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New York Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Long Island's ‘monster' shark hunter legend may have inspired ‘Jaws,' iconic Capt. Quint
Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they wouldn't get it right. The Steven Spielberg classic 'Jaws' takes place in a fictional small town in New England — but Long Islanders claim the blockbuster movie and novel that inspired it owes a hat tip to a late local legend. 'Monster' hunter fisherman Frank Mundus — a proud son of Montauk — was the inspiration for Robert Shaw's salty Capt. Quint in the movie, which turns 50 on Friday, family and friends said. Advertisement 4 Although Steven Spielberg's epic 'Jaws,' which turns 50 Friday, depicts unprecedented terror and calamity offshore in the small fictional New England town of Amity Island, its true story belongs to Long Island. Courtesy of Pat Mundus 'Anybody who knows anything about fishing knows that it's based on him,' the shark hunter's daughter Pat Mundus told The Post. 'Everybody on the East End knows,' she added of the mighty man who died in 2008 at 82. Advertisement Mundus, who lives in Greenport, said people still ask her daily if she's related to Frank. The Brooklyn-born seaman came to the Montauk Point from the north jersey shore in the early 1950s to do what wasn't traditionally done before: intentionally go out in search of the feared apex predators of the sea. The self-branded 'monster fisherman' turned the tide of 'the family-friendly inshore fishing image that Montauk had,' said Pat, a former oil tanker worker who is now 68. Advertisement Mundus couldn't give two flying fins, however. 'He branded himself a 'monster fisher' because he knew that it would attract more charter customers,' she explained, adding that there was a method to the madness. As a boy in the city, Mundus tried jumping from roof to roof between a pair of three-story buildings and fell to the ground, breaking his arm and developing a near-fatal infection. The miracle recovery — one that hindered his schooling to the point he finished eighth grade at nearly 18 — is what gave Mundus his 'big booming energy.' 'He painted one toenail red and the other blue and called them port and starboard. He wore an earring. He went barefoot everywhere. He played pranks and made a public spectacle of himself.' Advertisement Perhaps Mundus' most iconic gag was when 'he had another guy dress up as a Frankenstein-like monster and they put him in a waterproof casket and marked it offshore.' 'They 'discovered' the guy, they brought the casket back and opened it up on the dock, and this big monster sprang out.' By the 1960s, the attention-grabbing antics were enough to reel in 'Jaws' author-to-be Peter Benchley. The penman fatefully rode on Mundus' boat, the Cricket, which was named for the running joke that its captain looked like Jiminy. 'My father was a very intelligent person, but not terribly well-educated, so he didn't know who Peter Benchley was,' Mundus, one of Frank's three daughters, said. 'He just thought it was a guy who was interested in listening to stories about catching fish.' The depiction of Quint and the lack of recognition of the real story sent Mundus overboard, his daughter said. 4 The real-life story of 'Jaws' is based on the 'monster' hunter fisherman and local legend from Montauk, Long Island, Frank Mundus. Courtesy of Donnie Braddick Advertisement 'He had very carefully crafted his whole image in his own brand for 30 years,' she added. 'And then some guy just came along and stole it without acknowledging who he was.' Even Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine laments to this day that Mundus and the setting of Montauk were shortchanged. 'Frank Mundus was a legendary fisherman who could be in Hemingway's 'Old Man and the Sea,'' he told The Post. What 'Jaws' got wrong Mundus said her father isn't the bitter old salt that his Hollywood counterpart. Advertisement 'He was never in the Navy, he had no revenge against evil — he didn't seek restitution for the loss of his shipmates, who were all eaten by sharks, none of that,' she said. 'He had a flair for being outrageous, but he wasn't angry and pissed off, and would never take a baseball bat to a VHF radio.' When they saw the film in theaters together, Mundus wasn't afraid to speak his mind. 'A couple of times he stood up and said, 'that's impossible, that wouldn't ever work!'' she recalled. Advertisement 4 Pat Mundus, who is the daughter of the famed shark hunter, told The Post, 'Anybody who knows anything about fishing knows that it's based on him.' 'He laughed through all the parts that everybody else was totally scared about.' Although Pat said that her dad moved on from his gripes, Roy Scheider apparently didn't get the message and worried Mundus would do something like give him a black eye — like a doll's eye. The man who played Chief Brody told publicist Todd Shapiro he was petrified of doing film anniversary events on the East End in case he would run into Mundus, according to the PR consultant who tried recruiting Scheider for a reunion. Advertisement Every morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post's signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here! The real sequel Regardless of whether it was fact or fiction, the fame of 'Jaws' reshaped Montauk in the 1980s and transformed the then-quaint fishing village into Sharktown USA. Sam Hershowitz began hosting annual shark tournaments at his marina on Star Island, 'that brought people all the way up from the Carolinas,' he said. 'The first year we had 82 boats, the year after we had 150,' Hershowitz, 85, told The Post, adding that he would play John Williams' iconic 'Jaws' score before they all left for sea. 'The motel owners used to thank me because they would be booked solid.' During the 1986 competition, Mundus and his former colleague Donnie Braddick made more fishing history. 