Stanley Long set out to take some stereoviews of puppets for children to enjoy. Unfortunately he went to Betty Brimmer's Puppet Theatre, which is a thoroughly grotesque and ghastly place, full of misshapen ghouls, racist caricatures, and little girls who are soon to be bear food.
Raumbild’s non-fascistic “Tiere aus aller Welt” (Animals from All Over the World)
Raumbild is most closely associated with Nazi propaganda produced between 1936 and 1945. But after the war, Otto Schönstein's images were much more benign - and I needed a break from heady stuff. So enjoy the lovely animal stereoviews of Tiere aus aller Welt!
VistaScreen’s “Chi-Chi the Giant Panda”: Why does this even exist?
Looking for a ridiculous series of stereoscopic photographs on one subject that were probably all taken in the course of an hour and possibly all given captions in the span of two minutes? Then look no further, my friends.
Depression-Era Santa: “The Night Before Christmas”
Unlike our previous "Christmas present" from Tru Vue, this 1933 filmstrip is not a creepy, low-budget romp through a garage and then a weird scene in a little girl's darkened living room. Rather, it is a fairly interesting peek into messaging for kids during the Great Depression, with MUCH higher production value.
Creepy Christmas: “Santa’s Workshop: Where Dreams Come True for Girls”
Apparently, in the 1930s, "Santa Claus' Workshop" was the place "Where Dreams Come True for Girls". Because every girl's dream is to receive a doll hastily slapped together in the dingy corner of a garage by a deranged bearded hobo, whose lack of contact with any actual children (or elves) might be a result of his being listed on certain registries, and whose lack of elves might just have a sinister explanation...