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Friday, November 2, 2007

Retro Commercial: The Viewmaster

Back in the day, the View Master was one of the coolest toys around. One year for Christmas, me and my sister got Talking View Masters... ooh!! I remember that mine was blue and that one of the reels I had was for Scooby-Doo. The Scooby gang (aka those meddling kids) were trying to solve the mystery of the Snow Ghost. I watched that reel so many times that I still have the culprit's name ingrained in my memory, but I digress...

Below is a 1971 ad for the GAF View Master. In addition to Henry Fonda, this commercial also features another future Oscar winner. If you have trouble spotting the soon-to-be star, click here.


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9 comments:

  1. pjazzyparNovember 2, 2007 at 8:28 AM

    Heeeeeeeere's Jodie!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Rock ChickNovember 2, 2007 at 9:03 AM

    I see a very young Jodie Foster!!! Her face still kind of looks the same....LOL

    ReplyDelete
  3. LoriNovember 2, 2007 at 9:43 AM

    I loved View Master's as a child. But try as I might, I never really could get my own son into them. Too many other cooler and newer gadgets vying for his attention, I guess.

    ReplyDelete
  4. X. DellNovember 2, 2007 at 3:22 PM

    I never realized Jodie Foster worked with Hank Fonda, even though I'd seen that commercial more than I care to. Back in the day, there were a lot of spoofs of it, especially in regards to Fonda's participation in it.

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  5. Damien RileyNovember 2, 2007 at 10:25 PM

    I remember those. They were 3D.

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  6. MalcolmNovember 4, 2007 at 2:02 PM

    Pjazzy: Right on the money!

    Jessica: Even then, you could tell that Jodie was an intelligent actress.

    Lori: I imagine that most kids today would be amazed that we could be entertained by something so "primitive".

    X. Dell: Do you remember any of the specifics regarding the commercials that spoofed this View Master ad? I may have saw some of them when I was a kid, but didn't realize that they were spoofs.

    Damien: Here is the link to a View Master Resource site if you are interested:

    http://www.vmresource.com/

    ReplyDelete
  7. X. DellNovember 5, 2007 at 2:20 AM

    I remember Rich Little on a variety show spoofing it. I remember a standup on late-night spoofing it too. Can't recall his name. After all, that was over thirty years ago.

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  8. MalcolmNovember 6, 2007 at 12:49 PM

    X. Dell: Thanks for the info.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Holly SmithNovember 6, 2007 at 3:19 PM

    Oh yes. I had one of those. Jodie Foster was very well spoken as such a little girl! It's kind of funny how she was mature beyond her age.

    ReplyDelete

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