By Thomas Smith
Source: Mystery Hoard

Everyone has used, seen or, at least, heard of a ViewMaster, the most classic of classic toys. For decades children have peered through the plastic ViewMaster binoculars and been transported to other worlds. As a kid, who didn’t watch a scuffle between Batman and The Joker play out in a myriad of 3D Pows and Whams or become a witness to picnic basket thievery by the infamous Yogi Bear. But who was responsible for creating the contraption’s 3D images?

“Most fans of the tiny fantasy worlds glimpsed through the lens of a View-Master viewer are probably unaware of the name Florence Thomas. Thomas was the Portland, Oregon sculptor employed by the makers of the 3-D viewer to create miniature dioramas of fairy tales and pop culture scenes which she then photographed for reproduction into the iconic circular white reels that have delighted children and adult collectors for decades.”


Thomas’ first ViewMaster reels, a series of fairy tales and Mother Goose rhymes produced in 1946, are still in circulation today. It was Thomas who “developed special methods of close-up stereo photography and modeling which is now in common use by major motion picture studios".

Part of her job was to create rich scenes that looked as if they were part of a complete world. Thomas sculpted puppet-like figures from clay along with miniature sets to create each scene and then photographed the settings with a single-lens camera, instead of a stereo camera. To achieve the 3D visual “stereo” effect, the camera was moved along a track and often times characters were moved ever so slightly between set-ups to enhance the 3D effect. In addition to creating fairy tale worlds and characters, Thomas also created 3D versions of the classic Frankenstein and Dracula stories as well as scenes from Peanuts, The Flintstones and other classic comic and cartoons.

During the ViewMaster heyday of the 50s and 60s, Thomas even appeared on TV and radio programs explaining and demonstrating the 3D photography process to curious youngsters.