Hitchcock Chronology: 1955

Overview

During early 1955, Hitchcock meets with Lew Wasserman, MCA colleagues and vsrious television executives to negotiate a hosted TV series, which eventually becomes Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Image Gallery

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

Month by Month

January

• Returning for their Christmas holiday in St. Moritz, the Hitchcocks travel to Paris in early January to oversee the French dubbing of To Catch a Thief. Whilst there, Hitchcock meets with François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol for a Cahiers du Cinéma interview. After Truffaut and Chabrol manage to accidentally fall into an icy pond on their way to meet Hitchcock, damaging their tape recorder in the process, they reschedule and meet that evening at the Plaza-Athénée Hotel.
• The Hitchcocks return to Bel-Air from Paris, where work commences on the script for The Man Who Knew Too Much with Angus MacPhail.
• 11th - The Hitchcocks depart from Southampton aboard the SS Liberte, bound for New York.
• 17th - The Hitchcocks arrive into New York aboard the SS Liberte.
• 18th - Actor John Williams spends a day redubbing some of his lines in To Catch a Thief.
• Hitchcock meets with composer Bernard Herrmann to discuss the score for The Trouble with Harry.

February

• It now seems highly likely that Doris Day will play a lead role in The Man Who Knew Too Much. Hitchcock and Angus MacPhail work on developing the character of Jo McKenna to make her a retired singer.
• Composer Lyn Murray completes the recording of his score for To Catch a Thief.
• 24th - Geoffrey Shurlock, the new director of the Production Code Administration, issues the certificate of approval to To Catch a Thief on the proviso that an edit is made to the scene with Grace Kelly and Cary Grant which ends with the fireworks display. Hitchcock eventually appeases Shurlock by toning down Lyn Murray's sensuous tenor saxophone in the scene.
• John Michael Hayes, now free from other work commitments, joins Hitchcock to work on The Man Who Knew Too Much. The director apparently neglects to tell Hayes that Angus MacPhail had already been working on the film's plot line for the last two months which ultimately leads to Hayes formally objecting to MacPhail receiving a screen credit.

April

• 3rd - The BBC Radio Light Programme broadcasts a portrait of Hitchcock with contributions from Michael Balcon, Tallulah Bankhead, Ingrid Bergman, Alma Reville, Frank Mills and James Stewart.
• 20th - Hitchcock swears American citizenship. En route to the courthouse, Herbert Coleman reportedly asks the director if he was having second thoughts, "No, but the Hitchcock name goes back almost to the beginning of the British Empire and you can imagine what a serious thing it is for me to break away." At the courthouse, his official witnesses are MCA agent Arthur Park and actor Joseph Cotten.
• 20th - Hitchcock meets Doris Day to discuss The Man Who Knew Too Much.
• 23rd - Hitchcock leaves the US to travel to London to scout locations for The Man Who Knew Too Much.

June

• 2nd-4th - Location filming takes place at Edward Gerrard & Sons taxidermist, situated at 61 College Place, Camden, which stands in for "Ambrose Chappell" in The Man Who Knew Too Much.
• 16th - Location filming takes place at St. Saviour's Church Hall, Brixton Hill, which stands in for "Ambrose Chapel" in The Man Who Knew Too Much.
• 17th - Actor and producer Carlyle Blackwell, who produced The Lodger, dies aged 71.
• Hitchcock films sequences at the Royal Albert Hall for The Man Who Knew Too Much, including Bernard Herrmann conducting the London Symphony Orchestra and Covent Garden Chorus.

July

• Filming on The Man Who Knew Too Much is completed by late July.

August

• 4th - To Catch a Thief receives is premiere at the Paramount Theater in New York City.
• Hitchcock meets with Angus MacPhail in late August to discuss the The Wrong Man script.

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.

October

• Maxwell Anderson submits his first draft of The Wrong Man.
• 2nd - Alfred Hitchcock Presents premiers on US TV, with the Hitchcock directed episode "Revenge".
• 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.
• 19th - Actor John Hodiak, who starred in Lifeboat, dies of coronary thrombosis, aged 41.
• 24th - The Hitchcocks arrive into Southampton from New York aboard the RMS Queen Mary. They are listed as then staying at Claridge's hotel in London.

November

• The Hitchcocks tour Asia to promote The Trouble with Harry, visiting Inida, Japan, Thailand and Hong Kong.
• 13th - The Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Breakdown", directed by Hitchcock, premiers on US TV.

December

• 3rd - Concerns start to grow after the aircraft the Hitchcocks are travelling on from India to the Far East fails to arrive in Singapore. There are fears that it may have crashed into the Bay of Bengal. The Hitchcocks were due to be the guests of Singaporean businessman Loke Wan Tho, who had organised a cocktail party and formal dinner. Still no news had arrived the following day and Loke commented to the press, "I am completely baffled."
• 4th - The Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "The Case of Mr. Pelham", directed by Hitchcock, premiers on US TV.
• 5th - The mystery of Hitchcock's disappearance is resolved when newspapers report that the plane he was travelling on from India to the Far East was delayed leaving Calcutta due to engine problems. Not long after take-off, a re-occurrence of the problem forced the flight to turn back over the Bay of Bengal and return to Calcutta. Issues around the complex Indian customs and immigrations procedures meant that the passengers were forced to remain on the aircraft until repairs were completed. Speaking to the press, Hitchcock said, "Let's put it this way. It's the strangest flight I've ever been on."
• 16th - The Hitchcocks depart from Tokyo, Japan, aboard Pan Am flight 856/16, bound for Honolulu. They land on the 17th at 2:30am.
• 22nd - The Hitchcocks, with their daughter Patricia, and Joan Harrison depart at 9pm from Honolulu to Los Angeles aboard Pan Am flight 510/22

See Also...

• articles from 1955
• births in 1955
• deaths in 1955

Notes & References

Hitchcock Chronology
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