A Watershed Moment in Film History: The 50th Anniversary of Jaws - Part 2

 "It's Only An Island If You Look At It From The Water" - "Jaws" and Martha's Vineyard 

Top: the iconic intersection in Jaws' Amity island

Bottom: The author and his wife, Michelle,

at the filming location on Martha's Vineyard in 2015.

By Michael Lyons

Walking onto Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts is like stepping back in time and onto the set of Jaws. My wife, Michelle, and I traveled to Martha's Vineyard ten years ago this summer. We took part in one of the Island's "Jaws Tours," which takes visitors to different spots used as filming locations in Steven Spielberg's iconic film.

What we learned on the tour is that The Martha's Vineyard Commission seeks to preserve historic buildings on the island. This means that a majority of the buildings have remained untouched since Jaws was filmed there in 1974, and everything looks "frozen in time" from the movie itself.

In addition to the island being a beautiful, picturesque spot to visit and vacation, going to Martha's Vineyard is absolutely magical for a Jaws Fan.

Martha's Vineyard's first encounter with Jaws occurred not during the summer when the film takes place but in December of 1973 when producers David Brown and Richard D. Zanuck came to the island to scout locations for filming.

Filming was scheduled to begin on May 2, 1974. There were hopes that the filming would start so early that it wouldn't disrupt the all-important tourist season, but it lasted through October, with many extras who were supposed to be swimming during the heat of summer, shivering on the shoreline in early fall.

Several locals were used in key roles in the film, including Lee Fierro as Mrs. Kintner (who slaps Chief Brody across the face).

In author Matt Taylor's book Jaws: Memories of Martha's Vineyard, Todd Rebello, an extra in the film, recalled: "There was a level of excitement, but the production wasn't billed as 'the big boys are coming to town.' Not many people on the island had heard of the actors or director, so I don't think we understood the magnitude of what was coming."

Since the filming, and especially since Jaws has exploded in popularity, Martha's Vineyard has fully embraced their role as the real-life Amity Island. Martha's Vineyard is filled with souvenirs, references to Jaws in shops and bars, and, of course, movie-themed tours of the island.

This summer, for the film's fiftieth anniversary, Martha's Vineyard is hosting "Amity Homecoming Weekend," from June 19-23 (for more info, click here)

All evidence of how much the production of Jaws has had an impact on this small New England island. This is best summed up best by author Edith Blake in her book On Location on Martha's Vineyard (The Making of the Movie Jaws). She wrote about what it was like when the movie production concluded: 

"As the last shout echoed in the harbor, outsized brand-new trucks arrived, and before the week was out, Jaws was gone.

...everyone was hoping the movie would be a success so they could watch it for years on the Late Show.

Not a sign was left (except perhaps in bank accounts) that an effort similar to a small war had been waged on Martha's Vineyard."

The production of Jaws was indeed that "war," filled with many battles before it made it to the screen. However, that's a story for Part 3, next week...

 

For more of my articles, podcasts and books, head over to: Words From Lyons

 

Sources: 

Blake, Edith, On Location on Martha's Vineyard (The Making of the Movie Jaws), Bunch of Grapes Press, 1975.

Taylor, Matt, Jaws: Memories of Martha's Vineyard, Titan Books, 2011

A Watershed Moment in Film History: The 50th Anniversary of Jaws - Part 1

By the Book -  How "Jaws" Swam from Page to Screen

Left to right: The cover of the first edition

of the novel Jaws, and the Jaws movie poster.

by Michael Lyons

Movies changed forever on June 20, 1975. That's the day Jaws debuted in theaters.

The iconic story of a great white shark terrorizing the waters of the small New England town of Amity Island transformed the movie industry and how we go to the movies forever.

Hard as it is to believe, this June marks the 50th anniversary of Jaws. This momentous milestone deserves to be celebrated in a big way. With that, this is the first of a five-part article looking back at Jaws and its impact on film history and pop culture. This initial article starts with where Jaws began - as a book and how it made its way to the screen.

"Might make a good movie." With that statement, David Brown, who co-produced Jaws with Richard D. Zanuck, first discovered Peter Benchley's book. Brown's wife, Helen Gurley Brown, was the editor of Cosmopolitan, and Jaws the book was being reviewed by the magazine. "Might make a good movie," was how the book editor described Jaws on a small card that Brown came across.

Zanuck and Brown immediately sought out Benchley's book. Each read it in a single day and secured the rights in 1973, a year before Jaws was published.

The novel was Benchley's first, and before it was published, the author noted in a 2005 introduction to his book that he had anything but high hopes for his work: "As Jaws was being readied for publication, my ambitions for it were modest, to say the least. I knew it couldn't possibly be commercially successful. For one thing, it was a first novel, and, with rare exceptions like Gone with the Wind, first novels tended to languish, unread, on bookstore shelves. For another, it was a first novel about a fish, and I couldn't think of any novels about fish that had achieved critical or commercial success. Furthermore, I knew for certain that no one would ever make a movie from the book because it was impossible to catch and train a great white shark, and movie-making technology was nowhere near good enough to create a believable model or mechanical version."

Not only would that movie be made, but Benchley would adapt his book into the film's screenplay. However, when a young filmmaker by the name of Steven Spielberg came aboard the project, he wanted to jettison many of the novel's subplots - such as the mob taking over Amity Island and an affair between Hooper and Mrs. Brody - and focus on the shark.

