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Kenner’s Give-A-Show Projector, the toy that started it all

February 26th, 2008 by Scott Marks

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It may have been nothing more than a comic strip and a glorified flashlight, but at the age of six my Kenner Give-A-Show Projector was a Zoetrope, Magic Lantern Show and 35mm Simplex all rolled into one.

Needless to say, the first Give-A-Show I owned prominently featured the Three Stooges on the front. There were several different editions, each one equipped with 16 different slide shows that contained a total of 112 color images. Knowing how quiclky a kid can go through 16 stories, Kenner also sold 10 film refill packs.

I was more impressed with the box and literally spent hours studying the kaleidoscopic cardboard shell, dazzled by the cornucopia of cartoon royalty represented and the individual hues embossed on each letter in the product name. The cover art was much closer in spirit to the actual design of the characters than anything found on the flimsy, cardboard encrusted celluloid frames that slid through the slot in the side of the toy.

For the first few nights bedtime couldn’t come fast enough. Here I was barely out of kindergarten and already a projectionist! The fun quickly faded. How many times can one experience the same lame seven panels? The fixed storylines were a perfect compliment to the projector’s lack of automated parts. Soon I was using the device as an undercover source of illumination with which to read comic books.

It wasn’t exactly a 16mm Kodak Pageant beaming across the living room window shade, but it was a start. With my mattress as a booth and just about every surface in my darkened bedroom a screen (what 6-year-old knows about keystoning?, the Give-A-Show Projector prepared me for a life in focus.

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