News & Apology -Sea Monkey Founder Dead
CBZ
I apologize.
And I apologize for being the bearer of bad news:
Posted on Mon, Dec. 22, 2003
HAROLD VON BRAUNHUT, 77
Sold Amazing Sea Monkeys, X-Ray Specs in comic books
BY DOUGLAS MARTIN
New York Times Service
Harold von Braunhut, who used comic-book advertisements to sell whimsical
mail-order inventions like Amazing Sea Monkeys, tiny shrimp that pop to life
when water is added, died Nov. 28 at his home in Indian Head, Md. He was 77.
His wife, Yolanda, said he died after a fall but the exact cause was not
known.
Von Braunhut was to quirky inventions what Barnum was to circuses. His X-Ray
Specs, which advertisements said allowed wearers to see through flesh and
clothing, are still selling after 50 years of guffaws. Hermit crabs as a
pet? Thank von Braunhut for Crazy Crabs.
And yes, perhaps only this verbally snappy holder of 195 patents could have
realized that what the world needed was Amazing Hair-Raising Monsters, which
allow a child to add water to a card and watch hair grow on the previously
bald pate of the monster depicted there.
HIS BIG INVENTION
But von Braunhut's piece de resistance was Sea Monkeys -- which come from
dried-up lake bottoms, not the sea, and are not monkeys but brine shrimp.
His extravagant claims for the crustaceans -- for example, that they come
back from the dead and that they can be trained and hypnotized -- are
convincing because they are sort of true. (The shrimp do follow light.)
Billions of shrimp have been sold, not to mention a Sea Monkey aphrodisiac
and a wristwatch filled with swimming shrimp. There are websites for Sea
Monkey fans; CBS briefly had a Sea Monkeys series on Saturday mornings; 400
million of them went into space with John Glenn in 1998; and, for the lazy,
a new Sea Monkey video game allows a player to ''virtually'' care for a
shrimp colony, lest the animals ''virtually'' die.
Von Braunhut gravitated toward life's crazier edge, racing motorcycles as
the Green Hornet and managing the career of a man who dived from 40 feet
into a kiddie pool filled with 12 inches of water. He sold invisible
goldfish by guaranteeing that owners would never see them.
STRONG BELIEFS
In a radically different sphere, von Braunhut's hard right-wing beliefs drew
notice. According to a 1996 Anti-Defamation League report, he belonged to
the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations.
The Washington Post in 1988 published an article on him and his
affiliations, adding that his relatives said he was Jewish. He repeatedly
refused to discuss his beliefs on race or his own religious background with
journalists, and in an interview Thursday his wife declined to comment on
the subject.
Harold Nathan Braunhut was born in Memphis on March 31, 1926, and grew up in
New York City, where he lived until the mid-1980s, when he moved to Maryland
and set up a wildlife conservation area.
He may have first noticed brine shrimp being sold in a pet store as fish
food, or perhaps in a fisherman's bucket of live bait. In either case, the
event occurred in 1957, by which time he had changed his name.
QUIRK OF NATURE
He learned that brine shrimp were a quirk of nature, surviving for years in
suspended animation. In this state, they are powderlike and easily packaged.
In 1960, he began advertising ''Instant Life'' in comic books.
In 1964, the animals became Sea Monkeys because of their long tails.
There were breeding improvements, and an ABC News commentator suggested in
1968 that the larger shrimp, now guaranteed to live two years, might be
called sea apes.
Von Braunhut was formerly married to Charlotte Braunhut of New York.
He is survived by his wife, Yolanda Signorelli-von Braunhut; a son,
Jonathan; a daughter, Jeanette LaMothe; and a brother, Gene.
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© 2003 The Miami Herald and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miami.com
Mke
"CBZ" <c...@lasalle.com> wrote in message
news:Kf5Hb.5947$Vv2.2...@news1.news.adelphia.net...
> http://www.miami.com
>
>
What....no..not really monkeys.... and by the way
do you know how many discussions young lads had about those
glasses. I can still remember those ads.
Thanks for the post. Fond memories.
(some now dashed for ever)
I never did save enough bazooka wrappers
anyways.
Mke
tinydancer
"Mke" <Noa...@homail.com> wrote in message
news:3fecf527$0$4744$61fe...@news.rcn.com...
> > http://www.miami.com
> >
> >
> What....no..not really monkeys.... and by the way
> do you know how many discussions young lads had about those
> glasses. I can still remember those ads.
> Thanks for the post. Fond memories.
> (some now dashed for ever)
> I never did save enough bazooka wrappers
> anyways.
> Mke
Damn, makes me melancholy for the days we used to count on 'monkeys flyin
out of Martha's ass.' :(
td
>
>
Cliff and Linda Griffith
> do you know how many discussions young lads had about those
> glasses. I can still remember those ads.
> Thanks for the post. Fond memories.
> (some now dashed for ever)
> I never did save enough bazooka wrappers
> anyways.
