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Bruce the shark

‘Bruce’ the shark prop from the movie JAWS. Which is true. Among those that worked on the casting were Don Chandler, Conrad Krumm, and Roger Lifsey.

For many years, students of cinema, motion picture prop experts, and obsessed JAWS fans were secure in the knowledge that the movie JAWS utilized three persnickety, pneumatically powered prop sharks. An unwritten consensus among said fans surmised that once the props were ‘struck’ they eventually disintegrated, succumbing to the elements erasing themselves from our collective reality. That is unle

ss you happened to grow up in the Los Angeles area or visited Universal Studios in the late 70‘s/early '80s. If you were a child of LA and had any allegiance to the movie JAWS, you knew that the big fiberglass statue displayed in the upper lot at the Visitor Entertainment Center was pretty much the real deal - 'Bruce' the shark himself. This version of the shark was created out of hard fiberglass on a wooden armature in the summer of 1974 (while the crew was STILL on location back east) and displayed at Universal Studios until 1990. There is photographic evidence that this photo-opportunity shark was placed on display at Universal Studios' Prop Plaza as early as August 1974. Concurrently, the source molds had either been altered, wrecked, or (most likely) stolen leaving this display prop to become the only surviving copy of the fussy monster. In the early Nineties, 'Bruce' was unceremoniously (some argue accidentally) hauled away with lots of scrap to the Aadlen Bros. U-Pick Parts yard in Sun Valley, CA. (a mere one mile north of where it was fabricated in 1974). It was on display at Aadlen Bros. from 1992 to 2016. I first became aware of ‘Bruce’ the shark at Aadlen Bros. in 2002 - or rather, “Bruce” came to me, via a photo in my email at that time from a fellow JAWS fan, Patrick Delaney. I understood its significance and it pained me to see something that had meant so much to me for the better part of my childhood into my adult life, lifelessly hovering over rusting vehicles - itself, bleached under the sun, sheets of stucco peeling off. The shark had somehow managed to escape destruction at the studio only to slowly fade into obscurity with each passing year underneath some hastily planted palm trees. It just wasn’t right. I had to do something but I didn't have the tools to do so.

'Project: Save Bruce' first appeared online thru my website ‘Bruce Sharkives’ in 2002. I posted the only known (at the time) photos of the shark at Aadlen’s to an uninterested world. For the most part, my push to save this prop fell on deaf ears. A few were listening though. Among them was Greg Nicotero. I didn’t know how long before I saw it that Greg was aware that the shark was junk-displayed at the U-Pick Parts. But we struck a friendship. And we both agreed that the shark needed to be saved; ideally in a museum. I was pushing for The Smithsonian. In 2010 I signed up with Facebook and launched the page ‘Save Junkyard Bruce’ as personal websites became a relic of the past and social media rose from the depths of the internet. It took another six years and Aadlen’s U-Pick Parts selling their massive lot to get the shark out and on display at a museum. It isn’t The Smithsonian. But it’s better. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will open in my home of Los Angeles, CA., in September of 2021. Lost in the chum of congratulations are the folks behind the scenes for which none of this would have been possible, including Stephen Manley, Ellen Harrington, Alejandro Lazo, Nathan Adlen, Greg Nicotero and his crew, and Joe Alves. It’s been an eighteen-year journey. I now have a book to finish writing. Thanks!
- West M. Maatita - Founder ‘Save "Bruce" the Shark’

08/25/2026

VAL TAYLOR VISIT: In July 1974, Ron and Valerie Taylor visited the set of Jaws to provide expert input on the mechanical shark. They observed the effects crew testing the shark at sea. Joe Alves and Verna Fields focused on whether the mechanical shark's movements resembled those of a real white shark in the wild. Subsequently, Joe Alves recorded and transcribed a series of questions on Saturday, July 13, 1974, for the effects crew to consider. Notably, Alves indicated that the pectoral fins needed to be dismantled and kept flat and rigid, similar to airplane wings, throughout the shoot. This design choice distinguished the Jaws shark from an actual shark among other interesting traits. The Taylors also pointed out how a real shark lunges, bites, and slides back in the water.

On that day in production, scenes for Chrissie Death and the Estuary were being lensed, and the Shark-Fins Sled was being used.

Photographs of Valerie Taylor, taken by her husband Ron Taylor at the Fuller Street boathouse, document this visit.

