William B Gruber was born in 1903 in the Bavarian city of Munich, Germany. His genius was evident at an early age. He was influenced by momentous events of the 1900's; after witnessing Halleys Comet, the lectures of the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin, and a performance by the showman Henry Houdini, young Gruber was drawn to science, adventure and intrigue.  Soon "Willi" was hypnotizing his classmates and even his teacher. The outbreak of WW1 in 1918 was to have a profound impact on Gruber, who was kidnapped off the streets of Munich by the Red Army and barely escaped with his life.

 

Going on to become an apprentice piano builder and tuner, he was chosen at the age of 19 to become the personal piano tuner of  one of the premire concert pianists of the time, Walter Gieseking.This lucky break was typical of his lifetime experiences; full of fortunate turns of events.

 

After hearing Adolf Hitler speak in 1920, Gruber became a member of the Nazi party. Immigrating to America in 1924, and settling in Portland, Oregon, he would be scrutinized by FBI director J.Edgar Hoover, and would eventually be brought to trial for possible espionage and then exonerated. Gruber later broke all ties with his former political leanings, and became an enthusiastic, patriotic American.Gruber had the great fortune to fall deeply in love and raise a family. The romance between he and Norma is an inspiration in itself.

 

A chance meeting at the Oregon Caves and Chateau with Harold Graves, President of Sawyer's Photo Finishing and Postcard Co. , led to the discovery and manufacture of his invention of a revolutionary new 3d viewing device that became the View-Master. Sawyer's produced thousands of View-Master reels for the US military  helping gunners sight their targets. The sales to the military insured View-Masters rising sucess. The scenic division produced reels of National Parks and nature's wonders, making armchair travel a pursuit that the public embraced enthusiactilaly. Once Sawyer's aquired the rights to Disney characters, the View-Master became an American Icon.

 

 Gruber traveled the world photographing subjects for Sawyer's, including the Cannonization of Pope Pius X, the Coronation of Queen Elizebeth, and the Oberammergau Passion Play. Gruber desired that the View-Master be an educational tool; his volumes on Wildflowers, Mushrooms, and Chinese Art are now rare and highly collectable.His lasting gift to the Arts and Sciences was the gruelingly ambitious "Stereoscopic Atlas of Human Anatomy" in conjunction with Stanford Universities division of Clinical Anatomy, with the disections performed by Dr. David Bassett.

 

Gruber's life story is truely as colorful and vivid as the images he captured on View-Master stereoscopic reels. If you enjoy romance, travel, intrigue and ironic twists of fate, you will enjoy this book.

 

 

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