Iconic prop from steven spielberg's classic "jaws"

Plasticfan

Active Member
I've had this item three decades now, and relatively very few have seen it - either online or in person - so I thought I'd post it in this community for those who love this movie classic as much as I do. This has always been my favorite scene in my favorite movie since childhood. In fact, it was the first attack scene shown in the TV spots for Jaws in 1975 that made me obsessed to see it - long before my over-protective parents would ever take me. Now this beautiful rusty frame sits next to my TV - which gets visitors' attention when they read the brass plate signifying what it is... The looks on people's faces never gets old. Invariably, most ask to take pics with it, which I'm always happy to oblige. On occasion, I'll have JAWS movie night at my place and invite various friends. I'll usually place the buoy next to the 65 inch screen, so when the scene where Chrissie is hurled into it, clutching it with hopeless desperation, it's always fun to watch the viewer's eyes dart back and forth between the bouy on screen and sitting beside it (appearing both at the same scale to one another). Once she is dragged under, and we cut to the lone channel marker clanging in the gentle current, some will get up, walk over and ding the bell for good measure.

Thanks friends for giving me an outlet to share.

Erik


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Well, as a die hard Jaws fan since the age of 8, a couple friends and I went to Martha's Vineyard in early fall of 1988 to see the locations from the film. After meeting several locals who played small but important roles in the movie - including two of the shark's other victims: Craig Kingsbury and Jeff Voorhees (Ben Gardner and Alex Kintner respectively), we met up with an amazing local marine expert who had worked as the head boat ranger for the production - Lynn Murphy. Graciously, he gave the three of us a personal boat ride over to his private inlet to view up close the remains of the Orca II. (The fiberglass version of Quint's boat used for all the sinking scenes) He had purchased it and a bunch of other production materials after Universal left the island, and it had been sitting there decaying for 13 years.

Suddenly, there it was! Tangled in the weeds, rusting away. I gasped. Without thinking too carefully about it, I asked him if it would be okay if I could, try to break a piece off the buoy as a souvenir. To my utter amazement he said we could have the whole thing! It had been "cluttering up" his island, and he was happy to have folks like us come to "help him clean off my land". After a tiny bit of excited bickering, my friends relinquished the find to me, as it had been known for years that I was obsessed with that scene above all else in the film. I was deeply saddened to hear that Lynn Murphy passed away last year. He was truly a Martha's Vineyard legend. R.I.P., my friend.


View attachment BWOrca2043.jpg ORCA 2 Murphysmaller.jpg

After being cleaned and sealed to prevent further rust damage, I kept the buoy as a main fixture in my various apartments, and houses over the decades. At various points it has served as a coat rack, a lamp, even a makeshift Christmas Tree one year.

In 2005, I presented it at JAWSFEST on the Vineyard among other Jaws props, where stuntwoman Susan Backlinie ("Chrissie") came for an interview for a doc I directed called "The Shark is Still Working". After the interview she also signed it for me. I recall her surprise at finding out the buoy had been a prop created by the same team that built the mechanical sharks - she had all along assumed they used a functional channel marker already at the location where her scene was filmed.


ErikSusanBuoy.jpgSusansigns1.jpgSusansigns2.jpgSusansigns3.jpg

The funny thing about this - due to my daily familiarity with this item over the decades - in a sense, it has become more of a household fixture - like a favorite piece of furniture - than a prop from a famous scene in a famous movie. Meaning that when I watch the scene in JAWS, it's kinda like seeing one's family bed or heirloom dresser appear in the middle of your favorite movie. Weird huh? But I love it!!!!! When I was around 14, I had an incredibly vivid dream once that I still remember to this day. In the dream, I swam all the way up the eastern coast to Martha's Vineyard, where I found the Jaws buoy (which for some reason was in a pond when I got there) and I drug it all the way back down to Florida in the water and put it in my swimming pool. Not saying that means anything, but I might be the only person to ever have dreamt that - and well.... there ya go.
 
Well, as a die hard Jaws fan since the age of 8, a couple friends and I went to Martha's Vineyard in early fall of 1988 to see the locations from the film. After meeting several locals who played small but important roles in the movie - including two of the shark's other victims: Craig Kingsbury and Jeff Voorhees (Ben Gardner and Alex Kintner respectively), we met up with an amazing local marine expert who had worked as the head boat ranger for the production - Lynn Murphy. Graciously, he gave the three of us a personal boat ride over to his private inlet to view up close the remains of the Orca II. (The fiberglass version of Quint's boat used for all the sinking scenes) He had purchased it and a bunch of other production materials after Universal left the island, and it had been sitting there decaying for 13 years.

