Alfred Hitchcock (157 page)

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Only key sources
not
listed in
Sources
are noted.

Hitchcock talked about his boyhood with Fred Jones in “The Master of the Macabre, Who Is 70 Today, Talks to Fred Jones …” in the
Guardian
(Aug. 23, 1969), in “Alfred Hitchcock: ‘This Age of Violence is Nothing New’ ” in the
Sunday Express
(April 24, 1966), and with Hugh Whelon for “Alfred Hitchcock on His Films,” in the
Listener
(Aug. 6, 1964). “A smartly dressed …” is the reminiscence of a cousin quoted in
The Alfred Hitchcock Quote Book
by Laurent Bouzereau (Citadel, 1993). He recalled being an altar boy in “Tourists in Quebec Throng to See Hitchcock Make Movie” by Marjory Adams in the
Boston Globe
(Sept. 16, 1953). He reminisced about growing up with Dick Cavett on
The Dick Cavett Show
(broadcast in 1972), and with Tom Snyder on the
Tomorrow
show (broadcast in 1973). The Faithful Companions of Jesus’ pamphlet “Good Example Does Much Good” described their religious order and Howrah House, while the Vestry House Museum pamphlet “Alfred Hitchcock: From Leytonstone to Hollywood” by Nigel Sadler and Victoria Coxon supplied local color. I have also cited Raymond Fielding, “Hale’s Tours: Ultrarealism in the Pre-1910 Motion Picture” in the
Smithsonian Journal of History
(winter 1968-69) and Charles Musser (in collaboration with Carol Nelson),
High-Class Moving Pictures: Lyman H. Howe and the Forgotten Era of Traveling Exhibition, 1880-1920
(Princeton University Press, 1991). The correspondence and a transcript of Hitchcock’s filmed address to the Westcliff Cine Club is in the Margaret Herrick Library.

My research into St. Ignatius College was buoyed by a visit to that institution, examining the school records and memorabilia, and reading old issues of the
Ignatian Record
(the parish newsletter). The
St. Ignatius Silver Jubilee Magazine (1894–1919)
contains “Reminiscences, 1909-1915” by Reginald
Dunn, and other school background. The Reverend Bernard Parkins’s
St. Ignatius College, 1894–1994
(St. Ignatius College, 1994) was a vital resource, which Parkins augmented with other material supplied to the author. John O’Riordan interviewed Hitchcock for the
Ignatian
(summer 1973). Neil P. Hurley’s
Souls in Suspense: Hitchcock’s Fright and Delight
(Scarecrow, 1983) goes into depth about Hitchcock’s Jesuit upbringing and related Catholic motifs in his films. Cardinal John C. Heenan is quoted from
Not the Whole Truth
(Hodder & Stoughton, 1971). Besides an interview with Dr. Ambrose King, I drew on his book
Strong Medicine: Brothers at Home and Abroad
by A. C. King and A. J. King (Churchman, 1990).

Robert Goold’s letter to the BBC was shown to me, courtesy of Tim Kirby.

Robert Boyle is quoted here and elsewhere from his oral history in the Margaret Herrick Library, but also from other published and archival sources.

Other books: Peter Ackroyd,
London: The Biography
(Chatto & Windus, 2000); Grace Goakes,
My Part of the River
(Shepheard-Walwyn, 1974); Harry Grant-Whyte,
Between Life and Death
(Shuter & Shooter, 1976); George Orwell, “Decline of the English Murder,” in
Shooting an Elephant, and Other Essays
(Secker & Warburg, 1970); Roy Plomley,
Desert Island Discs
(William Kimber, 1975); W H. Weston,
The Story of Leyton and Leytonstone
(Exeter, 1921).

The Henley’s years were greatly informed by Ernest Slater’s
One Hundred Years: The Story of Henley’s
(Henley’s, 1937) and by pamphlets and background furnished by David Oliver, a current W. T. Henley’s official. Oliver also retrieved original back issues of the
Henley Telegraph
, leading to the important discovery of additional Hitchcock stories besides “Gas,” the only one heretofore known. W. A. Moore is quoted from issues of the
Henley Telegraph.

“The worst thing was chemistry …” is from “With
Family Plot
…” by Penelope Gilliatt in the
Observer
(Aug. 8, 1976). Andrew Sarris is quoted from
The American Cinema: Directors and Directions, 1929-1968
(Dutton, 1968). I am indebted to Charles Higham for the bosun’s chair anecdote.

My research into Islington and Hitchcock’s earliest silent film work was aided by reading the
Bioscope
and the
Kinematograph Weekly
in the microforms room of the Golda Meir Library of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. J. Lary Kuhns supplied many clippings from these and other British screen publications of the early 1920s, from his own private collection.

