fear of sharks – Lee Duigon

View of the ''Sharks'' exhibition at the Yancuic Museum in M ...

Here’s a memory I’ve had buried for many years.

When I was a little boy, my parents took me to the American Museum of Natural History to see the dinosaurs.

We also saw the sharks in the Hall of Fishes; and I’m afraid I took those exhibits a bit too literally. I mean, what would happen if the glass broke and all the sharks got loose? I was afraid to take my bath that night. Had some rather too dramatic dreams that night, too. The mako shark followed me home.

I don’t remember how long it took me to get over that.

Special Note to Kristi Ann: Welcome back, Kristi Ann! I’m so pleased to see you here again.

I’m amazed I found this! It’s one of Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies, vintage 1939: Fresh Fish, it’s called.

This was the kind of harmless stuff that passed for kids’ TV in the 1950s. Although I must admit that for as far back as I can remember, I’ve had a fear of sharks. Could early exposure to this cartoon have caused that?

The diving bell was cutting-edge oceanographic technology back then. Today I doubt there’s anybody under 60 who would know what a diving bell was.

Whim-wham Whistling Shark–don’t laugh! Nobody knew what was down there, in 1939. Coulda been anything! Remember the bathysphere? The bathyscaphe? I think the world half-expected them to find Atlantis.

Keep looking. It’s gotta be somewhere.