Angelina Jolie almost bought Ernest Hemingway’s $250K typewriter for Brad

FFN_Maleficent_Recpt_FFUK_050814_51405518

There’s always a lot of gossip and speculation about what Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie actually buy each other for their special occasions. I’d like to believe that they celebrate with tattoos, sex and jewelry, but perhaps my bias is showing. Usually the UK tabloids love speculating about Brangelina’s gifting habits, like the time Angelina bought Brad a waterfall (she didn’t) or the time Angelina bought Brad a 1952 Patek Philippe watch (it probably didn’t happen) or the time she bought him a heart-shaped island in New York state (she did not). But now TMZ is getting into the gift-speculating business. TMZ claims that Angelina was considering a very special wedding gift for her new husband: a vintage typewriter once owned by Ernest Hemingway.

Angelina Jolie put down thousands of dollars on the last typewriter Ernest Hemingway used before killing himself … a $250,000 wedding gift for Brad Pitt … TMZ has learned.

Sources connected with the couple tell us … Angelina’s agent got in touch with L.A. Police Commission President Steve Soboroff, who has an unbelievable typewriter collection, including Hemingway’s 1926 Underwood. Get this … Hemingway used the typewriter for his works in the late 1930s, and “For Whom the Bell Tolls” was published in 1940.

We’re told Jolie initially wanted to buy his Tennessee Williams typewriter but he wouldn’t sell it. So then the agent asked if Soboroff would sell one of the 2 Hemingway typewriters he owned … they offered a quarter of a million bucks and it was an offer he couldn’t refuse.

We’re told this summer the agent sent a deposit check from Angelina’s production company — Chivan Productions — for $11,000, but at some point she had a change of heart and cancelled the deal. She didn’t even ask for the money back, but we’re told the check was returned.

BTW … Soboroff has a number of epic typewriters, including those owned by the Unabomber, John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio, and he just snagged Jerry Siegel’s, who used the typewriter to create Superman!

[From TMZ]

Hemingway’s typewriter would have been an awesome gift… for a writer or for someone who really loves Hemingway. Does Brad really write that much? I don’t think so. And is he some huge Hemingway fan? I don’t think so. Honestly, though, didn’t Hemingway have a million typewriters? I know some of his typewriters are still at the six-toed cat house in Key West, and some typewriters are still in the home in Cuba. Plus the two that Steve Soboroff has, apparently. It sounds like Hemingway just wrote on whatever was available?

Anyway, I’m glad Angelina didn’t end up spending that kind of money on a typewriter, even one belonging to a famous writer. Brad likes art, for sure, and he probably would have considered the typewriter as some kind of piece of art. But it just doesn’t feel like the right choice for Brad. I imagine Brad is difficult to buy for though, unless you know a lot about modern art or architecture. Besides that, what do you get for the woman who just got Dame’d?

wenn21815452

wenn21815446

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

40 Responses to “Angelina Jolie almost bought Ernest Hemingway’s $250K typewriter for Brad”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. Talie says:

    It’s entirely possible he does fancy himself some kind of writer behind closed doors. I mean, what the hell do we really know? Except what they tell us.

  2. Kim1 says:

    So this is a story about a gift she didn’t buy.This sounds like that BS story about the island that Brad DIDN’T buy.Also how would the guy know who the typewriter was for IF she did express interest in it.The typewriter could have been for her.

    • Candy Love says:

      Lol that would have been a more believable story.

      I swear two years from now tabloids will still be making up BS wedding gifts stories. It’s been 3 months if they gave each other gifts it would have happend months ago.

  3. zut alors! says:

    Was she really going to buy it for Brad as a wedding present or is this conjecture on the part of TMZ? It sounds to me like it was more of a prop for his character. Isn’t he supposed to be a writer in By The Sea?

    • Candy Love says:

      This his character in the movie is a write.

    • lisa2 says:

      I was going to say the same thing. If that is indeed true; it could have been something to remember the film. Brad does play a writer.

      It is their first time on screen together since Mr and Mrs.

      but I laugh at how this story has made the rounds. All about something she didn’t buy.

    • inthekitchen says:

      I’d agree with this (although I don’t think the story is true in any way to begin with). Especially since it says she paid the deposit with a check from her production company. Would you really be buying personal gifts with your company money? Seems like a no-no.

      Although…paying $250k for a movie prop seems a bit extreme.

  4. j.eyre says:

    That would be an amazing gift, though. I would mortgage my kids for a pen used by Fitzgerald, I think.

    • Ennie says:

      Collector’s items. I cant imagine Emily Dickinson’s desk or quill… The emotions those items saw become paper!

  5. Abbott says:

    Is “typewriter” code for “bong?”

  6. Jaderu says:

    “…what do you get for the woman who just got Dame’d?”

    One of those boxes with the tiny sausages and cheese always seem to brighten anyone’s day.

  7. BengalCat2000 says:

    AJ doesn’t seem to be a big jewelry person (or she just wears sentimental pieces), and whether this story is true or not, they do seem to give unusual gifts. Hell, if I had their money, I’d buy Hemingway’s entire badass polydactyl kitty estate. And some opal jewelry.

    • Artemis says:

      She like, designed her own jewellery line ‘Style of Jolie’, I beg to differ the girl doesn’t like her blingbling. Especially 70s blingbling.

  8. kri says:

    Eh, I thought he was into architecture and um..”plants”. Maybe she bought him an awesome assortment of “plants” that they grow in a closed off space at Miraval. It’s green, self-sustaining, and it’s the gift that keeps on giving. I think he would love it!!

