Nostalgia Lane

[CalHowdy]

3 minutes ago, redheaguy51 said:

These were called Viewmaster slides - the company that made the device that popularized the reel format- technically they are stereopitcons - the concept has been around since the late 19th century.  Years ago I found a box filled with reels like these that a home hobbyist had created = not long after I found a 1950s camera that was used to take the doulbe image required to achieve the 3-D look.  Most of the reels featured woods...lol. Hundreds of them. There was one box though that were pictures off Pres. Eisenhower in a parade.

Stereoscope is another word for the viewing devise 

[cdadbr]

4 hours ago, redheaguy51 said:

Gay men of a certain age remember the images that came into their homes as kids that had a definite influence - (I absolutely remember this issue) and Ron Ely as Tarzan had a definite influence on me. Holy shit, Batman!

 

I was always amazed at how the wardrobe people must have form-fitted those "clothes" to the Tarzan actors!  They never showed anything!  LOL

[cdadbr]

1 hour ago, Steve said:

That is pre-pre-old school . . .  Back when only the rich and affluent could afford to go to "prep" schools rather than public schools.

[smokeshadow]

as fascinating as the handheld Viewmaster reel viewer was, being able to project the 3D images on a screen made them all the more fascinating.  I used to have ( and may still have one if I could find it) a project like this that I inherited from my late father.

 

 

[Brucex]

6 hours ago, Ludwick said:

I have a bunch and the viewer for them somewhere.

I remember my aunt and uncle had loads of them and grey Viewmaster. You can still get moderm versions!

[teddy0012]

9 hours ago, smokeshadow said:

as fascinating as the handheld Viewmaster reel viewer was, being able to project the 3D images on a screen made them all the more fascinating.  I used to have ( and may still have one if I could find it) a project like this that I inherited from my late father.

 

 

Wow @smokeshadow if you can find it, that would be a cool item for the Antiques Road Show😃

[Brucex]

The first television I can remember - my parents' 1956 Peto Scott 14" B&W set, 405 lines. Just one BBC and one ITV station available - couldn't get BBC2 when it came on air in 1964.

[RHawk]

[Roamer1]

14 hours ago, Steve said:

I still have the Viewmaster, and some slides.

[Brucex]

In 1960's Britain programme broadcasting didn't normally start until late afternoon, by which time I was home from school and waiting for the TV to warm up ready to catch the stirring start to Southern Television.

 

[JackFTwist]

3 hours ago, Brucex said:

In 1960's Britain programme broadcasting didn't normally start until late afternoon, by which time I was home from school and waiting for the TV to warm up ready to catch the stirring start to Southern Television.

 

@Brucex: Very scenic, even in B&W...except at the 00:34 mark.  Is that an oil refinery?  Do you happen to know what the pagoda-like structure is at 00:49?  And the cathedral at 00:57?  (I'm pretty sure it's not Salisbury!)  It's interesting that the second half of the introduction simply repeated all the scenes from the half to fill out a one-minute introduction, instead of having just a 30-second intro.

Edited February 12 by JackFTwist

[Steve]

[Ludwick]

On 2/11/2024 at 7:45 PM, Ludwick said:

I have a bunch and the viewer for them somewhere.

Located one quite dirty View Master viewer and several sets of the reels. Patent wording on the viewer gives dates of 1942 and 1951. Most of the sets seem complete, though very sadly "Captain Kangaroo" is missing Reel #2. Weirdly, there are two sets for "The Jungle Book" - I'm guessing my parents and grandparents both had a set, and since my family never throws anything away, I now have them both. (Seriously - I have stuff that probably belonged to my twice and third great grandparents, but I digress.) There are in fact several reels dedicated to various Walt Disney animated productions, and one for to Disneyland. For the science nerds (of which I count myself one), there's "Airplanes of the World", "The Conquest for Space" and "America's Man in Space", and "Birds of the World". There's even a set for a British series, "UFO" (had to look that one up!) and "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" with Richard Basehart and David Hedison. Several dedicated to individual states or specific attractions, like "Bryce Canyon" in Utah, and the "Lincoln Heritage Trail" spanning several states. 

Some have intact booklets, but most of the envelopes are shot. That's the sad part - all are flood survivors, so pretty beat up. The few I stuck in the viewer still look amazing, nonetheless - and thankfully the viewer still works like a charm.

ETA: Almost forgot to mention: I found an intact catalog with listings for a host of other sets, and...projectors! They ranged in price from $8.95 - $29.50 - LOL!

