Jaws: The Newspaper Ads

During my many searches on-line for images of Jaws posters, photos, and other memorabilia over the past few years, I began to seek out and collect newspaper clippings featuring theater ads for the film, beginning with those from its first year of release in 1975. Below are twelve such ads; the first is from a screening in San Diego, which I’d attended, while the last is for Jaws 2, a screening I saw with my grandfather in Fremont, Ohio in 1978, and the only clipping from the collection below that I actually cut out from a newspaper and saved.

San Diego, CA
I’m still amazed that I found an ad for my first-ever screening, at the Fashion Valley 4 in Mission Valley.
The ad is from opening day, and states “For fullest enjoyment – see it from the beginning.” Gee, really?

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Detroit, MI
I’d assumed these theaters were in Hawaii, since one was called the Mai Kai, but a quick search told me they were actually located in the Detroit area. And check out that different tag line: “And so it began…”

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Athens, GA
The 2nd exciting week in Athens!
And again they’re demanding we ‘see it from the beginning!’

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Rockaway Park, NY
I love the special children’s matinee: cartoons, a G-rated movie about little bears, and…JAWS!
And hey, a fully HEATED theater…about freaking time!

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Provo, UT
Funny how Ellen Brody gets her own little ‘bio box’:
“The Police Chief’s wife. For her – a threat to those she loved.” Sheesh.

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New York and New Jersey
Cool how they show real theatergoers, their thoughts on the film,
and how many times they’d already seen it.

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St. Petersburg, FL
Already over four months at one theater…so remember, HURRY!
(And look closely at the picture…looks like the shark missed her!)

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Grand Island, NE
I wonder if that shark on display was a 25-footer…and perhaps three tons of him.

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Toronto, ON
This ad was from the July 4, 1975 edition of the Toronto Star.
Check out that memo…the theater staff apologizing for the long wait in hot weather!

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London, England
From the January, 1976 edition of Photoplay. Instead of the warning “May be too intense for younger children,”
it reads, “May be particularly disturbing to younger unaccompanied children.”

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Melbourne, Australia
Box plans? Seasons commence? And I can’t book by phone?
What kind of screwy country IS this?

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Fremont, OH
And finally, the old Cinema Paramount in Fremont, where my grandfather and I went to see Jaws 2
on a summer night in 1978. To read more about that little adventure, click here.

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So where did you first see Jaws…what city and which theater? Any memories from that screening?
Let me know in the comment section below!
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