Castle Films presents “The Whale that Became a Star“ (:09-:16), a souvenir documentary produced in 1960 by Castle Films at the Marineland of the Pacific. The film features Bubbles the pilot whale, who died in 2016 at Sea World, which was her home after Marineland closed. Pilot whales, which have rounded heads and mouthlines that curve upward to resemble a smile, are part of the dolphin family and are smaller than orcas, or killer whales. Pilots live in pods of 20 or 90 animals, and are about as intelligent as dolphins. Weighing roughly 3,000 pounds (1,360kg) and measuring 15 feet (5m) long, Bubbles was considered the “grande dame” of SeaWorld. She was known for her ability to jump out of the water and spin at great speed. Her death in her mid-1950s, roughly ten years short of the average lifespan of a similar whale in the wild, rekindled calls by animal rights activists for Sea World to stop holding whales and other sea creatures in captivity. Film begins at Marineland with a dolphin show. A dolphin jumps th
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