Mermaids on the Moon

The spaceship for Mermaids on the Moon, 1969.

Courtesy of Bonnie Georgiadis

THE WEEKI WACHEE SHOWS ALWAYS HAD THE SAME GIMMICKS, so the stories were always loosely structured around them. There was a deep dive—where the mermaids disappeared into the “deep hole” in the spring and then floated up doing ballet moves to showcase their breath-holding abilities. The mermaids always fed the fish, ate and drank underwater, did buoyancy demonstrations, and walked on a tightrope.

Bonnie Georgiadis worked at Weeki Wachee for thirty-seven years, beginning in 1953 as a mermaid and, after helping out for years, taking over as choreographer and show producer in 1969, when she wrote and produced her first show, Mermaids on the Moon. Georgiadis had had the idea in mind for a while, she says, “since I always thought the spring looked like the surface of the moon, with all the rocks and rough terrain.” The weightlessness of being in the water was not unlike floating in outer space, either. The show featured music from Barbarella and other songs, including “Fly Me to the Moon.”

A bevy of mermaids pose for a souvenir postcard for the show.

Carolyn Turgeon: Author’s personal collection

It opened with two space girls propelled by space-age-looking Aqueon swimming devices performing underwater ballet. They hear a noise and hide behind rocks. Anita Spaceship is arriving in her spaceship to investigate why the moon is no longer entering into its full phase. She walks down a cliff and plants her flag. The space girls reappear and escort Anita toward the theater just as a couple of evil “space goons” in rubber costumes come in from the side, scaring the space girls away. Anita pulls out a cloth and pretends to be a matador. The space goons pass through the cloth and then exit the scene. Later, a wizard appears from behind a large prop filled with gadgets and tells Anita that she has to go into the deep hole to break the spell on the moon. She does a deep dive and makes the moon full again. At the end of the show a great fiberglass full moon rises in the water as Anita and the space girls celebrate.