I Wish I Were a Fish

A long, long time ago, I was a kid.

Surprise!

Okay, seriously—I was a kid. I didn’t have free reign regarding television viewing. Had there been remote controls at the time, that thing would have been firmly within Dad’s hand.

Mom had a lot of input regarding what we were watching, though. There was a guide in the paper, and later on she’d get the TV Guide, and there was some back and forth planning that went on between them.

I just know in my heart that Dad would have held the controller, because…gadget.

My parents believed in family fare when it came to television viewing. We grew up watching Lassie, The Andy Griffith Show, Dick Van Dyke, Gunsmoke and Bonanza.

As we got a little older, fare like The Monkees, Lost In Space, The Carol Burnett Show and Dad's favorite, Hee Haw, joined the line-up.

But for family viewing, our favorite thing was a good movie.

I grew up in a town that had cable long before cable was a thing. It was our only option, tucked into a valley as we were. Aerial antennas just didn't work. We had three channels to choose from: ABC, NBC and CBS.

Finding a good movie took some research and planning, but Mom was good at it.

I’m the kid who never knew that The Wizard of Oz was in color until we got our first color television in 1973. By that time I had viewed the movie about once a year every year of my life that I could remember, but seeing it in color for the first time was like seeing the movie for the first time ever.

Television was our window to a wider world, and opened up the doors of fantasy and fun when we were really young. Naturally, over the years, we developed other tastes, but there were favorites that never left our memories.

The Wizard of Oz was one of those. But there was a lesser known movie that we all fell in love with and love to this day.

Because we were exposed weekly to the terribly funny Don Knotts, my parents decided that we should all watch the movie “The Incredible Mr. Limpet” when it aired on television.

It was a bizarre mix of live action and animation that we’d never seen before. There was a protagonist who made the oddest wish ever, and when it came true he became an unlikely war hero. It was delightfully weird.

It became a family favorite.

The 1960s through the end of the 20th Century, we’d run across this movie from time to time on television, and when VHS tapes started to be all the rage, I began to search for the title so I could give the movie as gifts to my siblings.

The search began in stores like Hastings and WalMart and K-Mart, well before I became proficient in online shopping. Stores kept catalogues of titles they were able to order if the product wasn’t in the store, whether you were looking for books, music or movies.

The Incredible Mr. Limpet was never on the list.

I wish…I wish. Every time I’d start a search, I’d sing under my breath: “Be careful what you wish, for wishes can come true.”

But my wish to purchase the movie was a long time coming true!

Time passed and I learned to do online searches. I could find information about the movie—but nothing that would lead me to a place that was marketing it.

It took me years before I could finally, FINALLY purchase a copy of the movie on DVD. I had spent years trying to find VHS, and apparently I can get one now, if I want it.

Frankly, I do still have a VHS tape deck...somwhere. It's been so long since I used it, I don't even know if it works anymore!

I am certainly proud of myself. I'll be presenting it as a Christmas gift.

I have never had such a hard time shopping for a specific gift! And now, I believe I'd better get a copy for myself, before the thing goes away and I can't find it again for another couple of decades.

If you want one, too, you can find it here:

The Incredible Mr. Limpet

Now you don't have to do a twenty-year-long search. You're welcome!

"Wishes can come true...tra la la!"