Friends, the other day I went on a bit about the childhood toys that I loved the most in my youth – namely the Fisher-Price Movie Theatre and of course the View-Master viewer. One of the points I tried to make in the article was that while the Movie Theatre afforded the opportunity to watch an actual cartoon or clip from a film – the View-Master had the more impressive list of licensed properties. The hand-me-down View-Master and reels that I received from my Grandparents were made up of a collection of Walt Disney shorts, Scooby-Doo, and some fairy tale stories such as Mother Goose Rhymes.
You might be interested to know that the partnership with Walt Disney and View-Master began all the way back in 1951 – when the company purchased their rival Tru-Vue – which also included securing said license with Disney. Many animated shorts and films from the Disney studios would be offered in reel sets over the years – but I think when the ’80s hit the licensing department went into overdrive with the likes of Masters of the Universe, Shirt Tales, The A-Team, and The Smurfs to name just a few.
However it might surprise you to learn just how far View-Master went with licensing films and television properties over the years – you had reel sets produced for Daktari, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, The Poseidon Adventure, Fiddler on the Roof, Dune, Buckaroo Banzai and Jaws 3-D to name just a very few. James Bond was no stranger to the View-Master either as two different reel sets were made – the two films that were given the stereoscopic 3-D treatment included 1973’s Live and Let Die as well as Moonraker in ’79. Thanks to the Jarl Grimm Toys YouTube channel you can check out the Live and Let Die reel set for yourself!
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