Vtg 1941 SS NORMANDIE French Ocean Liner Tru-Vue 3D Stereoview 1803 Stereo Photo

Description

Vintage 1941 SS NORMANDIE French Ocean Liner Tru-Vue 3D Stereoview 1803 Stereo Photo
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I have collected 3D photo memorabilia for 30+ years and it's time that I let some of my prized collectibles go.
This is an original 1941 3D Tru-Vue film strip. The black and white filmstrip reel contains 14 different 3D stereo pairs or
images for viewing with a Tru-Vue viewer stereoscope (not included). The reel is in it's original red & silver box.  It's a very
rare and hard to locate film! Especially in this great condition!  I have checked  the film and it is in great condition with no
tears, broken cogs, scratches or broken film. It is in it's original cardboard inner protective sleeve and original 83 year old
box! The film is copyright dated 1941 which is while this  (then) state of the art Ocean Liner was in service. It
shows several views of the ship and it's lavish interior.  If you're an enthusiast of Tru-Vue 3D films or historic Ocean
Liners, this film strip experience is for you!
Condition:
The film strip reel...
is in excellent condition and is in it's original red and silver box! I have personally gone through the film
with white gloves on and inspected every frame and every film cog.  The film was copyrighted in 1941. Today these reels
are very interesting historic stuff, and all in eye-popping 3D! For those interested in viewing these I would suggest pulling
them slowly through the viewer rather than using the advance. This is how the cogs get torn.
The box...
has very little shelf wear on the top flap as can be seen.
A
ll of the flaps are attached very tight. Pretty nice considering
the box has been around for 83 years! I have tried my best to photograph every aspect of the box and film. Please check
them out and if you have any questions, please email! Photos are of the exact items in this listing.
Thanks for looking!
PLEASE CHECK OUT MY OTHER LISTINGS FOR MORE 3D STEREO VIEWERS, VIEWS, and CAMERAS
About the SS Normandie:
The SS Normandie was an ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France, for the French Line Compagnie Générale
Transatlantique (CGT). She entered service in 1935 as the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat; she is still the most
powerful steam turbo-electric-propelled passenger ship ever built.
Her novel design and lavish interiors led many to consider her the greatest of ocean liners. Despite this, she was not a
commercial success and relied partly on government subsidy to operate. During service as the flagship of the CGT, she
made 139 westbound transatlantic crossings from her home port of Le Havre to New York. Normandie held the Blue
Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing at several points during her service career, during which the RMS Queen
Mary was her main rival.
During World War II, Normandie was seized by U.S. authorities at New York and renamed USS Lafayette. In 1942, the
liner caught fire while being converted to a troopship, capsized onto her port side and came to rest on the mud of the
Hudson River at Pier 88, the site of the current New York Passenger Ship Terminal. Although salvaged at great expense,
restoration was deemed too costly and she was scrapped in October 1946.
The beginnings of Normandie can be traced to the Roaring Twenties when shipping companies began looking to replace
veterans such as RMS Mauretania (1906) and RMS Olympic (1911) .
Those earlier ships had been designed around the huge numbers of steerage-class immigrants from Europe to the
United States. When the U.S. closed the door on most immigration in the early 1920s, steamship companies ordered
vessels built to serve upper-class tourists instead, particularly Americans who traveled to Europe for alcohol-fueled fun
during Prohibition. Companies like Cunard and the White Star Line planned to build their own superliners to rival newer
ships on the scene; such vessels included the record-breaking Bremen and Europa, both German. The French Line
began to plan its own superliner.
The French Line's flagship was the Ile de France, which had modern Art Deco interiors but a conservative hull design.
The designers intended their new superliner to be similar to earlier French Line ships. Then they were approached by
Vladimir Yourkevitch, a former ship architect for the Imperial Russian Navy, who had emigrated to France after the
revolution. His ideas included a slanting clipper-like bow and a bulbous forefoot beneath the waterline, in combination
with a slim hydrodynamic hull. Yourkevitch's concepts worked wonderfully in scale models, confirming his design's
performance advantages. The French engineers were impressed and asked Yourkevitch to join their project. He also
approached Cunard with his ideas, but was rejected because the bow was deemed too radical.
The French Line commissioned artists to create posters and publicity for the liner. One of the most famous posters was
by Adolphe Mouron Cassandre, who was also a Russian emigrant to France.
Another poster by Albert Sébille, showed the interior layout in a cutaway diagram 15 feet long. This poster is displayed in
the Musée national de la Marine in Paris.
The Interior of the SS Normandie:
The luxurious interiors were designed in Art Déco and Streamline Moderne style. Many sculptures and wall paintings
made allusions to Normandy, the province of France for which Normandie was named. Drawings and photographs show
a series of vast public rooms of great elegance.
Normandie's voluminous interior spaces were made possible by having the funnel intakes split to pass along the sides of
the ship, rather than straight upward. French architect Roger-Henri Expert was in charge of the overall decorative
scheme.
Most of the public space was devoted to first-class passengers, including the dining room, first-class lounge, grill room,
first-class swimming pool, theatre and winter garden. The first-class swimming pool featured staggered depths, with a
shallow training beach for children. The children's dining room was decorated by Jean de Brunhoff, who covered the
walls with Babar the Elephant and his entourage.
The interiors were filled with grand perspectives, spectacular entryways, and long, wide staircases.
First-class suites were given unique designs by select designers. The most luxurious accommodations were the
Deauville and Trouville apartments, featuring dining rooms, baby grand pianos, multiple bedrooms, and private decks.
Normandie's main dining room, decorated with Lalique glass and compared to the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
The first-class dining hall was the largest room afloat. At 305 feet (93 m), it was longer than the Hall of Mirrors at
Versailles, 46 feet (14 m) wide, and 28 feet (8.5 m) high. Passengers entered through 20-foot-tall (6.1 m) doors adorned
with bronze medallions by artist Raymond Subes. The room could seat 700 at 157 tables, with Normandie serving as a
floating promotion for the most sophisticated French cuisine of the period. As no natural light could enter it was
illuminated by 12 tall pillars of Lalique glass flanked by 38 matching columns along the walls. These, with chandeliers
hung at each end of the room, earned the Normandie the nickname "Ship of Light" (similar to Paris as the '"City of Light").
A popular feature was the café grill, which would be transformed into a nightclub. Adjoining the cafe grill was the first-
class smoking room, which was paneled in large murals depicting ancient Egyptian life. Normandie also had indoor and
outdoor pools, a chapel, and a theatre which could double as a stage and cinema.
The machinery of the top deck and forecastle was integrated within the ship, concealing it and releasing nearly all the
exposed deck space for passengers. As such it was the only ocean liner to have a regulation-sized open air tennis court
on board. The air conditioner units were concealed along with the kennels inside the third, dummy, funnel.
About Tru-Vue from the UK Viewmaster website:
TRU-VUE Inc., Rock Island, Illinois USA manufactured the viewers and over 400 different 3D film reels. The company was founded in 1931 and after the 1933 "Century of Progress Exposition" in Chicago grew and flourished through the 1930's and 40's. The original viewers used 35mm filmstrips, generally containing 14 stereo views, which were pulled through the viewer using a lever (visible at the bottom of the left-hand photograph below). In 1949 Tru-Vue sold over a million reels of film!.  The quality of the 3D presented is generally very good, although the films need to be handled carefully. Film-strips and viewers were made between 1933 and 1952. Ultimately the Tru-Vue company was acquired by Sawyers View-Master in 1952, who wanted the rights to Disney licences held by the company.
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