Eraly morning sun, entered through a window sitting near the ceiling of the ranch, it was march 25 of 1975.
Inside the warmth of the ranch, Duke was already awake despite being 5:30 am, slightly tired since the day before he had stayed late after watching an exciting Ali VS Wepner boxing match, sitting on the rug of the living room while the rest of the house remained quiet.
Beside him laying on a thick blanket was his son, Bradley, who was now nearly four months old and growing larger with every passing day.
The boy was alert, his eyes wide open as he kicked his small legs in the air. Duke watching over him with a smile.
Duke leaned over, making a series of comical faces that caused the baby to blink in confusion before letting out a laugh.
He had been focused on making baby Bradley laugh for a while now, he had found great success by getting his tongue fully out and shaking his head side to side repeatedly while frowning.
With gentleness, Duke slipped his hands under the boy's armpits, lifting him above his head to simulate a airplane.
Bradley's arms flailed as he floated above the ground, his toothless mouth opening in a giggle.
Duke lowered him back down to the blanket, pressing his mouth against the baby's belly, which brought another round of giggles.
Reaching into a nearby basket, Duke pulled out a few wooden toys in the shapes of animals, lyons, zebras, pigs, giraffe, elephants, etc.
He had looked for this specifically since he was favoring wooden toys over the plastic mass-produced items that were common on this era and that Margaux and her family had bought.
Duke had a strong aversion to plastic, frequently muttering to Margaux about the unknown dangers of synthetic materials.
Also bringing several animals would maybe encourage Bradley to create his own stories while playing and Duke even planned to use them to teach him the sounds of animals.
Bradley ignored the wooden toys altogether, choosing instead to reach his chubby fingers toward a book resting on the carpet.
It was a copy of The Power Broker, Robert Moses's biography of New York's urban development, which Duke had been reading these past few days.
With a surprising burst of infant strength, Bradley managed to hook his fingers around the cover and tried to lift the book but he couldn't.
"Chill out, kid," Duke chuckled softly, picking the biography and sliding it out of reach. "You aren't ready to think about city planning just yet."
Duke decided to elevate Bradley above his head and swooped the boy down in a dramatic arc, making roaring engine noises while Bradley squealed with pure delight, his chubby arms and legs flailing happily.
Duke spun around the rug, spinning Bradley around.
Just as Duke brought the baby down for a landing against his chest, Bradley let out a wet burp.
With a surprising burst, a warm liquid of partially digested milk splattered across the front of Duke's shirt.
Duke froze mid-stride, staring down in stunned silence at the puddle pooling over his collarbone and soaking through to his skin.
Bradley, now feeling lighter and relieved, let out a cheerful sound and patted his father's chest with a slimy hand.
Duke shook his head as he though about when did Bradley to vomit at this hour of the morning while cleaning himself up.
Once the chore was finished, Duke lifted Bradley back into his arms, resting the boy against his shoulder to begin their tour of the house.
They walked slowly from room to room, with Duke stopping at various objects to let the child reach out and explore different things with his small hands.
Duke guided the clumsy fingers to touch the surface of a wooden mixing spoon in the kitchen, then the rough texture of a pinecone resting on a shelf, and finally the blanket.
"This is a spoon, little man," Duke murmured in the boy's ear as they stood by the kitchen counter.
"And this right here is a pinecone from the yard. This is your mother's coffee mug, so we don't want to drop it." Bradley listened with focus, his small face contorting with concentration despite not understanding a single word.
He stared directly with a serious expression into Duke's face, his eyes locking onto his jawline, for a moment Duke if his son could understand him, maybe his rebirth had affected his son making him a genius.
Then, without any warning, the baby let out a loud gas and smiled in relief.
Duke froze for a second before bursting into a laugh.
A soft rustle from the hallway announced Margaux's arrival into the room, she had just woken up, her long hair pulled back into a loose ponytail.
Walking over with a relaxed stride, she leaned down to press a kiss onto Duke's cheek before transferring her affection to Bradley, kissing the baby's rosy face until he let out another squeak.
"I see the two men of the house already up and plotting," she said.
Before heading outside, they carefully prepared Bradley for the chilly air, wrapping him in a fleece bunting and pulling a knit hat down over his ears to protect him from the cold.
The morning temperature was hovering right around 2 degrees below zero Celsius, Duke bundled himself into a canvas jacket.
Duke carried the baby out onto the porch, feeling the crisp air clear away any lingering sleepiness from his mind as they went on their morning walk.
They followed a stone path that Margaux had designed, winding its way through the central area of the property toward the outer pastures where the Hereford cattle grazed peacefully in the distance.
Further down the slope, the project of building an artificial lake was currently a muddy excavation hole, with equipment resting at the edge until the construction crew returned for the day.
Despite the muddy state of the ground, work was progressing steadily.
Margaux walked beside him, gesturing toward the empty pasture nearby that had housed their smaller livestock as she began to recount the recent difficulties they had faced with local wildlife.
