Hitchcock Chronology: The Trouble with Harry (1955)
Entries in the Hitchcock Chronology relating to The Trouble with Harry (1955)...
1954
May
- On his way to France, Hitchcock announces The Trouble With Harry to the press in New York City, telling them that, "It's the story of a body found by a 4-year-old boy and what happens to it thereafter. It's set in England but I hope to shoot it in New England this fall."[1]
June
- 14th - John Michael Hayes' writing contract for The Trouble with Harry formally begins.[2]
July
- 12th - John Michael Hayes submits his first draft of The Trouble With Harry.[3]
- 27th - Following discussions with Hitchcock over the draft script, John Michael Hayes submits a revised 134-page green script for The Trouble With Harry.[4]
August
- 3rd - John Michael Hayes' latest version of the The Trouble With Harry script is submitted to the Production Code Administration office. Joe Breen of the PCA responds two days later with concerns about the line "Do you realize you'll be the first man to cross her threshold?", implications that Arnie is illegitimate, and discussions about Jennifer's wedding night.[5]
- Paramount Pictures approves a $1,000,000 budget for The Trouble with Harry.[6]
- Hitchcock dispatches Herbert Coleman to New York to look for a suitable lead actress for The Trouble with Harry, where he watches Shirley MacLaine standing in for Carol Haney in musical The Pajama Game. The following day, Coleman arranges a screen test for MacLaine.[7]
September
- In early September, a storm blows through parts of Vermont, forcing The Trouble with Harry producer Herbert Coleman to scout for alternative filming locations. By late September, the area around East Craftsbury and Craftsbury Common had been deemed suitable.[8][9]
- 10th - The crew of The Trouble with Harry travel to Stowe, Vermont.[10]
- 14th - Hitchcock and John Michael Hayes complete changes requested by the Production Code Administration to the script for The Trouble with Harry.[11]
- Casting for The Trouble with Harry is completed by mid-September.[12]
- 20th - Principal photography begins on The Trouble with Harry, Paramount production #10332. begins in East Craftsbury, Vermont.[13]
- 22nd - Location filming on The Trouble with Harry moves to Morrisville, Vermont.[14]
October
- The law suit originally filed by Irving Fiske in 1947, which claimed Hitchcock and Cary Grant had plagiarised Fiske's concept of a modern-language version of Hamlet, is heard at New York Federal Court with Judge William Bondy presiding. Fiske sought $750,000 in damages. After 11 days of detailed testimony, including key statements by Maurice Evans, Judge Bondy halted the trial and directed the jury to find the case "not proven". Hitchcock, who was busy filming The Trouble with Harry, did not attend the trial. Fiske was later ordered to pay $5,000 towards the director's legal costs.
- Unseasonal heavy rainstorms cause delays to the shooting of exterior scenes in East Craftsbury, forcing the filming of The Trouble with Harry to use a indoor set in a local school gymnasium.[15]
- 13th - Whilst shooting in the indoor school gymnasium set, a 850lb crane-mounted VistaVision camera crashes to the floor grazing Hitchcock's shoulder and pinning crew member Michael Seminerio to the ground. Fortunately neither the director or Seminerio are seriously injured.[16]
- 13th - John Michael Hayes completes his final script revisions for The Trouble with Harry.[17]
- 14th - Due to the unpredictable weather, Hitchcock decides to end location shooting and film the remaining scenes back on the Paramount sound stages, leaving behind Herbert Coleman and the second unit to capture the remaining exterior landscape shots, using stand-in doubles for the actors. The News & Citizen, the local newspaper for Morrisville, Vermont, reported that "Hollywood's experiment with making an entire motion picture in Vermont ended Thursday as director-producer Alfred Hitchcock and his cast leave for their home studios after bucking Vermont's unpredictable weather for more than a month."[18]
- 18th - Production on The Trouble with Harry resumes back at the Paramount sound stages. At short notice, Paramount art director John B. Goodman had constructed a set with artificial foam rubber trees and replicated the hillock on which Harry's body is found. The trees are dressed with leaves the crew have brought back from Vermont.[19][20]
- 27th - Principal photography is completed on The Trouble with Harry.[21]
November
- After many years of trying to hire Bernard Herrmann, Hitchcock finally secures the composer to create the score for The Trouble with Harry.[22]
December
- With the filming of The Trouble with Harry complete, Alma and Alfred Hitchcock travel to St. Moritz for their annual Christmas holiday.[23] On route to Switzerland, they stop off for a week in London where they take in several West End plays. Asked by the press if he intends to ski, he replied "I hope not. No, definitely no. I'll watch some skiing but I just like sitting in my room at the hotel and looking at the snow."[24]
1955
January
- Hitchcock meets with composer Bernard Herrmann to discuss the score for The Trouble with Harry.[25]
September
- 25th - Hitchcock and Shirley MacLaine appear as guests on the NBC Radio series Monitor where they promote The Trouble with Harry.
- 30th - The world premiere of The Trouble with Harry takes place in Barre, Vermont, with Shirley MacLaine and Hitchcock as the guests of honour at a civic dinner.[26]
October
- Alma and Alfred Hitchcock depart from New York aboard the RMS Queen Mary to travel to France, Germany and Italy to oversee the foreign language dubbing of The Trouble with Harry.[27]
November
- The Hitchcocks tour Asia to promote The Trouble with Harry, visiting Inida, Japan, Thailand and Hong Kong.[28]
1959
September
- 6th - Actor Edmund Gwenn, who appeared in The Skin Game, Waltzes from Vienna, Foreign Correspondent and The Trouble with Harry, dies aged 81.
1964
August
- Hitchcock negotiates a new contract with Universal Studios. In return for transferring ownership of Shamley Productions and distribution rights to Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Rope, Rear Window, The Trouble with Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Vertigo, the director becomes the 3rd largest shareholder in the studio.[29]
1981
October
- 24th - Costume designer Edith Head, who worked with Hitchcock on Notorious, Rear Window, The Trouble with Harry, To Catch a Thief, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, The Birds, Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz and Family Plot, dies aged 83.
1998
April
- 29th - Composer Joel McNeely conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at City Halls, Glasgow, in a recording of Bernard Herrmann's score for The Trouble With Harry. The recording is later released on the Varèse Sarabande label.
2008
November
- 19th - Playwright John Michael Hayes, who wrote the screenplays for Rear Window, The Trouble with Harry, To Catch a Thief and The Man Who Knew Too Much, dies aged 89.
2010
April
- 1st - Actor John Forsythe, who starred in The Trouble with Harry and Topaz, dies aged 92.
References
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 128-29
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 111
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 130
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, pages 134-35
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 135
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 354
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 354
- ↑ Hitchcock at Work (2000) by Bill Krohn, page 150
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, pages 505-6
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 138
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, pages 138-39
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 354
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 141
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 141
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 355
- ↑ "Camera Drops, Hits Hitchcock" in Los Angeles Times (14/Oct/1954). However, Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 143, says the accident happened on the 12th.
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, pages 141-42
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 143
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 144
- ↑ The Trouble with Harry Isn't Over (2001)
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 144
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 355
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 356
- ↑ Yorkshire Post and Leeds Mercury (14/Dec/1954)
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 507
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 373
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 376
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 373
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 653
