Blackwell Auctions LLC of Clearwater, Fla., will auction off the personal Jaws movie scrapbook of actor Alfred Wilde, who played Harry Wiseman ("Bad Hat Harry") in both Jaws and Jaws 2, on Saturday, March 18, 2017. This never-before-offered collection includes nearly three dozen pages of photographs and autographs — including personal inscriptions by Steven Spielberg, Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw (and signatures of nearly the entire cast and crew), as well as Peter Benchley, the author of Jaws. Also included are an original shooting call page, original script pages, tickets from the premiere showing in Martha's Vineyard (where the movie was shot) and more. Not one of 100 or so original candid photos has ever been published.
Of the many noteworthy aspects of this collection, a couple stand out:
1) Steven Spielberg wrote a complimentary inscription to Wilde, signed it "Steve Spielberg" and, under his name, in parentheses, wrote "Director of JAWS."
"It's like looking at Steven Spielberg's rookie card," said auctioneer Edwin Bailey, one of Blackwell's owners. "He identified himself as the director because back then, darn near nobody would have had a clue who 'Steve Spielberg' was."
2) Unlike many movie memorabilia items or collections, which may change hands many times within years (or months) of a major movie's release, this collection has never been offered for sale in all the years since the movie was released in 1975, and it has never been on public display.
"Honestly, this is a hard item to offer up," Bailey said. "It's such a significant piece of movie history, and it will be tough to see it go, no matter what it brings. But this is an auction gallery, not a museum."
