Jaws on Martha's Vineyard
The Vineyard Gazette Media group is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Jaws in 2025 in several exciting ways.
- The Gazette has dug into our photo archives and worked with Islanders, who have rarely seen photos of the making of the movie to create a special commemorative Jaws 50th Commemorative Magazine ↗, available for pre-order on the Vineyard Gazette Store.
- Our print newspaper will also feature a commemorative Jaws special section about the date the film was released, June 20, 1975.
- Join us for a day-long reunion of Island cast extras with Jaws fans on the lawn of the Martha’s Vineyard Museum on Sunday, June 22nd. The day will feature a meet and greet with actors and extras, memorabilia, vendors, food and music. Tickets are currently available for the Jaws 50th Homecoming Reunion Day ↗.
Pre-order the Jaws 50th Commemorative Magazine
The Vineyard Gazette Media Group proudly presents this commemorative magazine celebrating the 50th anniversary of Jaws. Featuring rare photos, firsthand accounts from Islanders involved in the film, a detailed map of filming locations, and more, this special edition brings the iconic movie's history to life.
Coming mid-May 2025.
The Vineyard Gazette Media Group in collaboration with the Martha’s Vineyard Museum will host a day-long celebration of Jaws this summer, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the movie.
Summer of Jaws
Fifty years ago, when Universal Studios came to Martha’s Vineyard to shoot the seminal movie Jaws, neither side knew what they were getting into – or what they would get out of it.
On Location with Jaws
Fifty years ago, when Universal Studios came to Martha’s Vineyard to shoot the seminal movie Jaws, neither side knew what they were getting into – or what they would get out of it.
From the Archives
July 12, 1974
“We’ll go again,” said the assistant director, Tom Joyner, and into the valley of death waded The 400 with cameras to the right of them, and cameras to the left of them.
July 2, 1974
The rumors about Jaws suddenly turned ugly three weeks ago. There were no more jokes about sharks being released of the Vineyard — the word was that Jaws was in trouble, even in danger of shutting down, because of horrendous cost overruns.
June 14, 1974
Edgartown at any price is a bargain compared to friendly Amity. The white wooden houses of the Vineyard are kept just as neatly as those of Jaws’ picturesque resort; the waters are no less beautiful around the Island; even the inhabitants are similar. But somehow Richard D.
May 31, 1974
The movie production of Jaws continues to roam the Island in much the same manner as a touring medicine show, playing in each of the Island’s towns.
Cast Profiles
July 30, 2024
In 1974, Susan Murphy and her husband Lynn towed the 25-foot-long mechanical shark for the filming of the movie Jaws.
July 30, 2024
Fifty years ago, when Wendy Benchley’s late husband Peter Benchley wrote a novel called Jaws, neither had any idea that it would become a phenomenon.
May 14, 2024
Susan Backlinie, who played the doomed skinny dipper Chrissie Watkins in Jaws, died May 11 at 77. The movie was released in 1975 and Ms. Backlinie became an enduring screen icon as the shark's first victim.
February 27, 2023
Ms. Blake cut a colorful figure in Edgartown society for decades and famously documented the filming of the movie Jaws on Martha’s Vineyard in the summer of 1974.
August 4, 2022
It's hard to miss Wayne Iacono as he sails out of Menemsha harbor.
Notice: This is parody content and not actual news stories.
June 19, 2015
It is plain to me that I, Harry Meadows, will be recalled as the newspaper editor who, having learned of the killing of a woman swimmer a week before the start of the summer season, told the chief of police: "There won't be any story about the attack in the Gazette."
When Dr. Matt Hooper last saw Amity, it was from the deck of the ferry as it sailed toward the mainland. As he remembers it, the day was cloudy and unusually cold for late July.
Amity selectmen announced Thursday a new tax will be imposed on all paraphernalia bearing the image The White Shark. Beginning July 1, all merchants will be required to pay an additional 2 per cent to the town for all items sold with the shark.
Reported sightings of Portuguese man-o-war off the Amity south shore continued last weekend when an off-Island woman came out of the water with "stinging lesions" on her arms and legs.
It looks like real estate agents on Amity will have reason to smile again this summer: rentals for July and August are on pace to top last year's total of 16 — the highest in almost 30 years.