Harold von Braunhut
Encyclopedia
Harold Nathan Braunhut also known as Harold von Braunhut, was an American mail-order marketer and inventor, most famous as the creator and seller of both the Amazing Sea-Monkey
s and the X-Ray Specs
. His grandfather, Tobias Cohn, had the patent for the pail and shovel and was head of the T.Cohn Toy Company until the early 1940s.
Braunhut was born in Memphis, Tennessee
on 31 March 1926. He grew up in New York City
and resided there until the 1980s, when he moved to Maryland
. According to a Washington Post report, he was raised "as Harold Nathan Braunhut, a Jew" - notable in light of his later association with white supremacist groups. He added "von" to his name some time in the 1950s for a more Germanic sound.
Braunhut used comic book
advertisements to sell an assortment of quirky products. He held 195 patent
s for various products, many of which have become cultural icon
s, including:
Braunhut also raced motorcycle
s under the name "The Green Hornet", and managed a showman whose act consisted of diving 40 feet (12.2 m) into a children's wading pool filled with only 1 foot (0.3048 m) of water. Braunhut also set up a wildlife conservation area
in Maryland.
His first marriage was to Charlotte Braunhut. His second marriage was to actress Yolanda Signorelli, who took an active role in marketing Sea-Monkeys. He had a son, Jonathan, and a daughter, Jeanette LaMothe.
Harold von Braunhut died on 28 November 2003 at his home in Indian Head, Maryland
, following an accidental fall.
Braunhut's work was featured on the 22 April 2007 "Not My Job" segment of the NPR
radio quiz show Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me.
faction and regularly attending the Aryan Nations
annual conference. In a 1988 interview with the Seattle Times, he referred to the "inscrutable, slanty Korean eyes" of Korean shop owners and was quoted as saying, "You know what side I'm on. I don't make any bones about it."
Adapted from the article Harold von Braunhut from Wikinfo, December 22, 2003, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License
.
Sea-Monkey
Sea-Monkeys is the brand name for brine shrimp – a group of crustaceans that undergo cryptobiosis – often sold in hatching kits as novelty aquarium pets.-History:...
s and the X-Ray Specs
X-Ray Specs (novelty)
X-Ray Specs are an American novelty item, purported to allow the user to see through or into solid objects. In reality the glasses merely create an optical illusion; no X-rays are involved...
. His grandfather, Tobias Cohn, had the patent for the pail and shovel and was head of the T.Cohn Toy Company until the early 1940s.
Braunhut was born in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
on 31 March 1926. He grew up in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and resided there until the 1980s, when he moved to Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. According to a Washington Post report, he was raised "as Harold Nathan Braunhut, a Jew" - notable in light of his later association with white supremacist groups. He added "von" to his name some time in the 1950s for a more Germanic sound.
Braunhut used comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
advertisements to sell an assortment of quirky products. He held 195 patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s for various products, many of which have become cultural icon
Cultural icon
A cultural icon can be a symbol, logo, picture, name, face, person, building or other image that is readily recognized and generally represents an object or concept with great cultural significance to a wide cultural group...
s, including:
- X-Ray Specs - whose advertisements claim that the wearer can see through clothing and flesh. The product has appealed to generations of curious adolescent boys.
- Amazing Sea-Monkeys - which were tiny brine shrimpBrine shrimpArtemia is a genus of aquatic crustaceans known as brine shrimp. Artemia, the only genus in the family Artemiidae, has changed little externally since the Triassic period...
that came to life when water was added. Sales took an upswing when comic book illustrator Joe OrlandoJoe OrlandoJoseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...
drew comic book ads showing the humanized Sea-Monkeys enjoying life in their underwater fantasy world. Billions of the tiny creatures have been sold over the years and have generated fan websites, a television seriesThe Amazing Live Sea MonkeysThe Amazing Live Sea Monkeys was a live-action television series that aired in 1992. The series aired 11 episodes before it was canceled. The show focuses on three Sea Monkeys—Dave , Bill and Aquarius —and their creator, The Professor...
, and a video game. Astronaut John GlennJohn GlennJohn Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...
took 400 million "Amazing Sea-Monkeys" into space with him in 1998.
- Crazy Crabs - which were simply hermit crabHermit crabHermit crabs are decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea. Most of the 1100 species possess an asymmetrical abdomen which is concealed in an empty gastropod shell that is carried around by the hermit crab.-Description:...
s
- Amazing Hair-Raising Monsters - a card with a printed monster that would grow "hair" (mineral crystals, actually) when water was added
- Invisible Goldfish - non-existent fish that were guaranteed to remain permanently invisible
Braunhut also raced motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
s under the name "The Green Hornet", and managed a showman whose act consisted of diving 40 feet (12.2 m) into a children's wading pool filled with only 1 foot (0.3048 m) of water. Braunhut also set up a wildlife conservation area
In-situ conservation
In-situ conservation is on-site conservation or the conservation of genetic resources in natural populations of plant or animal species, such as forest genetic resources in natural populations of tree species...
in Maryland.
His first marriage was to Charlotte Braunhut. His second marriage was to actress Yolanda Signorelli, who took an active role in marketing Sea-Monkeys. He had a son, Jonathan, and a daughter, Jeanette LaMothe.
Harold von Braunhut died on 28 November 2003 at his home in Indian Head, Maryland
Indian Head, Maryland
Indian Head is a town in Charles County, Maryland, United States. The population was 3,422 at the 2000 census. It has been the site of a naval base specializing in gun and rocket propellants since 1890. Production of nitrocellulose and smokeless powder began at the Indian Head Powder Factory in 1900...
, following an accidental fall.
Braunhut's work was featured on the 22 April 2007 "Not My Job" segment of the NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
radio quiz show Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me.
Racial views
The Washington Post stated in a report that, despite his Jewish ethnicity, he had a close association with white supremacist groups, buying firearms for a Ku Klux KlanKu Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
faction and regularly attending the Aryan Nations
Aryan Nations
Aryan Nations is a white supremacist religious organization originally based in Hayden Lake, Idaho. Richard Girnt Butler founded the group in the 1970s, as an arm of the Christian Identity organization Church of Jesus Christ–Christian...
annual conference. In a 1988 interview with the Seattle Times, he referred to the "inscrutable, slanty Korean eyes" of Korean shop owners and was quoted as saying, "You know what side I'm on. I don't make any bones about it."
Adapted from the article Harold von Braunhut from Wikinfo, December 22, 2003, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License
GNU Free Documentation License
The GNU Free Documentation License is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the rights to copy, redistribute, and modify a work and requires all copies and...
.