08/22/2026

A DIFFERENT ANGLE: Most of us have seen that photo of Ingmar Bergman backstage, checking out the Jaws shark. The photo first appeared in People magazine sometime in 1975, and it always made me laugh because he looks so tiny next to it. I used to wonder if there were more photos—there had to be, right? Maybe one day a full contact sheet will pop up on eBay or somewhere else. Until then, I did come across another shot from a different angle. Patty Pawlak, who now works in film distribution, took this one. Back in the mid-70s, probably around winter or spring of 1975, she was a tour guide and showed the Secretary of the Navy at the time, J. William Middendorf II, the famous 'Bruce' shark. As in the Bergman photo, the shark is behind the same gate, and you can see a patch of missing paint in front of the gills. This is, I’m assuming, the MGM shark—the same one that, just a few months later, would be taken apart and turned into the Jaws 2 shark.

As always, if you'd like to share, just let folks know where you got the pic and the info.

08/03/2026

SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLES: I try not to post about merch, but this one is related to the Jaws shark. So ... there. Recently, it was brought to my attention that Sideshow Collectibles has created a Jaws shark statue complete with a Steven Spielberg figure. The immediate question is: why not the figures of the crew who fabricated the sharks? But I digress. Some things are just TOO nerdy. Anyway, I'm sure that we all remember the questionable sculpt for their original Jaws shark. It seemed that the reference was more to an actual, unidentified shark than to a model of the legendary props.

Well, Sideshow strikes again, and this time, though better, the sculpt still misses the mark. The tail and dorsal fin are completely wrong. A quick Google search will pull up endless reference photos to correct those two points. The frame is wrong, especially in the rear flank before the tail. The wheel connected to the tower is fairly accurate, though. But not the gills, and neither is the face. I've seen more and more Jaws shark models that tend to go overboard with extreme scars and gore. Though Sideshow does pull back on those distracting features, they are still very obvious. It's as if the creators spent more time refining the scars and less time getting even the basic shape locked in.

I mean, we literally have the ultimate reference on display at a museum. Take as many photos and videos as you can!

It wouldn't have taken much to message or visit KNB EFX. Greg Nicotero's dead-on 3D scan, which was last seen at the JAWS Exhibition at the Academy Museum, is the standard by which all Jaws shark models should be judged. Come to think of it, if Nicotero would just let them borrow a 3D file, Sideshow Toys would make a killing.

Those are my thoughts. What are yours? Comment below.

05/26/2026

I THINK IT’S TIME FOR THE TALK: But first, a story. Back in November 1990, the Japanese company Matsush*ta Electrical Industrial Co. (a subsidiary of Panasonic) bought MCA for $6.5 billion. The deal included properties such as Universal Pictures, the Universal Studios Tour, and the newly opened Florida version of the park. Shortly after the acquisition closed, many of Universal’s assets were sold or trashed. The company had no interest in the theme park portion of the deal. At the time, the Matsush*ta deal was meant to corner the DVD market. Google it. It’s quite a story.

Anyway, that’s how Universal Studios lost the Jaws shark. Truth be told, it was going to be cut down in 1987 when Paul Lindeschmid ran things. It was even offered to a child actor whose dad was very opposed to a 25-foot shark in his backyard. But that’s a story for another time. The spot where ole ‘Bruce’ was strung up sat unoccupied until around the mid-nineties. That’s when the studio bought an off-the-shelf shark statue, closed their eyes, plugged their noses, and hoped nobody would notice they’d replaced one of their most profitable monsters with a statue that was more mako meets cartoon than great white shark. I hated it and dubbed it Jabberjaw, the goofy Saturday-morning cartoon at the height of the Jaws craze in 1975. But I digress.

An identical shark was bought and installed at the Florida park for their Jaws ride. So it only made sense that the same shark was ordered and installed on this side at Studio City. And it was awful. It’s still awful. As one Universal Studios studio exec put it, “It’s a piece of sh*t!” And it is. Yet I still see folks posting photos of this awful fake Jaws statue every day, with millions of guests sticking their heads in its mouth for the last 30 years. I’ve included photos of this mass-produced monstrosity for all to see. It’s literally on two websites if you have about $13k to blow. To add insult to injury, I’ve included a few photos of the shark statue seen around the planet. Next time you find yourself at any of the Uni parks, think twice before posing in front of this thing. And remember what a Universal Studios exec told me. He wasn’t wrong.

UPDATE: I’ve added a few more photos of this mass produced shark statue both state side and around the world. Will add more as I find them.

05/21/2026

BACK IN 1977: Just a year after the JAWS Attacks attraction opened at Universal Studios—this was way back when you didn't even need to add the qualifier "Hollywood" to the name—you could take your pic with the photo-op shark and have a penny stamped with a Jaws image for just 25 cents. Good times.

Photo: Robert Cu***ng

05/19/2026

THE EARLY VERSION OF JAWS: I've seen this photo before, but I’ve never really had a moment to sit down and look at what's going on. The photo is very underexposed, so it’s quite grainy. I did the best I could to brighten it up in Adobe Photoshop, and it’s all I could do to pump some color into it. Nevertheless, interesting details have come to light.

