Flipper, from Ivan Tors Films in association with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television, is an American television program first broadcast on NBC from September 19th, 1964, until April 15th, 1967.

Flipper, a bottlenose dolphin, is the companion animal of Porter Ricks, Chief Warden at fictional Coral Key Park and Marine Preserve in southern Florida, and his two young sons, Sandy and Bud.  The show has been dubbed an “aquatic Lassie“, and a considerable amount of juvenile merchandise inspired by the show was produced during its first-run.

The television show is an adaptation of the 1963 film Flipper starring Chuck Connors and Luke Halpin as Porter and Sandy Ricks, and its 1964 sequel, Flipper’s New Adventure, where Brian Kelly took over the role of Porter.  In adapting the films to a television series, the producers made Porter a single parent and gave him a second son, Bud, played by Tommy Norden.  The producers departed yet again from the films in endowing Flipper with an unnatural degree of intelligence and an extraordinary understanding of human motives, behavior, and vocabulary.  The show was created by Jack Cowden and Ricou Browning, a man with extensive experience in underwater filming and underwater performance, notably as the monster in The Creature from the Black Lagoon.  In Browning’s second filmed portrayal of the Creature, Revenge of the Creature, a scene showcases one of the film’s shooting locations, Marineland of Florida (depicted with a fictionalized name), presenting several stunts performed by “Flippy, the Intelligent Porpoise”, in a form of product placement.

Flipper was filmed in Miami at Greenwich Studios (formerly Ivan Tors Studios) at 12100 Ivan Tors Boulevard in Miami, Florida, USA.  Nassau was an occasional location.  The show was produced in cooperation with Miami Seaquarium, an aquarium located on Key Biscayne in Miami.  Miami Seaquarium has the Flipper Show; a dolphin show in the lagoon that served as the film location for the show.  The Miami Seaquarium set where Flipper was filmed also served as the set of another Ivan Tors production, Gentle Ben; the house where the Ricks family lived was the same house used for the Wedloe family on Gentle Ben.  Flipper was moved to Jimbo’s Shrimp/aka Jimbo’s Place located across from Miami Seaquarium into the care and exercise of Jimbo aka James Luznar Sr.  Flipper lived in a pen in the cove behind Jimbo’s shrimp.

Flipper was played at first by a female dolphin named Susie, though primarily by another female, Kathy, and occasionally by other females named Patty, Scotty and Squirt.  Female dolphins were chosen because they are less aggressive than males and their skins (unlike the skins of male dolphins) are usually free from scars and other disfigurations acquired in altercations with other dolphins.  The five dolphins performed all of Flipper’s scenes except the famous tail walk, a trick they were unable to master completely.  A male dolphin named Clown was brought in for scenes involving the tail walk.  The famous “voice” of Flipper was actually the doctored song of a kookaburra.