Before the era of tablets and on-demand streaming, if you wanted to see your favorite cartoon characters "on the big screen," you didn't head to the cinema—you waited for the sun to go down, pinned a white sheet to the living room wall, and reached for your Kenner Give-A-Show Projector. This bright red, battery-operated marvel was more than just a toy; it was a home theater system for the junior generation, and for those of us lucky enough to own one, it provided hours of flickering, wide-eyed entertainment.
A Cinema in a Box
The Give-A-Show Projector set was a masterpiece of colorful packaging that promised a world of adventure.
- The Library: A standard set came with a staggering 112 color slides, divided into 16 separate shows.
- The Stars: The roster was a "who's who" of animation royalty, featuring Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, and Quick Draw McGraw.
- The Mechanism: Each show was contained on a long, green-bordered card strip featuring seven individual 35mm color slides. You would slide the strip into the side of the projector and manually advance it to tell the story.
"Projecting Pictures Up to 5 Feet Square"
The technical simplicity was part of the charm. There was no sound, so the "projectionist" (usually the oldest sibling) would have to read the captions aloud, often putting on dramatic voices for Fred Flintstone or Barney Rubble as their stone-age antics appeared on the wall.
The box boasted that it could project images "up to 5 feet square," which, in the context of a small bedroom, felt like an absolute IMAX experience. You learned early on about the importance of focus, twisting the blue-rimmed lens at the front to get the sharpest possible image of Yogi Bear swiping a picnic basket.
The Saturday Night Feature
The projector was a staple of indoor play, sitting on the shelf alongside our Meccano sets and Airfix models. It was the perfect activity for a rainy afternoon or a sleepover. We’d gather around the warm glow of the gas fire, open a fresh Huntley & Palmers Family Circle tin, and settle in for a "double feature" of Hanna-Barbera classics.
There was a certain tactile joy in organizing the slides, keeping them neatly in their white cardboard slots within the box. It gave us a sense of ownership over our entertainment, long before we were reading Look-in to find out when our favorite shows were on the "real" TV.
A Lasting Impression
Looking back at that red plastic projector today, it’s a reminder of a time when "interactive" meant physically moving a slide and using your own voice to tell a story. It belonged to an era of creative play that included building entire worlds from Meccano or getting lost in the pages of a Beano Book.
The Give-A-Show Projector didn't just show us pictures; it taught us the magic of the dark and the thrill of the "reveal". It turned every living room into a theater and every child into a storyteller.
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