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kookie v3 (low res).jpg

This was made by the American Ideal Toy Company more as a children’s toy than as a camera for serious photographers. It uses an anamorphic lens to purposely distort images. The lens is disguised as a can of soup with a hand holding it on a platform close to the lens. Another hand holds a flashgun, designed to take flashcubes. The camera shoots small, square pictures on special paper, preloaded into a cassette that slots into the back of the camera. The shutter release is in the shape of a beetle, or bug as it is known in America, a play on words that represented shutterbugs. As each picture is taken, a cutter is operated and the cut paper falls into a developing tank below the body, in which a one-shot solution produces direct positive pictures without an intermediate negative. They then need to be washed under a tap and left to dry. A built-in egg timer is used for timing development. The camera was sold with cardboard bodies for children to hold up in front of themselves as they peered over the top wearing a series of disguises and masks supplied on a cardboard sheet from which they were pressed out for use.

1968: The Kookie

The Kookie, an instant picture toy camera aimed at children rather than for serious photography.

kookie disguises (low res).jpg

Disguises for young subjects to wear while being photographed.

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kookie box (low res).jpg

The box in which the Kookie was sold said everything needed to be said about the camera.​

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Two cardboard bodies for children to hold beneath their chins.​

The paper film in its cassette with a bottle of Kookie one-shot developer.

To learn about the Photographic Collectors Club of Great Britain, click the logo

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