Edited February 13 by Ludwick

[teddy0012]

5 minutes ago, Ludwick said:

Located one quite dirty View Master viewer and several sets of the reels. Patent wording on the viewer gives dates of 1942 and 1951. Most of the sets seem complete, though very sadly "Captain Kangaroo" is missing Reel #2. Weirdly, there are two sets for "The Jungle Book" - I'm guessing my parents and grandparents both had a set, and since my family never throws anything away, I now have them both. (Seriously - I have stuff that probably belonged to my twice and third great grandparents, but I digress.) There are in fact several reels dedicated to various Walt Disney animated productions, and one for to Disneyland. For the science nerds (of which I count myself one), there's "Airplanes of the World", "The Conquest for Space" and "America's Man in Space", and "Birds of the World". There's even a set for a British series, "UFO" (had to look that one up!) and "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" with Richard Basehart and David Hedison. Several dedicated to individual states or specific attractions, like "Bryce Canyon" in Utah, and the "Lincoln Heritage Trail" spanning several states. 

Some have intact booklets, but most of the envelopes are shot. That's the sad part - all are flood survivors, so pretty beat up. The few I stuck in the viewer still look amazing, nonetheless - and thankfully the viewer still works like a charm.

Thanks.  I loved Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea when I was a kid!

[valorous]

On 2022/1/12 at AM7点49分, Albertson said:

埃里克·埃斯特拉达 (Eric Estrada) 穿着薯条！穿着加州公路巡逻队的制服，偶尔脱掉衬衫也不害羞，尤其是他“伪装”成一个好男孩的那一集！

this handsome men!

[Brucex]

20 hours ago, JackFTwist said:

@Brucex: Very scenic, even in B&W...except at the 00:34 mark.  Is that an oil refinery?  Do you happen to know what the pagoda-like structure is at 00:49?  And the cathedral at 00:57?  (I'm pretty sure it's not Salisbury!)  It's interesting that the second half of the introduction simply repeated all the scenes from the half to fill out a one-minute introduction, instead of having just a 30-second intro.

The oil refinery is at Fawley, near Southampton where Southern had their main studios. The oriental-looking structure is Brighton Pavillion built for the Prince Regent/George IV and the cathedral is at Canterbury.

The music is called 'Southern Rhapsody' and was composed for STV by Richard Addinsell who is best known for his 'Warsaw concerto' composed as part of the score for the 1941 film 'Dangerous Moonlight'.

Edited February 13 by Brucex

[RHawk]

[Steve]

[Brucex]

13 minutes ago, Steve said:

or the satisfaction of slamming down the receiver hard on to the cradle.

[cdadbr]

26 minutes ago, Steve said:

With Caller ID decades in the future, you had to answer all calls with respect and "good manners".  If the handset was left off the hook, a recording would activate about the phone not being properly "hung-up", in later years.

[smokeshadow]

3 hours ago, Steve said:

What one got is an annoying, repetitive beeping noise after a minute of nothing but silence 

As an aside. . .why does YouTube have a one hour recording of this annoying sound, when anything more than a few seconds is headache inducing? 

[JackFTwist]

On 2/8/2024 at 8:43 AM, Brucex said:

University computing 1970's style :

Wait 2 days for 2 hour slot on punch card machine.

That looks like an IBM-026 model keypunch machine.  In those days, whether you were programming in Fortran IV, PL-1, Algol, or whatever, first there was the intellectual challenge of figuring out how to solve the problem put to you by your instructor and writing out the computer-language code for it.  Then came the tedium of keypunching your code onto the standard 80-column Hollerith computer cards.

Our computer center had IBM O-29 model keypunch machines like this one:

If you made a typo while keypunching a card, too bad!  Even if the error was in column 60, you had to start completely from the beginning.  No autocorrect, no backspacing and typing over, because...well...the card already had the wrong Hollerith code physically punched through it.  So you ejected the card and started over.  Keypunching a large number of cards with numerical data for input for your program to use was especially tedious without a 10-key numeric pad.  I mourn the number of trees I must have wasted in those years long before paper recycling became available.

Then came the eye-straining task of proofreading your punched cards to see if you'd made any typos that you'd missed while keypunching your cards, then keypunching new ones to replace them.  I always had to chuckle to myself when other students would take their card decks directly to the dispatcher/receptionist without proofreading them first. 

• Oh, your program didn't run the first time?  I'm shocked!  I can't imagine why not.🙄
  • But I know exactly how to relieve your stress! 😈

If only we'd been free to cruise the computer center for pickups in that era!  My state university had only begun admitting women students a year or two before I started, so hot guys were numerous and were very distracting.  But back then, such open cruising would have been so extremely risky that it was out of the question for all practical purposes.

Edited February 14 by JackFTwist

[Steve]

[Steve]

[Brucex]

12 hours ago, Steve said:

My parents were given one as a wedding present in the early 1950's. My sister still has it a decorative item but it is long-past being safe or functional.

Edited February 14 by Brucex