Let’s start from left to right. That’s Roy Arbogast, the rubbers and plastics guy. The person responsible for figuring out the special goo that would eventually become the skins for the sharks. He’s standing in front of what is the test head. The installed eyes are the first version, the bug-eyes. They recently sold at auction as the actual eyes from the screen sharks. Not so. The crew called this version of the shark Eddie Cantor after a bug-eyed vaudevillian actor — Google it; I shouldn’t do all of the heavy lifting. It’s hard to make out, but there are no jowls in the corners of the mouth. When the shark bit, it would suck in air and look like a frog. Which is why the jowls were added. This photo must have been taken sometime in early December 1973, before Don Chandler, Joe Kaba, and Peter Kermode started sculpting the shark. The teeth are also an early version. They are small and, like every feature of the face, comical. Notice that the head is not attached to the body. These were both test sections that Roy was working on.

The body, the frame, is not constructed of the chromole tubing that the final shark frames would be constructed of. There is nothing to attach to the once-and-future tower arm; there are no actual rams or other stuff we’ve seen a billion times in blurry pics on set. The dorsal fin is interesting. I’ve never known that it existed. What’s missing are the short pectoral fins, which also went up for auction along with the eyes. Also missing are the tiny claspers. This was obviously before Leonard Compagno flew down from Stanford to give the shark his seal of approval. And that was in January 1974.

Back to the drawing board.

Below, I included pics of the test head and the final frame.

UPDATE: Checking out that big jaw on that shark. I wonder if the crew was working from the 'Girth' plan. At least for their test sections. It was by no means final.

03/26/2026

WHEN AT DISNEYLAND: Full disclosure. I work for the Mouse. 'Nother full disclosure. I avoid the parks like the plague; they can be, well, it’s complicated. Anyhooo ... yesterday, during my once-a-year visit, I was pleasantly surprised not only to find a Jungle Cruise croc, but a Jungle Cruise croc that notes Bob Mattey as the creator of such a device. Okay, Disney geeks, I understand that Chris Mueller sculpted it, but Mattey mechanized it. In short, he made it move. Brought it to life. Honestly, I was a bit beside myself to see the contraption, but more so, that work acknowledged him. So, next time you are in Main Street at the Mr. Lincoln show, check this out in the lobby.

03/10/2026

A PLACE FOR A SHARK: I first heard about the placement of the shark from Greg Nicotero, likely in April 2019. By then, during the restoration, the shark had been completely stripped of paint and goo, its thousands of cracks sealed, and it was primed gray. The new gills were installed, but the mouth was still being sculpted and was weeks away from being installed. Inside, there was a thousand-pound steel armature. A local welder was hired for a day to create it and help mount it inside. This armature was eventually to be screwed into several cables that would secure the shark over the former May Co. escalators— a controversial decision that folks still belly-ache about today. Honestly, I used to as well when I first heard about it. But no one ever really considered the planning behind placing the prop. Well, technically, it was a copy of the original prop—and I could dive into that more later, but it’s the last remaining copy, nonetheless. Anyway, here are some photos of the team at the Academy Museum planning the installation, including members from Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and the volumetric mockup hung to assess feasibility. So, yes, many smarter people than I devised a plan, and numerous meetings were held to figure out the best way to display this incredible piece of Hollywood history. In other words, next time someone is lucky enough to see this thing, remember that it wasn’t just arbitrarily placed hanging over an escalator.
For the record, I can't imagine the shark placed anywhere else. It's out in the open, and I have great views from the top, side, and bottom. Best of all, it's not behind plexiglass, where photos can be ruined by glare.

03/01/2026

PRINTING A SHARK: A look at the process of printing the miniature, interactive, 6 ft shark for The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. JAWS: The Exhibition is open now and will run thru July 26, 2026.

01/21/2026

DOES A MONSTER TAKE A BATH?: Interesting question. And I have an even more interesting answer: Yes, it does. And it's handled annually by a small team led by Sophie Hunter. Sophie is the Senior Objects Conservator at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. And she has an awesome job!

Initially, Sophie worked with the fabrication crew back in December 2018 to prep 'Bruce' for his monumental restoration at KNB EFX Group in Chatsworth, CA. She documented the model's issues with the paint and its overall condition, culminating in helping the team that designed the brace that would attach to the shark in order to display it in the space Renzo Piano chose.

These days, ole 'Bruce' is cleaned once a year. At least once or twice a year, scaffolding is erected along the museum spine to allow workers to thoroughly clean and dust the shark while it is on display. Between cleanings, the staff blows dust off the object with an electric leaf blower.

And that's Sophie Hunter!

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Website

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