Life Changing by Helen Pilcher

Author:Helen Pilcher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

CHAPTER SEVEN

Sea-Monkeys and Pizzly Bears

In the mid-1960s, an eye-catching advert began to appear in American comic books. It featured a nuclear family of grinning aliens with pronged heads and pot bellies. The humanoid figures had scaly chests, webbed digits and long swishy tails. Save for the ribbon in Mother Alien’s crown they were also completely naked, but to spare the readers’ blushes, their private parts were obscured by carefully placed flippers. They posed in front of a fairy-tale castle in an underwater world and promised a ‘bowlful of happiness’ for anyone prepared to part with US$1.25 (£1) and an additional 50 cents (40p) for shipping. The accompanying text read:

Enter the WONDERFUL WORLD of AMAZING LIVE SEA-MONKEYS

The advert was the brainchild of a colourful character called Harold von Braunhut, who had his fingers in many pies. He raced motorbikes as ‘The Green Hornet’, and managed the career of a showman whose act involved belly-flopping 12 metres into a paddling pool. A serial entrepreneur, von Braunhut created a string of popular children’s toys, including X-Ray Specs – glasses that promised to help you see through clothing and skin – and the Invisible Goldfish – an imaginary pet you were guaranteed never to see. In a time where families were bombarded with TV adverts for the likes of Barbie and hula hoops, von Braunhut decided to bypass the parents and sell directly to the kids. So he hired Joe Orlando, who would later become Vice President of DC comics, to do the artwork and snapped up millions of pages of advertising in comic books like The Amazing Spider-Man and Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Von Braunhut’s colourful style spoke directly to a generation that was unfettered by today’s modern trappings. In a world without mobile phones or the diversions of the Internet, what child could fail to be lured by the promise of sea-monkeys: ‘so eager to please, they can even be trained’ and ‘obey your commands like a pack of friendly trained seals’. Kids started to cough up their hard-earned pocket money and an advertising phenomenon was born.

Of course, sea-monkeys aren’t actually monkeys, nor do they live in the sea. The tiny creatures are brine shrimp, a diminutive crustacean that can be found living in salty inland lakes. Their segmented bodies are flanked by eleven pairs of ‘legs’, and their long tails reminded von Braunhut of monkeys – hence the name. Fascinating creatures; they breathe through their legs, have three eyes, and can live in an egg-like state of suspended animation for years at a time. It’s a phenomenon known as ‘cryptobiosis’ and Harold sought to capitalise on it when he promised his customers ‘Instant Pets – Just Add Water’.

The product came with a manual and two sachets. Packet One contained a ‘water purifier’, while Packet Two, which was to be added 24 hours later, contained ‘instant live eggs’. When the latter was added – boom – instant life! The sea-monkeys miraculously appeared as if from nowhere and started cavorting around in the water.

The only problem was that in its early iterations, the product was spectacularly underwhelming.

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