The Tru-Vue Company of Rock Island, IL

Tru-Vue Filmstrips -  from 1933-1951

The Tru-Vue Company of Rock Island, IL debuted their product at the 1933 Century of  Progess World's Fair in Chicago, 6 years and a World's Fair earlier than the View-Master® debut. Although the 3D Stereo Filmstrip format was not brand new, (see Novelview,  their marketing and choice of titles made them a smashing success, bringing sepiatone 3D Stereo Filmstrips into the homes across America.  The original views were initially made with a 5"x7" Stereo Graflex camera and mounted as black and white prints, then copied onto 35mm transparancy film.  Each filmstrip usually contains 14 stereo pairs.

 

Some 17 years later, after competing for 11 years against the color 3D Stereo reels of View-Master®, Tru-Vue tried their hand at color too, but was soon purchased by their competitor, View-Master, who needed the lucrative Disney licenses that Tru-Vue had obtained.

For about a year, View-Master produced in Portland, Tru-Vue Filmstrips in both color and black & white film (mostly Disney subjects) and then dicontinued the product after an 18 year run.

Tru-Vue 3D stereo cards and 2D cards were not made by the Tru-Vue Company, but were a View-Master bargain-priced product, utilizing the Tru-Vue name which they owned after purchasing Tru-Vue.

Today, Tru-Vue 3D Stereo Filmstrips, are collected and viewed by a smaller, but extremely active group of collectors, who regard Tru-Vue's coverage of World's Fairs, Hollywood, Night Clubs, Fashion and Risque as unparalleled in the area of 3D Stereo.