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‘‘It was the best job I ever had in my life.’’
That was how Bill Zeiler described his five years as chief diver at Marineland.
The attraction celebrates its 60th anniversary today, and Zeiler, Frank McCallum and Mildred Harmon will be special guests at today’s anniversary festivities. All three were employees at Marineland in the early days of the oceanarium. And, as such, will have the honor of cutting the birthday cake during a special ceremony at noon.
The public will have a chance to join the celebration: Admission at Marineland has been rolled back today only to the same price it was on the day the doors opened on June 23, 1938 — $1.10.
Zeiler actually began work at the Marine Studios site — as it was known then — as a construction worker in 1937, making $3 a week.
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State: Endangered attraction
"They want to tear the place down. They want the dolphins and, by privatizing the city, they can do what they want," Wright said.
Connell, sitting across A1A in an abandoned restaurant that has been converted into offices, says that's not what she or developer Jim Jacoby have in mind.
"We've gotten horrendous press as this big bad developer, but that's not who we are," Connell said.
Although no plans have been formally announced or approved, Connell says the land around Marineland will become an "Eco-village." She describes a dolphin therapy center for handicapped children, using four dolphins the company has leased from the attraction. Developers also are talking about a village around a town center, much like Seaside Village in the Florida Panhandle. And a refurbished marina.
Connell, a 38-year-old Florida native, hopes the Marineland park can stay open, but she worries how it will deal with the $9.7-million in bonds that it must repay.
"There's a question of what to do about the attraction," she says. "It's on the verge of bankruptcy."
She doesn't like the plan floated by Wright, LaPort and David Internoscia, the park's general manager. They want to levy Marineland's first-ever property taxes to help pay the bond bill. The only possible taxpayer in the city is Jacoby Development.
more fromwww.sptimes.com
Orange & Blue Magazine: Tides of Change
Marineland served as a research facility during World War II, closing its doors to the public from 1941 to 1946, when the government used the facility as a training center for combat dogs. They also produced shark repellents for military surival kits. Scientists searched for bait that scientists would not attack, analyze it and extracted from it the offensive chemical ingredients. Then, they reproduced these chemicals in a packet that sealed on to life preservers.
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Marineland Of Florida Marine Studios
Photos of the demolition
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Regional Sites Results
The world’s first oceanarium and underwater motion picture studio, Marineland opened in June, 1938, on a narrow strip of land between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intercoastal Highway. With the American military involvement in World War II in December, 1941, Marineland closed to the public. However, the U.S. Coast Guard used the facility for training of combat dogs. Government-contracted research on a shark repellent resulted in the development of a product included in sea survival kits used by downed Army and Navy pilots.
Count Ilia Tolstoy, one of the original founders of Marineland and grandson of the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, left during the war to become President Roosevelt’s personal representative to the Dalai Lama in Tibet.
After extensive work and approximately $250,000 in expense, Marineland returned to full operation by May 1946.
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