View-Master

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The View-Master is a device for viewing seven 3-D images (also known as stereo images) on a paper disk. Although it is now considered a children's toy, it was not originally marketed as such.

1 History
2 Notable uses
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

The View-Master system was invented by William Gruber, an organ maker and avid photographer who lived in Portland, Oregon. He had the idea of updating the old-fashioned stereoscope by using the new Kodachrome color film that had recently become available. While a View-Master reel holds 14 film slides, there are really only seven stereoscopic images; two film slides are viewed simultaneously - one for each eye - thus simulating binocular depth perception.

When on vacation with his wife in 1938, Gruber met Harold Graves, the president of Sawyer's, Inc., a company specializing in picture postcards, and the two men struck up a conversation about Mr. Gruber’s invention that lasted well into the night. Shortly thereafter, Gruber and Graves formed a partnership in 1939 which led to the retail sales of View-Master viewers and reels. Within a very short time, the View-Master quickly took over the postcard business at Sawyer's.

Later that year, View-Master was first introduced at the New York World's Fair. It was intended as an alternative to the scenic postcard, and was originally sold at photography shops, stationery stores and scenic attraction gift shops. The main subjects of View-Master reels were Carlsbad Caverns and the Grand Canyon. In the 1940s, the U.S. military recognized the potential for using View-Master products for personnel training, purchasing 100,000 viewers and nearly six million reels between 1942 and the end of World War II in 1945.

In 1951 Sawyer's purchased Tru-Vue, the main competitor of View-Master. In addition to eliminating their main rival, the takeover also gave Sawyer's Tru-Vue's licensing rights to Walt Disney Studios. Sawyer's capitalized on the opportunity and produced numerous reels featuring Disney characters and the newly opened Disneyland.

In 1952 Sawyer's began its View-Master Personal line, which included a 35mm camera for its users to make their own View-Master reels. Although at first highly successful, within ten years the line would be discontinued. Despite an untimely death, many of these ruggedly well-made cameras are still being used today. This line also spawned the Model 'D' viewer (available until the early seventies it was View-Master's highest quality viewer) and View-Master's only 3D projector.

View-Master reels from a German Karl May-movie.

The View-Master had originally been constructed from Kodak Tenite plastic and then bakelite, a hard, sturdy, somewhat heavy plastic. Beginning in 1959, the material of choice became the much lighter-weight thermoplastic.

In 1966 Sawyer's was acquired by the General Aniline & Film (GAF) Corporation, and became a wholly owned subsidiary. Under GAF's ownership View-Master reels started to feature fewer scenic and more child-friendly subjects, such as toys and cartoons. Several now-classic TV series were also featured on View-Master reels, such as Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Star Trek, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Here's Lucy, and The Beverly Hillbillies. Actor Henry Fonda appeared in a series of TV commercials for the GAF View-Master.

In 1976, a red and white View-Master with a blue handle was released to commemorate the United States Bicentennial.

GAF sold View-Master to a group headed by Arnold Thaler in 1981 for $24 million. Six years later, a thriving View-Master International purchased Ideal Toy Company and became known as View-Master Ideal (VMI).

In the mid-1980s, the toy eventually had a home video label, notable for producing Kidsongs.

In August of 1989, the View-Master product line was sold for the third time to Tyco Toys, Inc. of Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, upon its purchase of View-Master Ideal. The View-Master line remained part of Tyco until Tyco’s merger with Mattel, Inc. in 1997.

Shortly after the merger with Mattel, Inc., the View-Master category shifted to Mattel subsidiary Fisher-Price in East Aurora, New York.

View-Master is named^[1] as part of the National Toy Hall of Fame of the USA.

[edit] Notable uses

Specifications for View-Master reels

Over the years 3-D reels have been produced for Disneyland, many TV shows, movies (such as E.T. and Jurassic Park) and even for the US military (for airplane/ship identification and range estimation).

David L. Bassett, an expert on anatomy and dissection, collaborated with Gruber to create a 25-volume atlas of human antomy using the View-Master system.^[2]

The television show Wonderfalls, used the View-Master as a thematic emblem throughout the short-lived series.

In an episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog, a View-Master was used to view the past of a beaver's life.

The comic book character The Tick used a View-Master as though it could alert him of ongoing crimes.

The 2006 film ATL features a scene of a teenage girl using a View-Master. This scene is preceded by a computer generated image of a reel being moved by the same girl.

Among the new View-Master products are a “Discovery Channel View-Master,” the new “Virtual Viewer,” the “Discovery Channel View-Master Projector and Telescope,” and “View-Master 3-D Pocket Viewer,” which feature images of popular performers in concert and backstage.