Jaws Producers Find Amity Expensive Town

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. Zanuck and David Brown, the producers of Jaws, are running through about $30,000 a day in their imaginary town, rain or shine, film or no film. Last week they paused in their spree to explain that they didn’t even consider themselves big spenders.

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An Extra’s Eye View of Jaws: A Catalogue of Dedicated Atmosphere People

The first day on the set we were extras. On the second day we were promoted to atmosphere people. The money is the same and the duties hardly ever vary: stand and wait; work and wait; relax and wait.

Bill O’Gorman soon learned the facts of life. “Ready for shooting in half a minute really means half an hour,” he says, and he is seldom wrong.

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Here in Amity, We’re Jowl-Deep in Jaws: For Fragrant Reasons the Movie Island Shudders on Arrival of the Great Salt Shark

The organized madness which has been afloat and ashore continued throughout the week as the plot unfolded in Jaws. There’s a contagiousness to the mood of the opus, and Islanders steadily stopped by to spectate when the filming was on the Norton and Easterbrooks’ dock and peered anxiously seaward when it was not.

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“Quaint” Island Ripe for Shark Savagery and Big Movie Stardom

Since news broke that a film crew from Universal Studios would be making a movie on the Vineyard during the next two months, a subtle primping has been in the March wind. A few fishermen who are rarely seen in working togs have been hanging around Edgartown’s Main street with a cultivated crustiness. Waning Shakespeareans crib for an impromptu audition and casually mutter Falstaff speeches in grocery lines. Archtypal New Englanders develop brooding into a form of showmanship.

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Peter Benchley ­— the Author as Observer

Peter Benchley, Author of Jaws, was in town this week. He came not to oversee the movie production of his book but to play a minor role in it. Richard D. Zantuck, one of the producers, called the tall, handsome former newscaster last Monday and asked him if he would like to make his debut as the newscaster on the beach in amity. Mr. Benchley — who fancies himself more like Hooper, the shark expert — was on the set two days later, collecting wages.

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Jaws Opens in Its Birthplace, to Capacity Benefit Audiences

Jaws, a film starring Martha’s Vineyard and a polyurethane shark named Bruce, will have its first showings tonight on the Island which was its birthplace.

Both screenings, in the Island Theatre, Oak Bluffs, at 7 and again at 9:30 p.m., have been sold out for a week to audiences that will total 1,000 and pay premium prices ($10 and $15) to have the wits scared out of them. The showings, sponsored as a benefit by the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital auxiliary, will net some $9,500 to the hospital’s support, said Curtis Collision Jr., director of its sustaining fund.

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The Great White Shark You See Is Mechanical

Complete with a mechanical shark, underwater footage already shot in Australia and many dollars for the Island’s spring and summer economy, a film crew from Universal Studios will shoot a movie on the Island between late April and July. The story of a rampaging great white shark terrorizing a seaside resort, the film will be directed by Stephen Stielberg, whom producer William Gilmore calls “One of the most talented bright young (26) directors in America”.

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A Night for Celebration — JAWS Begins at Its Beginnings

It was a night for celebrating. The sky was clear, and the waxing moon was in competition with the stars of the sky, the stars of the screen, and the stars of the Island, and into this perfect setting (or set) went Islanders in best bib and tucker to see the premiere of their very own movie, Jaws.

It had to be a benefit, (these big things always turn into benefits) and it had to be for the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital because that needs more money than other Island organizations.

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Next Week’s Jaws’ Week of the Fourth on State Beach

No matter what the calendar says about this, next week is the Fourth of July on the State Beach. All week, maybe even starting tomorrow if the weather is fine, Universal Studios will be filming the last sequences on land of Jaws — Monday the Fourth, Tuesday the Fourth, Wednesday...

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From Menemsha to Harthaven Goes the Reel World of Jaws

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.

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