Hitchcock Chronology: 1949

Overview

Images from the Hitchcock Gallery (click to view larger versions or search for all relevant images)...

The Hitchcocks start the year with a vacation at the Racquet Club in Palm Springs, a resort founded by actors Charles Farrell and Ralph Bellamy — Farrell is married to retired actress Virginia Valli who starred in The Pleasure Garden (1925).^[1]
The Hitchcocks and Whitfield Cook begin regular script conferences for Stage Fright.^[2]
30th - The Screen Directors' Playhouse broadcasts a radio adaptation of Mr and Mrs Smith, starring Robert Montgomery and Mary Jane Croft. Hitchcock provide an introduction and closing remarks to the adaptation.^[3]

English serial killer John George Haigh, known as the "Acid Bath Murderer", is arrested. He was found guilty in July and then executed in August. Hitchcock follows the arrest and trial with fascination and will later try to incorporate aspects of Haigh case into the Kaleidoscope project.^[4]

24th - Actress Jane Wyman wins an Oscar for her role in Johnny Belinda. Shortly afterwards, Hitchcock contacts her to offer her the lead in Stage Fright.^[5]

Hitchcock sends Marlene Dietrich a copy of the script treatment for Stage Fright in early April. She writes back, "I like it very much, knowing that you are going to do it."^[6]
28th - The Hitchcocks and Whitfield Cook depart from New York City to London aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth. During the voyage, Hitchcock comes down with a dose of flu and takes to bed. Cook completes a new draft of Stage Fright before they arrive at Southampton.^[7]

3rd - The Hitchcocks arrive into Southampton aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth and then travel on to London where they stay at the Savoy.^[8]
7th - The Hitchcocks spend the weekend with Sidney Bernstein and his wife at their farmstead in Kent. Bernstein screens a print of Bob Hopes' new film, Sorrowful Jones.^[9]
May and June are spent polishing off the script for Stage Fright and enhancing Marlene Dietrich's role in the film.^[10]

Sculpture Jacob Epstein completes his bust of Patricia Hitchcock, which her father had commissioned.
1st - Principal photography begins on Stage Fright, the third Transatlantic Pictures production, starring Jane Wyman, Richard Todd, Marlene Dietrich and Michael Wilding.^[11]
25th - With work on the Stage Fright completed, Whitfield Cook flies back to America.^[12]

9th - Alma Reville flies back to America, leaving her husband behind in London to complete production work on Stage Fright.^[13]

Under Capricorn opens at the Radio City Music Hall, New York City, to mostly negative reviews. Ingrid Bergman's "scandalous" affair with Italian director Roberto Rossellini creates negative press for the film, causing some US exhibitors to avoid booking the film. Angered by the press, Bergman refuses to do any publicity for the film.^[14]
22nd - Hitchcock departs from Southampton to New York aboard the RMS Queen Mary.^[15]
27th - Hitchcock arrives into New York aboard the RMS Queen Mary.

20th - The BBC Radio series Film Time includes a report on the soundtrack for Under Capricorn.^[16]