Whitney's MV Jaws Page

Whitney Web Site

Martha's Vineyard -
The Whitney Family Vacation spot for over 100 years!

In recognition of Jawsfest- Aug 2012
(see new article postings at bottom of page)

Jaws Filming on Marthas Vineyard - Summer 1974
Dick Whitney photos

In July of 1974, Mom, Dad and I ventured to Martha's Vineyard for a week of vacation. Earlier that summer,
I had read the book Jaws and was fascinated by the story. I had not realized, however,
that filming had begun and my first surprise was to see the sign at Antias Bridge between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown.

The sign that had read Oak Bluffs had been changed to Amity.
My first reaction was that they must have changed the name of Oak Bluffs again (as it once was called Cottage City).
Only after I took this picture did it dawn on me thatwe had stumbled upon the filming of Jaws,
for I saw a boat in the water and a huge shark by its side!
For the next week, we monitored the progress of filming.

This Dick Whitney July 1974 photo shows the Orca (R boat), Film Crew boat (sideways view) and Shark (Left of Boats)out from
shore on the Oak Bluffs side of Antias Bridge, where the Shark would famously swim under
in the class movie. I took this before I fully understood what was going on.

Dad walks the bridge with Amity Sign for the movie Jaws

Jaws Film Crew Trailers by the beach

The next year, Jaws was my first date with Peg;
we had both seen it the weekend before (but did not admit). I saw it with my parents, Peg with another date!
Since I see that Jaws opened on Sunday, June 20, 1975, I suspect our first date was Sunday, June 27, 1975

A few blocks from Edgartown Commons (where we were staying) was the central office for the production of Jaws.
This also served as Chief Brody's office in the movie. Each day they would post the schedule of shooting locations (for the extras I assume), and
we were checking this out when I took this photo of Mom and Dad by the front door postings.