Clint and Maggie at Marineland of the Pacific

I’ve had this nice collection of photos for some time now, and been trying to pin down a specific time when they were taken. It’s been an incredibly hard job to even find a year. I think it is probably safe to assume they date from the Rawhide period, especially as someone thought it might be a good idea to place a toy pistol in Clint’s hand for some of the poses. I doubt very much that Clint would have been the focus of such attention simply on the strength of his (then) minor film roles or bit parts.

Nevertheless, these are a great collection featuring Clint and Maggie on a summer break to Marineland of the Pacific. Marineland was a public oceanarium and tourist attraction located on the Palos Verdes Peninsula coast in Los Angeles County, California. It operated from 1954 until 1987, when it was purchased by the owners of SeaWorld San Diego. When it opened in 1954, one year before Disneyland, Marineland of the Pacific was the world's largest oceanarium.

Its place in Film and TV history:

While still in operation, the park was prominently featured in several television shows, including two episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies, The Munsters, The Partridge Family, Hart to Hart, The Six Million Dollar Man, Emergency!, The Colbys, Wonder Woman, Sea Hunt, and later, Simon & Simon and an A Team episode a year before the park closed. Two episodes of The Chevy Show were taped there with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans featuring an "Aquarodeo" on May 1, 1960 and January 15, 1961. In an episode of the Lucy Show, Lucille Ball falls into a Marineland animal exhibit which was featured on the August 28, 1965 cover of TV Guide. In 1958, Dixieland jazz artist Red Nichols recorded a live album at Marineland. In an episode of Wonderbug, titled Fish Story, Marineland was integral to the plot. Marineland was also briefly featured in the Charles Bronson film, The Mechanic, the Elvis Presley film, Live a Little, Love a Little, and the John Carradine film "Blood of Dracula's Castle". The "Poor Little Kangaroo Rat" episode of "Route 66" starring Martin Milner and George Maharis was filmed there with guest stars Ronny Howard, Leslie Nielsen, Maggie Pierce, and Joanne Linville which was in season 3.

Since its closing, scenes for several feature films have been shot at the location, including the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films, Charlie's Angels, Inspector Gadget, Fun with Dick and Jane, Pearl Harbor, The Aviator, Hidalgo, and Life as a House. For the latter, the suburban neighbourhood exterior was entirely constructed from scratch on the site, as it was for Fun with Dick and Jane. Mel Gibson's trailer was parked at the bottom of the cliff for Lethal Weapon 2.