Those comic book ads were a heartbreaking lesson in deceptive advertising. After the excitement of watching something poured out of packet come to life (which actually was a bit of real magic as far as I am concerned) I quickly noticed that sea monkey didn’t look anything like the illustration in the ad. And only lived a couple of days. I swore off comic book pets and moved on to aquariums and cats and dogs and hamsters and various other creatures that I soon started to ignore also.

I loved The Magician TV show also. Although I am old enough to remember Bill Bixby from The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. And it’s catchy theme song “Best Friend” which still pops into my mind regularly.

“People, let me tell you ‘bout my best friend…”