On Saturday, August 29, 2026, Aeolus 13 Umbra hit two million individual page visits. To put that in context, it took 14 years to hit one million, but just 17 months to hit two million. At the
present rate of page visits, the blog hit three million in about 12 months. While
the number is perhaps not as impressive as an influencer’s blog or a published
author’s, it’s not too bad for an academically-oriented history and literary journal.
The
main contributing posts towards the number of hits are much the same as
reviewed in Aeolus 13 Umbra: ONE MILLION HITS! While a broad range of topics are reviewed, over
time, a trend towards chronicling mid-Twentieth century social history with
multimedia content has emerged.
Some things that are unique for the
blog include that of the hundreds and hundreds of videos embedded or linked to
in the articles all are hosted on one of over a dozen Ae13U YouTube channels (see Media Links on left). There is nothing more frustrating than
finding an article with a clip of a video that is a dead link. Of the hundreds
of videos posted, only one is off-site and that is from PBS.
Another feature is how the text is laid out and formatted. Nearly all the posts are double-spaced, and all have justified
margins and a larger text size, 14-point rather than the default 12-point size.
Instead of the standard left aligned text, justified margins,
where both ends of the line are aligned to the left and right margins, are used. Most
people just skim text and do not read every word. If the margins are justified,
then the eye will more likely follow along until the end of the line. Left
aligned margins, which produce a ragged, uneven end to the lines, reinforce the
natural tendency to skim text while margin justification engages the eye and
helps maintain focus.
Additionally, the blog and YouTube
channels are not monetized. The main reason is that ads ruin the aesthetic of
the design, such as it is, and the page already has a lot of imagery, but also when trying to get an interview with a
noted individual (and I have done dozens for this blog), the lack of ads means
that my interest in an interview subject is based on a sincere interest in
their work, rather than how much money can earned from ad revenue.
Special thanks to all my readers for
joining me in this journey and making it successful!
The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau is a documentary series that
began with a special in 1966 and followed by 36 episodes that ran
from 1968-1976 on the BBC in the United Kingdom and on ABC in the United
States. The impact of The Undersea World
of Jacques Cousteau on popular culture cannot be understated. It
led to a wider knowledge of the undersea environment and fed into the rising
environmental movement. Indeed, if there are secular saints, Cousteau certainly
qualifies as one.
The complete series is available on the Ae13U Blue Planet YouTube channel and in links to individual
episodes at the end of this article.
Cousteau was not only an undersea explorer but
also an engineer constantly looking for new ways to explore in a hostile
environment. As noted by National
Geographic, Cousteau, with
French engineer Émile Gagnan, invented the Aqua-Lung, a self-contained
breathing system that spawned an entire industry and revolutionized underwater
exploration. Later, with another French engineer, Jean Mollard, Cousteau
designed the saucer-shaped SP‑350 Denise, which used revolutionary water
jets for unparalleled maneuverability and was frequently featured throughout
the series.
Cousteau and the SP‑350 Denise.
Produced by Alan
Landsburg, the series was narrated by Rod Serling
in the United States and by British actor Richard
Johnson in the United Kingdom; however, it is
Serling’s narration that is most identified with the series, in addition to the
Gallic intonations of Cousteau himself. As Serling’s health deteriorated prior
to his passing in 1976, actor Joseph Campanella filled in for the last six
episodes of the U.S. version of the series from 1974-1976.
The camera operators were members of the crew
and experienced divers, including Cousteau’s son Philippe.
Considering the difficult and unforgiving environment in which the crew
operated, the overall production qualities set the gold standard for nature
documentaries, proving that high-quality film under difficult circumstances can
be achieved with a dedicated and professional crew.
The legendary Lalo Schifrin, who composed music for hundreds of films and
TV shows, was assigned those duties for the first special, “Conshelf
Adventure,” but the music for most of the series,
including the iconic theme, is provided by Walter Scharf. Other noted film composers, including Leonard Rosenman,
Kenyon Hopkins,
Lyn Murray,
among others, also contribute music for one or more episodes.
An observant viewer will notice similarities
in the production values of the very fact-based The Undersea World of Jacques
Cousteau and In Search of . . . , the series that “presents information based in
part on theory and conjecture.” In fact, Alan Landsburg, the producer of The
Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, also produced In Search of . . . , even down
to asking Rod Serling to narrate the new series. Serling did host three
television specials produced by Landsburg to test the concept, including In Search of Ancient Astronauts and In Search of Ancient Mysteries, both in 1973, and The Outer Space Connection
in 1975. Serling, however, due to the aforementioned health concerns, was not
able to do the series, so the narration duties fell to Leonard Nimoy. More
information, including the complete series run, is available at Aeolus 13 Umbra: In Search of . . . A Series Retrospective.
At a time when the airwaves are populated by
game shows, reality shows, and a 24-hour news cycle, The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau is the type of programming
we would not likely see on network television today. Cousteau’s environmental
advocacy would also likely put him at odds with various corporations and
governments. Yet, Cousteau was, if nothing else, an indomitable Frenchman. He
was completely committed to his vision of preserving the environment.
