We'll not see his like again

December 21, 2003
New York Times online
Accessed December 22, 2003.

Harold von Braunhut, Seller of Sea Monkeys, Dies at 77
By DOUGLAS MARTIN

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 on Nov. 28 at his home in Indian Head, Md. He was 77.

His wife, Yolanda, said that he died after a fall but that the exact cause was not known.

Mr. 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 Mr. 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.

But Mr. von Braunhut's pièce de résistance was Sea Monkeys - which come from dried-up lake bottoms, not the sea, and are not monkeys but brine shrimp...

Thank you for this ESC. Truly. This is the end of an era. I can not recall who sent off for the the happy sea monkey family, but I remember peering at them through the magnifying glass try to see their faces. I also saved up my money for the 100 - dolls - WITH CLOTHES!!! I drew the pirate to see if I could make it as an artist. These were all disappointments in a way and yet not because it was fun to fill out the little slips to mail off the order and to watch the post every day.

I sometimes wonder what is in the back of comic books these days, if there is a distributor of sea monkeys and x-ray glasses. What an innocent time it was...