View-Master Viewers and Reels - History
What baby-boomer did NOT have a View-Master Viewer and collection of reels in their childhood toy box? A unique 20th Century iconic toy! However, when first invented, it was intended as an educational tool for adults!
Model C Bakelite Viewer c1950s by Sawyers.
View-Master Gift Set by Tyco of a Hercules Cartoon 3 Reel Set and red plastic Viewer 1997.
A camera rig was developed for taking stereo photographs by William Gruber in the late 1930s. Harold Graves, President of Sawyers Photographic Services in Portland Oregon USA, saw the potential. The two formed a partnership and in 1938 the View-Master concept was born. It was first shown to the world at the New York Worlds Fair a year later.
Originally, it was intended as an educational tool primarily aimed at adults but soon spread to other areas, most notably children's entertainment. The US Military were keen advocates of the View-Master and had specially commissioned sets of reels produced to aid artillery spotting and aircraft identification during WWII, purchasing millions of reels and tens of thousands of Model B viewers.
A personal reel mount. These reels were made in the USA and required the use of a stereo camera to produce your own personal View-Master reels. An intensive hobby, but one many took up and the personal reels are very difficult to find today. Production ended in August 2000.
When the Tru-Vue Company became a serious rival in the market, Sawyers bought them in 1951. At the same time, Sawyers obtained the rights to include Disney characters on their reels, setting the future direction of the product.
Early 3 Reel Set "Snow White", complete with story booklet. Rather than Disney cartoon images, the pictures are rather like claymation figures and have no association with Walt Disney.
Modern Disney Lion King Reel Set. Cartoon images.
GAF (General Aniline & Film Corporation), a company mainly concerned with film processing and cameras, purchased View-Master in 1966. View-Master enjoyed a brief boom in popularity in the 1970s but was now viewed as a toy for children and gradually the market started to shrink.
GAF sold the company to Arnold Thaler in 1981 and it was renamed VMI (View-Master International Group). In 1984 they acquired the Ideal Toy Company and became known as View-Master Ideal Group. Tyco Toys bought the company in 1989 and produced viewers from 1989 to 1997 when Mattel Inc, Tyco and View-Master Ideal Group merged. The View-Master name lives on and is currently being produced under the Fisher-Price brand name (a Mattel owned company). The range of products produced now is purely for children.
Modern reels with talking attachment/reel case.
The Collector's Market for View-Master is enjoying a rapidly expanding popularity and the older viewers and reels are being snapped up by baby-boomers who want to relive their childhoods!
Early talking reels have a plastic wheel attachment and require a special talking View-Master Viewer.
Viewers were improved and new models were issued every few years. Model A, the first viewer, was made of a new plastic from Kodak known as Tenite, very lightweight but prone to warping. Produced between 1938 to 1944, it was replaced by Model B, made from bakelite, which solved the warping problem. Viewer Models B through F were all made from bakelite. Model G was the first to be made from lightweight modern plastic, produced between 1959 to 1977 and has many variations due to the long production period and is the most well-known of the baby-boomer generation.
Viewer Model E made from brown bakelite.
Besides standard Viewers, View-Master had other accessories and add-ons to enhance the user experience. Some products offered were projectors, personal (stereo) cameras (to create your own View-Master photograph reels), personal cutter (to cut the film to insert into reels), film inserter (small metal spring device to simultaneously hold the film and open the reel slot to insert film), light attachments (starting in 1950), novelty face viewers or character viewers (essentially a case or face plate around a standard viewer in the shape of Mickey Mouse or Big Bird etc beginning in 1975 in Europe and 1977 in USA), talking View-Masters (earliest model was 1970), reel storage cases, and reel index cards.
Junior Projector, made from black bakelite by View-Master. Projects a small image on a wall or screen, non-3D.
View-Master Light Attachment for a Model C Viewer.
A few terms collectors use:
Bubbling/Blistering: Common fault found on reels that were stored incorrectly (damp conditions) where the two halves of the reel have swollen internally creating blips or small bumps on the top surface. Between 1960 to 1963 the paper manufacturer for View-Master reels used starch with moisture in it so that it didn't completely dissolve and it created the blistering effect, however, View-Master considered these reels normal production.
Viewing Ring/Wear Ring: After a reel has been viewed many times it can develop a viewing ring, caused because the tag on the internal advance mechanism inside the viewer is metal (earlier viewers) and this rubs on the reel as it returns to its "rest" position.
Wear ring visible around the perimeter of the reel.
Reel with older style blue wave sleeve.
Sleeve: Paper envelope that holds single reels. Many styles were issued over the years, and is not to be confused with Packet Envelope.
Packet Envelope: Outer packet containing the reel or reels, early ones with no window or preview picture, later ones with a sample photo from the reel on the front as a window or full envelope view. Later Packet Envelope sets had their own identification numbers, which were incorporated into the reel numbers they contain.
Packet Envelope Set of 3 Reels "Tom Corbett Space Cadet", with story book, two different sleeve examples and (outer) Packet Envelope. Note Reel Numbers shown as 970-A, 970-B and 970-C.
Reel Number: Each reel has an identification number and shows the manufacturer. For sets, there is often a Letter Code (A,B,C) to indicate the order for viewing the set reels, or it is incorporated into the Reel Number ending (1,2,3). Very early sets did not have separate Packet numbers or Letter Codes and the reels could also be purchased individually.
There are websites, collector reference books and value guides available for View-Master Viewers and Reels.
*Thanks to: The Collectable Stereo Viewers Guide by Keith Clatworthy in its assistance with providing some of the information in this blog along with the site vmresource
Have fun viewing the world through your View-Master 3D Stereo Viewers!
Bear Hugs
Mandy
Mandicrafts
©mandicrafts
©mandicrafts
Handy Links:
(just click on any of the names)
Mandicrafts Bears and Collectibles Store
Mandicrafts Website
(just click on any of the names)
Mandicrafts Bears and Collectibles Store
Mandicrafts Website
Coollectors Website
Treasure Hunters Blog
While the toy version of the View Master ultimately became popular, collectors know that there's a ton of reels out there that feature classic comics and TV shows that can make anyone go down on memory lane. Even though personal reel mounts aren't manufactured anymore, with today's technology and resources, anyone can make their own reels and wipe the dust off their View Masters.
ReplyDeleteI had one though mine was not nearly as nice as the ones you feature on this page, Mandy!
ReplyDelete