The Show 'N Tell is a

toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...

combination

record player A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

and filmstrip viewer manufactured by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...

from October 1964 to the 1970s at GE's Utica, NY facility. It resembles a

television set A television set or television receiver, more commonly called the television, TV, TV set, telly, tele, or tube, is a device that combines a tuner, display, and loudspeakers, for the purpose of viewing and hearing television broadcasts, or using ...

, but has a record player on the top.

Records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

and slides were sold for it in combination (known as Picturesound programs). The slide strips, a flat plastic key 11 inches long containing a strip of 16mm color film, are inserted into the top of the device. As the record played (typically telling a story), the slide strip, through which the images were projected on the screen, automatically advance to illustrate it. The mechanism by which the slide advanced is purely mechanical, and was based on the rotation of the turntable, so proper operation required manually spinning it a few revolutions before beginning the presentation. The original selling price of the unit was $29.95 and Picturesound programs sold for 99 cents with "a library of five programs" selling for $4.95. Thirty-five programs were grouped in seven "libraries" initially: *Fairy Tales and Cartoons *Children's Favorite Classics I *Children's Favorite Classics II *History *Science and Space *The World We Live In *Steps to Knowledge Licensed film strip and record packages were produced for many different children's properties, including

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

and

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000 ...

. An advertisement in LIFE Magazine also specifically mentions

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel '' The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a Tuscan ...

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...

, and the Wizard of Oz "as well as educational programs created by

World Book Encyclopedia The ''World Book Encyclopedia'' is an American encyclopedia. The encyclopedia is designed to cover major areas of knowledge uniformly, but it shows particular strength in scientific, technical, historical and medical subjects. ''World Book'' wa ...

." By 1965, there were 140 programs available. Each program moved through 15 color slides and ran approximately 4 minutes. It also functioned as a standard record player, able to play 16, 33⅓, 45, and 78 RPM records through its built-in speaker. General Electric released a "compact" version (Model A605) of the Show 'N Tell in 1966 for $19.95. The Show 'n Tell was also sold as the Show 'n Tell Phono-Viewer by CBS Toys, in the early 1980s, under the brand name "Child Guidance." These devices, which were drastically redesigned from their earlier version, only had two speeds (33⅓ and 45), and could not play full 12" LPs. However, the Phono-Viewer could optionally move the projected image off the built-in screen and onto an outside surface (such as a wall or screen).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Show'n Tell Toy brands Turntables Children's entertainment Educational toys General Electric 1964 introductions 1960s toys 1970s toys Optical toys