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Paul Knaut began shooting for View-Master in 1954. "3D Magazine" featured an
article about him in their Sept. 2004 issue. Paul sold over 300 images to
View-Master during his 10 year association with them which ended in 1964. He
specialized in photographing Maine and also photographed John F. Kennedy's
estate in Cape Cod. Paul and his wife Betty both worked together on
assignments for View-Master. Sometime during the mid 1950s Paul Knaut
photographed Bettie Page.
Art Amsie
also shot Bettie Page in 3D from 1955 towards the end of Bettie Page's
career in 1957. For fans of vintage nude 3D, this is it. My guess is that
Paul hired Bettie Page and shot her privately since she is looking directly
at the camera in each frame (all except for the back shot). Paul's basic
set-up and lighting allowed for dramatic shots of Bettie. Pay close attention
to the background shadows thrown on the wall. They play an important role
and add a great deal of depth to the images even as 2D. It's too bad
View-master did not publish Paul's other landscape scenery seen below. Most
of these Bettie Page scans are being shown publicly for the first time.
The collection below is segregated into two sections. Images numbered
000-024 are much better in quality. Three different types of film were used
to make the original 3D slides. The main film is Anscochrome which was
commonly used in the 1950s. Anscochrome was great because you could mail it
out and have it developed in Germany where nudity didn't cause people to
have a heart attack. After it was developed, it would be mailed back. Kodak
labs use to tell there people who developed film in commercial labs to punch
holes in negatives they found showing woman without clothing. That's why you
either had to have a friend do it, develop the film yourself, or mail it off
to Germany.
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