Deep Dive - Weeki Wachee Mermaids
Biography NEWTON PERRY In 1946, Newton Perry, a former U.S. Navy man who trained Navy Frogmen to swim underwater in World War II, scouted out Weeki Wachee as a good site for a new business. At the time, U.S. 19 was a small two-lane road. All the other roads were dirt; there were no gas stations, no groceries, and no movie theaters. More alligators and black bears lived in the area than humans.
Sadly, the spring was full of old rusted refrigerators and abandoned cars. The junk was cleared and Newt experimented with underwater breathing hoses and invented a method of breathing underwater from a free-flowing air hose supplying oxygen from an air compressor, rather than from a tank strapped to the back. With the air hose, humans could give the appearance of thriving twenty feet underwater with no breathing apparatus. Submerged six feet below the water’s surface, an 18-seat theater was built into the limestone so viewers could look right into the natural beauty of the ancient spring. Newt scouted out pretty girls and trained them to swim with air hoses and smile at the same time. He taught them to drink Grapette, a non-carbonated beverage, eat bananas underwater and do aquatic ballets. He then put a sign out on U.S. 19 that read: WEEKI WACHEE. And on October 13, 1947, the first show at the Weeki Wachee Springs underwater theater opened. It was the same day that Kukla, Fran and Ollie first aired on that newfangled invention called television, and one day before Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier. On that day, the mermaids performed synchronized ballet moves underwater while breathing through the air hoses hidden in the scenery.
However, in those days, cars were few along U.S. 19. When the girls heard a car coming, they ran to the road in their bathing suits to beckon drivers into the parking lot, just like sirens of ancient lore lured sailors to their sides. Then they jumped into the spring to perform. In the 1950s, Weeki Wachee was one of the nation’s most popular tourist stops. The attraction received worldwide acclaim. Movies were filmed at the spring, like Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid. Sights at the park included the mermaid shows, orchid gardens, jungle cruises, and Indian encampment and a new beach. The mermaids took etiquette and ballet lessons.
Articles
https://www.boredpanda.com/underwater-pinups-photography-1938-bruce-mozert/?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic
https://authenticflorida.com/history-of-weeki-wachee/
Documentaries and Films
Celebrating 75 Years of Mermaid Magic at Weeki Wachee Springs on Florida's Adventure Coast (2022)
https://youtu.be/iEz7Ezu0Qrs
Dianne Wyatt McDonald - Weeki Wachee Springs First Mermaid On Florida's Adventure Coast (2022)
https://youtu.be/S6rHZPBn5Lg
A short documentary that follows the mermaids of Weeki Wachee Springs, a roadside tourist attraction in Central Florida
World Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival 2017.
Winner of Best Documentary at 2017 Toronto International Short Film Festival.
https://vimeo.com/257628631
Weeki Wachee: City of Mermaids The fascinating history of Weeki Wachee Springs told through vintage photographs of the mermaids from their earliest days performing silent ballets to the heyday when ABC built them a million-dollar theater. When Newt Perry sank a theater into the edge of the spring in 1947, he had no idea his mermaids would become world famous Florida icons. Lu Vickers has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for fiction for excerpts for a novel in progress. She has also been the recipient of two Florida Book awards and three Florida Individual Artist Fellowships for fiction. In addition to writing Remembering Paradise Park (with C. Graham), she has written the novel Breathing Underwater and three other Florida history books: Weeki Wachee, City of Mermaids, Cypress Gardens, America’s Tropical Wonderland, and Weeki Wachee, Thirty Years of Underwater Photography, with Bonnie Georgiadis.
https://youtu.be/UTnTi3xk_kE
Books
Silver Springs: The Underwater Photography of Bruce Mozert Hardcover – April 13, 2008
Weeki Wachee Springs (Images of America) Paperback – Illustrated, March 29, 2006
Sadly, the spring was full of old rusted refrigerators and abandoned cars. The junk was cleared and Newt experimented with underwater breathing hoses and invented a method of breathing underwater from a free-flowing air hose supplying oxygen from an air compressor, rather than from a tank strapped to the back. With the air hose, humans could give the appearance of thriving twenty feet underwater with no breathing apparatus. Submerged six feet below the water’s surface, an 18-seat theater was built into the limestone so viewers could look right into the natural beauty of the ancient spring. Newt scouted out pretty girls and trained them to swim with air hoses and smile at the same time. He taught them to drink Grapette, a non-carbonated beverage, eat bananas underwater and do aquatic ballets. He then put a sign out on U.S. 19 that read: WEEKI WACHEE. And on October 13, 1947, the first show at the Weeki Wachee Springs underwater theater opened. It was the same day that Kukla, Fran and Ollie first aired on that newfangled invention called television, and one day before Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier. On that day, the mermaids performed synchronized ballet moves underwater while breathing through the air hoses hidden in the scenery.
However, in those days, cars were few along U.S. 19. When the girls heard a car coming, they ran to the road in their bathing suits to beckon drivers into the parking lot, just like sirens of ancient lore lured sailors to their sides. Then they jumped into the spring to perform. In the 1950s, Weeki Wachee was one of the nation’s most popular tourist stops. The attraction received worldwide acclaim. Movies were filmed at the spring, like Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid. Sights at the park included the mermaid shows, orchid gardens, jungle cruises, and Indian encampment and a new beach. The mermaids took etiquette and ballet lessons.
Articles
https://www.boredpanda.com/underwater-pinups-photography-1938-bruce-mozert/?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic
https://authenticflorida.com/history-of-weeki-wachee/
Documentaries and Films
Celebrating 75 Years of Mermaid Magic at Weeki Wachee Springs on Florida's Adventure Coast (2022)
https://youtu.be/iEz7Ezu0Qrs
Dianne Wyatt McDonald - Weeki Wachee Springs First Mermaid On Florida's Adventure Coast (2022)
https://youtu.be/S6rHZPBn5Lg
A short documentary that follows the mermaids of Weeki Wachee Springs, a roadside tourist attraction in Central Florida
World Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival 2017.
Winner of Best Documentary at 2017 Toronto International Short Film Festival.
https://vimeo.com/257628631
Weeki Wachee: City of Mermaids The fascinating history of Weeki Wachee Springs told through vintage photographs of the mermaids from their earliest days performing silent ballets to the heyday when ABC built them a million-dollar theater. When Newt Perry sank a theater into the edge of the spring in 1947, he had no idea his mermaids would become world famous Florida icons. Lu Vickers has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for fiction for excerpts for a novel in progress. She has also been the recipient of two Florida Book awards and three Florida Individual Artist Fellowships for fiction. In addition to writing Remembering Paradise Park (with C. Graham), she has written the novel Breathing Underwater and three other Florida history books: Weeki Wachee, City of Mermaids, Cypress Gardens, America’s Tropical Wonderland, and Weeki Wachee, Thirty Years of Underwater Photography, with Bonnie Georgiadis.
https://youtu.be/UTnTi3xk_kE
Books
Silver Springs: The Underwater Photography of Bruce Mozert Hardcover – April 13, 2008
Weeki Wachee Springs (Images of America) Paperback – Illustrated, March 29, 2006