Alfred Hitchcock: The Mind behind the Best of Psychological Suspense
Alfred Hitchcock: The Mind behind the Best of Psychological Suspense by Roxanne McDonald
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“Television has done much for psychiatry by spreading information about it, as well as contributing to the need for it.” Alfred Hitchcock (1899 - 1980) |
The psychologically thrilling and macabre storylines, use of light (and shadow), and interstice sarcasm of Alfred Hitchcock movies and shows are as well known and as thoroughly discussed by film aficionados as is Hitchcock’s life. But for less TV- and movie- savvy folks, some Hitchcock information might be interesting… so rather than go into who the master of mental manipulation was from birth to death, I would like to share with you the coolest of trivia as I know (or remember) it:
–When Hitchcock was a kid, he stole a candy bar (or did some other minor infraction, I can’t recall exact details). To exact the most effective discipline, his mother/father wrote a note to the chief of police, handed it to Alfie, and sent the boy downtown to the local PD. Alfie gave the note to the officer, who, following its directions, placed little Alfie in a cell, locked it, and walked away—leaving the kid incarcerated and terrified (for a short? period). When he returned to let Alfred out, he commented, “This is what we do to naughty boys.”
This experience translated to a terrible fear of police, which Hitch highlighted in all of his depictions of cops—from camera angles that made arresting officer look huge to the use of the standard issue sunglasses which instill fear in the offender…and the audience.
–Hitchcock was intrigued with numbers, especially the number seven. He included the number seven in his movies…or used numbers which added up to or reduced to seven.
–Hitchcock had an interesting approach toward commercials. Though he would find perfection in Tipi Hedren by way of a TV commercial she was doing (which Hitchcock saw during his watching of an edition of “The Today Show”) for the weight-loss tonic, Sego, he made his attitude clear and injected his black humor by poking at the upcoming ads he introduced during commercial breaks: he would say, “The views expressed here are entirely those of the sponsor,” and roll his eyes; or would comment on a just-run segment of one of his shows which was macabre and horrifying by punning, “And speaking of [digusting]….”
Too, as writers Laurence Marcus and Stephen R. Hulse at Television Heaven tell us, Hitchcock “…made jibes about the programmes sponsors, mainly due to his annoyance about the intrusion of commercial breaks during the show….” But when this wry humor was lost on TV viewers outside of the U.S., Hitchcock had two film double versions of his intros—one for Americans and one for European audiences. I suspect that what was lost was the notion of our commercialism, not the droll humor, however.
–Hitchcock had an egg phobia, also known as ovophobia: “I’m frightened of eggs, worse than frightened, they revolt me. That white round thing without any holes … have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid? Blood is jolly, red. But egg yolk is yellow, revolting. I’ve never tasted it.”
–And as more and more people have come to find out, Hitchcock made a cameo appearance in every single one of his films. This signature move was all good, until he had to figure out how to “make an appearance” in the movie Lifeboat, when the only people on the screen were the survivors in the rubber raft. How did he manage to still show up? He is in the newspaper one of the characters is reading.
Chiller TV debuts, features Alfred Hitchcock Presents
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