Mid-century mermaids in Florida

I am a big fan of the folks at Vintage Roadside, because they work tirelessly to preserve the memories of small mom-and-pop roadside businesses that would otherwise be lost. For instance, I'd never heard of The Atomic Tunnel in Daytona Beach until I saw Vintage Roadside's colorful shirt of the short-lived roadside attraction. In addition to creating fantastic t-shirts and wonderful roadside photography, they have delved into some of the topics they are passionate about to the extent that they have become experts. Last year I attended a packed presentation at Hukilau on Aquarama, a mermaid themed attraction near the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.

Jeff and Kelly's thorough work investigating Aquarama, led them down the path to researching the origins of the mid-century fad of mermaid performances, which in turn led them to learning about other underwater performances. Their knowledge of this fascinating, obscure bit of Americana has led to an upcoming presentation called "Mid-Century Mermaids: A History" to be given this month at Palm Springs' Modernism Week in California. Because so much of the history of mermaid and underwater performances is linked to Florida, I decided to try to glean some knowledge from Vintage Roadside's Jeff Kunkle to try to gain more understanding about this interesting aspect of our state's past. Jeff kindly responded to my questions and even provided some images to boot!

Jeff Kunkle, left, at last year's Hukilau

Q. Do you now who the first underwater mermaid performer was? Or what is the history of underwater mermaid performance (in a nutshell)?

We've spent quite a bit of time researching the history behind the mermaid shows and it's really interesting to see how they evolved over the years. In the early 1940s there were surface shows such as Billy Rose's Aquacade and Sam Snyder's Water Follies which led to the underwater ballets of the early 1950s at places like the Marlin Beach Hotel and the New Everglades, and finally in the 1960s the mermaid shows of Weeki Wachee and Aquarena Springs boomed.

For the 1950s you almost need a flow chart as many of the Florida performers would bounce between underwater shows at one of the hotels, to performing at Weeki Wachee, or even appearing in one of the diving and swim shows put on by the big hotels in Miami for their guests.

Publicity photo for Sam Snyder's Water Follies from Vintage Roadside

Archival Weeki Wachee image from the State Archives of Florida

Q. Other than Weeki Wachee, what other places might you have seen mermaid performances or water shows in mid-century Florida?

Florida had so many fantastic places to see not only mermaid shows, but also water shows of all types. You could catch the Bahama Belles at Rainbow Springs, go upscale at the Eden Roc, the Fontainebleau, or the New Everglades, put on your own underwater show at the Craft Motel, the El Sombrero, or the Holiday Inn - all of which offered porthole views into their pools, or head up to the 4th floor and talk with the mermaids at Webb's City. If you were drawing a treasure map for underwater performances, Florida would have had a big "X" on it!

Poolside at Miami's Eden Roc Hotel, image from the State Archives of Florida

Vintage postcard from Webb's City in St. Pete

Q. Last year I enjoyed my first trip to see Marina perform at the Wreck Bar, are there any other porthole bars like that left?

There are still a few, but sadly not nearly the number there were in the 1960s. We're actually working on a "Five Favorites" for the SCA where we'll list our tips on places to still see a mermaid show. If you'd like to enjoy a cocktail with your mermaid show you can't beat Marina and her pod at the Wreck Bar in Ft. Lauderdale on Friday nights, you'll find the mermaids swimming at the Sip 'n Dip in Great Falls, MT Wednesday through Saturday, and in Sacramento, CA, you can catch mermaids several nights a week at the Dive Bar.

Kelly (Mrs. Roadside), far left, with Marina & her pod from Vintage Roadside

Marina performing in the Wreck Bar from Vintage Roadside

Members of Marina's pod at Ft. Lauderdale's Wreck Bar

Q. Why do you think mermaid performers in the 20th century were do popular? Why do you think mermaid performances captivate us today? Is it the kitsch factor?

