From Foibles and Fetishes of Famous Writers / Page Fright * by Harry Bruce

"  When Hugh MacLennan was in his seventies and completing his last novel, Voices in Time, his elderly Underwood died of old age and overwork.  With that black, noisy, anachronistic, typewriting contraption -- whose shape was as familiar to the elderly as Model T Fords had once been -- MacLennan had earned his reputation as Canada's first internationally acclaimed novelist and had written no fewer than five winners of Governor General's Awards.  Now, the machine was just a mess of keys, spools, wheels, and other useless parts.  It was too old to repair or replace, and he was too old to switch to another brand.  How could he possibly finish Voices in Time?

His alarmed publisher, Douglas Gibson, asked Peter Gzowski, the host of CBC Radio's "This Country in the Morning," to appeal to his listeners for old Underwoods in working order.  Gzowski was the most popular on-air personality in the country.  He was "Mr. Canada," and, to enable a pioneer of modern Canadian literature to finish his last novel, dozens of Gzowski's fans now rummaged through their attics for dusty Underwoods of a certain age.  MacLennan accepted the machine that best suited him and, sure enough, Voices in Time reached bookstores in 1980."

* McClelland & Stewart Ltd., 2009.