Those super-fun plastic binoculars we pressed on our faces for virtual reality, pre-computer days. You know, back when you had to actually use your imagination.
When I was a kid in the 60's, I loved Viewmaster's claymation fairies-in-forest scenes, petit pink Thumbelina and her prince, (my favorite), and Yellowstone's Old Faithful in permanent vesuvian spray, all in vivid 3D. I loved the look and feel of the cardboard disks with the itty bitty slides all arranged in a perfect circle. I loved the way the viewer shut out the rest of the world and the thick, shushing shuffle the lever made when my index finger made its 'come closer' pull on that white plastic knob.
I used to take my Viewmaster on vacations out west and my folks would buy souvenir reels for me everywhere that had them, from Mount Rushmore to Disneyland. They no doubt enjoyed having such a quiet, mesmerized child those many hours in the car, another Viewmaster virtue I've come to appreciate now that I have kids of my own to entertain.
I never tired of looking at the bright colorful slide shows of all the amazing places we'd been or the tiny little fantasy worlds I imagined myself going. For me, Viewmasters are, like Airstreams, a romantic vestige of mid-century American life. A simple child's toy, yes. But I can't think of any other toy that I am still fascinated by and still want to play with these forty years later!
That's an awesome ad! I love viewmasters, too, of course, being exactly of Miss A's vintage. I vividly recall making out a Christmas list (no, not for Santa, just for my parents), wanting to add viewmaster to my list. One would think an award-winning speller like myself would figure it out, but I wrote: vu? veeu? viu? vuu? how the heck do you spell that, anyway?
Posted by: Pammy | October 15, 2008 at 02:17 PM