Astounding Science Fiction, August 1955 (British Edition) — page 121: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE REFERENCE LIBRARY 119 some extremely. well done and imaginative shots in space, and one very good one of alien creatures done with a Hannes Bok touch. Florence Thomas, who is credited with creating the scenes, herewith rates among the good science fiction artists. (Their older “Sam Sawyer’’ reels are strictly for the kiddies.) | I don’t suppose many of you will want to rush out and get View-Masters for yourself in order to see these twenty-one scenes, though you could do worse than present one to a youngster who has a birthday coming up. However, several possibilities do suggest themselves which might make 3-D in general and View-Master in particular of more interest to active fans. In the first place, and with all due respect to Miss Thomas, Messrs. Sawyer might substantially increase their potential among both children and adult fans if they were to run down to Hollywood and investigate the possi- bility of making View-Master reels from some of the best science fiction motion pictures. If they had been able to make 3-D stills during the shooting of ‘‘Destination Moon’’ or ‘““When Worlds Collide’ or ‘‘War of the Worlds,”’ I would be recommending them to you without reservation. In the second, they are already using View-Master to illustrate at least three books of science: “‘Mushrooms in Their Native Habitats,”’ by Alexander H. Smith (33 reels, 231 views, 626 pages); ““Succulent Plants,” by W. Taylor Marshall (20 reels or 140 pictures of cacti); and “Alpine Wild Flowers of Western United States,” by Howard R. Stagner (10 reels, 70 pictures). What price an astronomical text with 3-D views of the planets and star- systems? In fact, what price a 3-D series of table-top planetary views, with or without monsters, made by fans in the manner of the very effective models we used to see photographed in Science Fiction Advertiser? You're not limited to View-Master in this, of course, though they do sell their own camera—a pretty good one, I’m told, and by no means cheap, with a number of special features to make picture-taking easier and more foolproof. The camera—which you can find out about at your nearest camera store—has a highly ingenious gadget for taking one series of pictures down one side of ordinary 35-mm. color film, then going back down the other side—which gives you twice as many pictures per roll as other stereo cameras. There’s a kit for mounting the pictures in cardboard reels, and the View-Master stereoscope costs only $2.00—without illumination—to $4.0) or $5.00—with batteries or a plug-in transformer. But stereo photography, using the current 35-mm. color films, is growing up fast and if you’re interested in table-top science fiction sequences here is what seems to me an ideal way of having a lot of fun. There are several very good cameras available, with which high-grade work can be done—this summer I saw for myself what one of them can do to make stratigraphy stand out in archeological excavation. Allan Nourse’s short amateur motion picture of Matheson’s “Born of Man and Woman” is a very effective and imaginative job. The Science Fiction Advertiser photos showed that someone is doing excellent other- world table-tops. How about 3-D and color? ‘ COMIC OOKS.COM