A documentary film maker, in 1978 Weiss, who was born in Poland, learned that the New York Times was shutting down its “hot type” — molten lead — Linotype typesetting machines in favor of phototypesetting. His resulting 1980 film, Farewell, Etaoin Shrdlu, documented the typesetting and production of the Times’ issue dated July 2, 1978 — the last set in hot type, a process invented in 1886.
Each final newspaper-size page plate weighed 40 pounds. “Etaoin shrdlu” refers to the Linotype’s keyboard layout; if a lino operator messed up during typesetting, he’d “wipe” the first two columns of keys, outputting “etaoin shrdlu”, which signaled to the layout people that the type was bad and needed to be replaced. Hurried compositors would sometimes miss it, though, resulting in the typo — and the phrase — being printed in the paper (see example, above right). Weiss, who was also once a proofreader at the Times, died August 11 at his California home. His age is uncertain; he was about 92.