Hitchcock Chronology: 1961
Overview
Image Gallery
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Month by Month
January
- Sensing that it had cinematic possibilities, Hitchcock instructs Paramount to try and secure the rights to Daphne du Maurier's short story The Birds. After nearly six month of negotiations, the rights are secured for $25,000.[1]
February
- 17th - Actress Nita Naldi, who starred in The Mountain Eagle, dies aged 65.
March
- 14th - The Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "The Horse Player", directed by Hitchcock, premiers on US TV.
April
May
June
- The Hitchcocks spend the end of June in New York City with Alfred's sister Nellie and his cousin Teresa. They take in the latest shows and make a trip to Washington D.C.[2]
- 25th - After months of negotiations, Hitchcock finally secures the film rights to Daphne du Maurier's short story The Birds for $25,000. [3]
July
- Hitchcock directs the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Bang! You're Dead".[4]
August
- 18th - In the early hours of the morning, residents of Santa Cruz are awoken by the sounds of a large sooty shearwater flock flying into their homes, disoriented by a heavy sea fog. The front page of the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper reports "Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Town". Hitchcock contacts the newspaper and requests more details, eager to incorporate them into The Birds.[5][6][7]
September
- 16th - After a series of telephone conversations about developing a film from Daphne du Maurier's short story The Birds, novelist Evan Hunter flies from New York to Los Angeles to meet with Hitchcock.[8]
- 18th - Evan Hunter officially begins working on the screenplay for The Birds, signing an initial seven-week contract for a salary for $5,000 per week. His family soon flies out to join him.[9]
October
- 13th - The Hitchcocks spot model Tippi Hedren in a television commercial.[10]
- 17th - The Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Bang! You're Dead", directed by Hitchcock, premiers on US TV.
- 18th - Model Tippi Hedren signs a seven-year contract with Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions.[11]
November
- 6th - A discarded cigarette butt starts a fire in Bel Air that eventually destroys over 500 houses and causes $30,000,000 damage. The Hitchcocks store their valuables in the wine cellar and seek temporary shelter.[12]
- 8th - Tippi Hedren takes part in a screen test with Martin Balsam. Hitchcock directs them both in scenes from Rebecca, Notorious and To Catch a Thief.[13]
- 10th - Evan Hunter submits his second draft of The Birds screenplay before flying back to New York with his family.[14]
- 21st - The Production Code Administration's Geoffrey Shurlock writes to Peggy Robertson with a list of concerns over the script for The Birds.[15]
- 28th - Over dinner at Chasen's Restaurant with Alma and Lew Wasserman, Hitchcock offers Tippi Hedren the lead role in The Birds.[16]
- 30th - Hitchcock sends Evan Hunter five pages of notes and amendments based on Hunter's second draft of The Birds screenplay.[17][18]
December
- Hitchcock turns down the offer of a CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in the Queen's New Year Honour's List for 1962.[19]
- 14th - Evan Hunter sends Hitchcock 52 revised pages for the second draft of The Birds screenplay.[20]
- 21th - Hitchcock sends Evan Hunter 4 further pages of notes based on the second draft of The Birds screenplay. He signs off by saying "I pray I'm not giving you too much to think about over the Christmas holidays... P.S. People are still asking, 'Why did the birds do it?'"[21]
- The Hitchcocks spend Christmas in St. Moritz. Hitchcock invites Evan Hunter and his wife to join them, but they decline.[22]
- 27th - Having included a scene in which school children sing a song, Evan Hunter writes to Peggy Robertson to confirm the song's title ("Risseldy Rosseldy") and asks her to check that the song is in the public domain. After timing the song and finding it too short, Robertson telephones Hunter and asks him to come up with extra lyrics. Hunter obliges but finds he must join the American Society of Composers and Publishers before the extra lyrics can be used in the final film. Much to his amusement, the Society then begins to send him regular royalty payments.[23][24]
See Also...
- articles from 1961
- deaths in 1961
Notes & References
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 26-27
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 26-27
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 29
- ↑ Santa Cruz Sentinel (18/Aug/1961) - Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Homes
- ↑ Santa Cruz Sentinel (21/Aug/1961) - Alfred Hitchcock Using Sentinel's Seabird Story
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 36-37
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 37-38
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 215
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 215
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 62
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 62
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 45
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 182
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 63
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 45-46
- ↑ Sight and Sound (1997) - Me and Hitch
- ↑ The Guardian: Some who turned the offer down
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 46
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 46-48
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 48
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 48-49
- ↑ Documentary: All About The Birds - transcript
| Hitchcock Chronology | ||||||||||||
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