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Hitchcock Chronology: The Birds (1963)

Entries in the Hitchcock Chronology relating to The Birds (1963)...

1961

January

  • Sensing that it had cinematic possibilities, Hitchcock instructs Paramount to try and secure the rights to Daphne du Maurier's short story The Birds. After nearly six month of negotiations, the rights are secured for $25,000.[1]

June

  • 25th - After months of negotiations, Hitchcock finally secures the film rights to Daphne du Maurier's short story The Birds for $25,000. [2]

August

  • 18th - In the early hours of the morning, residents of Santa Cruz are awoken by the sounds of a large sooty shearwater flock flying into their homes, disoriented by a heavy sea fog. The front page of the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper reports "Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Town". Hitchcock contacts the newspaper and requests more details, eager to incorporate them into The Birds.[3][4][5]

September

  • 16th - After a series of telephone conversations about developing a film from Daphne du Maurier's short story The Birds, novelist Evan Hunter flies from New York to Los Angeles to meet with Hitchcock.[6]
  • 18th - Evan Hunter officially begins working on the screenplay for The Birds, signing an initial seven-week contract for a salary for $5,000 per week. His family soon flies out to join him.[7]

November

  • 6th - A discarded cigarette butt starts a fire in Bel Air that eventually destroys over 500 houses and causes $30,000,000 damage. The Hitchcocks store their valuables in the wine cellar and seek temporary shelter.[8]
  • 10th - Evan Hunter submits his second draft of The Birds screenplay before flying back to New York with his family.[9]
  • 21st - The Production Code Administration's Geoffrey Shurlock writes to Peggy Robertson with a list of concerns over the script for The Birds.[10]
  • 28th - Over dinner at Chasen's Restaurant with Alma and Lew Wasserman, Hitchcock offers Tippi Hedren the lead role in The Birds.[11]
  • 30th - Hitchcock sends Evan Hunter five pages of notes and amendments based on Hunter's second draft of The Birds screenplay.[12][13]

December

  • 14th - Evan Hunter sends Hitchcock 52 revised pages for the second draft of The Birds screenplay.[14]
  • 21st - 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?'"[15]
  • 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.[16][17]

1962

January

  • 4th - Returning from Christmas in St. Moritz, Hitchcock stops off in New York to discuss the screenplay of The Birds with Evan Hunter.[18]
  • 17th - Evan Hunter completes his final draft of The Birds screenplay. After telephone discussions with Hitchcock, a small number of further amendments are made.[18]

February

  • 12th - Peggy Robertson sends Evan Hunter a leather-bound copy of his screenplay for The Birds.[19]
  • 22nd - Hitchcock begins filming The Birds in Bodega Bay.[20]

March

  • 5th - External sequences for The Birds are filmed at the Tides Restaurant.[21]
  • 8th - Production on The Birds moves inland to Bodega where scenes are filmed inside the school house, along with the subsequent crow attack on the children as they run down the hill from the school.[22]
  • 17th - Production on The Birds returns to Bodega Bay to film scenes at the Brenner Ranch, including the scenes of the children's party.[23]
  • 20th - Further external sequences for The Birds are filmed at the Tides Restaurant.[24]
  • 28th - Production on the The Birds moves to Valley Ford Farm, where establishing shots of Jessica Tandy's discovery of Dan Fawcett's body are filmed.[25]
  • 31st - Location filming in Bodega Bay is completed and production of The Birds moves back to the sound stages at Universal Studios, with a brief stopover in San Francisco to film Tippi Hedren crossing Union Square.[26]

April

  • 2nd - The studio-based filming on The Birds begins at Universal Studios. Initial filming concentrates on scenes inside the Brenner house, including the sparrow attack.[27]
  • 2nd - Evan Hunter submits his final amendments to the screenplay for The Birds, including changes to the film's coda. Ultimately, Hitchcock decides not to use Hunter's ending.[28]
  • 16th-17th - Studio-based filming on The Birds continues with the interior shots of Fawcett farmhouse, including Jessica Tandy discovering Dan Fawcett's body.[29]
  • 18th - At the suggestion of Saul Bass, German electronic music composer Remi Gassmann writes to Hitchcock to extol the virtues of the tratonium instrument for creating film soundtracks. Hitchcock will go on to use the tratonium to create the soundtrack for The Birds.[30]
  • 24th - Concerned about the short gap between completing The Birds and the planned start date for Marnie of 1st August, Hitchcock announces that the latter will be delayed. He added that Princess Grace had agreed to the change.[31]

