Title: | Charlotte |
Date: | c. 1940 |
Material: | Acetate |
Dimensions: | Disc 4 in. (102 mm) |
Company: | Molded Insulation Co |
Location: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
Twelve black and white photographs of a striptease printed on an acetate disc. The metal viewer is surprisingly well-made and works smoothly and effectively. The box (not in this collection) lists some of the available titles (Craigslist 2025):
Cartoons – Dot & Dash, Pete the Indian Boy, The Antics of Homer (The Invisible Ghost), How to Make Comics and many others
Travel – The States, Penna., etc., Nat'l Parks, Foreign Countries
History – Famous People, The Presidents, World War II, Valley Forge, etc.
Although not listed on the box, nude pictures were a common subject, judging from examples on the web. Based on a box insert visible in an auction photograph, films (and presumably the viewer) could be purchased at Montgomery Ward (WorthPoint 2025). Film packs came with eight discs.
The Molded Insulation Co. manufactured avionics from at least the 1920s (Consolidated Instruments 1929) and later made consumer radios with molded plastic cases under the "Viz" brand (Radio Museum 2025). It's unclear why they decided to make a slide viewer—perhaps they were inspired by the introduction of the View-Master in 1938—but their experience manufacturing technical instruments shows in the construction of the Viz-Vue.
In-Built Accuracy .Advertisement. Aviation, Sep. 28, 1929, 15.
VIZ VUE Viewer and (6) Disc Films.Craigslist, May 18, 2025.
History of the Manufacturer Molded Insulation Co.; Philadelphia PA.Radio Museum, accessed May 21, 2025.
Vintage VIZ VUE Slide Reel Viewer with 9 Reels WWII.WorthPoint, accessed May 21, 2025.