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-Monkeys and the X-Ray Specs. His grandfather, Tobias Cohn, was head of the T. Cohn Toy Company until the early 1940s.
Personal life
Braunhut was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 31, 1926. He grew up in New York City and resided there until the 1980s, when he moved to Maryland. According to a report in The Washington Post, 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 and so he could be more distant from his Jewish family. 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 November 28, 2003, at his home in Indian Head, Maryland, following an accidental fall.
Business activities
Braunhut used comic book advertisements to sell an assortment of quirky products. He held 195 patents for various products, many of which have become cultural icons, including:
X-Ray Specs, which advertisements claimed enabled the wearer to see through clothing and flesh. The product has appealed to generations of curious pre-adolescents.
Amazing Sea-Monkeys, which were tiny brine shrimp eggs that "came to life" when water was added. Sales took an upswing when comic book illustratorJoe Orlando drew comic book advertisements 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 series, and a video game. Astronaut John Glenn took 400 million "Amazing Sea-Monkeys" into space with him in 1998.
Amazing Hair-Raising Monsters, a card with a printed monster that would grow "hair" when water was added.
Invisible Goldfish, imaginary fish that were guaranteed to remain permanently invisible.
Braunhut also raced motorcycles under the name "The Green Hornet", and managed a showman whose act consisted of diving into a children's wading pool filled with only of water. Braunhut also set up a wildlife conservation area in Maryland.
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 Klan faction and regularly attending the Aryan Nationsannual 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."
