The Martha’s Vineyard Museum opened its largest exhibit yet on Saturday which dives deeply into the history of the movie Jaws to commemorate its 50th anniversary. The movie hit screens on June 20, 1975.

The exhibit includes movie props, fan-made art and a life-size replica of Bruce the Shark’s head — the infamous mechanical beast that devours many in the film. 

It also features stories of Islanders who had roles in the film, either on-screen or as part of the film crew. The infamous theme song adds an ominous touch in each room.

The exhibit rings the opening bell for a summer of Jaws-anniversary activities that will take place all over the Island, including an Amity Homecoming Weekend hosted by the museum from June 19 to 23. During the weekend fans of the movie can meet Joe Alves, the film’s production designer, and Christopher Shaw Myers, the nephew of Robert Shaw who played the grizzled shark hunter Quint in the film. 

An opening reception for the exhibit was held last week. — Ray Ewing

Wendy Benchley, the wife of Peter Benchley, who wrote the the novel the film was based on and the screenplay with Carl Gottlieb, will give a talk about her half-century career advocating for the protection of sharks.

The Vineyard Gazette will also host a day-long festival on June 22 in collaboration with the museum where fans can hear from locals who took part in the filmmaking, and see movie memorabilia up close. 

A free screening at the Martha’s Vineyard Performing Arts Center of Jaws @ 50, a documentary made by National Geographic and Amblin Documentaries, will take place on June 20.  

The museum’s exhibit continues all summer long, through Sept. 7. The curators of the exhibit, Anna Barber and Kate Logue, said they have been collecting movie props and archival materials since last year to tell the story of the fictional Amity Island.

“It felt like the right exhibit for the biggest we’ve ever done,” Ms. Barber said.

A major set piece is the replica of Bruce the shark’s head, which looms large in the museum’s downstairs, the ripples of its tongue and the ridges of its sharp teeth clearly visible. 

“We couldn’t do an exhibit about Bruce without Bruce,” Ms. Barber said.

Ms. Barber said during filming the crew had five versions of the shark that were all crafted at Universal Studios in California and transported across the country to Martha’s Vineyard. The collective shark was named Bruce after director Steven Spielberg’s lawyer. 

The replica of Bruce’s head was based on extensive research by the Arcana Workshop in Barre, Vt., which used traditional modeling techniques to make it as life-like as possible.

In an ironic twist, the truck transporting the replica broke down and was stuck off-Island delaying the shark head’s arrival. The incident mirrored the continual malfunctions during filming of the orginal Bruce models.

This is the largest exhibit ever at the museum. — Ray Ewing

“I think if everything went well and everything went right, I don’t think it would have been as good a movie,” said Ms. Barber, referencing how Mr. Spielberg had to adapt during filming due to the mechanical mishaps so the audience ended up seeing less of the actual shark, perhaps making the film more ominous and frightening.

Upstairs at the exhibit is a 25-foot diagram of a great white shark. The image stretches across the entire hallway. 

Lining a wall are 1973 concept sketches, showing Mr. Alves’ earliest visions for the shark. Nearby, a display shows a shark tooth mold the filmmakers used to give the shark its ferocious grin.

“One of the Islanders who we’ve got an oral history with, talked about how it was his job, at the end of the day, to make a new batch of teeth,” Ms. Logue said. “He’d often come back in the morning and [find] the biggest one was missing.... It was because people were stealing it.”

The curators said they knew from the beginning that they wanted to convey how the fictional setting of Amity Island is so intertwined with Martha’s Vineyard. The Menemsha dock, Edgartown streets, Chappaquiddick beaches and the Aquinnah Circle all helped set the look and tone of the movie.

“One of the things that we wanted to drive home with this exhibit is that essentially, there would be no Jaws without Martha’s Vineyard and the people of Martha’s Vineyard,” Ms. Barber said. 

One room highlights locals who were instrumental in the filming. The curators said the film crew from Los Angeles wasn’t familiar with the Island’s tides and rocky shores, which made filming on the water difficult. The exhibit puts Islanders in the spotlight, like Roy Campbell, who was hired to drive a support boat during the ocean scenes, and Lynn Murphy, whose marine repair skills helped the crew fix mechanical issues with the sea-sled shark props.

It also features behind-the-scenes photographs by Edith (Edie) Blake, a Vineyard Gazette reporter who captured on camera each step of the filming process.

Archival oral history interviews by Linsey Lee for the Martha’s Vineyard Museum bring Vineyard voices into the exhibit. In a 2012 interview, Lee Fierro talks with Ms. Lee about her audition for Mrs. Kitner, who slaps Amity Island’s police chief Martin Brody after her son was killed by the shark. Ms. Fierro impressed director Steven Spielberg during her audition and is remembered for bringing one of the film’s most emotional scenes to life.

Wendy Benchley, the wife of Jaws author Peter Benchley, will attend events this summer. — Ray Ewing

Other oral history interviews by Ms. Lee in the mid-90s are with Craig Kingsbury, who played local fisherman Ben Gardner, telling stories about his experiences working on coastal shipping vessels. 

Mr. Kingsbury’s character dies in the film, and his pale and lifeless head makes a shocking appearance in one of the scenes. One of the two original models of his head is displayed.

A plethora of props are featured throughout, including an up-close view of the harpoon gun Quint used to attempt to kill the great white. A fan-made replica of the infamous shark fishing vessel, The Orca, rests nearby.

Ms. Barber’s favorite room is one that includes diagrams informed by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy in Chatham that give a fuller picture of sharks, rather than just the killing machine depicted in Jaws. 

“There’s more to Bruce than the blind killing machine that was portrayed in the movie,” Ms Barber said. 

The curators said it was a challenge to craft the exhibit since the fan-base of Jaws is so robust. They wanted to create something that both locals and the most devout fans from all over the world would enjoy.

“Sometimes people just need to experience magic, wonder or nostalgia...” Ms. Barber said. “The timing of this where we can just sort of step back and forget, and live in this world of Amity for a little bit, I think is needed.”