Newt Perry Announcing a Mermaid Show at Weeki Wachee Spring's Underwater Theater

Newt Perry Announcing a Mermaid Show at Weeki Wachee Spring's Underwater Theater

Newt Perry Announcing a Mermaid Show for 15 Guests in Weeki Wachee Spring's Underwater Theater

Weeki Wachee Springs (Fla.)

Tourism--Florida

Springs--Florida

Parks--Florida

Mermaids--Florida

Perry, Newton, 1908-1987

Newt Perry announcing a mermaid show in the first underwater theater at Weeki Wachee Springs. There are 15 guests watching the performance, sitting on fruit crates. This image was taken sometime between 1948 and 1960.

Newton "Newt" Perry was born in Valdosta, Georgia in 1908, and moved with his family to Ocala, Florida in 1922. He was a member of the swimming and diving teams at the University of Florida. Perry earned the nickname "The Human Fish" for his performances of underwater stunts in advertising clips and film shorts, and acted as a swim double for actors in movies and TV shows, including Johnny Weissmuller as "Tarzan." Perry also advised filmmakers filming underwater scenes at Silver Springs, Wakulla Springs, and Weeki Wachee Springs, and developed a system for breathing underwater using an air compressor and hose, which was used in the 1948 film "Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid" and during Weeki Wachee Springs' mermaid shows.

Perry worked as a lifeguard, public school principal, coach, swimming and scuba diving instructor, and Ocala city pool manager. He opened Perry's Swim School in 1955, and taught more than 120,000 individuals to swim during his career. Perry was inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame in 1981. Perry's daughter Delee Perry took over Perry's Swim School following her father's death in 1987, and it was still in operation as of 2020.

Along with a group of investors, Newton Perry opened Weeki Wachee Springs to the public in October of 1947, and used his experiences working at Silver Springs and Wakulla Springs to develop the original concepts for its underwater theater and mermaid shows. Perry sold his stake in Weeki Wachee Springs in 1950. After peaking in the 1950s and 1960s, attendance began to decline as theme parks and highways changed the dynamics of Florida's tourism. The State of Florida took over the attraction as a state park in 2008. Since then, the park has focused on appealing to a modern audience while preserving its history.

Original photograph of underwater theater at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park: Personal Collection of Delee Perry.

c. 1940s-1950s

c. 1940s-1950s

c. 1940s-1950s

Digital reproduction of original photograph of the interior of the underwater theater at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.

Weeki Wachee Collection, RICHES.

image/jpg

3.43 MB

Still Image

Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, Spring Hill, Florida

Donation

History Teacher

Humanities Teacher

Visual Arts Teacher

Theater Teacher

Copyright to this resource is held by Delee Perry and is provided here by RICHES for educational purposes only.

Florida Humanities Council Community Grant Program and Friends of Weeki Wachee Springs State Park

Schwandt, Rebecca

Personal Collection of Delee Perry

Allman, T.D. Finding Florida: The True History of the Sunshine State. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2013

Ammidown, Margot. “Edens, Underworlds, and Shrines: Florida’s Small Tourist Attractions.” The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts 23, (1998): 238-259.

Georgiadis, Bonnie and Lu Vickers. Weeki Wachee Mermaids. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2012.

Hollis, Tim. Glass Bottom Boats and Mermaid Tails: Florida’s Tourist Springs. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books, 2006.

Pelland, Dan and Maryan Pelland. Images of America: Weeki Wachee. Mount Pleasant: Arcadia Publishing, 2006.

Revels, Tracy J. Sunshine Paradise: A History of Florida Tourism. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2011.

Vickers, Lu. Weeki Wachee City of Mermaids: A History of One of Florida’s Oldest Roadside Attractions. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2007.