Movies of Marine Studios

Woman viewing marine life within the oceanarium. Each window was meant to mimic the effect of a television screen, 1946.

Photoprint, State Archives of Florida,FloridaMemory, https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/66916, accessed December 8, 2015. 

 

Long before film was brought to the big screen, it was utilized for science. Film was originally used by scientists to slow down animal movements for further analysis, as well as to share scientific discoveries. Prior to creating Marine Studios, William Douglas Burden created a unique exhibit in the Hall of Animals. Rather than the traditional stationary staging of animals the American Museum of Natural History was known for, Burden's exhibit allowed viewers to experience the movement of animals and images. 

Burden was a noted adventurer and game hunter who often funded his own expeditions to gather pieces for the museum. One of his most famous expeditions was to the remote Komodo Island to capture dragons to put on display in the United States. Burden's trip took place in 1926 and many of his experiences were caught on camera. Burden, along with Ilia Tolstoy, another trustee of the museum lemented the fact that nature living in the depths of the ocean could not also be caputured on film--and thus the men set out to make their dreams a reality. 

Although a movie studio conjures thoughts of entertainment, the studio was founded on strong scientific values. In fact, according to Gregg Mitman in his article “Cinematic Nature: Hollywood Technology, Popular Culture, and the American Museum of Natural History,” film was originally designed as a scientific tool. Mitman explained that film was used to record animal movements so that they could be analyzed at a slower pace. In the 1920s, film was also considered a popular method for sharing scientific findings. It was not until Hollywood began disseminating film for the purpose of entertainment that people began viewing it as an entertainment medium. Thereafter, the connotation of film being a form of entertainment could not be breached, no matter how scientific the content.

Burden in particular did not want any distractions from the animals that would be on display at Marine Studios. The studio was designed so that guests would be let into a dimly lit room and able to look at marine life through small rectangular portholes; this was meant to simulate watching television in one’s home. Burden thought that this would be the most effective way for people to observe animals in a serious manner and fully appreciate them. Upon learning that a crew from MGM wanted to include attractive women in a video promoting Marine Studios, Burden reacted in an irate manner “Marine Studios is a serious scientific enterprise . . . where visitors may observe undersea life.... Diving girls are hardly in keeping with such an enterprise.”