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Hitchcock Chronology: Month of December

Entries in the Hitchcock Chronology for the month of December...

1900

  • 1st - The first electric tram service runs through Leytonstone.[1]

1910

1920

1925

1926

1927

1929

1931

1933

1934

  • 10th - The Man Who Knew Too Much is reviewed by The Times who states that Hitchcock "has a rare gift for the macabre" and that "with the aid of a few shadows, a dozen stairs or so, and a sinister-looking figure, he manages to keep his audience in a suspended state of expectation."[18]
  • 13th - The Kinematograph Weekly reviews The Man Who Knew Too Much, saying that "This is glorious melodrama ... It is artless fiction, staged on a spectacular scale ... Alfred Hitchcock has obviously learnt by past experience that the real money lies only in mass appeal, and with this wise thought in mind he has given us a picture of first-class melodrama."[19]
  • The Hitchcocks and Joan Harrison spend Christmas holidaying in St. Moritz.[20]

1936

1938

  • The New York Film Critics name Hitchcock as "Best Director of 1938" for The Lady Vanishes in their annual poll. The news alarms Selznick, as his own vagueness about the actual start date for Rebecca could give Hitchcock the opportunity to make his debut US film for another studio. Selznick quickly renegotiates the contact and gives Hitchcock better terms whilst ensuring that he has the final say-so over any projects for other studios.[24]

1939

  • Filming on Rebecca is completed and Hitchcock hands the footage over to David O. Selznick. The lack of coverage and alternative takes frustrates Selznick as he oversees the editing the film.[25]
  • Shortly after Christmas, a preview cut of Rebecca is shown a test audience, who react postively to the film.[26]

1940

  • 12th - Loew's Grand Theatre, Atlanta, hosts the "anniversary premiere" screening of Selznick's Gone With the Wind. A plane carrying Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier and Hitchcock to Atlanta is unable to land due to fog and diverts to Augusta (150 miles away). Leigh, Olivier and Hitchcock miss the screening and fly back to Los Angeles the following day.[27]
  • 18th - Variety names Hitchcock as the second highest grossing director of 1940, behind Victor Fleming (Gone With the Wind).[28]

1941

1942

  • Keen to attach a big-name writer to Lifeboat, Hitchcock telegrams Ernest Hemmingway at his winter home in Cuba — "THE WHOLE STORY TAKES PLACE IN THE LIFEBOAT WITH THE CONFLICT OF PERSONALITIES, THE DISINTEGRATION OF SOCIAL INEQUALITIES THE DOMINANCE OF THE NAZI, ETC"[38]

1944

1946

1947

1948

1950

1952

  • The Hitchcocks celebrate their wedding anniversary at the Palace Hotel, St. Moritz.[55]

1953

1954

  • 1st-2nd - The opening title sequence for To Catch a Thief is reshot. Footage of an open jewel case in a moonlit hotel room, with black-gloved hands reaching into frame to steal them, is dropped and new footage of a New York travel agent's window ("If you love life, you'll love France") is filmed.[57]
  • With the filming of The Trouble with Harry complete, Alma and Alfred Hitchcock travel to St. Moritz for their annual Christmas holiday.[58] On route to Switzerland, they stop off for a week in London where they take in several West End plays. Asked by the press if he intends to ski, he replied "I hope not. No, definitely no. I'll watch some skiing but I just like sitting in my room at the hotel and looking at the snow."[59]

1955

  • 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."[60][61]
  • 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."[62]
  • 16th - The Hitchcocks depart from Tokyo, Japan, aboard Pan Am flight 856/16, bound for Honolulu. They land on the 17th at 2:30am.[63]
  • 22nd - The Hitchcocks, with their daughter Patricia, and Joan Harrison depart at 9pm from Honolulu to Los Angeles aboard Pan Am flight 510/22[64]