After several other writers declined to work on the script revisions for Jaws, Spielberg turned to his friend, Carl Gottlieb, who, up to this point, had worked mainly on TV sitcoms like The Odd Couple and All in the Family.

In his book, The Jaws Log, which details the making of the film, Gottlieb wrote about his reaction after reading the initial draft of the script: "...I sent Steven a long note, outlining my reactions. I thought it would make a great popular entertainment. I expressed fears that it would turn into another Poseidon Adventure or Airport, with cardboard characters doing plastic things, and I expressed hope that if it realized its full potential, the oceans of the world would be as devoid of swimmers as showers were after Alfred Hitchcock had Janet Leigh stabbed to death in the Bates Motel in Psycho."

Gottlieb, also an actor, would play the role of newspaper reporter Harry Meadows in Jaws, which was shot on location in Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts in 1974.

Hollywood would invade that tiny island just south of Cape Cod. The great white shark and the film's production are memories that Martha's Vineyard still embraces to this very day.

But, that's a story for Part 2, next week... 

For more of my articles, podcasts and books, head over to Words From Lyons !

Sources: Benchley, Peter, Jaws, Random House, 1974, 2005

               Gottlieb, Carl, The Jaws Log, Newmarket Press, 1975

 

 

Merriment with Mom: Funny Quotes by Mothers and About Mothers from Classic TV Sitcoms

 by Michael Lyons    

There's nothing funny about all that mothers do, and have done, for us. As we get ready to celebrate Mother's Day this Sunday, we could all agree that every day should be Mother's Day.

The philosophy, the wisdom and the love that moms give us stays in our lives, forever, and some classic TV sitcoms have found their own way to put a humorous, and loving spin, on them:

 

"I detest sounding like one of those mothers who think they know it all, but unfortunately, I do. "- Endora (Agnes Moorehead) on Bewitched.

"I was five years old before I knew my father could talk. You know the first thing he said? 'Listen to your mother.'" - Rhoda (Valerie Harper), The Mary Tyler Moore Show (and eventually her own show, Rhoda).

 "It's my job to set boundaries, and your job to negotiate to change them." - Elyse Keaton to her kids on Family Ties.

 "Making a child is the easy part. The hard part is everything that comes after. Keeping them safe, making sacrifices for them. And standing by them even when they let you down." - Gloria (Sofia Vergara) on Modern Family.

"If you can raise three kids who can knock out and hog-tie a perfect stranger, you must be doing something right." - Marge Simpson (Julie Kavner) on The Simpsons.

 

All these quotes are perfect reminders to have some fun, have some laughs and have a Happy Mother's Day!

For more of my articles, podcasts and books, head over to Words From Lyons

 

 

A Galaxy Gone By: Memories of "The Empire Strikes Back," 45 Years Later

Fans wait in line outside the Loews Theatre

in New York City, to see The Empire Strikes Back,

In May of 1980.

 

by Michael Lyons 

"Something happens, and I cannot tell you what it is!"

"Aw, c'mon! Tell me!"

"Nope...I can't!"

I remember this conversation with my friend, Steve, when I returned from seeing Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back forty-five years ago this summer.

Steve wasn't going to see it for another few days, and I was one of the lucky ones who convinced my parents to see one of the most eagerly anticipated sequels of all time. Steve wanted details, and I refused to give them.

Long before spoilers were a thing, I wasn't giving any. There was no way I could tell Steve that - and I still feel the need to type "spoiler alert" in front of this - Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father.

But I can remember the reaction in the theater. There wasn't a gasp as those shown in 1980 videos that have circulated on YouTube...but I do remember whispers and murmurs. I remember my dear Mom, who didn't know a thing about Star Wars but was there because I wanted to go, turning to me after the revelation and asking, "Is that bad?"

I also remember that summer, thirteen going on fourteen, I was among the many kids who were lucky enough to have seen the original Star Wars in theaters, and the anticipation in the months leading up to the release of Empire was agonizing.

Seeing those first pictures of the Stormtroopers in the snow of a place called Hoth and the offbeat way the title logo appeared on posters: "Star The Empire Strikes Back Wars," piqued my interest. There was talk of this character, Yoda, but long before the internet, there were no pictures of the character to be found. And Yoda would be performed by Frank Oz of The Muppets? What the heck did this all mean?!?

A newspaper ad for

The Empire Strikes Back.

Then, the movie opened. In New York, it opened over Memorial Day Weekend in New York City, in a limited release, and would not be coming to neighborhood theaters (like mine on Long Island) for several weeks. Tried as I might, I couldn't talk my parents into driving into the city or hopping on the Long Island Rail Road to see a movie.

But, the wait was worth it, and Empire finally opened at the RKO Twin Movie Theatre in Commack, NY, and consumed the summer - discussions with friends, looking for the latest action figures in the overly-air-conditioned Toys R Us, devouring comic books and Starlog magazine and multiple trips to Burger King to collect the entire set of drinking glasses.

The highly sought-after Empire

drinking glasses from Burger King.

And, like so many, I agree that Empire is one of the greatest sequels of all time: providing us more of the Galaxy we all loved and giving us a new adventure where the characters go on different journeys and there's development and emotion.

In addition, forty-five years later, The Empire Strikes Back also represents a time when imagination was found beyond a smartphone screen, and movies were a thing of theaters, not streaming.

It was a magical, innocent summer.

And, thankfully, Steve and I were eventually able to discuss Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.

May the Fourth be with You!

For more of my articles, podcasts and books, head over to Words From Lyons !