If the postwar portable typewriter had a golden age, the mid-1950s was it — and the Smith-Corona Silent Super sat right at the top of the pile. By 1956, Smith-Corona had figured out exactly how to make a machine feel both serious and stylish, and the Silent Super is the clearest expression of that idea.
Top of the Line
The Silent Super was the flagship of Smith-Corona’s 5T portable series, positioned above the Standard and Sterling models. It carried 88 keys, compared to 84 on its siblings, thanks to a pair of dedicated keys: “1/!” and “+/=” that other machines of the era simply didn’t have (on cheaper typewriters, you were still typing a lowercase L for the number one). It also came with keyboard-set tabs, letting the typist set and clear tab stops right from the keys instead of manually shifting stops at the back of the machine, plus a touch control dial to adjust keystroke resistance to the typist’s preference.
Built for Quiet
True to its name, the Silent Super leaned into hushed operation. It used a softer platen compound intended to dampen the clack of the keys — something modern owners note has largely firmed up with eight decades of age, but which spoke to how seriously Smith-Corona took the “silent” part of the lineup. Combine that with the distinctive “rabbit ears” paper support arching up from the back of the machine, and the Silent Super has a silhouette that’s instantly recognizable to typewriter collectors.
A Color Explosion
Where the Royal DeLuxe leaned into a restrained two-tone gray, the Silent Super embraced the decade’s optimism. Beyond the standard Sapphire Grey, it came in Alpine Blue, Coral Pink, Sea-foam Green, and Desert Sand — pastel finishes that turned a writing tool into a piece of midcentury home decor. That range of colorways is a big part of why these machines are so collectible today; a well-preserved pink or blue Silent Super with its original paint is considered a genuine find.
What It Cost Then and Now
In the mid-1950s, a Silent Super ran around $129, a serious purchase at the time, working out to somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,200 today. That price bought a machine built to last: smooth, light, and responsive enough that collectors still reach for the Silent Super when they want a typewriter that can handle real, sustained writing rather than just sitting on a shelf.