The 1960s just seem to be one of those pop culture moments that are hard to pin down. So many of the things we personally love seemed to reach their peak in the 1960s - bowling alleys, drive in theaters, roadside attractions of every type, etc. We have several theories why the 1960s were the perfect time for mermaids and mermaid attractions to catch the imaginations of people, but we still don’t have what we'd consider a definitive answer after all these years. Rather than feeling frustrated by not yet coming up with a satisfying answer, the fact that we haven’t pinned down the exact reason is one of the mysteries that compels us to keep researching, collecting, and most importantly, gathering as many stories from those that swam in the shows as we can.

One of the things that we find fascinating about mermaid performances is that you've got someone whose job is just so completely unique we can't help but wonder what that must be like. There aren't many out there that can list "mermaid" on their resume! Talking with many of the gals that performed in the 1950s and 1960s they still consider it the best job they ever had. That's pretty amazing when you can look back to one of your first jobs and still remember it as the best. Thinking back to our first jobs, they pretty much stunk. :-)

Vintage Florida mermaid brochure

Q. How did you get involved with this project?

We've always loved hearing people's stories and it's become a bit of a quest to get in touch with as many former aquatic performers as we can. For most of the people we talk with it's been 50 or so years since they performed, and many times they were just high school kids, but it's amazing how the memories tend to come rushing right back when we talk with them. Sometimes it's been decades since they talked about those days, and it's always so cool to call them and be the first one to ask about the show after all these years. Usually there's a long pause and then you can almost hear the smile over the phone line as everything comes back.

Q. What was your biggest discovery?

It probably sounds like such a little thing, but it's the old 1964 Aquarama brochure we found several years ago. It was one of those pieces that for whatever reason we found at just the right time to really catch our curiosity and it started us down the path of researching old mermaid and aquatic shows. Here we are years later (and 1000's of hours worth or research later) and we've heard some incredible stories, met so many wonderful people, and best of all, made some great friends. We can't wait to see who we find next!

1964 Aquarama brochure from Vintage Roadside

Q. What was your source for most of your images?

We love old ephemera and photos and have been collecting for several years now. So, we always start with our own archive and go from there. In the last few years several local newspapers have decided to do away with their physical photo archives. It's a shame to see these archives broken up, but the one silver lining seems to be these photos now tend to show up for sale online, where as in the past they may have just been thrown out. We're always watching to see if anything from the old mermaid shows or hotels pop up.

For our upcoming Modernism Week presentation we started with around 500 images and edited down to fit the time allowance. We also were provided with some great vintage and contemporary images from several of the people and places we'll be talking about in our presentation.

We're thrilled that we were able to work with the State of Florida and Weeki Wachee to present a couple of actual items used in their 1960s shows on display. It's an incredible and unique opportunity to see a piece of Weeki Wachee history outside of the park.

1967 Weeki Wachee tail from Vintage Roadside

Q. What is your favorite piece of mermaid ephemera?

That's a tough question - kind of like picking a favorite relative! But, we'd probably say it's the original 1964 mermaid tail from the Aquarama in Missouri. Although as soon as we figure out how to get it from Missouri to Oregon, one of the original Aquarama clam shells used by the mermaids in the shows might become the current favorite!

Aquarama tail, top, contrasted with one of Marina's contemporary tails, bottom

Q. I hadn't realized they had mermaids at Rainbow Springs- how come the performance were so short-lived?

We've just gotten started researching the history of Rainbow Springs, but have run across some great promotional photos produced in 1956 featuring a live mermaid. They may have been using some of the other Florida attractions (the mermaids of Weeki Wachee and the Silver Springs underwater photography of Bruce Mozert) as inspiration. The one thing about researching these old attractions is that there's always a "new" mystery to dig in to!

