It was on September 18. 1964 families sat together in thier living rooms and watched for the first time on NBC this entertaining dolphin named "Flipper." America fell in love,...
The show was created by Ricou Browning and Jack Cowden, who incidently had exstensive experience in underwater performance and underwater filming !!! Ricou Browning was the guy who played as The Creature from the Black Lagoon in all the underwater scenes.
The series plot couldn't of better better written, it had it all. Flipper the wild pet and companion to Porter Ricks (Brian Kelly), the park warden at the Coral key park and Marine Preserve and his two boys named Sandy (Luke Halpin) and Bud (Tommy Norden). Flipper was is own park warden in the many ways he could spot and capture the bad guys and thugs, for he was very capable and intelligent. He also took special care of Bud, the youngest of boys, often rescuing him and taking him to safty when he got in areas he shouldnt of been in. (That's why Flipper had been dubbed an "aquatic Lassie") Flipper also put on a awesome display when he'd tailwag on top of the water and we seemed as if we understood what he was saying with each squeek.
Did You Know,.....
The "voice" of Flipper was actually not the squeeks of a dolphin, but the work of a doctored song of a kookaburra !!! Thats right, the kookaburra are famous for their unmistakable call, which sounds like a human laughing.
Flipper was filmed in Miami Florida, but what most people don't know it that Flipper was actually played by 5 female dolphins and occassionly 1 male dolphin. The first female to play flipper was Suzy, however another dolphin named Kathy played most of the rolls with the added help of Patty, Scotty and Squirt. Those 5 females were chosen because female dolphins have less scarring and also they are less aggressive than the males. The females did all the tricks however the had to bring in a male dolphin named Clown to do the tail walk tricks. The series ran until April 15th, 1967.
You can watch many of the "Flipper" episodes over at: http://www.hulu.com
“We do not need to reflect too long before we realize that all beings spontaneously look for happiness and try to avoid suffering.” – Dalai Lama
ReplyDelete“We need to develop a sense of equanimity towards all living beings, expressed through the ability to relate to all others equally.” – Dalai Lama
“There’s about as much educational benefit studying dolphins in captivity as there would be studying mankind by only observing prisoners held in solitary.” – Jacques Cousteau
Flipper was trained by Ric O'Barry, the star of The Cove which one the Academy Award for best documentary in 2010. Scientists have determined that dolphins are of such a high intelligence that they should be treated as non-human persons. Flipper was in captivity for so long that she was very depressed. You can read more on what happened to Flipper Here.
ReplyDeleteIt always a good time when you're with those friendly mammals. Try whale watching oban and it will also be a different and memorable experience.
ReplyDelete