Set of talking picture reels for 'Talking View-Master'; 'The Seven Wonders of the World', GAF Corporation, USA ca.1970

A packaged set of three talking picture reels, numbered 1 to 3 and a story booklet for 'The Seven Wonders of the World'. Each circular reel is made up of 14 colour film stills secured between white card with text descriptions, numbered 1 to 7, printed on one side of the card wheel. A transparent phonograph disc is attached to the other side of the card wheel, secured by a central plastic pin. A stapled, colour printed booklet features text and illustrations about the 'Wonders of the World.' Packaging for the set is in the form of a colour printed cardboard sleeve, identical front and back, featuring text and three colour photographs from the picture reels. A black plastic moulded tray holds the three talking picture reels and paper booklet, with finger dents moulded into the plastic for easy removal of the reels. A small plastic tab holds the booklet in place.

Given by Janis Pegrum Smith

It was William Gruber, a German immigrant to the United States, who first developed the idea of the View-Master in the late 1930s. The View-Master was originally manufactured by Sawyers Inc., a company that specialised in scenic photographs, and was launched at the New York World’s Fair in 1939 where it was marketed as home entertainment for adults.

The View-Master has been relaunched many times, and has progressed through some novel alterations. Gruber died in 1965 and the company was sold to the General Aniline and Film Corporation (GAF). The Talking View-Master was launched in 1970 at a time when the traditional View-Master was declining in popularity as electronic toys began to take a larger share of the market; it was manufactured in its original form until 1981. Talking View-Masters use a simple system: each talking picture reel has a small, free running phonographic record attached and when inserted into the stereoscope, the audio disc and pictures are aligned by pressing a button. A sound bar can be depressed to engage the needle on the soundtrack which plays a sound clip for each picture. The sound stops at the end of each clip and the operator then advances the picture and restarts the audio commentary. This early version of the Talking View-Master, manufactured in a two-tone beige colour was superseded in later years by models in a USA themed red, white and blue colour.

By the 1970s GAF were offering a library of over 500 reel sets, available to purchase via mail order. As with all View-Masters, the types of reel available ranged from popular television and film productions, to purely scenic and educational. In the 1980s Michael Jackson signed a deal with View-Master to create Talking View-Master reels and he went on to produce a total of 25 reels, the first being a talking reel for ‘Thriller’ in 1984.

Janis Smith, the donor of this Talking View-Master, recalls vivid memories of her favourite childhood toy:

“I think the Talking View-master has its place as a technological toy of its time – a handheld device which delivered sound and vision in its rudimentary way, in 3D too! Though it did used to make your eyes ache after a time, and you would come away with indents on your face from the viewer, because it had been held so closely.

It was, without doubt, my favourite toy as a child. As it says on the box, it was both fun and educational. It was a present from my grandparents who used to regularly go to America to visit relatives who had emigrated there after WWII….My grandparents would bring me back discs for it from their travels, hence the tourist ones of Pompeii and the USA. I think the Pompeii ones and the Seven Wonders of the World helped broaden my horizons at an early age, and encourage my love of history. The story ones helped me a lot too, as I am dyslexic, though in the 1970s/80s this was unrecognised. The View-Master meant I could enjoy a story on my own without struggling with a book. Ironic now, as I am a writer by profession.

The Museum of Childhood was one of my favourite museums as a child. We lived not that far away and my mum would take me there often. I marvelled at the toys, and the stirrings of the writer in me would always wonder about the children who had owned the once much loved toys.
I looked after this precious toy so carefully as a child, though it was very much played with….My parents were very strict with how well I kept my toys.”

Janis also remembers the day she introduced her Talking View-Master to her own daughter:

“One rainy, summer holiday afternoon in the early 1990s, when my own daughter was about 6 or 7, I clambered up into the attic and, with much ceremony, brought the treasured View-master down to pass on to her. She watched eagerly as I lovingly lifted my old friend out of its box, and placed the first disc in. I showed her how to hold it up to her eyes and sat back satisfied that she would now enjoy the hours of endless pleasure from this magical device, just as I had. Humouring her excited mother, who was going on and on about how this had been her favourite toy when she was a child, Sophie clicked through a few frames and then dropped it from her eyes. “Boy, your childhood must have been sooooo boring,” she sighed, tossed the View-master carelessly aside and scampered off to put the computer on.”

This 'Wonders of the World' talking picture reel set accompanies a 'Talking View-Master' which was the favourite childhood toy of a girl named Janis Smith. Janis was given the stereoscope and several sets of picture reels as a gift from her grandparents in the early 1970s and remembers the toy as being "absolutely magical and beguiling in its day".

A 'Talking View-Master' enables 3D images to be viewed either from picture reels which show images only, or from talking picture reels such as these which have a tiny record attached, thereby introducing sound to the 3D viewing experience. These reels feature photos of ancient, modern and natural wonders of the world and an accompanying booklet links historical information to each image, encouraging facts to be read as well as listened to.

Janis' grandparents bought the 'Talking View-Master' in the USA when they were visiting relatives and it was more technologically advanced than anything available in the UK at the time. As Janis recalls "No one we knew had anything like this! My Talking View-Master was like 'space-age' technology in the 1970s English suburbs - we didn't even have VCR's at the time. It was such a marvel that friends would queue up to have a go with it." Janis' grandparents added to her collection of photo reels whenever they travelled overseas, returning with reels of images from Pompeii and the USA which broadened Janis' horizons and, she believes, encouraged a love of history that has remained with her throughout her life. As with all View-Masters, the types of reel available ranged from popular television and film productions, to purely scenic and educational. Janis' collection included 'Wizard of Oz', 'Tom & Jerry', 'Peter Pan' and several scenic reels.

The View-Master was the brainchild of William Gruber, a piano tuner and camera enthusiast who first developed the idea in the late 1930s whilst recuperating from surgery in hospital. The 'Talking View-Master' showed not just stereoscopic colour images but could also produce an accompanying sound using an internal mechanism to play a tiny phonograph record attached to the reverse of each picture reel. The sound quality wasn't very good on early models, however improvements were made to the sound mechanism during the 1980s.

B.28:1 to 6-2017