I've always loved collecting movies. Before anyone even knew what a VCR was, I loved any toy that you slipped a cartridge into and you could watch a movie. The movies were usually short clips of cartoons or TV shows, but I loved all toys that fell into this category and I couldn't get enough of them!
The only one of these toys that has withstood the test of time is the View-Master. Originally made by a company called GAF, it's now part of the Mattel family. You can still pick up View-Master reels pretty much anywhere toys are sold. They are even starting to bring back the travel series of View-Master reels, so you can take home pictures of places you visit. Here's a 1971 commercical for View-Master staring Henry Fonda and the hardest working girl in showbiz, Jodi Foster...
Later on, View-Master came out with a new toy called the Show Beam. This projected the movie pictures like a flashlight. I wanted one really bad when it first came out, but Santa never followed through! Then it came out again a few years later and I bought one myself. Yes, I was too old to really want one, but I had to get one anyways.
I so had the Mickey and the Seal cartridge shown at the end of that commercial!
Here's one more ad, this one spotlights a few of the toys from View-Master family of fun...
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