On
matters of climate change, overpopulation, pollution, even his faith, Cousteau
never shied away from making his opinions known. He never sold out his name for
profit, even suing his own son over the use of the name for an island resort.
Cousteau built his brand with passion, commitment, intelligence,
and integrity — a rare combination in any era, especially today.
John Denver singing his classic tribute to
Cousteau and his crew, “Calypso” (1977).
This short
segment from The Wonderful World of Disney episode “Magic Highway U.S.A.,”
original airdate May 14, 1958, gives viewers a peak into what was projected to
be the future of transportation. In the immediate years following World War II,
the imagination of engineers and city planners went wild looking ahead and
projecting how technology might develop.
Given that we
went from the first airplane to jets and atomic bombs within a 40-year span,
the predictions took that calculus to anticipate future developments. Some were
way off base, such as the evolution from gasoline engines to gas turbines for
automobiles (very loud and not fuel efficient), but others, such as a proximity
alert system with a head's up display (here described as a radar system), rear-view cameras, and a data feed with road and weather
conditions, a little more spot-on. The glories of a nationwide highway,
only then just being built across America in the 1950s, are touted as
important to the future of commercial and personal transportation.
A collage of scenes from Magic Highway U.S.A.
Baby Boomers
will recognize the voice of narrator Marvin Miller, who had a long acting
career and performed in many Hanna-Barbera and Filmation cartoons during the
1960s and later. Walt Disney, who hosted this episode, had an interest in promoting the planned communities of the
future, and developed the concept that culminated in EPCOT, the Experimental
Prototype Community Of Tomorrow, which Disney envisioned and was later brought
to life at Disney World in 1982.
Speaking of Hanna-Barbera, one can't help but notice similarities between the design of some of the buildings and vehicles in “Magic Highway U.S.A.,” and The Jetsons and wonder if the H-B animators drew some inspiration for the classic animated TV series from this episode.
The Jetsons.
Aeolus 13 Umbra often explores how the past envisioned the future in numerous media reviews in the
Retro-Vision listing of articles under the Historical Essay tab on top this page, such as The Futurists: CBS News — McGraw Hill Educational Film (1967),
The Westinghouse Total Electric Home (1960), and Year 1999A.D. (1967).
Technology has developed along many of the lines discussed in this segment, as
well as far beyond anything they could imagine. While the predictions range
from eerily prescient to wildly off base, these prophetic pieces give an
insight into the hopes and dreams of the era, which were far more
optimistic than how it actually turned out.
Animation
powerhouse Hanna-Barbera dominated Saturday morning cartoons in the 1960s and
1970s. While producing dozens of shows, they all shared a very similar
animation style. Yet, Hanna-Barbera was also capable of extending itself beyond
the strictures commercial television required to create some very wild and
wonderful short pieces, available here from the Aeolus 13 Umbra YouTube channel.
The first
example is a circa 1969 Fanta soda commercial with Peter Max and Yellow Submarine-inspired imagery, showing
Hanna-Barbera was capable of a bit more than the steady fair of similar-looking
Saturday morning cartoons it produced at the time. The exact year of the
commercial is a little unclear. Some sources cite an approximate date range from 1968
through the early 1970s. I went with 1969 for a couple reasons. A well-sourced
Wikipedia list (which I usually loath citing) of Hanna-Barbera commercials puts
it there and since Yellow Submarine
itself (which clearly influenced the commercial’s storyline) wasn’t released
until July 1969 in the UK, and Dec. 1969 in the U.S., it seems unlikely a
commercial influenced by its style could have been produced prior to 1969, though early 1970 could be possible.
One final clue, the
Fanta catch phrase used in the commercial, “Discover a fountain of flavour,” using the British
spelling of flavor with a “u” (spelled as “flavor” in U.S. advertising), suggests this particular version of the commercial
was designed for the United Kingdom, putting it perhaps more squarely in 1969 since Yellow Submarine was released in the UK in July 1969.
A second example
from Hanna-Barbera is not a commercial, but rather a psychedelic anti-drug public
service announcement (PSA). Like the Fanta commercial, various sources place it
in an approximate circa early 1970s release, but the aforementioned list on
Wikipedia cites 1969. With an animation style not dissimilar to the Fanta
commercial, I suspect the same production team may be responsible for both. What
is unique about this commercial is that there is no narration or text on
screen. The visuals alone are expected to convey the message.
The advantage of
adopting visuals that echo a new and popular animation style is that it
immediately connects with the young demographic. The disadvantage of such an
approach is that visual fads and trends in popular culture can quickly become
dated, shortening the shelf-life of such productions. Nevertheless, these two
wonderfully wild psychedelic productions give us a glance into the era and show
that Hanna-Barbara was capable of more than a steady stream of talking animals
and “those meddling kids” cartoons.