May

  • Studio-based filming on The Birds continues with the climatic attack on the Brenner house.[32]
  • Keen to tie in with the upcoming film, Penguin books reprints Daphne du Maurier's short story collection The Apple Tree as The Birds and Other Stories.[33]
  • 2nd - The American Humane Association writes to Hitchcock with their concerns about the script of The Birds.[34]
  • 9th - Impressed by the demo tape of the tratonium, Hitchcock contracts Remi Gassmann and Oskar Sala to provide a test soundtrack to the one of the bird attack sequences in The Birds.[35]
  • During mid-May, interior scenes in the Tides Restaurant are filmed for The Birds.[36]
  • The difficult week-long attic attack The Birds scenes are filmed at the end of May. Tippi Hedren comes close to a nervous breakdown and a stand-in is used for some scenes whilst she recovers.[37]

June

  • Due to the lengthy planned post-production on The Birds, editor George Tomasini works on assembling rough edits of key sequences before principal photography is completed. By early June, sixteen separate sequences are ready, totaling 74 minutes of film.[38]
  • 7th - The contentious sand dune scene in The Birds is filmed. Evan Hunter protests to Hitchcock against the addition of the scene without his knowledge.[39]
  • 12th-13th - The Birds phone booth scene is filmed. Due to a mistake by prop master Bobby Bone, a dummy seagull hitting the side of the booth shatters the glass, rather than cracking it, showering Tippi Hedren with glass splinters.[40]
  • 14th-18th - The Birds opening sequence scenes set in the pet store are filmed.[41]
  • 20th-29th - The complex crow attack scenes for The Birds are filmed using a long treadmill in front of a rear projection screen. Due to delays in filming, Suzanne Pleshette is unavailable and so doesn't appear in the studio filmed scenes.[41]

July

  • 3rd - The first bird attack in The Birds, where Tippi Hedren is hit by a gull whilst in the small boat, is filmed.[42]
  • 10th - Studio-based filming for The Birds wraps. The final scenes shot are those of Tippi Hedren attempting to leave the love birds at Mitch's San Francisco apartment.[43]
  • 11th - The lengthy post-production on The Birds begins, including the creation of a record-breaking 412 planned optical effects shots. Universal push for a completion date prior to March 3rd, 1963 in order to benefit from the Californian tax laws.[44]

August

September

  • 14th - Peggy Robertson sends a memo to requesting that the National Screen Service Studios are hired to provide the opening title sequence for The Birds.[47]

October

  • Hitchcock completes his notes for The Birds soundtrack. After hearing the tratonium test, he decides the film's soundtrack should be entirely electronic sounds and natural sounds, with no traditional orchestration. Bernard Herrmann is contracted to act as the sound consultant for the film, with Remi Gassmann and Oskar Sala recording the tratonium sounds in Germany.[48]

November

  • Reels of footage are sent to Remi Gassmann and Oskar Sala in Germany to record the electronic tratonium soundtrack for The Birds.[49]

December

  • 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.[50]
  • 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.[51]
  • 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.[52]

1963

January

  • 11th - Peggy Robertson sends a memo detailing Hitchcock's requirements for The Birds end title card. The lack of a "THE END" title had proved to be contentious, with some preview audience members incorrectly assuming the film had broken down rather than ended.[53]
  • 28th - The American Humane Association gives their seal of approval to The Birds after watching a screening of the film.[54]

February

  • In a meeting with Universal's marketing executives, Hitchcock reveals his marketing slogan for The Birds — "Gentlemen, here is how we'll announce the movie. Are you ready? ... The Birds is coming!"[55]
  • 1st - With all the effects shots completed and printed to his satisfaction, cinematographer Robert Burks' work on The Birds is completed.[56]

March

  • 13th - The Today show devotes an whole hour to promoting The Birds.[57]
  • 18th - Hitchcock addresses a luncheon of top Washington journalists at the National Press Club as part of the promotional buildup for The Birds premiere.[58]
  • 21st - The Birds premiere on the 27th at the Museum of Modern Art is cancelled. The museum's film curator Richard Giffith had grown increasingly uncomfortable that Universal was pushing for a red-carpet gala celebrity event and Hitchcock was concerned that the museum's facilities were substandard.[59]
  • 27th - A press release is issued to announce that The Birds will open the 1963 Cannes Film Festival with a gala showing on May 9th.[60]
  • 27th - With the Museum of Modern Art premiere cancelled, Hitchcock instead hosts a lavish dinner at "La Pavillon" on East 55th Street, New York. Afterwards, cocktails are served at the Four Seasons followed by a private screening of The Birds.[61]
  • 28th - The Birds is premiered at the Palace Theater on Broadway, New York, where Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren release 1,000 homing pigeons. A low-key press-only screening is held at the Museum of Modern Art.[62]