1956

1957

  • 16th - Hitchcock shoots Vertigo's famous "revolving kiss" scene. On the second take, James Stewart slips and falls -- filming is interrupted for an hour whilst Stewart visits the studio doctor.[67]
  • 18th - Hitchcock shoots Vertigo's opening rooftop chase sequence.[68]
  • 19th - Around lunchtime, Hitchcock shoots his cameo scene for Vertigo.[69]
  • With filming on Vertigo completed, Alfred Hitchcock and Alma spend Christmas holidaying in Miama and Montego Bay, along with a brief trip to Cuba. They are accompanied by Lew Wasserman and his wife.[70]

1958

1960

1961

  • 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.[75]
  • 14th - Evan Hunter sends Hitchcock 52 revised pages for the second draft of The Birds screenplay.[76]
  • 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?'"[77]
  • The Hitchcocks spend Christmas in St. Moritz. Hitchcock invites Evan Hunter and his wife to join them, but they decline.[78]
  • 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.[79][80]

1962

  • By early December, special effects departments at Disney, MGM, Film Effects of Holluwood and Universal are all busy working on the optical and special effects for The Birds. At Universal, artist Millie Weinbrenner is close to completing 3 months work of painstakingly rotoscoping gulls for the "God's Eye" shot of the fire at the gas station — a sequence that lasts for only 10 seconds.[81]
  • 14th - Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann leave Los Angeles to travel to Berlin to oversee the progress of Remi Gassmann and Oskar Sala's electronic tratonium soundtrack for The Birds. En route, they lunch with Anny Ondra in Hamburg.[82]
  • 20th - Please with the progress made by Remi Gassmann and Oskar Sala on the electronic score for The Birds, Hitchcock cables Peggy Robertson "WORK IN BERLIN COMPLETED TO MY SATISFACTION". Joined by his family, including his three granddaughters, the Hitchcocks then travel on to Paris and then St. Moritz for their Christmas vacation.[83]

1964

1965

1966

1968

1969

  • Topaz is released in cinemas to disappointing reviews and a lacklustre box office. The film fails to recoup its $4,000,000 budget and is never re-released theatrically by Universal during Hitchcock's lifetime.[86]
  • 30th - Hitchcock appears on the KYW-TV television show The Mike Douglas Show, alongside James Brown and Joan Rivers.[87]
  • 30th - BBC Television broadcasts Bryan Forbes' interview with Hitchcock, which was recorded at the National Film Theatre in October.

1970

1971

  • 12th - Henry Mancini's score for Frenzy is recorded in London over four days. [91]
  • 14th - Hitchcock arrives in London, accompanied by Alma, to attend the remainder of Henry Mancini's Frenzy recording sessions. After hearing the completed score, Hitchcock decides to reject it and subsequently hires Ron Goodwin to compose a new one. As usual, Hitchcock, who hated confrontations of any kind, asks a studio executive to convey the news to Mancini.[91]
  • 17th - The Hitchcocks fly out of London to spend the rest of December holidaying in Marrakech.[92]
  • 18th - Henry Mancini flies back to Los Angeles.[92]

1975

  • With Family Plot nearly complete, the Hitchcocks make their final trip to Europe and spend Christmas at the Palace Hotel in St. Moritz.[93]
  • 24th Composer Bernard Herrmann, who created many of the most iconic Hitchcock film scores, dies in his sleep after completing the recording sessions for Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver in New York.

1978

1985

1990

1991

1998

1999

2001

2002

2006

2009

2012

  • 28th - Actor Jon Finch, who starred in Frenzy, is found dead in his flat in Hastings, East Sussex. He was aged 71.[97]

