Posts filed under Psycho (1960)

Now you can shampoo…

Just as Hitchcock knew the power of publicity, advertisers knew the power of publicity that referenced Hitchcock. Here’s an advertisement from the July 1960 issue of Modern Screen, featuring actress Vera Miles. The irony is that Miles wore a wig in Psycho! Here’s Ann Todd drinking Lipton Tea: …and here she is again with the rest of the cast of The Paradine Case (1947) smoking Chesterfield cigarettes: Here’s a naughty Hitchcock taking candid photographs of… (read more)

Is Fontaine’s Future in Hitchcock’s Hands?

Here’s a interesting article I stumbled across in the July 1941 issue of Motion Picture magazine: IS FONTAINE’S FUTURE IN HITCHCOCK’S HANDS ? JOAN WAS GETTING NOWHERE FAST TILL HITCHCOCK GAVE HER ROLE OF “REBECCA.” HE MADE HER AN ACE ACTRESS. NO WONDER SHE DOESN’T WORK FOR ANYONE ELSE! The most discussed star-director combination in Hollywood at the moment is that of Joan Fontaine and Alfred Hitchcock. And all of the discussion simmers down to… (read more)

Happy Birthday, Brigitte!

A slightly belated happy 86th birthday to French actress Brigitte Auber, who played Danielle Foussard in To Catch a Thief (1955)! According to Patrick McGillian’s biography, both Alma and Alfred grew fond of Auber during filming and she was considered for the role of Jennifer Rogers in his next film, The Trouble with Harry (1955). However, apparently, the hassle of redubbing some of the French actors in To Catch a Thief eventually put the director… (read more)

Andy Schummer of Sherman Oaks, California

As I’ve said before, I love finding fun bits of Hitchcock trivia and here’s a bit of trivia from To Catch a Thief (1955)! This photograph shows Grace Kelly and Alfred Hitchcock outside the Hotel Carlton in Cannes talking to an unnamed man in uniform. With a little bit of online detective work, I’ve found out that he’s named Andy Schummer and came from Sherman Oaks in California. Schummer was interested in becoming an actor… (read more)

The first Hitchcock toilet?

Everyone knows that Psycho (1960) was one of the first — if not the first — Hollywood feature film to show a flushing toilet, but was it the first Hitchcock film to show a toilet? The Lodger (1927) has a scene set in a bathroom, but no toilet is shown. Perhaps the Buntings only have an outside toilet? Nor do we get to see Sir John Menier’s toilet in Murder! (1930) whilst he shaves in… (read more)

“The room, I might add, gets very wet.”

In the 1997 documentary “The Making of Psycho“, actress Janet Leigh spoke about her reaction to seeing the shower scene in the completed film: When I saw it and I saw it cut together and I saw the boom, boom, and the music and everything, I absolutely went… I just was crazy. I really screamed. I never take a shower. I cannot take a shower. ‘Cause it never dawned on me until that moment how… (read more)

Nova Pilbeam as Mary Rose

I’ve been planning to write something about J.M. Barrie’s Mary Rose for a while now, but I thought I’d share this little bit of trivia that I don’t think any of the Hitchcock scholars have stumbled across before… On Sunday 11th September, 1938, BBC Radio broadcast an adaptation of Mary Rose starring Nova Pilbeam, Griffith Jones and Irene Rooke. Pilbeam had previously appeared in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) and Young and Innocent… (read more)

The Birds is Coming (again?)

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the cinema, a number of websites are reporting that Michael Bay is still trying to get a remake of The Birds (1963) off the ground. If you’ve got a long memory, you’ll know that Bay has been pushing this project since 2005. Universal’s ‘The Birds’ Redo Nabs Dutch Director Diederik Van Rooijen ‘The Birds’ Remake Gets Its Director Back in 2005, Tippi Hedren was… (read more)

“Short Girls Are Best”

Another little gem from the National Library of Australia’s Trove site, this time from the the Adelaide Mail (23/May/1931): HEROINES IN FILMS Short Girls are Best It is not much use trying to be a screen heroine if you are tall. Mr. Alfred Hitchcock, the brilliant British director, says a screen actress should not be above medium height; indeed, smallness is a definite asset. “A little actress not only photographs better, particularly in close-up scenes,… (read more)