Flipper: The Beloved Dolphin Show That Put the Florida Keys on the Map
Before anyone had heard of SeaWorld or swum with dolphins on a resort excursion, a low-budget 1963 film shot in the Florida Keys turned a bottlenose dolphin into the most famous marine animal in movie history.
Flipper tells the story of a 12-year-old boy living on the coast of the Florida Keys who rescues an injured dolphin and forms a bond that changes both their lives. Directed by James B. Clark and produced by Ivan Tors, the film was shot on location in Grassy Key near Marathon, with underwater sequences directed by Ricou Browning, the same man who swam in the rubber suit for Creature from the Black Lagoon a decade earlier.
The real star was Mitzi, a female bottlenose dolphin trained by Milton Santini at his marine facility in Grassy Key (now the Dolphin Research Center, where a statue of Mitzi still stands). The film’s success spawned a beloved TV series that ran from 1964 to 1967 and cemented the Florida Keys as the place Americans picture when they think of dolphins, turquoise water, and barefoot kids living the coastal dream. If you visit Marathon today, Flipper’s legacy is still everywhere.
