{"id":427057,"date":"2026-10-13T23:32:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T23:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/427057\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T23:32:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T23:32:27","slug":"floridas-place-in-cinema-history-is-focus-of-new-exhibit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/427057\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida&#8217;s place in cinema history is focus of new exhibit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WAKULLA SPRINGS, Fla. \u2014 From natural wonders of Wakulla Springs to the historic shuffleboard courts in St. Petersburg, the Sunshine State is enshrined in the art of cinema.<\/p>\n<p>The Tampa Bay History Center\u2019s latest exhibition, <a href=\"https:\/\/tampabayhistorycenter.org\/exhibit\/cinema-in-the-sunshine-state\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">&#8220;Cinema in the Sunshine State: Florida\u2019s Film Legacy,&#8221;<\/a> open through March 2027, reminds us of the movies throughout the decades shot in the Tampa Bay area and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>Registrar Mackenzie Pizzio curated the exhibition, which starts at the turn of the 20th century.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was supposed to be kind of like a Hollywood here,\u201d said Pizzio.<\/p>\n<p>And film crews took advantage of Florida\u2019s wild spaces, giving them a starring role in dozens of films.<\/p>\n<p>The sponge industry of Tarpon Springs stars in 1953\u2019s \u201cBeneath the 12-Mile Reef.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The exhibit shows actual artifacts from the industry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we\u2019re trying to bridge a little bit of that movie history with real life,\u201d said Pizzio.<\/p>\n<p>And there\u2019s the classic monster movie \u2014 1954\u2019s \u201cCreature from the Black Lagoon,\u201d also known as \u201cA Florida man in a gill-man costume swimming in Wakulla Springs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo not only was it filmed here, but the underwater actor for the creature was from Florida,\u201d said Pizzio. \u201cThey needed an actor who could stay underwater for long periods of time and wouldn\u2019t get scared by the underwater world of Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And one simply cannot talk about movies right now without the Tampa Theatre, which is <a href=\"https:\/\/baynews9.com\/fl\/tampa\/news\/2026\/10\/07\/tampa-theatre-set-to-celebrate-100-years--show-off-changes\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">about to hit its century mark<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Historian Rodney Kite-Powell is the director of the Touchton Map Library at the history center.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd so we are very fortunate to have, among our Tampa Theatre artifacts, an original program from opening night, Oct. 15, 1926. So almost exactly 100 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And Florida\u2019s love affair with the movies goes back even further.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo whether it\u2019s sponge diving, cigar making, even just performing and singing that are all quintessential parts of Tampa and Florida\u2019s culture,\u201d said Pizzio.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a short, incomplete list of Florida films:<\/p>\n<p>Where the Boys Are<br \/>\nCocoon<br \/>\nJaws 2<br \/>\nEdward Scissorhands<br \/>\nBeneath the 12-Mile Reef<br \/>\nTarzan finds a Son<br \/>\nThe Punisher<br \/>\nCreature from the Black Lagoon<br \/>\nFlipper<br \/>\nThe Bell Boy<br \/>\nEasy to Love<br \/>\nOperation Petticoat<br \/>\nJoe Panther Follow that Dream<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WAKULLA SPRINGS, Fla. \u2014 From natural wonders of Wakulla Springs to the historic shuffleboard courts in St. Petersburg,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[104,28,115,4094,7149,139,135,137,136,7148,835],"class_list":["post-427057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-entertainment","tag-florida","tag-news","tag-on-the-town","tag-on-the-town-app","tag-orlando","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-virginia-johnson","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}