"A golden eagle came back and took two of my baby Pygmy goats right out of the enclosure, Duke," Margaux explained, shaking her head in frustration and sorrow.
"And if that wasn't bad enough, an owl took another one just a few nights later. I am not kidding you at all. An owl actually managed to carry off a baby goat, and I am still traumatized by the whole experience."
Duke raised an eyebrow, stopping the stroller for a brief moment to look at her in surprise.
He knew that eagles were massive, powerful hunters capable of taking small mammals, but an owl?
"An owl?" Duke questioned, his voice carrying a note of skepticism as he pictured the birds he usually imagined being peaceful.
Margaux nodded quickly, as she pulled her thick knit sweater tighter around her shoulders to shield against the mountain breeze.
"Yes, a great horned owl," Margaux confirmed, "It flew right down in the dark and carried off a baby goat before I could do anything to stop it."
"So, to fix the problem permanently, I went out and bought Boer goats this time around because they are much larger. A golden eagle or an owl cannot fly off with a hundred-pound goat, so the herd should be safe now."
"On top of that, I am currently arranging to bring in a couple of Anatolian shepherd dogs next week, and they will live out in the pasture to protect the remaining livestock from any winged predators or wandering coyotes."
She then noted that the orchard expansion had begun with young apple, pear, and plum trees, and a small sounder of pigs was arriving by trailer soon.
"Furthermore, one of the barn cats just gave birth to five kittens yesterday morning," Margaux added with a smile, "Bradley is going to truly love them when he gets just a little bit older and can crawl around to play."
Duke smiled, pushing the stroller smoothly along the stone path while the baby looked around with wide eyes.
Bradley seemed fascinated whenever a cow let out a moo.
"He is going to grow up loving this place, Duke," Margaux said softly, reaching down to adjust the blanket around Bradley's chin.
Duke nodded in agreement, "I was thinking, maybe clearing out that level section near that tree line to construct a small scale football field, or maybe we could put in a tennis court. I want to build something substantial for him to run around on when he gets older, a place where he can invite his friends from school during summer or play sports right here on the property."
After wrapping up their morning walk, they headed back inside the warmth of the ranch house, where the smell of brewing coffee was already in the air, with the nanny starting her shift.
Shortly after stepping through the door, the ringing of the secure phone cut through the quiet atmosphere.
Duke handed the baby over to Margaux and stepped into his private study, a small, functional room located at the back of the house.
The space was furnished simply with a wooden desk, a single lamp, and a hunting rifle mounted onto the wall. He picked up the phone, settling into his leather chair as he prepared to transition his mind from domestic life to Studio mogul.
The voice of Barry Diller came through the line, "Duke, the marketing campaign for Jaws is locked and ready for final approval."
"The television spots are cut, posters are printed, and the mass-market paperback tie-in is already arriving at retail distributors. The whole machinery is active, but we definitely need you on the lot in Los Angeles tomorrow morning for a formal screening of the materials before we purchase the airtime."
Duke listened, turning his head to look through the clear window of his study. Outside on the green lawn, Margaux was sitting comfortably on a blanket in the grass, holding Bradley up so the curious infant could catch a glimpse of an old barn cat walking past the porch.
"I will be there," Duke answered, "But you should know that I am flying back to Idaho on wednesday night. I want everything lined up so we can complete the review efficiently."
Diller paused on the other end of the line, a silence hanging over the connection before he finally spoke, "Let me make sure I heard you correctly, Duke. Are you telling me that you are going to fly all the way across the country just to spend a single day on the studio lot before heading back to Idaho?"
Diller's operational mind couldn't quite grasp why a top executive would choose to endure the logistics of cross-country travel for such a brief stay, especially with a major summer theatrical release hanging in the balance, specially on the he directed himself.
"The ranch is barely around the west coast, Barry, and with my private jet ready, it is only a quick 2 hour flight to get back to the studio lot," Duke explained.
Diller let out a resigned sigh on the other end of the line, recognizing that arguing with Duke on these matters was a fruitless endeavor. "Fine, Duke, have it your way, we will set up the main screening room for ten o'clock tomorrow morning, and the marketing crew will be standing by to present the campaign."
Duke hung up the receiver, lingering in the study for another moment before walking back outside to join his family on the grass.
By next day, at 9:45 am, Duke was walking through the arches of Paramount Studios.
The screening room was dimly lit, with deep leather chairs arranged in rows facing a wide projection screen at the front. The soft murmur of quiet conversations filled the space as the marketing team prepared to show the results of their labor on the studio's most anticipated summer feature, this was Paramount's flagship product for 1975.
Duke took his seat in the front row, settling into the space as final preparations were made.
Directly beside him sat Barry Diller, his posture straight ready to evaluate the promotional strategy.
To Diller's right sat Sid Ganis, the head of Paramount's marketing department, who held a stack of production notes tightly in his lap, who gave a signal for the presentation to start.