Suddenly, there it was! Tangled in the weeds, rusting away. I gasped. Without thinking too carefully about it, I asked him if it would be okay if I could, try to break a piece off the buoy as a souvenir. To my utter amazement he said we could have the whole thing! It had been "cluttering up" his island, and he was happy to have folks like us come to "help him clean off my land". After a tiny bit of excited bickering, my friends relinquished the find to me, as it had been known for years that I was obsessed with that scene above all else in the film. I was deeply saddened to hear that Lynn Murphy passed away last year. He was truly a Martha's Vineyard legend. R.I.P., my friend.


View attachment 803592 View attachment 803591

After being cleaned and sealed to prevent further rust damage, I kept the buoy as a main fixture in my various apartments, and houses over the decades. At various points it has served as a coat rack, a lamp, even a makeshift Christmas Tree one year.

In 2005, I presented it at JAWSFEST on the Vineyard among other Jaws props, where stuntwoman Susan Backlinie ("Chrissie") came for an interview for a doc I directed called "The Shark is Still Working". After the interview she also signed it for me. I recall her surprise at finding out the buoy had been a prop created by the same team that built the mechanical sharks - she had all along assumed they used a functional channel marker already at the location where her scene was filmed.


View attachment 803578View attachment 803579View attachment 803584View attachment 803585

The funny thing about this - due to my daily familiarity with this item over the decades - in a sense, it has become more of a household fixture - like a favorite piece of furniture - than a prop from a famous scene in a famous movie. Meaning that when I watch the scene in JAWS, it's kinda like seeing one's family bed or heirloom dresser appear in the middle of your favorite movie. Weird huh? But I love it!!!!! When I was around 14, I had an incredibly vivid dream once that I still remember to this day. In the dream, I swam all the way up the eastern coast to Martha's Vineyard, where I found the Jaws buoy (which for some reason was in a pond when I got there) and I drug it all the way back down to Florida in the water and put it in my swimming pool. Not saying that means anything, but I might be the only person to ever have dreamt that - and well.... there ya go.
Thank you so much for sharing this story and pics. I love the details and emotions. This story reminds me of the guys that found the dumped original deathstar-prop from ANH in a dusty store...

Gesendet von meinem BLN-L21 mit Tapatalk
 
Thank you so much for sharing this story and pics. I love the details and emotions. This story reminds me of the guys that found the dumped original deathstar-prop from ANH in a dusty store...

Gesendet von meinem BLN-L21 mit Tapatalk

Yes, I am pretty familiar with that situation as well. A good friend of mine just visited that guy's house and took a picture with the Death Star. Way cool!
 
Thanks for sharing. Also, I enjoyed the documentary you did too. I remember it as being part of the BluRay for Jaws.
 
Re: Iconic prop from steven spielberg's classic "jaws"

Thanks for sharing. Also, I enjoyed the documentary you did too. I remember it as being part of the BluRay for Jaws.

Thanks Eric. I'm happy you liked it.
I LOVE that Universal did this for their digibook edition of the BluRay...



And this for the main menu...

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What a great story and prop! I saw you were at Jaws Fest in 2005. Were you and your buoy also there for the 2012 Jaws Fest? If so I may have seen it in person. I do remember meeting the lady who played Chrissie who was very kind and also running into Greg Nicotero of Walking Dead fame. It's a shame they haven't had a Jaws Fest since 2012.
 
What a great story and prop! I saw you were at Jaws Fest in 2005. Were you and your buoy also there for the 2012 Jaws Fest? If so I may have seen it in person. I do remember meeting the lady who played Chrissie who was very kind and also running into Greg Nicotero of Walking Dead fame. It's a shame they haven't had a Jaws Fest since 2012.

Yes, I was at Jawsfest 2012, but did not bring the buoy. I did get to spend some quality time with Susan Backlinie at one of the events. Nicotero and I are friends, so I hung out with him and his family on a couple occasions. He's a huge Jaws nerd, as you may already know. Were you present at the opening ceremonies in Edgartown? It was outside where the debut screening of the Jaws Blu Ray took place.
 
Here are a couple pics of my entry for a friend's costume party this past Halloween... When people realized it was the actual rucksack Dreyfuss wore in Jaws... Let's just say... its was a hit. :eek

HOOPERhalloween2web.jpgHOOPERhalloween.jpg
 
Yes, I was at Jawsfest 2012, but did not bring the buoy. I did get to spend some quality time with Susan Backlinie at one of the events. Nicotero and I are friends, so I hung out with him and his family on a couple occasions. He's a huge Jaws nerd, as you may already know. Were you present at the opening ceremonies in Edgartown? It was outside where the debut screening of the Jaws Blu Ray took place.
I wasn't, I was only there for a few hours on Saturday I think it was. But it was a really cool event.
 
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