Daily Mail (09/Jun/1958) - Fifty angry men seek the film hoaxer

Details

• article: Fifty angry men seek the film hoaxer
• newspaper: Daily Mail (09/Jun/1958)
• keywords: Alfred Hitchcock

Notes

• This rather odd article is slightly reminiscent of conman Alan Conway who impersonated film director Stanley Kubrick during the 1990s. No other references to this incident have been located in other newspapers.

Article

Fifty angry men seek the film hoaxer

He walked into the local Labour Exchange and said : "I'm making a film. I want a large number of men as extras."

He gave his name as HITCHCOCK.

The filming, "Mr. Hitchcock" explained to the exchange officials at Bexhill, Sussex, would take a fortnight.

Long wait

The men would receive £3 a day. He would be back for interviews at the weekend.

The word went round. Interview day arrived; so did 50 would-be extras. They waited ... for an hour.

Then they were told: "There have been some difficulties. The film is held up for the time being, and there are no jobs."

But, in fact, Mr. Hitchcock had disappeared.

One of the men hoping to earn £42 in a fortnight was Mr. Ernest Brown, of Sidley, Bexhill.

Really angry

He said: "About 50 of us were told there was a hold-up. That rather annoyed us. Since then we have heard it was all a hoax and we are really angry."

The manager of Bexhill Labour Exchange was on holiday, but his deputy said : "It is just one of those things. I cannot confirm or deny it, and I do not wish to discuss it."

Said the area manager at Hastings, Mr. C.J. Phillips : "I do not know anything about it personally, but I have been told it happened. It is disgraceful."

Now the police have been told.