2013

References

  1. Reported in the Essex Newsman (01/Dec/1906).
  2. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, pages 40-43
  3. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 74
  4. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 74
  5. Hitchcock Annual (1998) - Hitchcock's "The Mountain Eagle"
  6. Brompton Oratory's official web site
  7. Wikipedia: Brompton Oratory
  8. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 89
  9. The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 92
  10. http://www.badruttspalace.com
  11. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 89
  12. The Times (07/Dec/1927) - The Film World
  13. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 131
  14. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 132
  15. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 145
  16. The Times (14/Dec/1931) - New Films in London: Rich and Strange
  17. Variety (1933) - Hitchcock Signed
  18. The Times (10/Dec/1934) - New films in London: The Man Who Knew Too Much
  19. The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 144
  20. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 168
  21. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 190
  22. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 190
  23. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 193
  24. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 230
  25. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 253
  26. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 253
  27. As reported in several U.S. local newspapers, e.g. Ogden Standard Examiner (13/Dec/1940) and TIME (23/Dec/1940).
  28. "Top 1940 Stars and Pix" in Variety (18/Dec/1940)
  29. Variety (03/Dec/1941) - L.A. to N.Y.
  30. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 294
  31. American Cinematographer (1993) - Saboteur: Hitchcock Set Free
  32. American Cinematographer (1993) - Saboteur: Hitchcock Set Free
  33. American Cinematographer (1993) - Saboteur: Hitchcock Set Free
  34. American Cinematographer (1993) - Saboteur: Hitchcock Set Free
  35. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 304
  36. American Cinematographer (1993) - Saboteur: Hitchcock Set Free
  37. Variety (31/12/1941) - L.A. to N.Y.
  38. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 324
  39. The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 279
  40. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, pages 363-64
  41. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 367.
  42. Hitchcock Annual (1996) - The unknown Hitchcock: Watchtower over Tomorrow
  43. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 368.
  44. The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 297
  45. Radio listing in the Hull Daily Mail (06/Dec/1946).
  46. The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 298
  47. For example, Radio Daily (18/Dec/1946) reported "From 9:30 to 10 p.m., network will air Ben Hecht's play 'Miracle of a Bum' which will feature the author and be narrated by Alfred Hitchcock." Other sources include the radio listings in the Anniston Star (24/Dec/1946).
  48. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 411
  49. American Cinematographer (1985) - Rope - Something Different
  50. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 411
  51. The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 297
  52. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 429
  53. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 429
  54. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 453
  55. The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, pages 341
  56. Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, pages 91-92
  57. Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 121-22
  58. The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 356
  59. Yorkshire Post and Leeds Mercury (14/Dec/1954)
  60. Stars and Stripes Newspaper (06/Dec/1955) - Alfred Hitchcock 'Vanishes'
  61. Wikipedia: Loke Wan Tho
  62. See Articles about Hitchcock's disappearance in December 1955 for further details and newspaper reports.
  63. The airplane number was recorded as 1024V and the Captain was W. Carlton with 1st Officer D. Frost.
  64. The airplane number was recorded as 1026V.
  65. The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 384
  66. Wikipedia: George Metesky
  67. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 556
  68. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 557
  69. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 557
  70. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 557
  71. The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 407
  72. Other sources state it was the 16th
  73. Source: Motion Picture Daily (22/Dec/1958)
  74. Source: Motion Picture Daily (23/Dec/1958)
  75. The Guardian: Some who turned the offer down
  76. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 46
  77. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 46-48
  78. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 48
  79. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 48-49
  80. Documentary: All About The Birds - transcript
  81. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 164-65, 174-75
  82. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 164
  83. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 166
  84. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 661
  85. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 676
  86. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, chapter 17
  87. Interview: The Mike Douglas Show (KYW-TV, 30/Dec/1969)
  88. 88.0 88.1 Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy: The Last Masterpiece (2012) by Raymond Foery, page 11
  89. Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy: The Last Masterpiece (2012) by Raymond Foery, page 21
  90. 90.0 90.1 Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy: The Last Masterpiece (2012) by Raymond Foery, pages 11-12
  91. 91.0 91.1 Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy: The Last Masterpiece (2012) by Raymond Foery, pages 106-7
  92. 92.0 92.1 Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy: The Last Masterpiece (2012) by Raymond Foery, page 108
  93. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 729
  94. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 735
  95. Toronto Star (18/Dec/1985) - Street named after Hudson
  96. Easy Virtue (BBC Radio, 26/Dec/1999)
  97. Hastings and St Leonards Observer (12/Jan/2013) - Jon Finch: His other acting roles
Hitchcock Chronology
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1900s 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
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