Miss Animal = Corona animal keyboard
A birdie is flying on your pinkie and a rabbit is nibbling your middle
finger.
This is how children teach themselves to type in the nineteen thirties.
The recipe?
Under your fingers, the Corona typewriter with animal keys in nine colors.
And on your fingers
nine
animal rings in nine colors (the left thumb is not used).
And then? Simple: color belongs to color.
The green rabbit hops to the green key on the left: c, d, e and 2 - all
decorated with bunnies in various poses.
Similarly, the left index finger guides the bear to the bear key.
And the right elephant thumb, sets the row of elephants on the space bar in
motion.
Great concept, bad timing
At the end of November 1935, the Corona marketing machine started its
publicity campaign with this educationally sound Christmas present. Target
group: the children of wealthy parents as the cheapest version costs fifty
dollars. But even that amount is a hard nut to crack when the
Great Depression is sweeping the country. A
pity, as because of this, the unique learning system never takes off ...
Rare
Need we add that an animal Corona is very rare? Not to mention the
ring set of which there are only two known in the world (sadly not in Belgium
where I live ... ). Logical, because as soon as you learn to type blind, the
rings disappear into a drawer.
Rare
Need we add that an animal Corona is very rare? Not to mention the
ring set of which there are only two known in the world (sadly not in Belgium
where I live ... ). Logical, because as soon as you learn to type blind, the
rings disappear into a drawer.
 The
animal set is available in 1935-1936 on three Corona models: the Standard,
Sterling and Silent. My machine - a Corona
Speedline (Standard 2C-series) - is strangely enough from the autumn of
1940, the beginning of the Second World War. This is hardly a better time for
bulk sales than during the great depression ...
A learning and reading book with lively animal drawings goes together with
the typewriter (My Corona Typewriter Book) and a booklet for the parents:
'To help little fingers guide eager young minds'.
Copy
Corona also produces a version with keys that are only colored (without
animals or rings), just like Remington with its
Bantam (that only writes capitals).
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