Dead
Media | 0.01-02.0 | 02.1-04.0
| 04.1-06.0 | 06.1-08.0 |
08.1-10.0 | 10.1-12.0 |
Subject: Dead Media Working Note 07.4
Dead medium: The Talking View-Master
From roommate_AT_teleport.com (Dan Howland)
Source: personal observation; thrifted one this past
weekend. TALKING VIEW-MASTER. Manufactured by GAF
(General Aniline & Film). Circa 197?. Two-tone beige
plastic. 125mm X 125mm X 200 mm. Power supply: two
C batteries.
While the View-Master is not a dead medium, this 1970s
variation certainly is. The Talking View-Master uses a
special disc set consisting of a standard View-Master disc
(fourteen 10mm X 12mm [16mm film?] slides making up seven
stereoscopic views, sandwiched between two 9cm cardboard
discs) and a smaller, free-spinning phonorecord behind it.
The two discs are inserted into the viewer/player,
the first scene is located by pressing and releasing a
lever, and a red reset button is pushed. Then a Sound Bar
on the front of the machine is pushed, which activates the
"turntable" motor and presses the stylus into the first
track. Thereafter, the stylus will advance to each
subsequent track with every press of the Scene Change
Lever.
On this model, only the motor which spins the
phonorecord is electrical; the sound is transmitted
mechanically from the stylus to a speaker cone. In order
to allow enough light to reach the slides through the
translucent record, there is a single sheet of clear
plastic (65mm X 100mm) molded into two fresnel lenses on
the side facing the light source. This is not an entirely
successful solution; with common household light sources
like lamps, it is difficult to get an equal amount of
light to each eye.
Source:
http://redwood.northcoast.com/~shojo/View/Vwr/vwr.html
GAF Talking Viewer
"Talking View-Master Stereo Viewer is sturdy and easy
to use. PUT in the reel... CLICK the lever... PRESS the
sound bar. SEE in 3-D, and HEAR cartoon favorites, travel
thrills, adventures in science. Operates on two 'C'
batteries, not included." (((From original ad copy.)))
Another model featured a built-in light, volume
adjustment and was two-tone blue. (Not pictured is the
80's talking viewer, completely redesigned and not
compatible with the earlier talking reels.)
It is worth noting that while standard, non-talking
View-Master reels were first marketed in 1939, they are
still compatible with currently available viewers.
A complete list of Talking View-Master reels is
available at:
http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~number6/vm/packets-talking.html
Dan
Dead
Media | 0.01-02.0 | 02.1-04.0
| 04.1-06.0 | 06.1-08.0 |
08.1-10.0 | 10.1-12.0 |