Hitchcock Chronology: 1953
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Overview
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Month by Month
January
- 14th - New York musician Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero is arrested and charged with a robbery he didn't commit. His story will later be told in the Hitchcock film The Wrong Man.[1]
February
- Angus MacPhail writes to Hitchcock from Nice, France, asking for help paying his hotel bills. Hitchcock immediately wires him some money. The director then becomes one of a group of MacPhail's friends who help clear the writer's debts so that he can return to England.[2]
- I Confess opens to lukewarm reviews.[3]
March
- Financial woes at Warner Bros. result in the studio halting production on all new projects for 90 days and studio executives are later asked to take a salary cut of up to 50%. This prompts Hitchcock to ask his agent Lew Wasserman to shop around for a new contract with a different studio — Wasserman eventually secures a lucrative deal with Paramount Studios on the proviso that Hitchcock adapts a story from a collection they've optioned by writer Cornell Woolrich as his first film.[4]
- I Confess premieres in New York City.[5]
April
- With Warner Bros pushing Hitchcock to make a film in 3D, the director abandons The Bramble Bush in favour of Dial M for Murder, which can be more easily shot on a sound stage with the bulky 3D cameras.[6]
- 17th - Mary Alma O'Connell, daughter of Joseph E. O'Connell, Jr. and Patricia Hitchcock, and granddaughter of Alfred and Alma Hitchcock, is born.
May
- 30th - Cinematographer George Barnes, who worked with Hitchcock on Rebecca and Spellbound, dies aged 60.
June
- Herbert Brean's "A Case of Identity", detailing the arrest and subsequent release of Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero, is published in the June edition of LIFE magazine. Brean also sells a screen treatment of the story to Warner Brothers. Eventually, this will be filmed as The Wrong Man.[7]
- 8th - Actor Godfrey Tearle, who played the role of the villian in The 39 Steps, dies aged 68.
- 8th - Screenwriter John Michael Hayes is formally contracted by Paramount to write Rear Window on a salary of $750 per week.[8]
July
- 20th - Lux Radio Theater broadcasts a radio adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's short story The Birds, starring Herbert Marshall.[9]
- 30th - Principal photography for Dial M for Murder begins, starring Grace Kelly, Ray Milland, Robert Cummings and John Williams.[10]
August
September
- Hitchcock begins assembling a new team of key personnel for his first Paramount film, Rear Window, including assistant director Herbert Coleman, production manager C.O. "Doc" Erickson, cinematographer Robert Burks, editor George Tomasini, costume designer Edith Head, production designer Hal Pereira and his team of Joseph McMillan Johnson, John P. Fulton and John Goodman.[11]
- 11th - John Michael Hayes submits his treatment of Rear Window.[12][13]
- 25th - Filming on Dial M for Murder is completed.[14]
October
- Grace Kelly's agent telephones her to let her know she has been offered the role of "Lisa" in Rear Window. Kelly has already been offered the lead role opposite Marlon Brando in On The Waterfront, but jumps at the chance to work with Hitchcock again.[15][16]
- 8th - Actor Nigel Bruce, who appeared in Rebecca and Suspicion, dies of a heart attack, aged 58.
- 20th - Screenwriter John Michael Hayes submits the first 21 pages of his initial draft of the Rear Window screenplay. The remaining 146 pages are completed by November 30th.[17][18]
November
- 13th - Cinematographer Robert Burks begins photography tests on the complex studio set of Rear Window to ensure each part can be lit independently for both day and night scenes.[19][20]
- The cast for Rear Window is finalised by mid-November.[21][22][23]
- 16th - Patricia Hitchcock plays a supporting role in the first part of two-part radio adaptation of Wilkie Collins' novel "The Moonstone", broadcast as part of the Suspense series.[24]
- 27th - Principal photography begins Hitchcock's first film for Paramount, Rear Window, starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly. The first sequence to be filmed is the complex opening title sequence — 10 takes are required before Robert Burks is happy.[25][26][27]
December
- Screenwriter John Michael Hayes and his wife spend two weeks at the Hotel Carlton in Cannes researching the area in preparation for starting the screenplay for To Catch a Thief.[28]
See Also...
- articles from 1953
- deaths in 1953
Notes & References
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 368
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 508
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, pages 341-2
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 6
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 466
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 468
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 368
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 11
- ↑ Radio: The Birds (Lux Radio Theater, 20/Jul/1953)
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 343
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, pages 483-85
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 29
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 483
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 343
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 345
- ↑ American Cinematographer (1990) - Hitchcock's Techniques Tell Rear Window Story
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 33
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 483
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 41
- ↑ American Cinematographer (1990) - Hitchcock's Techniques Tell Rear Window Story
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 346
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 41
- ↑ American Cinematographer (1990) - Hitchcock's Techniques Tell Rear Window Story
- ↑ The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion (2001) by Martin Grams Jnr & Patrik Wikstrom, page 16
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 43
- ↑ American Cinematographer (1990) - Hitchcock's Techniques Tell Rear Window Story
- ↑ Patrick McGilligan states filming began in October, but this is likely an error.
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, pages 91-92
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