Harold von Braunhut

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, along with many other novelty products marketed towards children, often advertised in comic books. Von Braunhut also gained notoriety for his racial and political views. Despite his Jewish upbringing, he closely associated with white supremacist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations organization.

Biography

Braunhut was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 31, 1926, to Jeanette, whose family was in the toy business, and Edward Braunhut, owner of a printing shop. His grandfather, Tobias Cohn, was head of the T. Cohn Superior Toy Company, which he founded in 1900, until 1968, when he filed for bankruptcy and the company was purchased by Brumberger Inc. 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", and had a religious upbringing — notable in light of his later association with white supremacist groups. He added "von" to his name sometime in the 1950s for a more "Germanic" sound and so he could distance himself from his Jewish family.
Harold von Braunhut died after falling on November 28, 2003, at his home in Indian Head, Maryland.

Business activities

Braunhut used comic book advertisements to sell an assortment of products, many of which were misleadingly advertised. He held 195 patents for various products, many of which have become cultural icons, including:

X-ray specs, which advertisements falsely claimed enabled the wearer to see through clothing and flesh.
Amazing Sea-Monkeys, which were tiny brine shrimp eggs that "came to life" when water was added. Sales took an upswing when comic book illustrator Joe 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.
Crazy Crabs, which were simply hermit crabs in a box.

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, and the mentalist The Amazing Dunninger. 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 Nations annual conference. "Hendrik von Braun" operated an organization calling itself the "National Anti-Zionist Institute" from the same Bryans Road, Maryland address that von Braunhut used to sell Sea Monkey merchandise. In 1988, he was listed among a group of "outstanding Aryan nationalist leaders" at an Aryan Nations congress.
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."