Mermaid, top, and Bahama Belles, bottom, at Rainbow Springs
From the State Archives of Florida

Q. What do you think the future is for underwater mermaid performances?

There's been a bit of a renewed interest in mermaid shows and we'd love to see them continue to gain popularity. We'll probably never match the number of shows offered in the late 1960s, but it's fantastic to know there are still people out there willing to give it a shot. Marina's shows at the Wreck Bar are more popular than ever, the Sip 'n Dip continues rolling along, Weeki Wachee seems to have finally reached stability now that they're a state park, the Dive Bar just celebrated their 1st anniversary, Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach has hired their own mermaids after the success of the performances by Weeki Wachee guest mermaids, the "former" mermaids at Weeki Wachee put on a show once a month or so, and there's even a wonderful synchronized troupe in Los Angeles called the Aqualillies whose aquatic performances are inspired in part by Esther Williams.

Weeki Wachee mermaid

We hope to see some of you at our all-new Modernism Week presentation on February 24th! We'll be sharing the history behind the mermaid shows of the 1960s, as well as the Aquacade-type shows of the 1940s, the porthole lounges and hotels of the 1950s, and capping the evening off, a fire eating and mermaid performance by none other than Marina the Fire Eating Mermaid! You can learn more about the event at our Facebook page here.

Also, if you've got any stories, photos, or anything else from an old underwater show we'd love to hear from you! You can always reach us through our contact form on our website located here.

Thanks Jeff and good luck!

Medusirena Marina

Tiki Heads and Mermaid Tales

Back in the days before the world wide web, (how did we function?), my brother and I were such tiki heads that we searched both coasts of Florida looking for Tiki Gardens never realizing it had closed a decade earlier. He had an enormous tiki bar in his Daytona Beach apartment and brought back real tikis from both Hawaii and Tahiti. Had the Hukilau been going on back then, we would have thought we had died and gone to heaven. The tiki scene was just beginning to blossom when my brother and I turned our interests elsewhere, and since then tiki culture has really taken off. Even downtown Orlando has a contemporary South Pacific themed bar called the Monkey Bar decorated with images from tiki artists like Shag.

Hukilau 2011 group shot

Hukilau has been going on for a decade or so in Ft. Lauderdale, and after seeing pictures of it last year, I wanted to go. There are bands, programs, room crawls, rum competitions, seminars and lots of great stuff for sale. While heavy partying is a thing of the past for me, the real draw was an opportunity to see a presentation about a short-lived roadside attraction called Aquarama by my friends Jeff and Kelly from Vintage Roadside.

When Jeff and Kelly create a shirt based on a mom-and-pop mid-century roadside business, they do painstaking research to learn about the history of the place. They have three Florida designs: Casper's Alligator and Ostrich Farm near St. Augustine, the Atomic Tunnel from Daytona and Tiki Gardens from Indian Rocks Beach. When researching the roots of Aquarama, a mermaid themed attraction from the Lake of the Ozarks region of Missouri, they were able to make a deep connection with the owner's son, Marc Johl. And that opened up the floodgates to a treasure trove of information and one really great story.

Vintage postcard showing the entrance to Aquarama

The tale begins with Marc's father Wally Johl, a 1940s crooner who for a time sang in nightclubs in the Miami area and even launched his own club from a former gas station. Wally later created Aquarama in Missouri and with the help of Barbara, a Weeki Wachee trained mermaid, the attraction flourished in the mid-sixties. In addition to dozens of rare images, Jeff and Kelly presented rare film footage, audio recordings and even the actual costumes from this fascinating bit of roadside history. They have tracked down most of the "Aquamaids" and "Aqualads" and gleaned amazing stories about what it was like to work at Aquarama. For example, all the blond Aquamaids' hair tuned green from prolonged periods in the chlorinated water. And the underwater props – large clam shells – were actually cast from an iconic shell oil gas station sign. Those same fiberglass shells are all that remain from the attraction at the Aquarama site today.

