Stereoviewer:View-Master

Many American toy chest of the 1950s contained one Sawyer View Master stereoviewer and the accompanying reels of color transparencies depicting national parks, distant cities, and other travel destinations. Invented by William Gruber and introduced in 1939 in Portland, Oregon, the View Master offered the armchair traveler a peek at three-dimensional images of exotic places and fantastic scenes. The first reels pleased nature buffs and travelers. The company's durability lies in the enormous variety of the subjects of its 3-D reels. When Sawyer's purchased the Tru-Vu Stereo Film Company in 1951, for example, it acquired Tru-Vu's license to issue reels of Disney's wildly popular movie and cartoon characters. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, View Master produced reels of television's most popular shows and Hollywood's best-loved movie characters. View Master reels of pop music stars, super heroes, monsters, and other figures of popular cultures kept American consumers current with the changing times. Throughout its history, the View Master stereoscope has been owned by a succession of companies. At the beginning of the 21st century, Fisher-Price Toys offers the optical toy primarily to young children.