Hitchcock Chronology: Michael Balcon

Entries in the Hitchcock Chronology relating to Michael Balcon...

1933

• Hitchcock signs a contract with Michael Balcon and Gaumont British.

September

• After fleeing Hitler's Germany, actor Peter Lorre is brought to London by Ivor Montagu, with support from Michael Balcon and Sidney Bernstein. He will go on appear in several Gaumont British productions during the 1930s.

1934

May

• 11th - Motion Picture Daily reports that actress Madeleine Carroll has left New York to return to England aboard the Empress of Britain where she'll resume working for Gaumont-British. The Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette notes that her current film, I Was a Spy, is a huge success and that she will meet with studio head Michael Balcon to discuss future projects.

June

• 25th - The Times reports that Alma Reville attended the wedding of Gaumont British screenwriter Bryan Edgar Wallace to Margaret Lane. Among the other guests are Michael Balcon and his wife.

September

• 22nd - Gaumont-British studio head Michael Balcon sets sail from Southampton to New York aboard the RMS Aquitania on a short publicity trip for the studio. With him are actor Jack Hulbert and new star, 14-year-old Nova Pilbeam, accompanied by mother. They return to England in mid-October.

October

• 27th - The Gloucester Citizen reports that Michael Balcon, freshly returned from America, stated that the reception of his company's films had far exceeded his expectations. "On the night I left New York three cinemas on Broadway were showing Gaumont British films, and both Mr. Jack Hulbert and Miss Nova Pilbeam, who accompanied me, were hailed as stars of the first rank."

1935

February

• 14th - Michael Balcon departs from Southampton aboard the Olympic, bound for New York and Hollywood. Whilst in America, he plans to promote Gaumont-British and to sign deals to distribute the company's films. He also meets with Will H. Hays and Joseph L. Breen of the Production Code Administration and later states, "If we in England want distribution in this market [America], it is entirely logical that we should be prepared to observe the code principles."

April

• 8th - In Hollywood, Michael Balcon announces that he has signed deals to sell 13 Gaumont-British films in America, as well as agreeing a reciprocal contract player loan scheme with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

1936

December

• Gaumont British announces a series of cost cutting measures, resulting in the firing of Hitchcock's friends Ivor Montague and Michael Balcon. Edward "Ted" Black is brought in to replace Balcon.

1940

August

• British producer Michael Balcon is quoted in British and American newspapers denouncing the "famous directors" of Britain who have elected to hide out the war in Hollywood. Although not mentioning him by name, his reference to a certain "plump young junior technician" is deeply hurtful to Hitchcock.

1955

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.

1977

October

• 17th - Film producer Michael Balcon, who gave Hitchcock the chance to direct his first feature film and then later signed him to Gaumont-British, dies aged 81.