4 Frank Mundus died in 2008 at the age of 82. Courtesy of Pat Mundus They brought in what some record books call the largest ever rod-and-reel caught great white at a whopping 17 feet and 3,427 pounds. Sam's Star Island Yacht Club and Marina has a replica of the big guy that remains a tourist selfie favorite to this day, Hershowitz said, adding that due to shark fishing regulations, it's a record that will never be broken. Braddick, now 69, was captaining a tuna fishing boat when he spotted tons of sharks devouring a dead whale about 25 miles southeast of Montauk Point. The boaters he was with were too frightened, so Braddick had to wait until he brought them back to make a go at the sharks. En route back to land, Braddick spotted Mundus coming in from an overnight charter. 'If you needed heart surgery and the best heart surgeon was passing by, it would be a good idea to grab him,' Braddick, who left Montauk for North Carolina when it became 'credit cards and spending mommy and daddy's money,' told The Post. The duo returned to port and stocked up on essentials — beer and pizza — and headed back out in their respective boats into the moonlit hours. 'In the middle of the night, we felt the boat get bumped…and then it was like, 'oh boy, they're here,'' he recalled of the 'all-star' team that sprang into action to nab a great white. 'We reeled the boat to the fish, not the fish to the boat…after an hour and a half, that fish was like 'f–k it, I've had enough of this s–t' and it just charged the boat…All I see is him steaming at us.' Finally, after masterful gaffing and angling, the beast fell to the men of the sea and was towed back to land. 'The rest was one big friggin' party,' added Braddick. 'A lot of people know about it, and they still talk about it.' While the legend of Mundus is as eternal as the sea, Pat is ready for a new wave and wants to live a life of her own rather than echo family tales, she said. Still, there's one thing Mundus told his kin that she remembers to this day. 'Fear is just not understanding something,' Pat recalled. 'And if you want to get over a fear, you have to gain competency in it.'
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Where Was ‘Sirens' Filmed? The Stunning Beachfront Village You'll Want To Add To Your Summer Vacation List
The stunning mansion that is the backdrop for Netflix's new, juicy hit show "Sirens" may be out of reach for most, but the spectacular coastal views could be your vacation dreams come true. The five-part series stars Julianne Moore and Kevin Bacon as a billionaire couple living in a lavish estate on an island that seems to hold mysteries of its own. The long, sandy beaches give you a Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard vibe, but much of the dark comedy was filmed in Lloyd Harbor, New York, and several other spots on Long Island. Production designer John Paino told Elle Decor that production and design teams spent two months searching New Jersey and Long Island for locations and, 'We were shooting in the summer, so right off the bat, we weren't going to Nantucket. When people buy a house out there, they want to use it.' (MORE: Top 5 Most Underrated US Travel Spots) The fictional Kell Estate and the wildlife sanctuary featured in the show are actually part of Caumsett State Historic Park, a 1,750-acre preserve that's on a peninsula stretching into Long Island Sound. The opulent home is a country club on the grounds of the public park, which was built in 1921. Netflix says the interiors of the mansion were created on a sound stage in Brooklyn. Caumsett Park is popular with Long Islanders for hiking, biking and birding along miles of paths that meander over wide-open forests, meadows, shorelines and a salt marsh. You can even get a permit to fish and scuba dive. The beach village of Lloyd Harbor is home to about 3,500 people and is considered one of the wealthiest neighborhoods on Long Island. features homes for sale for as high as $7 million.
New York Post
05-06-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Tech company breaks ground on LI, makes big pledge to bring jobs back from China, India
A Long Island-based tech company said its bringing jobs back home from China and India, pledging to open four factories in Suffolk County. Orbic North America announced its 'Project Patriot' Wednesday — that would mean three new solar-powered factories in Hauppauge and one in Bay Shore opening their doors at the start of next year, bringing 1,000 manufacturing jobs back to America. 'I keep getting asked, 'why,' but I don't think I need to debate with anyone,' Narula said of moving manufacturing to New York and possibly seeing a cut in profits to do so. Advertisement 3 Orbic North America, a Long Island-based tech company, is bringing jobs back home from China and India, while also planning to build four factories across Suffolk County. Brandon Cruz 'We're going to be able to produce more volume and sell more units, so it will offset everything — there will be no loss in profits,' he told The Post. Narula said the company — whose products include phones, computers and parts — will now be able to pump out over 5,000 units a year, thousands more than they were making overseas. Advertisement James Gowen, senior vice president of Supply Chain for Verizon — who is partnered with Orbic North America to power their tech — said that Verizon unequivocally supports the move. 'Our commitment is to invest in America,' he said. Narula said the move had nothing to do with Trump's tariff policy, and said the move was in the works prior to the election. 3 CEO Mike Narula said he isn't debating anyone about relocating manufacturing to the Big Apple, despite potentially seeing a cut in potential profits. Brandon Cruz Advertisement 3 Narula told The Post, 'We're going to be able to produce more volume and sell more units, so it will offset everything — there will be no loss in profits.' Brandon Cruz 'We couldn't have gotten this far if this was just a reaction to his announcement in January,' he said. 'But we need to take control of the supply chain and other manufacturing that needs to be done here.' Advertisement Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine attended the announcement and shared his appreciation for the company 'leading the way and providing the future' for other businesses and Long Islanders. 'Orbic will play a key role in helping define a new era in the Long Island business community,' Romaine told The Post. 'We're looking forward to seeing them open their doors and create hundreds of jobs for Long Island.'
