The first time I wrote about mermaids was in 1998 while taking a class called Women and Oral Tradition at the University of New Mexico. The essay was our first assignment designed by the professor to figure out what level of writing skills the class had while giving us a chance to see how she graded without the results being put in our average score.
My research for an unusual piece about women’s traditions revealed an article about Disneyland closing down its original 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction, which had been in operation since 1956. The feature story, as I remember it, included interviews with former and acting mermaids about the rigors of being a professional mermaid. For instance, they had to deal with swimming pool level chlorine constantly. What would real mermaids think if they had to live in chlorinated water while enduring audiences in a submarine regularly riding by to watch them perform swimming feats, or sit on a rock and wave?
The link below shows some great photos of those working mermaids in action from around 1967. The attraction was part of Tomorrow Land and featured a submarine ride that would cruise past the mermaids frolicking in their lagoon.
Here’s the link to a more current explanatory article: insidethemagic.net/2020/03/disneyland-mermaids kc1