May

  • 9th - The Hitchcocks and Tippi Hedren fly from Paris to Nice, before travelling on to Cannes. A evening cocktail reception is held in the ballroom of Les Ambassadeurs with 1,000 invited guests before the black-tie showing of The Birds at 9:30pm. Afterwards, a formal dinner is held at the Carlton Hotel for around 300 guests.[63]
  • 10th - Following a large press conference for The Birds, Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren release 400 pigeons.[63]
  • 13th - The Hitchcocks fly back to Paris from Nice, where they oversee the dubbing of The Birds trailer into various European languages.[64]

August

  • 21st - Peggy Robertson and Tippi Hedren arrive in London at the start of a European tour to promote The Birds.[65]
  • 29th - The Birds receives it's UK premiere in the West End of London.[66]

September

  • 5th - Peggy Robertson and Tippi Hedren arrive in Paris to start a European publicity tour for the The Birds. Their schedule is Frankfurt (9th), Berlin (11th), Stockholm (13th), Brussels (17th), Antwerp (18th) and Copenhagen (19th).[67]
  • 20th - Peggy Robertson and Tippi Hedren fly back to the US after their hectic European promotional tour for The Birds.[67]

1964

November

1981

October

1989

May

  • 13th - Novelist Daphne du Maurier, whose works were adapted into the Hitchcock films Jamaica Inn, Rebecca and The Birds, dies aged 81.

2002

February

  • 26th - German composer Oskar Sala, who worked on the electronic soundtrack of The Birds, dies aged 91.

2005

July

  • 6th - Writer Evan Hunter, who wrote the screenplay for The Birds, dies aged 78.

2007

March

  • 1st - Production designer and art director Harold Michelson, who worked with Hitchcock on The Birds and Marnie, dies aged 87.

2008

January

  • 19th - Actress Suzanne Pleshette, who appeared in The Birds, dies aged 70.

2010

August

2011

July

  • 10th - James H. Brown, who worked as an assistant director on The Birds and Marnie, dies aged 80.

2015

January

  • 7th - Australian actor Rod Taylor, who starred in the The Birds, suffers a fatal heart attack and dies, aged 84.

References

  1. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 26-27
  2. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 26-27
  3. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 29
  4. ↑ Santa Cruz Sentinel (18/Aug/1961) - Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Homes
  5. ↑ Santa Cruz Sentinel (21/Aug/1961) - Alfred Hitchcock Using Sentinel's Seabird Story
  6. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 36-37
  7. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 37-38
  8. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 62
  9. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 45
  10. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 182
  11. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 63
  12. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 45-46
  13. ↑ Sight and Sound (1997) - Me and Hitch
  14. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 46
  15. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 46-48
  16. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 48-49
  17. ↑ Documentary: All About The Birds - transcript
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 49
  19. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 50
  20. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 109
  21. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 110-11
  22. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 112
  23. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 115
  24. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 111
  25. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 116-17
  26. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 123-25
  27. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 127-28
  28. ↑ Sight and Sound (1997) - Me and Hitch
  29. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 132-33
  30. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 157-58
  31. ↑ The Times (24/Apr/1962) - Princess Grace film delayed
  32. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 133
  33. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 30-31
  34. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 182
  35. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 159
  36. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 136
  37. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 138
  38. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 168
  39. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 147-48
  40. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 149
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 150
  42. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 154
  43. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 127 & 154
  44. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 167-68
  45. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 168-69
  46. ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 633
  47. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 179
  48. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 160-61
  49. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 162-63
  50. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 164-65, 174-75
  51. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 164
  52. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 166
  53. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 166
  54. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 182
  55. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 184-85
  56. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 179
  57. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 188
  58. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 188
  59. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 188-93
  60. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 196
  61. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 194
  62. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 194-95
  63. ↑ 63.0 63.1 The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 197
  64. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 198
  65. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 200
  66. ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 201
  67. ↑ 67.0 67.1 The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 202
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