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End of toy era: After 70 years, View-Master 3-D scenic reels from parks to Elvis discontinued
Star Tribune - AP ^ | 03/11/09 | DOUG WHITEMAN

Posted on 03/11/2009 9:22:00 AM PDT by Borges

Amber LaPointe's introduction to one of the country's greatest tourist attractions came from small square pictures on a white wheel.

"It was like you could look into a world away," said the 28-year-old from Toledo, Ohio. "My only image of the Grand Canyon was from the View-Master."

The iconic reels of tourist attractions, often packaged with a clunky plastic viewer and first sold to promote 3-D photography, are ending their 70-year run after years of diminishing sales.

Collectors like Mary Ann Sell of Maineville, Ohio, are dismayed.

"The whole summer I was 5 years old, before I went to school, I traveled the world via View-Master. It was great, and now kids won't have the opportunity to do that," said Sell, 57, who owns upwards of 25,000 scenic reels.

Scenic discs are no longer a good fit

for the Fisher-Price division of toy maker Mattel Inc., a spokeswoman said, and the company stopped making them in December. Fisher-Price, based in East Aurora, N.Y., will keep making better-selling reels of Shrek, Dora the Explorer and other animated characters, spokeswoman Juliette Reashor said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: toys
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To: Heartland Mom

“Thank God for eBay and yard sales - can still get more disks.”

Reels are still cheap and easy to find. I bought someone’s old collection on eBay a couple years ago with lots and lots of reels. My kids love playing viewmaster!


21 posted on 03/11/2009 10:02:54 AM PDT by Owl558 ("Those who remember George Satayana are doomed to repeat him")
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To: jim_trent

any way to get pics?


22 posted on 03/11/2009 10:04:33 AM PDT by musicbymuzak
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To: qam1; ItsOurTimeNow; PresbyRev; Fraulein; StoneColdGOP; Clemenza; m18436572; InShanghai; xrp; ...
Xer Ping

Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.

Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.

23 posted on 03/11/2009 10:04:56 AM PDT by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
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To: Borges

Loved those things.

There was something ultra-cool about slipping in a reel and flipping through the pictures. It was transporting.


24 posted on 03/11/2009 10:05:18 AM PDT by Skooz (Gabba Gabba we accept you we accept you one of us Gabba Gabba we accept you we accept you one of us)
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To: Borges

I would have thought those were gone ages ago. I guess I saw a few when I was younger...maybe 1981 or so at 12 years old. Have not seen them in years and did not even think of getting them for my kids, but I am sure that some liked them even today.


25 posted on 03/11/2009 10:08:10 AM PDT by napscoordinator
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To: Borges

Holy cow! I had no idea they had hung on this long.

What are we going to do for views of the world after civilization collapses? [re: the scene in “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome” when the kids show him the old pix in the Viewmaster, along with their recitation]


26 posted on 03/11/2009 10:09:48 AM PDT by sinanju
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To: RushIsMyTeddyBear
Growing up, I loved these and would go through them for hours - especially the Annie Oakley and Rin-Tin-Tin series.
My little brother was waxing nostalgic over his old ViewMaster projector last Thanksgiving so we gave one to his youngest daughter for Christmas along with a collection of reels. They made a big hit.
27 posted on 03/11/2009 10:16:37 AM PDT by mollynme (cogito, ergo freepum)
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To: jim_trent

Have you considered selling the set online?


28 posted on 03/11/2009 10:22:22 AM PDT by warsaw44
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To: Borges

Point that’s not being understood here:

THE VIEWMASTER IS STILL MANUFACTURED.

THE “SCENIC IMAGES” TYPE OF REELS ARE GONE.


29 posted on 03/11/2009 10:36:51 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Technological progress cannot be legislated.)
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To: Borges

D’oh! The scenic ones were the only ones I liked. I always thought the cartoon ones were lame; they are like looking at a 3D picture of cardboard cutouts.


30 posted on 03/11/2009 10:39:07 AM PDT by Vroomfondel
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To: Borges

Dang! Those things were fun!


31 posted on 03/11/2009 10:42:25 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: Borges

They need to reinvent this thing with a computer chip in it. Then it will sell again.


32 posted on 03/11/2009 10:47:06 AM PDT by freespirited (The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money. -- M. Thatcher)
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To: Borges

They need to reinvent this thing with a computer chip in it. Then it will sell again.


33 posted on 03/11/2009 10:47:08 AM PDT by freespirited (The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money. -- M. Thatcher)
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To: Borges

They need to reinvent this thing with a computer chip in it. Then it will sell again.


34 posted on 03/11/2009 10:47:15 AM PDT by freespirited (The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money. -- M. Thatcher)
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To: Borges

The one I most remember was Queen Elizabeth’s coronation


35 posted on 03/11/2009 10:49:26 AM PDT by smalltownslick
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To: Borges

I bought one of these for my grandson as a stocking stuffer at Christmas- I bought him one with several reels of animals since he really likes all sorts of critters and learning about them. He checked it all out and hasn’t touched it since; it just can’t compete with his video games. I wondered then how popular they are with today’s kids.


36 posted on 03/11/2009 10:55:28 AM PDT by Tammy8 (Please Support and pray for our Troops, as they serve us every day.)
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To: Borges

Nooooooooooooo!


37 posted on 03/11/2009 10:57:48 AM PDT by snowrip (Liberal? YOU ARE A GUTLESS SOCIALIST LOSER WITH NO RATIONAL ARGUMENT.)
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To: Borges

The ‘Peanuts’ discs were fantastic. I knew all the plots from reading the strips compiled into paperback books but the statues (?) and sets used for the 3-D reels were amazing. Such detail. Wonder where those props are now.


38 posted on 03/11/2009 8:03:03 PM PDT by relictele
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To: stevecmd
and one from the movie. The Poseiden Adventure.

I saw that on tv when I was little and it STILL gives me nightmares!
39 posted on 03/11/2009 10:56:52 PM PDT by Zechariah_8_13 ("If we give the bureaucrats our children, we may as well give them everything else." - J. G. Machen)
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To: musicbymuzak; warsaw44

No pictures, but if you do a search, there are several you can see on the internet. After I was momentarily blinded by the several thousand dollar price on one of the internet pages (and found out it wasn’t true), I decided to keep it. After all, I have had it for 40+ years and my father had it for 20 years before that.


40 posted on 03/12/2009 5:10:22 AM PDT by jim_trent
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