> Mke
>
70s, when marijuana-smoking was a felony in Texas, I poured out a glass of
murky water that I found on top of our refrigerator. I thought my husband
had been smoking mj and knocking the ashes off into the glass of water, but
I don't remember what good I thought I was doing by throwing out the water.
Destroying evidence, maybe? Anyway, I mentioned it years later, and he told
me he had noticed that the water had been poured out, and he wondered why
somebody threw out his sea-monkeys.
Linda
Patty
"Cliff and Linda Griffith" <grif...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:vuqbr84...@corp.supernews.com...
: "Mke" <Noa...@homail.com> wrote in message
I've always wanted sea-monkeys. Why didn't your husband tell you that he had
brought you home some pets?
Patty
"Cliff and Linda Griffith" <grif...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:vuqbr84...@corp.supernews.com...
When I was in college I brought home some mj at Christmas time and hid it in
one of my old puzzle boxes that was in the garage. When I went down to get
it, I opened up the puzzle and it was gone. Opened up another one and there
was nothing. I went and asked my mom, "you know those old puzzles, I think one
is missing." She said, "Oh your dad had a white elephant gift party at his work
so I wrapped up two of the puzzles to give." Swear to god.
Now that you know, shoot I can't run for office, but I didn't really inhale that well.
I brought it over to my girlfriend's house and we didn't have any wrappers so we
cut a Macy's bag up into squares of paper and used that to roll it in and smoke
it.
Cliff and Linda Griffith
news:c8f68afccd3bd134...@news.teranews.com...
>
> "Cliff and Linda Griffith" <grif...@charter.net> wrote in message
> news:vuqbr84...@corp.supernews.com...
the
> : 70s, when marijuana-smoking was a felony in Texas, I poured out a glass
of
> : murky water that I found on top of our refrigerator. I thought my
husband
> : had been smoking mj and knocking the ashes off into the glass of water,
but
> : I don't remember what good I thought I was doing by throwing out the
water.
> : Destroying evidence, maybe? Anyway, I mentioned it years later, and he
told
> : me he had noticed that the water had been poured out, and he wondered
why
> : somebody threw out his sea-monkeys.
> :
> : Linda
>
> I've always wanted sea-monkeys. Why didn't your husband tell you that he
had
> brought you home some pets?
>
the pet-deposit? No, really...I had gone to East Texas to be with my
mother, who was terminally ill, and Cliff stayed in Denton, attending
summer-school at NTSU (now UNT). I poured out his sea-monkeys on a
turn-around trip to get clothes or something, and I didn't see him.
Linda
Cliff and Linda Griffith
> Now that you know, shoot I can't run for office, but I didn't really
inhale that well.
> I brought it over to my girlfriend's house and we didn't have any wrappers
so we
> cut a Macy's bag up into squares of paper and used that to roll it in and
smoke
> it.
>
remember how well the machine worked, so I guess it was okay. I only tried
pot twice and thought I was dying both times. The first time, I said I was
going to go out into the street and flag down a policeman to help me "come
down", but Cliff didn't think that was such a good idea. As I said, it was
a felony back then.
Linda
Michael Snyder
> I apologize.
> And I apologize for being the bearer of bad news:
>
> Posted on Mon, Dec. 22, 2003
>
>
> HAROLD VON BRAUNHUT, 77
> Sold Amazing Sea Monkeys, X-Ray Specs in comic books
Aww, man, what a drag! I've got my Sea Monkey wrist watch,
and an un-opened Sea Monkey racetrack. Haven't played with
the little suckers in a while. Here's the official Amazing Sea Monkeys
web site, though, for the adventurous...
Michael Snyder
> I've always wanted sea-monkeys.
El Senor
> Aww, man, what a drag! I've got my Sea Monkey wrist watch,
> and an un-opened Sea Monkey racetrack. Haven't played with
> the little suckers in a while. Here's the official Amazing Sea
Monkeys
> web site, though, for the adventurous...
Isn't anyone worried about these things escaping into the
environment? If they really are larger and hardier than your
average brine shrimp, couldn't they eventually displace many
natural populations? They claim that their brine shrimp are
hybrids of several different varieties -- varieties which may not
ever naturally reproduce due to their geographical separation.
It seems very irresponsible to take a naturally occurring
species, breed it specifically to survive longer in harsh
conditions, and release the resulting organisms all over the
world.
-Mike
Michael Snyder
El Senor <no...@nowhere.nohow.com> wrote in message
news:3tLJb.26076$x34....@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
> "Michael Snyder" <msn...@redSPAMhat.com> wrote:
> > Aww, man, what a drag! I've got my Sea Monkey wrist watch,
> > and an un-opened Sea Monkey racetrack. Haven't played with
> > the little suckers in a while. Here's the official Amazing Sea
> Monkeys
> > web site, though, for the adventurous...
>
> Isn't anyone worried about these things escaping into the
> environment?
Of course. Also about their being taken FROM the environment.
