It's the shark that gets them.

Movies that made us to watch again and again

- Matthew Kastel

CIRCA 1974

Before it became one of the most recognizable works of pop art from the twentieth century, and then a mystery, I was there.

Just a few years short of becoming a teenager, the initial impression I had of being an eyewitness to history, was that history involved a naked woman. That’s the kind of history that would make any pre-teen boy sit up and take notice.

The photo was black-and-white, because dad used this type of film for artistic reasons when photographing models. He had explained to me many times why this approach worked better than the more readily available and popular color film, and I’m sure the explanation went right over my head. Neither then nor now have I ever had a deep passion or classic understanding of art. In this case, at least, the apple fell quite far from the tree.

On this particular day when I stepped into his studio, I likely saw her photo next to his canvas as he worked on the iconic Jaws painting, an image that in a short while would appear on book covers and movie posters and then become a worldwide sensation.

The model he used was a beauty for sure—a high-end New York model by the name of Allison Maher. Despite her naked splendor, there was little erotic about her, looking unnatural as she pantomimed the Australian crawl while lying awkwardly across a stool. But dad had what he wanted: an evocative image that he could use to portray a vulnerable young woman swimming tranquilly across the surface of the water who was oblivious of the giant shark about to devour her.