“Birds flying, hearts breaking …” and “I was given odd jobs of going out to shoot …” are from
Dialogue on Film
(American Film Institute publication, no.1, 1972).

Arthur C. Miller is quoted from
One Reel a Week
(University of California Press, 1967). Seymour Hicks is quoted from
Hail Fellow Well Met
(Staples Press, 1949). Michael Balcon is quoted from
Michael Balcon Presents … a Lifetime of Films
(Hutchinson, 1969), but I also explored his papers at the British Film Institute (BFI), and cite from the Hitchcock-Balcon letters. Victor Saville is quoted from
Evergreen: Victor Saville in His Own Words
with Roy Moseley (Southern Illinois University Press, 2000), but I also drew from his papers at the BFI.

My information on Alma Reville’s career is culled from a number of publicity releases, interviews, and bylined articles, some in archives as unsourced clippings. These include “Two New British Production Units” by P. L. Mannock,
Kinomatograph Weekly
(Oct. 8, 1925); “Alma in Wonderland,”
Picturegoer
(Dec. 1925); “Hitchcock’s Wife a Bit Player, Too” by Wm. Michelfelder,
New York World Telegram
(Aug. 9, 1954); “Effects by Hitchcock” by Elaine Lane,
New York Post
(June 21, 1959); “I Don’t Scare Easily, Says Mrs. Hitchcock” by Rita Grosvenor,
Sunday Express
(Jan. 30, 1972); “One Woman Who Has Never Been Frightened by Mr. Hitchcock” by Ivor Davis,
Daily Express
(Aug. 4, 1976); and “Mr. and Mrs. Hitchcock” by Joseph McBride,
Sight and Sound
(autumn 1976).

“All I can remember …” is from “My Horrifying Husband” by Alma Hitchcock, parts 1 and 2 (undated clipping,
TV Times).
“He strolled across the set …” is from “My Husband Alfred Hitchcock Hates Suspense” by Mrs. Alfred Hitchcock as told to Martin Abrams,
Coronet
(Aug. 1964), which also includes her version of the night Hitchcock proposed marriage. “The Woman Who Knows Too Much” by Alfred Hitchcock in
McCall’s
(March 1956) contains his alternative account. “I married her because …” is from
The Egotists.
“If I hadn’t met Alma …” is John Russell Taylor from the
E! Hollywood True Story
documentary about Hitchcock (first broadcast in 1999). “It didn’t stick …” is from Hitchcock’s February 20, 1975, letter to Michael Balcon.

Pat Hitchcock O’Connell’s book
Alma Hitchcock: The Woman Behind the Man
(Berkley Books, 2003), written with Laurent Bouzereau, was a recent addition to Hitchcock literature, shedding important light on her mother’s life and career.

All material pertaining to Hitchcock’s relationship with the Joyce-Selznick Agency, later the Selznick Agency—including correspondence and business memoranda involving Harry Ham, Noll Gurney, Dan Winkler, Sig Marcus, Carl Laemmle Jr., Sam Goldwyn, David O. Selznick, and Myron Selznick—comes from the Myron Selznick Collection in the archives of the Harry Ransom Research Center of the University of Texas, Austin. This material is heavily utilized in
chapters 7
-
10
.

Other articles and books: Charles Barr, ed.,
All Our Yesterdays: 90 Years of British Cinema
(BFI, 1986); Colin Belfrage (pseudonym for Bernard Lewis),
All Is Grist
(Parallax Press, 1988);
Eighteenth Pordenone Silent Film Festival Catalogue;
Clive Brook,
The Eighty-four Ages
(unpublished manuscript, BFI); M. Danischewsky, ed.,
Michael Balcon’s Twenty-five Years in Films
(World Film Publications, 1947); Joseph Garncarz, “The German Hitchcock,”
Hitchcock Annual
(2000-2001);
Michael Balcon: The Pursuit of British Cinema
(Museum of Modern Art, 1984); Peter Noble, “Index to the Work of Alfred Hitchcock,” Special Supplement to
Sight and Sound
(May 1949); Duncan Petrie,
The British Cinematographer
(BFI, 1996); John Stuart,
Caught in the Act
(Silent Picture, 1971); Patricia Warren,
British Film Studios: An Illustrated History
(B. T. Batsford, 1995); Herbert Wilcox,
Twenty-five Thousand Sunsets
(Bodley Head, 1967). I am especially indebted to J. Lary Kuhn’s definitive article about
The Mountain Eagle
, which appeared in the 1998-99
Hitchcock Annual.

“Two peas in a pod …” is from “On Suspense and Other Film Matters,”
Films in Review
(April 1950), and “I more or less base my idea of sexuality …” is from
Oui
(Feb. 1973).

