Hide Article Text (OCR)
STONINGTON, Conn. (AB) — Man-eating sharks that at tack boats have always been part of sea life, says Peter Beachley, author of the frightening book and movie “Jaws.” But his story has created Heusual fright in beach com munities where sharkens are sighted. “Burdenly, they're Seeing things that have been there forever, I think is un reasonable for people to react hysterically and say they are never going to go swimming again,” said Denchley, in a telephone interview from his Summer cottage. The 34-year-old Marvard educated former newsman says the reaction to his book is “rather awesome. One does not expect the first novel to get this attention.” Benchley says every inci dent in the book, including sharks eating people at at tacking boats, has happened at one time or another. “The only thing that is fictional is that the animal would hang around a beach like that for a snatter of weeks.”* The film's bloody ending is not part of the book, however. Now at work on a second took about treasure diving in Bermuda, Benchley says “There won't be a mad super monster animal eating up ev eryone in this one.’ He also, says he won't write another monster book again.: A member of a New York terary family, Benchley spent summers of his youth on Nantucket Island off Cape Cod, where he caught sharks. From that grew a plot about a white killer shark that invades a resort area and will not go away. . . Sharks generally attack for food, said Benchley. They have primitive instincts and are not supposed to show emotions such as anger although sharks do attack boats if injured. Henchley says that despite recent sightings on the east and west coasts, the number of sharks has not increased. Sightings in nearby Long Island Sound are normal dur ing summer months when the Walter warms up. y . But just as the disaster movie “Faworing Inferno amplifed every skyscraper fire story, so has “Jaws made every shark sighting newsworthy. Beaches have been closed temporarily, in some areas after fin sightings. ~ The best-seller may become ‘one of the local box-office suc cesses. In the first 1 days, the movie grossed $59.6 million, Benchley will get 10 per cent.
Newspaper Details
Nashua Telegraph
Nashua, New Hampshire, US
Fri, Aug 08, 1975
Page 11
Full Page
Clipped by
Dana G.
USA 27 Jun 2026
Other Publications Near Nashua, New Hampshire
Nashua Telegraph