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Howard Stern gives update on Billy Joel's health amid brain condition
NEW YORK — SiriusXM host Howard Stern said he and Billy Joel had dinner after the Piano Man canceled his upcoming tour due to a brain condition, and can assure Joel's fans the rocker isn't on his deathbed. 'He's doing fine,' Stern said on his Tuesday morning program. Joel announced on May 23 that he was taking a break from performing following a recent diagnosis of hydrocephalus, which the National Institutes of Health describes as 'an abnormal buildup of cerebrospinal fluid deep within the brain.' Symptoms can include vomiting, vision problems, difficulty walking and memory loss or other cognitive impairment. Stern said Joel told him a few weeks ago, 'You can tell people, you know, I'm not dying.' According to Stern, Joel wants people to know that while he's not fit to play concerts at the moment, that doesn't mean he's not long for this world. Stern conceded that Joel does face medical challenges, but described him as 'delightful' when the two Long Islanders got together with their wives. The 71-year-old radio personality didn't say where their dinner took place, but claimed he serenaded Joel with a guitar he'd brought to celebrate the Grammy winner's recent 76th birthday. 'He didn't seem real impressed,' Stern confessed. One of the upcoming shows Joel had to cancel was a July 8 gig at Yankee Stadium with Rod Stewart, who himself nixed a Las Vegas performance hours before it was set to begin on Sunday due to illness.
New York Post
31-05-2025
- Health
- New York Post
Up-tick? Long Island seeing more of the blood-suckers this year
Long Islanders better brace for a bloodthirsty summer. Populations of several tick species across both Nassau and Suffolk counties have exploded since the fall, experts told The Post. 'I have friends working in the state and county parks, and the talk is, 'Oh, my God, it's so bad this year!'' said Janine Bendicksen, director of wildlife rehabilitation at Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown. Bendicksen said Sweetbriar has taken in more goslings this spring than in previous years, with groups of 10 to 20 coming in at a clip. 4 Tick populations appear to be booming on Long Island. Oleksandr – 'They were lethargic. Their feet were curling up, and they'd flip over, because they were dying,' she explained. 'All of a sudden, we saw all of these tiny black ticks coming off of them.' Sweetbriar's team realized the baby birds were anemic from the bloodsuckers. 'Goslings and ducklings never have ticks on them, because ticks tend to go for mammals,' Bendicksen said. 'That is an indication that, 'Uh-oh, it's gonna be a bad season.'' The Lone Star, American Dog, and blacklegged tick — which can transmit a bevy of illnesses such as Lyme disease, a bacterial infection that causes flu-like symptoms — have all been on the rise across Long Island, experts said. They can also spread potentially-fatal bacterial infections such as ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis, along with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Powassan virus. 4 Deers are among the many animals that help spread ticks on Long Island. Dan – Several factors account for the population explosion, including weather and host animal abundance. Long Island had a rather mild winter, which can increase tick activity, said Dr. Scott Campbell, Suffolk County's entomologist. A wet spring also tend to bring out more ticks. 'There's a lot of moving parts,' said Campbell. 'There's no silver bullet, but multiple factors are playing a role.' Rodent populations are also on the rise — potentially caused by a dip in the number of predators that feed on them including owls and snakes — helping boost tick numbers. In Suffolk, there were 3,299 reported cases of Lyme disease in 2023 — up from 2,668 the year before. Only 697 cases were reported in Nassau County in 2023, while data from the prior year was not immediately available. Over 21,000 Lyme disease cases were reported statewide in 2023. 4 Ticks carry a multitude of infectious diseases. meepoohyaphoto – And more than 89,000 U.S. cases were reported across the US in 2023, the CDC reported. Ulises Galdamez, 36, owner of Long Island Tick Sprays in Hampton Bays, told The Post this is the first season since launching his business in 2016 that his phone started ringing in early March. 'Normally, April is when we get people reaching out to us,' he explained. 'This year's going to be bad, because we've definitely had more people calling us this year than any other year before. We've been going nonstop — it's shaping up to be our busiest season so far.' 4 Ticks love tall grass, and wind can carry them towards sunbathers. Joe Trentacosti – Bendicksen suggested wearing 'socks on the outside of your pants' to keep the critters off exposed skin. Keeping rodents and larger mammals away with fences and other measures is also important she said. And keep a lint roller handy — they're excellent for removing ticks, she added.
