There was a tiny little world that I remember entering as a child. To get there, you had to use an object that required you to point it to a bright light source. Once you did so, you peered through the eyepieces and observed a miracle: gorgeous color images of national parks, cartoon characters, or perhaps animals in incredible three-dimensional realism!
A Viewmaster was found in practically every house with kids in the 1960's. Perhaps one reason for its popularity was that it wasn't just fascinating to the young! Parents got a kick out of them too.
The Viewmaster actually predates the Baby Boomer generation. It was debuted at the New York World's Fair in 1939. It was invented by organ maker and photographer William Gruber, who wanted to create a stereoscopic way to view recently invented Kodachrome slides.
The product was inexpensive from the start, and this contributed to its popularity. And it also contained few moving parts and required no batteries. Plus, it established a standard size for the Viewmaster reel, or disk, that let you view the latest releases on the oldest Viewmaster, or vice versa.
And they also opened up a wonderful world to kids. We saw stunning images of Yosemite, Yellowstone, New York skyscrapers, massive mountain ranges, and, of course, Donald Duck.
The fact that every kid had one meant that visiting your friends' homes would give you access to reels you might have never seen before. A Viewmaster sitting out with a few reels would quickly be grabbed up and checked out by visiting playmates.
After several ownership changes, the rights to Viewmaster were eventually purchased by Fisher-Price, who still manufacture them today. In fact, you can buy a brand spanking new viewer for six bucks. It doesn't look much like the pictured vintage model, but it works the same.
How about it, fellow Boomers? Why not introduce your grandkids to the same wonderful 3-D world you remember as a child?
Comments (7)
I wrote about the Viewmaster a few months ago on my blog and asked readers if their kids or grandkids had one. The vast majority did not. I guess computers have displaced the Viewmaster. I used to love those things.
Posted by Rhea | March 7, 2007 9:57 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 09:57
You state that the inventor was an organ maker. Actually he worked for Steinway in Germany making pianos. He also invented a player that hovered over the keyboard & fingers, opperated by bellows actually played the keys.
He also invented the stereoscopic camera that he sold to Polariod.
I was once married to his daughter Gretchen, who now lives in Seattle.
Posted by Kam | March 12, 2007 7:05 AM
Posted on March 12, 2007 07:05
Thanks, Kam, for the correction.
I got my info from Wikipedia. You might pop in there and clarify what's there.
Posted by Ron Enderland | March 12, 2007 6:00 PM
Posted on March 12, 2007 18:00
Plenty of viewmaster items at the 3d online flea market..google mrviewmaster
Posted by Mr VIewmaster | June 23, 2007 8:02 PM
Posted on June 23, 2007 20:02
Sadly Fisher-Price announced they are discontinuing manufacturing ViewMasters. You just knew the day would come.
Posted by Wesley | March 15, 2009 5:03 PM
Posted on March 15, 2009 17:03
I have very fond memories of the viewfinder! Yup, had all those different subjects and eventully in later years, more popular items including Batman and Robin! The color and 3D was the best! You really thought you were in another place looking through them. Wasn't their a Viewmaster projector too? Something else boomers may remember that was simular, especially a beaches and tourist areas. Remember the little single eye plastic viewers with a 3D picture inside? And at the beach, it might be a bikini clad gal! Most of these ended up a key chains!
Posted by Rivers End | June 5, 2009 11:28 PM
Posted on June 5, 2009 23:28
I guess the biggest change from the 50s and 60s to now is that a company could be small and profitable and leave something for someone else. But Big money bought up all the little companies to make one great big company. All profit consumed by one profit master and complete control is had as well. More money equals more power.
I think we have pretty much seen the consolidation of everything. Much of it most are not even aware of, perhaps.
the big boys hate to see a little guy have any success. That, kids, is why we who lived in the 60s would go back if we could, even without any tech going back with us.
Th-th-th-that's all folks!
Posted by Scott Irv | June 6, 2009 12:46 AM
Posted on June 6, 2009 00:46