June is quoted from
The Glass Ladder
(Heinemann, 1960). Ivor Montagu is quoted from his papers at the BFI,
The Youngest Son: Autobiographical Sketches
(Lawrence & Wishart, 1970) and “Working with Hitchcock” in
Sight and Sound
(summer 1980). Angus MacPhail is quoted here and elsewhere from his correspondence to Sidney Bernstein at the BFI, and to Hitchcock in the Hitchcock Collection. Cedric Belfrage is quoted from his unfinished autobiography and from his
New York Herald Tribune
columns of the 1920s, among the Belfrage Papers in the Tamiment Library of New York University.

“Top money …” is from Sidney Gilliat’s BECTU transcript.

Alfred Roome is quoted from my interview but I also referred to his BECTU transcript.

Other books: Adrian Brunel,
Nice Work
(Forbes Robertson, 1949); Pam Cook,
Gainsborough Pictures
(Cassell, 1997); James Hardin,
Ivor Novello
(W. H. Allen, 1987); Mark Haworth-Booth,
E. McKnight Kauffer: A Designer and His Public
(G. Fraser, 1979); Ivor Montagu,
Film World
(Pelican, 1964); Tom Ryall,
Alfred Hitchcock and the British Cinema
(Croom Helm, 1986).

George Pearson is quoted from
Flashback: The Autobiography of a British Film-maker
(Allen & Unwin, 1957). The Eliot Stannard anecdote pertaining to
The Ring
comes from Gavin Lambert’s
Mainly About Lindsay Anderson: A Memoir
(Knopf, 2000). Michael Powell is quoted from
A Life in Movies
(Knopf, 1987) and
Million Dollar Movie
(Random House, 1992). Freddie Young is quoted from
Seventy Light Years
(Faber & Faber, 1999).

“It was almost a matter of committing …” is from George Angell’s “The
Time of My Life” interview with Hitchcock for the BBC Home Service (July 30, 1966).

Charles Landstone is quoted from
I Gate-Crashed
(Stainer & Bell, 1976).

Hitchcock’s reflections on actors, “Actors Aren’t REALLY Cattle,” comes from a typed transcript in a file of ghostwritten publicity articles in the Hitchcock Collection.

Sean O’Casey is quoted from “A Long Ashwednesday” in
Rose and Crown
(Macmillan, 1952). Hitchcock is photographed bartending in
Juno and the Paycock
in the
Picturegoer
(Jan. 1930).

Henry Kendall is quoted from
I Remember Romano’s
(Macdonald, 1960). Esmond Knight is quoted from
Seeking the Bubble
(Hutchinson, 1943). Rodney Ackland is quoted from
The Celluloid Mistress
with Elspeth Grant (Allan Wingate, 1954).

Other articles and books: Charles Barr,
“Blackmail:
Silent and Sound,”
Sight and Sound
(spring 1983); Daphne du Maurier,
Gerald: A Portrait
(Victor Gollancz, 1934); Maud Gill,
See the Players
(Hutchinson, 1938); James Hardin,
Gerald du Maurier: The Last Actor-Manager
(Hodder & Stoughton, 1989); David Krause,
The Letters of Sean O’Casey
, vol. 3,
1955-58
(Catholic University of America Press, 1989); Jessie Matthews,
Over My Shoulder
(W. H. Allen, 1974); Sheridan Morley,
Gertrude Lawrence
(McGraw-Hill, 1981); Sean O’Casey,
The Green Crow
(George Braziller, 1956); Garry O’Connor,
Sean O’Casey: A Life
(Hodder & Stoughton, 1988); Tom Ryall,
Blackmail
(BFI Film Classics, 1993); Michael Thornton,
Jessie Matthews
(Hart-Davis, 1974); Asher Boldon Wilson,
John Galsworthy’s Letters to Leon Lion
(Mouton, 1968).

Hitchcock’s “possessory” deposition was reprinted in
In Their Own Words: The Battle over the Possessory Credit, 1966-1968
(Directors Guild of America booklet).

The relationship between Hitchcock and Charles Bennett is reconstructed from Bennett’s unpublished memoirs, as well as several lengthy interviews with Bennett: my own interview with Bennett, published in
Backstory: Interviews with Screenwriters of Hollywood’s Golden Age
(University of California Press, 1986); Lee Server’s in
Screenwriter: Words Become Pictures
(Main Street Press, 1987); and Matthew Bernstein’s unpublished interview with Bennett for his book
Walter Wanger: Hollywood Independent
(University of California Press, 1994).

My portrait of Joan Harrison was informed by numerous clippings, frequently unsourced or undated, from the BFI, the University of Southern California, and the Margaret Herrick Library files. The more extensive articles included “Joan Harrison Worrying About Butter” by Florabel Muir, “It’s a Woman’s World Too” by Ann Daggett, “Specialty: Murder” (no date or
by-line), and “Murder, She Says,” by Jerry D. Lewis in
Collier’s
(Aug. 14, 1943).