British Vintage Stereoscopy — Viewer
Merit Stori-Viewer
A catalogue entry from the collection
| Name | Merit Stori-Viewer |
| Manufacturer | Merit (owned by J & L Randall Ltd) |
| Date Period | c. 1950s |
| Materials | Plastic |
| Format | Hand drawn stereo card - 3.5 x 1.25 inches (90 x 33mm) |
Merit Stori-Viewer.
Stori-Viewer from the back.
For scale - on top of a View-Master reel sleeve.
This rather small, cheap and simple looking plastic stereoscope comes with an interesting history and is somewhat related to the SEL True-View viewer. How? Well, let me tell you…
J & L Randall. They owned the Signalling Equipment Ltd brand that the True-View was made and sold under here in Britain; they also owned the Merit brand which made a line of toys and games aimed at children.
This viewer first appeared in the USA around 1950, made by the Craftsmen’s Guild company and called the Tri-Scope. Somehow (like with the earlier Tru-Vue/True-View deal) the rights to make this viewer were acquired by J & L Randall and they made and sold it under the Merit brand as the Stori-Viewer; aimed at children it was sold with a selection of hand drawn stereo views. “Stori-Viewer” was a name already in use by Churchcraft in the USA - it may just be that someone at Merit thought “that’s a good name” and stole it! Churchcraft wasn’t sold here back then, so there was no clash - and seemingly no fuss made when Merit used the name.
As you can see from the image top right, the viewer is very small - no bigger than a View-Master single reel sleeve. This makes them hard to hold, without getting your fingers in the way of the stereo view. But - they thought of that. Take a look at where the view slots in - either side of that slot is a little "wing" sticking out - that's where you hold. Simple but clever.
The Tri-Scope in the USA came with 10 hand drawn sets of views. My Merit Stori-Viewer came with 6 complete sets. It may be that all 10 were available here, or more likely that J & L Randall just bought the rights to the 6 they thought would most appeal to British children. That they have the same views as used in the USA that leads me to believe they legally acquired the rights to the viewer from Craftsmen’s Guild - the images are exactly the same as the American ones, the only difference being the Merit branding on the centre panel, replacing the original.
A word about the views. They measure 3.5 x 1.25 inches (or 90 x 33mm) so, like the viewer, are rather small. They were hand drawn and credited to "P & C Satterfield" or "Paul and Charlie Satterfield". Paul Satterfield was an animator for Walt Disney around that time (he apparently also directed a segment of Fantasia), and it appears Charlie - from the few notes online available - was his son.
Copyright records pin down their registering ownership of the 10 sets of stereo illustrations to September 1949. Perhaps following this, Craftsmen’s Guild bought the rights to the artwork and later sold on the rights to a selection of the stories to J & L Randall as part of the deal to take the Tri-Scope.
The original 10 individual stories published in the USA each consist of 10 views, and are as follows:
- 1
- Cinderella and the Glass Slipper
- 2
- Little Tacos, a Mexican Lad
- 3
- The Night Before Christmas
- 4
- Smarty, the Bad Little Fish
- 5
- The Little Pig That Flew – Just Once
- 6
- Three Little Pigs
- 7
- Jack and the Bean Stalk
- 8
- The Faithful Foreman
- 9
- Black Jack and Ramon
- 10
- Ramon's Revenge
The Merit branded ones I have are numbered and sometimes titled differently, which makes me think only these 6 stories were made and sold in the UK. There’s no artist credit on the Cinderella set for some reason, although there is on the others:
- 1
- Cinderella
- 2
- Jack and the Beanstalk
- 3
- Little Tacos
- 4
- The Night Before Christmas
- 5
- Black Jack and Ramon
- 6
- Ramon's Revenge
It seems likely from packaging found on an old online auction that the viewer was sold with the 6 sets of views as a complete gift set. I have noticed that the same hand drawn stories were still being circulated and sold into the 60s and 70s with cheap "Made in Hong Kong" viewers resembling Vistascreen viewers too, so perhaps the rights to the drawings lapsed, or were just counterfeited over time.
Further Reading & Web Links
Image Sets To View (More to be added over time)
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"Little Tacos, a Mexican Lad," goodness gracious! Listen, Tacos, ya gotta ditch the sombrero, it's a bad look in 2026.
ReplyDeleteThe boy lives in 1950-land, it's fine! :-) You had nothing to say about Ramon?! "Si, Ramon theenk Sheriff be glad to see us, senor Black Jack" indeed!
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