Novelview Stereo Viewer

New York, United States, 1930s

Novelart Manufacturing Company, Inc. was incorporated in January of 1935 by Robert Darniano, Thomas Compton, and Richard Carpenter with the purpose of manufacturing “stereopticon machines,” along with cameras and other products. By that summer, they had created their viewer, which they called a Novelview, along with over 100 subjects in 3D on 35mm filmstrips: fairytales, natural history, baseball, travel, and cartoons. A full-page ad in the April 1936 issue of Playthings, featured their brown, knob-advance Novelview and claimed the Novelview was a "scientifically perfect instrument."

There was another version of the 35mm Novelview with a completely different design. In February 1937, the Wheaties cereal company ran a radio promotion for “Jack Armstrong,” a fictional character they’d come up with. The promotion offered a “Moviescope”, which was a silver and black Novelview with a slide advance mechanism. The promotion included a special Novelview film called Jack Armstrong’s Jungle Adventure. It was promoted on the Jack Armstrong radio show and in newspapers. A complete version of that package with viewer (not rusted), intact film, brochure, and box is hard to find.

The silver-and-black, slide-advance Novelview somehow also became an Italian product.

The Novelview continued to be used as a promotional item as late as 1939. An ad in the Dayton Daily News dated February 26, 1939 announced the brown, knob-advance version as “the amazing ‘Novel-viewer’ (spelled with a hypen), “a new scientific marvel” that could be obtained, along with the Treasure Island film, for 10 cents plus one seal from a 1 lb can of Cocomalt.

Lastly, a 16mm Novelview filmstrip was discovered. It came with a viewer that may or may not have been made by Novelart Manufacturing Company. It’s unclear when in Novelview’s timeline they experimented with 16mm 3D film.

In all, there are approximately 65 unique film titles, the rarest and most valuable being their series of baseball films.

16mm Filmstrip Novelview

A Novelview filmstrip in 16mm format (instead of the normal 35mm) and a viewer to match it. It comes from the estate of someone who worked with Novelview, so it perhaps represents an early design idea or a later design idea.

Novelview — Brown with Knob Advance

The most common Novelview viewer had a glossy, brown metal faceplate and a body that was entirely molded with brown Durez plastic. The 1936 Playthings ad states that patents are still pending.

Novelview - Black and Silver with Slide Advance

The promotional black and silver Moviescope with “Novelview, Inc.” embossed in the silver metal faceplate. Wheaties used it in their 1937 promotion of their fictional character, Jack Armstrong. To accompany the promotion, Novelview created a special film, Jack Armstrong’s Jungle Adventure, with images of Jack’s trip to Africa. The brochure enclosed in the set had a special message, “signed” by Jack Armstrong, promoting 4 additional films from the Novelview’s library.

We don't see these sets often; when we do, the viewer is super rusty, the Jack Armstrong film is ripped, or half the box is missing.

This set is missing a film listing sheet and the white strip of paper that was wrapped around the filmstrip.

Italian Novelview — Black and Silver with Slide Advance

Italy, 1930s

Somehow, the manufacture of the black and silver Novelview started up in Italy. These viewers are extremely hard to find in good condition. They have “Patented - Made in Italy” on the back and a blank space on the silver faceplate where “Novelview, Inc., New York” used to be. Some of the films are the same but are in Italian language.