• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact

Cool and Collected

Collecting pop culture toys, comics, and collectibles collections

September 25, 2012 By Brian 15 Comments

Book Report: JAWS — Memories from Martha’s Vineyard

Jaws: Memories from Martha's Vineyard

You’re gonna need a bigger book shelf for this new offering from Titan Books. Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard by Matt Taylor is a massive retrospective about the filming of the classic Spielberg film. This book delves into the movie’s production like no book ever has before.  This is an expanded production diary that tells what went on behind the scenes with the production and casting on Martha’s Vineyard. There is everything from vignettes of the island’s locals who participated in the filming of the show, to receipts for boats used in the movie–to say this book is exhaustive is an understatement.

Jaws: Memories from Martha's Vineyard

This book captures what it was like to live on Martha’s Vineyard when Hollywood came to town. It seems like every resident of the island was affected in some way and most of them have their own stories and snapshots. While interviewing those people, the author tracked down plenty of their old Polaroid and Instamatic images and compiled them in this book. In fact, the ideal audience for this book is possibly residents of Martha’s Vineyard first, and fans of the movie second.

Jaws: Memories from Martha's Vineyard

This book is loaded with photos and concept drawings that show how “Bruce” was brought to life and became a pop culture legend, and would be a great addition to your “history in film making” book collection.

Get a FREE copy of this book!

Titan Books was kind enough to send me this copy for review and now I am going to pass it on to a visitor to Cool & Collected. Just enter a comment below with your favorite Jaws trivia (go ahead and wikipedia it) and I’ll pick a random winner on Friday September 28, 2012. Make sure to include your email address in the form so that I can contact you if you are selected (U.S. addresses only please!). THIS CONTEST IS NOW OVER. THANKS FOR PLAYING ALONG!

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Jaws

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jason says

    September 25, 2012 at 4:43 pm

    Very cool! Books like these are always an interesting read. And here’s an interesting tidbit.

    Steven Spielberg named the shark “Bruce” after his lawyer. How fitting! 😉

    Reply
  2. Todd says

    September 25, 2012 at 4:46 pm

    Spielberg’s own dog played the role of Brody’s dog. This one I knew without looking.

    Reply
  3. Dex (@Dex1138) says

    September 25, 2012 at 5:09 pm

    Very cool! I’ve only been to the Vineyard a couple times but never with Jaws in mind. It’s a couple hours drive (and 30 minute boat) ride from where I live.

    No trivia because I have nowhere to keep this beast =)

    Reply
  4. pjtek says

    September 25, 2012 at 10:12 pm

    “Although he goes uncredited, the baseball announcer we hear over the radio during one of the beach scenes is sports announcer, Charlie Jones. He was mostly known for football. All of the players he announces here are fictional.”

    Thanks for your site! I visit it daily!!

    Reply
  5. Shawn Robare says

    September 26, 2012 at 7:12 am

    I’m probably totally going to flub this bit of trivia, but my favorite story of the filming was how often the shark didn’t work and how this actually enhanced the tone of the film. Having the shark unseen for so much of the film made it so much more menacing, particularly in the opening sequence with the girl night swimming. Time and time again, when I look at the flicks that I love the most, the ones that really stand out do so because of the limitations the filmmakers had to deal with and get creative to solve…

    Reply
  6. GeekChunks says

    September 26, 2012 at 9:40 am

    Nice!

    I’m still trying to find time to pop in the Jaws Blu-ray I picked up.

    As far as trivia, besides Shaw being drunk all the time he was also in trouble with the IRS and had to leave the country after he finished all of his scenes.

    Reply
    • Todd says

      September 27, 2012 at 11:21 am

      Shaw wasn’t the first choice for the role, he replaced another actor who also had IRS trouble, Sterling Hayden. Lee Marvin was first choice but turned it down.

      Reply
  7. Film Samurai says

    September 26, 2012 at 11:14 am

    Peter Benchley, the author of Jaws, has a cameo as the reporter on the beach.

    Reply
  8. Charles Pechonick says

    September 26, 2012 at 11:24 am

    Quints boat is the Orca. the only predator of the great white. It was also the name of the movie made to try to cash in on the Jaws craze and released in 1977.

    Reply
  9. christopher tupa says

    September 26, 2012 at 11:37 am

    At the beginning of Escape from LA, Snake swims over the old JAWS amusement ride and it tries to bite him.

    Reply
  10. The Pizza says

    September 26, 2012 at 12:56 pm

    my favorite piece of trivia is that the wonky mechanical shark was dubbed “flaws.”

    Reply
  11. Poe Ghostal says

    September 26, 2012 at 12:57 pm

    Being part of the League, I’m not even sure I’m eligible, but there’s a torn JAWS poster on a wall in the movie The Hills Have Eyes (which led Sam Raimi to stick a torn Hills Have Eyes poster on a wall in The Evil Dead, which led to the Evil Dead being on a TV in A Nightmare of Elm Street, which led to a Freddy glove being on a wall in Evil Dead II).

    Reply
    • Brian says

      September 26, 2012 at 2:28 pm

      League members are ALWAYS eligible!

      Reply
  12. Kate Lorimer says

    September 28, 2012 at 9:34 am

    Hooper only lived in the film because of the accidental footage of the shark thrashing the cage being due to a real shark getting snagged in the cage when they filmed it.. with the wee stunt dude fortunately not in the cage at the time! 😀

    Reply
  13. Matt Kimber says

    September 28, 2012 at 9:51 am

    Jeffrey Kramer played Deputy Hendricks, of course. He also played the coroner in “Halloween 2,” making him the only actor to exist in (and be employed by) both the fictional towns of Amity and Haddonfield.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • “Did you say ‘Youts’?”
  • Marx Marvel Tricycles
  • Here there be dragons
  • Vintage Batman Toy Collection
  • Batman Pinbacks

About Cool & Collected

This site is devoted to us crazy few who go to great lengths to acquire items for our collection. Read more.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Support this site:

If you enjoy reading articles on Cool & Collected, I would greatly appreciate you clicking on this eBay link before you do your shopping. I will get a few pennies from any purchase you make, but those pennies can add up. Thank you for your support!

Footer

Submit a Product for Review

Want to have your product(s) featured on Cool & Collected? This is how you can submit something for review.

Recent Posts

  • “Did you say ‘Youts’?”
  • Marx Marvel Tricycles
  • Here there be dragons
  • Vintage Batman Toy Collection
  • Batman Pinbacks
  • Monkeying Around
  • Current View
  • A drawer filled with Joes
  • It’s all good, man.
  • Feeling Green

Topics

  • Art and Photography
  • Books
  • Collections
  • Comic Books
  • Games
  • Other
  • Pop Culture League
  • Shows & Events
  • Toys
  • TV & Movies

Pages

  • About Cool & Collected
  • Blog
  • Contact Cool & Collected
  • Privacy Policy
  • Submit a Product for Review
  • Tips for starting (and enjoying) a collection

Copyright © 2025 Big Fish Design. All rights reserved.