The first television spot flickered onto the screen, running for sixty seconds and capturing the unsettling atmosphere of the film's opening sequence.
The footage focused heavily on the reaction of a young female swimmer as she was pulled violently through the dark water, her desperate screams echoing sharply through the speakers.
Without delay, the second television spot played, running for a shorter duration of thirty seconds and focusing on the human drama unfolding aboard the Orca boat.
The trailer highlighted the tense relationship between the three main characters played by Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss, capturing the claustrophobic tension of their shared mission.
The teaser concluded with a bold text imposed over the footage, stating. "Three men. One shark. No chance."
The third and final television spot was the one Sid had been carefully saving for last.
The clip opened in total darkness, accompanied only by the ominous sound of two low, steady bass notes that repeated with a creeping cadence that gradually accelerated.
Suddenly, the screen revealed the iconic underwater image of a shark silhouette rising from the depths toward an unsuspecting swimmer whose legs were kicking near the surface.
A terrified woman's scream cutting through the audio track, followed by a cut to a black screen. "You'll never go in the water again."
As the final frame faded, Duke sat in silence for a moment, letting the imagery and the bass notes settle in his mind before offering his reaction.
He offered a slow nod of approval that caused a wave of relief to wash over the anxious marketing crew.
Sid Ganis let out a sigh of relief, quickly shuffling his notes as he prepared to transition into the breakdown of the wider promotional campaign.
Sid Ganis stood up, clicking on a small slide projector that illuminated the front wall with a series of neatly organized charts, timelines, and retail breakdowns.
He walked the executive team through the scope of the media campaign, detailing how they planned to blanket the national market over the coming weeks to build momentum.
The television strategy was ambitious, utilizing a combination of 30 second and 60 second promotional cuts scheduled to air during prime-time slots on the three major networks, CBS, NBC, and ABC, as well as late-night local affiliates.
This targeted broadcasting push represented a 1.2 million dollar buy, a large financial commitment designed to ensure that nearly every household in America would encounter the trailer before opening weekend.
In Hollywood, advertisement in the 60's and 70's was not that big before the advent of the Blockbuster.
During those times Hollywood studios rarely spent money on network television advertising because it was considered too expensive.
Instead, they relied on local theater engagements, relying on word-of-mouth and newspaper print ads to make their movies known.
Of course, Paramount had changed the movie advertising game since The Godfather.
Duke knew the Godfather was bound to be a success so he aproved a 2 million advertisement budget in 1972, part of it going for TV ads, reminding people of the Novel status on Mario Puzo's best-seller, which had already sold over 9 million copies by that point,.
The result: Massive success on The Godfather box office, reach over $270 million in total.
With the Godfather 2, they had done the same thing, another 2 million in advertisement before the film release in 1974.
Result: The Godfather 2, made with only 13 million as its budget, had already reached 90 million in box office.
Now with Jaws they were going again for the same strategy. Of course other studios had tried to replicate the advertisement plan but the pre-requisite for this strategy was a great movie quality.
The way to find a great movie forother studios was wait till you saw the audience reaction, meanwhile Paramount could go ahead and get millions approved pre-release for advertisements.
Sid then shifted the slide projector to reveal the print layout, which featured full-page advertisements scheduled to run in prominent national publications such as Time, Newsweek, and People, alongside fifty major metropolitan newspapers across the country.
The layout featured thenow-iconic art of the shark rising toward the swimming victim.
For the audio market, 30 second radio spots were set to debut nationwide, leaning on the musical theme to generate anxiety, warning listeners with the simple phrase, "This summer, don't go in the water."
To support the theatrical release, the campaign relied on the mass-market paperback tie-in edition of Duke's original novel, which had been published back in 1967.
But the novel had stayed for 52 weeks as the number 1 best seller, only being dethroned by Cujo for a week and then taking back its spot.
The new mass-market edition featured the movie poster art directly on the front cover.
Five hundred thousand copies of the paperback were currently shipping to grocery stores, drugstores, and newsstands nationwide, ensuring the title would dominate retail shelves.
Diller leaned forward slightly, studying the numbers on the slide before turning his focus to the total cost of the promotional layout. "The numbers are impressive, Sid, but the total budget for this rollout is currently sitting at 2.8 million dollars," Diller noted, "That is an unprecedented amount of capital to spend on marketing a single summer film, and the financial exposure for the studio is significant if the audience doesn't respond."
Duke did not hesitate for a second, his response carrying the authority of his executive position as he looked at the anxious team. "The budget is approved, Barry,"
"We need to remember that this isn't just a movie we are releasing into theaters this summer, it has to be a national event that will capture the public and make Paramount stand out. The promotional spend is exactly what is required to establish the film as a cultural phenomenon from coast to coast."
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My siblings decided to ragebait my mom yesterday and i had to take her to a hospital in the middle on the night cause she had symptoms of a heart attack.
Now theyre scrambling to buy my mom gifts and Im taking care of her, will probably post another chapter at night about the jaws media tour to promo the movie