    • Chris2 says:

      Brilliant idea! Angelina could consult the Duchess of Northumberland about other ‘most interesting’ plants from her fascinating physic garden at Alnwick/Hogwarts.
      And like Bengalcat ^^^ suggests, it would be fab for ALL the Hemingway kittehs to have the run of Miraval…..those children would soon teach them clever things to do with extra their digits….like holding a biro for doodling, or brief Hemingway-type sentences. ‘Buttock fattock’ would be a cinch.

  9. Ginger says:

    Ahhhhh….I’m a big reader and writer and I own a 1920’s Underwood. As far as I know it wasn’t owned by anyone famous. I picked it up in an antique shop years ago. It’s ridiculously heavy and I’ve hauled it through so many moves in three different states. I’m salivating over the thought of owning a Hemingway typewriter (although I’d kill to own a Kerouac typewriter even more)! But that cost? That’s a freaking mortgage! I’m sure for Brad and Angie that price is just a drop in the bucket. Still, I highly doubt this story as cool as it seems.

  10. Chris2 says:

    Aww, were the waterfall and island all fiction? I so enjoy reports about Angelina’s imaginative presents for Brad.
    (Though worlds away from my fictional romantic hero Lord Peter Wimsey, they do remind me, regarding gifts, of the time Lord Peter and Harriet Vane both secretly tried to buy the rare holograph letter by John Donne as a wedding gift for the other, knowing what boundless delight it would bring.) •le sigh•

  11. tracking says:

    Is it kosher to have your production company write a large check for a personal gift? Probably all made up anyway.

  12. jen2 says:

    When these two are not doing anything particularly newsworthy, the gossip just gets really interesting and kind of dumb–just like the watch story (which she did not purchase by the way). If Ms. Jolie-Pitt was to by Mr. Pitt a gift, I would think it would be an antique camera since he loves photography and she has purchased expensive cameras for him in the past. Maybe an Ansel Adams camera since he likes Black and white. I would see him buying a typewriter for her since she is the writer. But again, just something to write about them when nothing is going on. Also don’t think her production company is Chivan–that is Maddox’s middle name and why leave out the other five when naming your company.

    • Ennie says:

      Yeah, now that I reread the text… Where does it mention that sHe was buying a gift for Brad? She was buying an antique typewriter, a collector’s item, yes, it would probably be for Brad because he used to study journalism, but she is the one writing more creatively nowadays… I think these were just conjectures.
      I think that the typewriter would be something cool to own for the two of them.

    • lower-case deb says:

      i went on to google, and apparently she did set up Chivan Productions back in 2002. so that explains why she uses Maddox’s middle name and not the others. apparently (according to flightaware), both her planes are registered to this company.

      and now Maddox is PAing in Angelina’s movie. so maybe he’s looking to be producer? or just testing the waters? after all there’s also a foundation back in Cambodia also named after him.
      Producer Maddox or Environmentalist Maddox? or both?

      however, her most recent movies like Unbroken and By the Sea are produced by Jolie Pas, Inc a production company she set up the year after (2003).

      additionally, she seems to have set up Nouvel, LLC in 2008, which is probably after Shiloh?

      anyway. i got these info from corporationwiki. does anyone know the accuracy of this site?

      • jen2 says:

        Which kind of proves this story is pure bunk if she is no longer using that title for producing her films and they are going back to something 12 years old. They are further behind than I am.

        The Foundation thay set up in Shiloh’s name supports a nature preserve in Namibia and Zahara’s supports an aids clinic they are building in Ethiopia. Not sure about the others. Thanks.

    • lisa2 says:

      I think that Production company was formed when it was just her and Maddox and she has produced under that title IIRC.

      I think her production company now is Jolie Pas.

  13. Maya says:

    bs and fiction written about the JPs as usual.

    If they wanted to tell the world something – they will do it their own time. They have proved that so many times in the past that the media knows nada about them, their plans etc.

    PS: cannot wait for Unbroken to premier next week and we will get some actually news about the JPs.

  14. Andrea1 says:

    Wow they are always buying imaginary gifts for themselves. Media always gets it wrong. *rolling my eyes out of its socket*

    • Kim1 says:

      Let’s see there is the waterfall,the island,the helicopter,the Shetland ponies,the 1000 ft Olive tree,the watch,the typewriter
      And a partridge in a pear tree

      • jen2 says:

        Let’s not forget all of the houses Brad purchases whenever he visits a country, the super yacht Maddox picked out, and the spitfire airplane…I kind of like that one, it is a cool plane. It is a long and varied list.

  15. lisa2 says:

    Awww I miss them on the RC..

    There is just something special about them together. I can’t wait for Unbroken to premier and we get some new pics. I’m still surprised at how there were very few pictures of them on the set of By the Sea.. It has wrapped and they have gone..

    I miss seeing them. Can’t help it. I do. They looks so good together in that top picture.

    • Kim1 says:

      Doesn’t Brad have another Fury premiere this week @LISA2?

      • lisa2 says:

        HOW DID I FORGET… thanks

        South Korea on the 13th. Not sure if Angie will attend though.

        Unbroken premiers on Nov.17th. Australia and the UK on 25th..

        excited.

  16. Brittney B says:

    I love that she tried to buy the Tennessee Williams typewriter first. One of her tattoos is a line from one of his plays, and my late-90’s fascination with her actually led me toward his work. Streetcar is still my favorite play (and up there with my favorite movies), and she always kind of reminded me of a character he’d write. I’m glad to hear she’s still just as interested in him and his work.

    • Artemis says:

      I was obsessed with ASND and Brando. I didn’t even know Williams wrote it and when I read Jolie’s quote I started reading his work too. ASND is full of symbolism that I would never have been able to spot without an academic analysis…The man is genius.

    • zut alors! says:

      “A prayer for the wild at heart kept in cages.”

      Is that Angie’s tattoo? I think she mentioned she and her mom got it together.

  17. rudy says:

    She gave back the deposit.
    Angie did not buy the typewriter.