View-Master Cameraman’s 18-Month Global Tour
That time Rupert Leach risked his life to get the shot.
I was looking at old View-Master Dealerscope newsletters recently, wondering what I could uncover that I might share with you here. The Dealerscope was a newsletter produced by Sawyer’s Inc., the original manufacturer of View-Master viewers and reels, that was sent to their dealer sales reps.
I’m copying the article as it was published in July of 1948. It leads off with Rupert Leach encountering gunfire in Tel Aviv — which sounds intriguing and worthy of expanding upon, but the actual article frustratingly skips the details! What this story really tells you is that Leach traveled for View-Master for nearly two years to capture photos of places dramatically far removed from everyday life back in Portland, Oregon, where View-Master was manufactured.
I thought it was a fascinating slice of history.
Sawyer’s Cameraman Dodges Shot and Fire in Holy Land
Rupert Leach Covers Far-Off Corner of Globe for View-Master
Billowing clouds of angry smoke rolled heavily across the sky as Rupert Leach, director of photography for Sawyer’s Inc., drove cautiously into the suburbs of the modern Jewish City of Tel Aviv. The new State of Israel was experiencing its first birth pangs in the violence and hatred of Holy Land conflict. And the smoke that blanketed the skies over Tel Aviv was but a portent of the savage warfare yet to come.
Travel in the Middle East was neither safe or nor pleasant when Leach reached Palestine to round out an extensive picture-taking tour that started in the spring of 1946 and completed only recently. His assignment was to visit certain far-off parts of the world and obtain full-color stereoscopic pictures for us in Sawyer’s View-Master Reels. In the nineteen months he was gone Sawyer’s photographic director visited three continents in the Old World and travelled approximately 50,000 miles through England, Switzerland, France, Ireland, Palestine, Syria, Trans-Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and South Africa. He brought back close to 4,000 pictures.
Hundreds of the pictures taken by Leach show famous scene and historic landmarks in Europe and Africa. Others picture the lives and customs of the people, notable among these being several intimate, off the beaten track views of both Jewish and Arabian life in the Middle East.
In a leisurely cross-country tour of the Holy Land, Leach visited Bethlehem, Jericho, Nablus, Nazareth, Jaffa, the Sea of Galilee, Haifa—some unchanged by the passing centuries… others marked only by ruined pillars and scattered hulks of hand-hewn rock. At the site of ancient Samaria, he photographed the few remaining descendants of what was once the powerful Samaritan tribe. In Jerusalem he walked along the quiet Via Dolorosa, stood before the mosques and temples of three great religious faiths and photographed the zealously guarded vault purported to be the tomb of Christ.
Beyond the River Jordan, Leach visited and photgraphed King Abdulla of Trans-Jordan, travelled with the nomadic desert tribes, and took pictures of the legendary Camel Corps of the Arab Legion. His visit to the lost city of Petra, deep in the mountainous wilderness of Trans-Jordan, was probably the highlight of his entire trip.
Leach is now busy at his Portland office editing the 4,000 pictures he brought back with him. The best of these will appear ultimately on full-color stereoscopic View-Master reels.
It’s really amazing to think Leach traveled so extensively as a photographer. He also traveled to Russia for View-Master on a special visa and he wrote the travelogue-style booklets that accompany those View-Master packets. I’m sure I’ll get around to transcribing them in the future.
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Some related posts to check out in case you missed them:
This is a timely post.
The fruits of Mr. Leach's labor are significant! Now we can all continue to appreciate the beauty of these sites in 3D nearly 80 years later. :)
Imagine being away from home for 19 months! Interesting he came back with 4000 photos - some togs take that many on an assignment lasting a day or 2 now. Film certainly taught you to be choosy and frugal with your shots, I guess.