Charles Harrison, 87, Designer Who Reshaped the View-Master, Dies

New York Times ^ | December 3, 2018 | Katharine Q. Seelye

[Kickass Conservative]

Did he die at work in the Pawn Shop?

[Fresh Wind]

I had the 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea set. The giant octopus was awesome!

[Joe 6-pack]

I had an aunt that served a 30 year career as an Army Nurse spanning WWII, Korea and Viet Nam. When she retired in 1971, she bought a a house in Alexandria, VA so she could be (relatively) near Walter Reed to tend to some health concerns. One of the first gifts from her that I remember was a View Master including a wheel of "Our Nation's Capital." How filled with pride I was to marvel at the night shots of the Capital dome, the cherry trees in full bloom and the Jefferson Memorial. Even at that very young age my heart swelled with patriotism when I heard the phrase, "Washington D.C.."

Nowadays, that phrase engenders no such feelings. I have the memories of that View Master wheel, and God bless you for those Mr. Harrison, but cursed be those who so corrupted my thoughts about that once beautiful city.

[elcid1970]

You got to be a certain age to know that Sandy Duncan lost vision in one eye.

Mention BHM & I recall Richard Pryor: “Did anyone notice that when they finally gave us a month of our own, that it’s the shortest month of the year?”

Anyway, I’ve often wondered why Playboy magazine didn’t come up with a Viewmaster centerfold.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Did you take it out of the box first before trying to use it?

[Dalberg-Acton]

Elbow injuries.

[marktwain]

A good friend of mine's grandmother worked for the OSS as a driver in London during WWII.

She had a house in Alexandria, VA, probably about the same period. I and her grandson went there to help with clearing up her estate a few years ago.

A local lawyer "friend" convinced her to make him her executor. She left her entire estate to her grandson. The executor played the estate like a fiddle. After nearly three years of litigation, the grandson ended up with about 100K out of 500K. The lawyer got the rest.

The Virginia Bar investigated and reprimanded the lawyer, said he was unethical. In the end, nothing was done to punish the lawyer, and the lawyer kept the money.

Nothing to do with a viewmaster, but your reminiscence led to mine.

[x]

The key is “reshaped.” There were various models of the View-Master for 20 years before Harrison’s version came out. It was the one most Baby Boomers knew and the View-Master has been most associated with that generation.

[EnquiringMind]

That’s the one we had, exactly. Wonder what happened to it.

[luvbach1]

I’m pre-baby boomer and I had a Viewmaster.

[Beagle8U]

“Charles Harrison, an industrial designer...”

Wonder if he was any relation to Charles Manson?

[Tanniker Smith]

I think I have two of them in the basement. One was mine or my brother’s (we had identical GAF’s), and one is a bit older and belonged to a friend of my father’s named “Frenchie”, a bartender and (I believe) WWI vet whom my father looked in on every day when I was a kid.

[NonValueAdded]

I have one word for you, Mr. Harrison: “plastics.” And you listened!!!

[SamAdams76]

I had the talking View Master growing up and quite the collection of reels. I believe I had a "Call of the Wild" set of reels and there was something like 164 reels in the set. Seeing Buck and Spitz fight in the moonlight on a frigid landscape was quite something.

[SpaceBar]

horribly uncomfortable...

Agreed. Those sharp rectangular edges where there should be a soft contour fit won't win any comfort/ergonomics awards. Like binoculars designed by a sadist.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[ExGeeEye]

Exactly like mine, down to the color. Still exists in the family home, I'm sure. I don't remember having comfort issues.