Yes, but what about after Rand died?

I am almost certain that Rand did tell the story. We have Nathaniel, Barbara and now Joan Blumenthal. It has been reported that there is one person interviewed by the Archives who heard it from Rand. So that's four people, five if you include Fern Brown (who probably heard it from Rand and misremembered it).

-Neil

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Ted,

You write:

It was Rand's anecdote. It is rude to go around telling other people's anecdotes. It's like giving away movie plots. This is all Social Interaction 101.

Yes, but what about after Rand died?

I am almost certain that Rand did tell the story. We have Nathaniel, Barbara and now Joan Blumenthal. It has been reported that there is one person interviewed by the Archives who heard it from Rand. So that's four people, five if you include Fern Brown (who probably heard it from Rand and misremembered it).

-Neil

It's in the text of the joint eulogy for Rand given by Peikoff and Nathaniel, and the anecdote is a longstanding applause-getting staple of Barbara's and Joan's annual appearances at their ARI seminars . . . .

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Ted Keer wrote: "It's in the text of the joint eulogy for Rand given by Peikoff and Nathaniel, and the anecdote is a longstanding applause-getting staple of Barbara's and Joan's annual appearances at their ARI seminars...."

This is fabricatory in the extreme. It is completely made up, a concoction. It's fiction. It is false. It is not true. There was no joint Leonard Peikoff/Nathaniel Branden eulogy, nor did Barbara Branden and Joan Blumenthal ever conjointly attend an ARI seminar. None of it happened, nor would any of the mentioned parties seriously attest that it did. The claims have no foundation. They are without referent or substantiation. They are not even plausible, given the history of schisms and insistence on permanent arch-enmity toward certain de-sanctioned personages adopted by the Peikovian flame-keepers. To make such assertions is to commit the big bad B, the epistemological wiper-outer, the Blank-out. For surely Keer has the MEANS to know that there was never any such joint eulogy, never any such joint appearances at ARI seminars. And yet, he says that there was. He makes that claim. He makes that claim.

Edited by Starbuckle
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Ted Keer wrote: "It's in the text of the joint eulogy for Rand given by Peikoff and Nathaniel, and the anecdote is a longstanding applause-getting staple of Barbara's and Joan's annual appearances at their ARI seminars...."

This is fabricatory in the extreme. It is completely made up, a concoction. It's fiction. It is false. It is not true. There was no joint Leonard Peikoff/Nathaniel Branden eulogy, nor did Barbara Branden and Joan Blumenthal ever conjointly attend an ARI seminar. None of it happened, nor would any of the mentioned parties seriously attest that it did. The claims have no foundation. They are without referent or substantiation. They are not even plausible, given the history of schisms and insistence on permanent arch-enmity toward certain de-sanctioned personages adopted by the Peikovian flame-keepers. To make such assertions is to commit the big bad B, the epistemological wiper-outer, the Blank-out. For surely Keer has the MEANS to know that there was never any such joint eulogy, never any such joint appearances at ARI seminars. And yet, he says that there was. He makes that claim. He makes that claim.

I have no dog in this fight, but don't you think that Ted might be tongue in cheeking this just a wee bit?

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He makes that claim. He makes that claim.

He cracks a joke. He cracks a joke.

He keeps his day job. He keeps his day job.

Don't repeat yourself. Don't repeat yourself.

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He makes that claim. He makes that claim.

He cracks a joke. He cracks a joke.

He keeps his day job. He keeps his day job.

Don't repeat yourself. Don't repeat yourself.

What, do I amuse you? Got me mixed up with Jimmy two times?

Fuhgettaboutit!

Oh crap, there I go with Italian stereotypes again...

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He makes that claim. He makes that claim.

He cracks a joke. He cracks a joke.

He keeps his day job. He keeps his day job.

Don't repeat yourself. Don't repeat yourself.

What, do I amuse you? Got me mixed up with Jimmy two times?

Fuhgettaboutit!

Oh crap, there I go with Italian stereotypes again...

ND:

Recognizing you are addicted to Italian stereotypes is the first step. Soon I will get you to an IA meeting...

Adam

lol badabing and hits it outta da park!

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lol badabing and hits it outta da park!

Thus spake Il Duce!

I am very glad to be able to express my feelings towards the American nation. Friendship which Italy looks to millions of citizens who, from Alaska to Florida, from Pacific to Atlantic, live in the United States is very deeply rooted in our hearts.

This feeling created by mutual interests[...]in preparation of an even brighter era in the life of both nations. I agree, the wonderful energy of the American people and I feel[.......]my fellow citizens who are working to make America great.

I salute the great American people, I salute the Italians of America who unite in the love of two nations.

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I received an email from Barbara--one that contains information that should be easy to check by anyone interested.

Barbara sent me an email from Joan Blumenthal (or part of one). I asked Barbara it it was OK to publish it and she said please do. It's certainly short enough for fair use.

Here goes:

Sure I heard the story from Ayn. She was very fond of her Remington Rand typewriter and said that was the origin of her name.

How come nobody else has thought of asking Joan?

What a weird subculture we live in...

Michael

Barbara thought of asking Joan -- and Bob Hessen -- on March 6, 2007, in the course of correspondence on which MSK and George Smith were being cc'd.

In the few days prior to that I had, first, mentioned a recollection of something David Brown had said on SOLOHQ about hearing the story from "[o]ne of Rand's inner-circlers" (female) and had then looked up and quoted the post, which was dated Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - 6:36pm (link), and suggested to Barbara that she write to David Brown inquiring further. (Barbara did write to David but had never received a reply as of the last time, probably in late 2007, I asked her if she'd heard from him.)

Barbara said in a thanks note on March 6, 2007, that she didn't know why it hadn't struck her before to "ask people such as Joan Blumenthal if she ever heard the story from Ayn." Barbara then sent a note to Joan and to Bob Hessen.

The full email which Barbara received from Joan read:

Wed, 7 Mar 2007 18:03:59 EST

>From Joan Blumenthal

"Sure I heard the story from Ayn. She was very fond of her Remington Rand typewriter and said that was the origin of her name. I can't ask Allan just now, but I will."

Subsequently, I reminded Barbara at least three times, and then again in a phone conversation, to ask Joan if Joan had asked Allan and if Joan would permit the email to be published.

Barbara kept saying she'd do that, but she never mentioned having done it.

I subsequently told Neil Parille about the email from Joan, and then sent him a copy of it. [sentence deleted at Neil's request.]

[ditto] Barbara apparently never followed up with Joan to verify and get Joan's permission to quote the recollection.

Has Barbara suddenly remembered now about that email?

--

This may not be the first time somebody has suggested this, but the thought occurs to me that Rand made the story up to protect her family. We know that this is why she kept her birth name a secret. She could easily have figured that having a ready explanation for her adopted name would help to discourage prying.

It's the suggestion I made probably 5 years ago and remade a number of times. I've come to think it's probably wrong, though it seems plausible.

Ellen

Edited by Ellen Stuttle
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Ellen,

PARC has been out for over five years and I don't think Barbara has publicly commented on its claims more than a couple of time, although she could easily have added more information to refute Valliant's lies and distortions.

When Barbara said she heard the RR story from Rand Valliant and others then accused her of lying. Would her enemies be persuaded by more evidence?

-Neil Parille

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In a related story, legendary typewriter myth-buster James Valliant has now targeted the producers of the Remington Steele TV series, claiming to have proof that detective Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist) never owned such a machine, and that Pierce Brosnan’s real name is, in fact, Remington Steele.

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