In 1971, Peter Benchley was a cliche.
And then he wrote a novel which was
to resound from Hellenback to Hollywood
to resound from Hellenback to Hollywood
and everywhere in between.
It was published by Doubleday.
It was published by Doubleday.
Paul Bacon designed the cover of the book.
AUTHOR'S NAME: top billing
BOOK TITLE: massive white
with the words A Novel
in blood red.
BACKGROUND: Murky black
with small swimming figure
in the center.
BOTTOM: a shark head
showing no teeth.
This hardcover edition of the novel was on the best-seller list
for an astounding forty-four weeks.
And then along came the paperback edition
It was published by Bantam Books.
Roger Kastel re-designed the cover.
Whereas the Paul Bacon design allowed
the viewer's imagination to project fear into the image.
Mr. Kastel left not one iota of doubt as to
what the fang-toothed shark was about to do.
In 1975, a virtually
unknown director,
Steven Spielberg,
made a movie version
of Jaws.
Mr. Kastel's cover image
was used to promote
the film.
The following is a direct quote from Wikipedia:
Jaws became the highest grossing movie
in history up to that point, becoming
a watershed film in motion picture history
and the father of the summer blockbuster film.
Three sequels followed the film.
Peter Benchley wrote the screenplay for Jaws
but refused to have anything to do with the sequels.
Formerly a struggling writer who did piecemeal work
to support his wife and childen, Benchley did
absolutely nothing regarding the sequels
except receive a $70,000 check
for each of them.
Meanwhile, Paul Bacon, with 2000 record albums
and 6500 book covers–including the inspiration
for the iconic film poster for Jaws–became a
world-famous kazoo player.
I kid you not.
However, when Paul Bacon's Altzheimer's disease
became advanced, he would only play
Jimi Hendrix songs on his kazoo.
That time, I was kidding.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Some committee must be the real paperback creator.
ReplyDeleteMr. and Mrs. CarPeo
DeleteAs a Hollywood "insider,"
it is my privilege to share with you guys:
The committee consisted of
the film production company
purchasing rights to Benchley's novel
before it was published.
It certainly did not hurt Peter's pocket book!
Sincerely,
Paulette Petard
Whale of a shark
DeleteDear PP,
ReplyDeleteWas Mr. Kastel given you as a model?