But according to the company, they're 100% lab raised.
> If they really are larger and hardier than your
> average brine shrimp, couldn't they eventually displace many
> natural populations?
Well, the story is that they've been specially bred to make that
unlikely. They live in an environment that's far more saline than
sea water, and the company maintains that they can only live off
the "food" that is provided.
> They claim that their brine shrimp are
> hybrids of several different varieties -- varieties which may not
> ever naturally reproduce due to their geographical separation.
>
> It seems very irresponsible to take a naturally occurring
> species, breed it specifically to survive longer in harsh
> conditions, and release the resulting organisms all over the
> world.
Well, leaving aside whether it's moral to manipulate animals like that,
I would think that the various government regulatory agencies might
have at least looked into it. Sea monkeys have been around for a
long time now.
OTOH, there are some closely related shrimp-like crustacians
that people also raise in jars, which are NOT so unlikely to survive
in the wild. Do a google search on "triops".
CBZ
"El Senor" <no...@nowhere.nohow.com> wrote in message
news:3tLJb.26076$x34....@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
I had a bunch of brine shrimp escape in my house- It was awful, they ate all
my plankton & protozoa.
CBZ
out to Plankton & Protozoa R Us
CBZ
"El Senor" <no...@nowhere.nohow.com> wrote in message
news:3tLJb.26076$x34....@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
really so small and really- no one releases seamonkeys back into the wild-
Talk to me about zebra mussels
CBZ
President,
Sea Monkey Rescue Cooalition
1-800-DUM-ASSS
Michael Snyder
Wow -- the average salinity in your house must be phenomenal! ;-)
Michael Snyder
I dunno -- I saw a guy drink an english pint of them on The Man Show once.
Now, suppose they could survive passage thru his GI system...
just a mom
>I dunno -- I saw a guy drink an english pint of them on The Man
>Show once.
One of my children drank one of her big brother's sea monkeys
when she was about three. Eleven years later, he still has a
huge resentment about that.
>Now, suppose they could survive passage thru his GI system...
If they survived her GI system, they're thriving in the swampy
tundra of Goldstream Valley outside of Fairbanks. We had an
outhouse in those days.
Dani K.
--
www.livejournal.com/users/peaceout
--
Every human being must find his own way to cope with severe loss,
and the only job of a true friend is to facilitate whatever method
he chooses.
-Caleb Carr
Michael Snyder
"just a mom" <jous...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:vvj2i4b...@corp.supernews.com...
> Hey Michael,
>
> >I dunno -- I saw a guy drink an english pint of them on The Man
> >Show once.
>
> One of my children drank one of her big brother's sea monkeys
> when she was about three. Eleven years later, he still has a
> huge resentment about that.
Well hell -- they're pets! I still feel bad whenever mine die
(which seems to be every time I try to raise them).
I'm in 3rd or 4th grade, my little brother drops my
bean-plant-in-a-milk-carton off the playground slide.
I'm still upset about that... tell your son I understand. ;-)
> >Now, suppose they could survive passage thru his GI system...
>
> If they survived her GI system, they're thriving in the swampy
> tundra of Goldstream Valley outside of Fairbanks. We had an
> outhouse in those days.
How saline was it? ;-)
just a mom
>>One of my children drank one of her big brother's sea monkeys
>>when she was about three. Eleven years later, he still has a
>>huge resentment about that.
>Well hell -- they're pets! I still feel bad whenever mine die
>(which seems to be every time I try to raise them).
Kids n critters. That's my thing. I seem to do well with both of
'em. That particular child though... he had the worst luck. Ask
me sometime when I've got a couple drinks in me about his trauma
in regards to the microwave and his tarantula.
>I'm in 3rd or 4th grade, my little brother drops my
>bean-plant-in-a-milk-carton off the playground slide.
>I'm still upset about that... tell your son I understand.
Consider the message sent.
>>>Now, suppose they could survive passage thru his GI system...
>>If they survived her GI system, they're thriving in the swampy
>>tundra of Goldstream Valley outside of Fairbanks. We had an
>>outhouse in those days.
>How saline was it? ;-)
No clue. Anybody ever try raising 'em in pee? Maybe we should
experiment...
Dani K.
Michael Snyder
> Hey Michael,
>
>
>>>One of my children drank one of her big brother's sea monkeys
>>>when she was about three. Eleven years later, he still has a
>>>huge resentment about that.
>
>
>>Well hell -- they're pets! I still feel bad whenever mine die
>>(which seems to be every time I try to raise them).
>
>
> Kids n critters. That's my thing. I seem to do well with both of
> 'em. That particular child though... he had the worst luck. Ask
> me sometime when I've got a couple drinks in me about his trauma
> in regards to the microwave and his tarantula.
Whoa! Too much information! ;-)
>>How saline was it? ;-)
>
>
> No clue. Anybody ever try raising 'em in pee? Maybe we should
> experiment...
LOL, not nearly saline enough. ;-)