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Good Bye View-Master

The best toy ever, the View-Master, is being put to sleep after 70 years of making kids happy. It seems the new kids aren't amused by the View-Master. It doesn't have enough moving parts, doesn't make interesting noises and doesn't do all the work for you. You actually have to use your imagination to play with it.

I treasured my View-Master when I was a kid. Maybe that's because I didn't have a closet full of toys, or maybe that's because I was the type who liked being drawn into another world that seemed to be on another plane.

I had Quick Draw McGraw

and Deputy Dawg.

I had the Flintstones and famous places and wild animals. I had Jungle Book and Disney Land and Snoopy and space images. You could hold the red viewer up to your eyes so close you couldn't see anything of the real world but could focus just on the 3-D images in front of your eyes. And you could live in that world as long as you could hold your arms up to your face.

Yep. I loved my View-Master. My kids had them, too, and their old reels are still somewhere in the house with an updated projector kind of View-Master. I'll have to break those out and disappear into the world of 3-D for awhile and remember the days of leisurely sitting on the floor with all those reels spread out on the floor waiting to take me to another world. Stupid new kids and their demanding ways.

Comments

Sassy Sundry said…
Stupid new kids! How dare they? The View Master was the coolest toy ever.

Twerps.
1:09 PM
Neponset River Bridge Dig said…
I loved these toys when I was a kid. I do remember an adult version I had once seen somewhere as well. Use your imagination, Robyn. :)
1:51 PM
savannah said…
sigh
those were the days, for us and for our children...it seems that we somehow have lost our way. xoxo
4:35 PM
Cheltenhamdailyphoto said…
Friends had this but I didn't. I don't remember looking at it, just seeing it laying around redundant in their homes!
5:02 PM
Shazza said…
I remember the View Master - my Mom saved ours and used to bring it out for my kids. Somehow they enjoyed playing with it more at her house than at home.
7:14 PM
dive said…
Ooooh, I loved View Master when I was a kid, Robyn. Thanks for reminding me how wonderful it was. I wish I still had it.
7:26 AM
Miz Minka said…
My parents brought one home (to Germany) after a trip to Canada. We had the National Parks disks, and Bambi, my favorite.

I felt so nostalgic after reading your post, I bought a View-Master and Bambi disks on Amazon.com. :)

Stupid new kids indeed. :(
7:42 PM
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