Baaaa-DUM! 'Jaws' Makes MAC Splash

For the first time ever, swimmers at the Malkin Athletic Center (MAC) had to fear sharks in the pool last night.

Over 50 students bobbed on bright yellow “Water Country” inner tubes and lounged in poolside seating for a 7 p.m. showing of “Jaws” at the MAC pool. A even larger crowd attended the 10 p.m. screening.

The MAC advertised the “MAC Attack” as “one of the year’s most dramatic events.”

For $5, students purchased grandstand and a limited number of in-pool seats to watch the classic film projected onto a screen with a movie theater-like volume of 2,400 watts.

The event, funded mainly by a grant from the Student Activities Fund, was organized by Oliver A. Horovitz ’08, with the help of a committee he formed.

“This event is basically a year in the making,” Horovitz said. “I had the idea when I was walking down the street at night, and I passed the MAC...I was thinking about ‘Jaws’...if we showed it in the pool, it would be just amazing.”

Horovitz played a techno remix of the “Jaws” theme song outside the Science Center and got a friend to dress in a shark costume to advertise the event, which became so popular that pool seats for the 10 p.m. show sold out.

Students at the 7 p.m. screening were enthusiastic.

“This is amazing!” Peter A. Dodd ’06 exclaimed as he made his way into the pool with his tube. “This is the best idea that has ever happened in Harvard history!”

A few students received gift certificates to b.good, Daedalus, Tommy’s Pizza, and Leavitt & Peirce, as well as an iPod Shuffle in a raffle, the results of which were announced just before the screening.

Moviegoers also munched on theme-appropriate Swedish Fish as the lights dimmed for the opening credits.

In addition to four lifeguards, four policemen, and the supervisor of the MAC pool, former UC presidential hopeful Magnus Grimeland ’07 patrolled underwater in full scuba gear.

Horovitz said he hopes to run the event again in the future.

“I would love to see this happen as an annual thing,” he said, mentioning the possibility of moving it to Blodgett Pool. He said Blodgett can hold approximately 600 people, dwarfing the capacity of the MAC pool.

“I decided to organize it myself because I knew I wanted to put on an event that was a quirky, different kind of event than what you would normally have,” Horovitz said. “I hope it encourages people to go out and put on events on their own.”