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TIME (18/Dec/1944) - Bourgeoisie

(c) Time (1944)


Bourgeoisie

Alfred Hitchcock, round, restless British cinema director, famed for his movie chillers (The 39 Steps, Rebecca, etc.), revealed that their audience-paralyzing secret was a thing called "the McGuffin."† Said he: "The McGuffin is the thing the hero chases, the thing the picture is all about ... it is very necessary."

By no means original with Hitchcock, the McGuffin is a hoary British joke about a parcel-toting man on a train meeting another man, who inquires:

"What's in the parcel?"
"A McGuffin."
"What's a McGuffin?"
"A McGuffin is a small animal with a long, yellow, spotted tail, used for hunting tigers in New York."
"But there aren't any tigers in New York."
"Ah, but this isn't a real McGuffin."