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.
Lakeside Holiday Park, Burnham-on-Sea – As it Was in late 1950s VistaScreen 3D Souvenir Snaps
Everybody knows that the plague is coming, everybody knows that it's coming fast... OK, that's just me ripping off Leonard Cohen during the CV-19 outbreak. But here, enjoy me taking the piss out of this homophobic holiday camp while you're holed up at home!
Birthday Post: Top 10 from Brooklyn Stereography
I have a few hours to kill on my birthday before my wife gets home. So what better way than by posting a Top 10 list of stereoviews that have previously been posted on this blog?
Sunday Travels #5: Australia (Kangaroos, Sheep, and a Really Big Rock)
Sunday Travels is back - with a ridiculous look at Australia, courtesy of KVC. The only thing more common than kangaroos in this set of stereoviews is stereotyping - at which Keystone excelled. Some come aboard, and see all the excitement of 'roos, sheep, and a really big rock!
Railfans Rejoice! Ten British Locomotives from the 1950s… in 3D!
With a heavy-duty post inbound this coming Sunday, let's put on our anoraks and head on down to the railyards - because it's time for a bit of trainspotting with Stanley Long and company!
Sunday Travels #4: The Netherlands (Amsterdam)
For our final Sunday in The Netherlands, we're back in Amsterdam - about half a century before Raumbild's "Holland". Expect canals, wooden shoes, quaint street scenes - and a couple of really great stereoviews from KVC!
Worst in Show: VistaScreen Series 49 “Dogs” Really Screws the Pooch
We've looked at some great VistaScreen, some interesting VistaScreen, and some just plain silly VistaScreen on this blog. But here, we're going to look at the absolute dregs of VistaScreen - which also happens to be one of the most popular sets the company produced during its mid-period in the late 1950s.
Bertram Mills Circus III: The Grand Show in 3D and Final Thoughts on All 30 cards
In this third and final part of a series on VistaScreen's stereoviews featuring the Bertram Mills Circus, we look at the inferior (but scarcer) "Night" version of Series 46, which replaced the "Day" version at some point in time. We also look at possible times these photos were taken, the performers who appear in them, and the problems with shooting on slow glass plates in the dark.
Bertram Mills Circus II: Clowning Around, Balancing on Elephants, Riding a Pony, and Taming the American Indian Caricatures
In the second installment (out of three) focused on the wonders of the three VistaScreen series on the Bertram Mills Circus, I document my personal journey over the course of the last couple of years to complete Series 46 - which led to my discovery of two more complete 10-card sets, and to a fascination with VistaScreen. We also delve into the reasons why there are two alternate sets with the same designation - including the theory that some rather racially unacceptable portrayals of American Indians caused the company to change from this relatively quaint "Day Series" to the more formal, and more scarce, "Night Series".
Bertram Mills Circus I: Getting Ready for the Ballyhoo Under the Big Top
Out of love of all things circus, my very first series of images on this blog was VistaScreen C.62 "Bertram Mills Circus". This is more or less a redux of that series, revamped to greatly improve the image quality, display options, and anaglyphs, with some new information. This is the first in a series of three posts focused on 1950s VistaScreen stereography of Britain's answer to RB&BB - Bertram Mills Circus - because who doesn't love the Big Top?