The depth and thoroughness of the presentation shows Jeff and Kelly's commitment to keeping memories of this delicious bit of Americana from falling into oblivion and as a result of their work, a reunion of the former employees is planned for next year. They have made the presentation previously at the West coast's large tiki gathering, Tiki Oasis in San Diego and have plans to give it at a conference next year. At both Tiki Oasis and Hukilau their talk was capped off with a Q&A from a live mermaid, none other than Marina herself. Marina described how her aquatic talents began when she learned to free dive at the age of three in the Caribbean. As an adult after seeing the mermaids perform at Weeki Wachee, she saw a way to combine her love of the water with her passion for dance, (she was a performer at the Mai Kai), and that's when she began to develop her underwater artistry now seen at the Wreck Bar.

After the presentation folks lined up to see the Aquarama costumes and talk to Marina. The energetic crowd surrounding the presenters was a testament to the success of the program. A bit of mid-century mermaid magic was just passed to the next generation.

Always a good sport, Jeff shows off the Aquamaid costumes


A mermaid tail from Aquarama contrasted with one of Marina's early tails

Your truly with Marina

Mermaids, the Wreck Bar & the Yankee Clipper

After World War II, Florida experienced one of those growth spurts it's famous for, as many GI's moved their families south to the Sunshine State. One of those vets was George W. "Bob" Gill, who built six properties in Ft. Lauderdale including the Yankee Clipper Hotel, an enormous beachside building that looks like an oceanliner washed up on the shore. Well kinda.

Vintage postcards show the Yankee Clipper during it heydays

The Clipper as it appears today

The 1956 structure, which today is part of the Sheraton Hotel chain, was the first in the area to host a large scale Polynesian revue, according to the hotel's mermaid-in-residence, Medusirena Marina. When the shows stopped in the 1960s, many of the performers moved onto Ft. Lauderale's legendary Mai Kai, according to Marina. Fortunately, the Yankee Clipper's Wreck Bar, a lounge created to look like an old Spanish Galleon, endured.

When I first learned of the Wreck Bar, I heard that there was a chance of it going the way of the Dodo during the hotel's renovations a couple years ago. But that didn't happen and if the crowds squeezing into the tiny bar during Hukilau are any indication, the future of this dark little bar looks bright. The tikiphiles were all there to see the show, for the Wreck Bar is one of only a handful of surviving "porthole" bars with windows into a swimming pool just behind the bar. And in this pool, live mermaids put on acrobatic, alluring shows like you used to see in movies like "Where the Boys Are".

Marina is the star of the show, and this half fish/half human performer is responsible for the resurrection of this lost art, and she is truly an artist, combining "aquatic theatre, dance and spectacle." She has a "pod" of aquatic performers, and for the performance I witnessed it included three mermaids, three pearl divers, a pilot (or boat captain) and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Obviously they were pulling out all the stops for this large, appreciative audience.

Marina in red surrounded by her pod

By the time Mrs. Ephemera and I got to the Wreck Bar, it was too full for two more, so we went topside and enjoyed being "backstage" throughout the bulk of the show. Marina was like a circus ringmaster directing her pod and I was amazed at how long they could all hold their breaths underwater (no Newt Perry breathing apparatus for these mermaids!) I squeezed into the bar towards the end of the performance and captured a few below-the-surface images, but the sheer volume of appreciative fans made it tough to get into position.

Beauty and the Beast

In the tiki community, Marina is a widely known, and I have enjoyed her entertaining Facebook posts for about a year. So it was an honor to meet her and hear her speak about her craft the next day. Stay tuned for part 2.

Once a Mermaid, always a Mermaid

Found this little video about the Weeki Wachee mermaids on The Orlando Sentinel's website.

Care and Feeding of a Mermaid

Found this video on Flickr from the State Archives of Florida, originally from 1961. The description of the video:

"How a young woman learns to be a mermaid at Weeki Wachee. Lessons in breath control, synchronized swimming, diet, modeling, announcing, and how to eat and drink underwater. Parts of performance are shown. Uses underwater photography."