Colleen Moore Magic Theatre | Cardboard 3D Viewer | 1930s United States

Colleen Moore Magic Theatre 3D Viewer

USA, 1930s

This very hard-to-find cardboard 3D viewer was created by Diamond D Studios in Chicago to advertise the Colleen Moore dollhouse. Colleen Moore was a famous silent movie star with a passion for building doll houses. In the late '20s, she spent today's equivalent of over $7M to build an elaborate doll house that's still on display today in Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry, recently undergoing a $200K renovation. The viewer is based on Diamond D’s own Magic Theatre cardboard viewer and is made of 2 cardboard pieces. It’s hard enough to find one of these viewers in poor condition so we were excited to not only add to our collection a like-new complete set with Colleen Moore Dollhouse filmstrip and the accompanying brochure, but also a wood version that could have been a prototype or perhaps just a one-off someone made. We also have the viewer in soft orange and maroon colors.

Primary Material: Cardboard
Media Format: Filmstrip
Light Source: Natural light
Focus: Fixed
Interocular: Fixed

Tan (Natural) Cardboard

Colleen Moore Magic Theatre 3D viewer with filmstrip

Diffuser side of Colleen Moore Magic Theatre (diffusers missing)

Front of Colleen Moore Magic Theatre brochure

Inside of Colleen Moore Magic Theatre brochure describing filmstrip images

Back of Colleen Moore Magic Theatre brochure showing different "Diamond Dee" spelling

Picture of Colleen Moore from 3D filmstrip

Description slide on the Colleen Moore 3D filmstrip

Staircase from the Colleen Moore Dollhouse 3D filmstrip

Light Orange Cardboard

Maroon Cardboard, Patented

While the natural-color and light orange versions above have “Patent Pending” printed on the lens side. This version has the patent number 2071120 printed on it, referencing US Patent US2071120A for a magnifying and viewing device. In addition, the words “The Colleen Moore Doll House” have been removed from the front and back, so there’s no mention of “doll house” anywhere on this version of the viewer. Scroll down to the end of this page to see a side-by-side comparison of the graphics.