Hitchcock Chronology: 1962
Overview
Image Gallery
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Month by Month
January
- 4th - Returning from Christmas in St. Moritz, Hitchcock stops off in New York to discuss the screenplay of The Birds with Evan Hunter.[1]
- 17th - Evan Hunter completes his final draft of The Birds screenplay. After telephone discussions with Hitchcock, a small number of further amendments are made.[1]
February
- 12th - Peggy Robertson sends Evan Hunter a leather-bound copy of his screenplay for The Birds.[2]
- 22nd - Hitchcock begins filming The Birds in Bodega Bay.[3]
March
- 5th-7th - External sequences for The Birds are filmed at the Tides Restaurant.[4]
- 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.[5]
- 17th - Production on The Birds returns to Bodega Bay to film scenes at the Brenner Ranch, including the scenes of the children's party.[6]
- 20th-21st - Further external sequences for The Birds are filmed at the Tides Restaurant.[7]
- 19th - The Palace of Monaco makes a formal announcement that Princess Grace is intending to return to acting and will star in Hitchcock's adaptation of Marnie.[8][9]
- 23rd - MGM president Joseph R. Vogel writes to Hitchcock claiming that Princess Grace is still under contract to the studio and that MGM would have to be a partner in the production of Marnie. Hitchcock rejects the claim.[10]
- 23rd - Following criticism that Princess Grace was returning to acting purely to raise money for the Monaco Government, she puts out an annoumcent stating, "With the profit from this film I want to endow in Monaco a fund for needy children and encourage young Monegasque sportsmen."[11]
- 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.[12]
- 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.[13]
April
- The French Government renounces the Administration and Mutual Assistance Convention treaty with Monaco in an attempt to reign in Monaco's reputation as a tax haven. The pressure on Monaco to negotiate a new treaty over the next few months means that Princess Grace will eventually abandon her plans to play the lead role in Hitchcock's Marnie.[14][15]
- 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.[16]
- 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.[17]
- 16-17th - Studio-based filming on The Birds continues with the interior shots of Fawcett farmhouse, including Jessica Tandy discovering Dan Fawcett's body.[18]
- 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.[19]
- 22nd - Screenwriter Angus MacPhail, who worked with Hitchcock on Bon Voyage, Aventure Malgache, Spellbound, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Wrong Man and briefly on Vertigo, dies aged 59.
- 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.[20]
May
- 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.[21]
- Studio-based filming on The Birds continues with the climatic attack on the Brenner house.[22]
- 2nd - The American Humane Association writes to Hitchcock with their concerns about the script of The Birds.[23]
- 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.[24]
- During mid-May, interior scenes in the Tides Restaurant are filmed for The Birds.[25]
- 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.[26]
June
- Paramount Pictures' screen rights to J.M. Barrie's play Mary Rose expire. Hitchcock eventually secures the rights in August 1963.[27]
- 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.[28]
- 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.[29]
- 7th - Princess Grace releases a statement that she has withdrawn from Marnie and will not be resuming her acting career.[30]
- 9th - Actor Henry Kendall, who starred in Rich and Strange, dies aged 65.
- 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.[31]
- 14th-18th - The Birds opening sequence scenes set in the pet store are filmed.[32]
- 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.[32]
July
- 2nd - François Truffaut writes to Hitchcock asking to be able to interview him over a period of several days in order to publish an in-depth book about his career.[33]
- 3rd - The first bird attack in The Birds, where Tippi Hedren is hit by a gull whilst in the small boat, is filmed.[34]
- 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.[35]
- 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.[36]
August
- 9th - The first complete rough cut of The Birds is screened to a select group, including Alma Reville, Patricia Hitchcock, Taft Schreiber (MCA executive), Herman Citron, Arthur Park, Jerry Adler (theater director), Vince Dee, Bernard Herrmann, Bill Blowitz (Head of Publicity at Universal), George Thomas, Joan Harrison and Norman Lloyd.[37]
- 12th - François Truffaut and translator Helen Scott arrive in Hollywood.[38]
- 13th - François Truffaut and translator Helen Scott begin interviewing Hitchcock at his Universal Studios office. Truffaut is shown a rough cut of The Birds during the morning and is invited to join the Hitchcocks to celebrate their birthdays with an evening meal at Perino's. Approximately 26 hours of interviews are eventually edited down to form Truffaut's book "Hitchcock", published in English in 1967.[38]
- 19th - Hitchcock arrives into London for a week.[39]
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.[40]
- 23rd - Playwright and novelist Patrick Hamilton, writer of the play Hitchcock's Rope was based on, dies aged 58.
October
- 11th - The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode "I Saw the Whole Thing", which was the only episode to be directed by Hitchcock, premiers on US TV.
- 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.[41]
November
- Reels of footage are sent to Remi Gassmann and Oskar Sala in Germany to record the electronic tratonium soundtrack for The Birds.[42]
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.[43]
- 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.[44]
- 15th - Actor Charles Laughton, who starred in Jamaica Inn and The Paradine Case, dies aged 63.
- 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.[45]
See Also...
- articles from 1962
- births in 1962
- deaths in 1962
Notes & References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 49
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 50
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 109
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 110-11
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 112
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 115
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 111
- ↑ Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 10
- ↑ Milwaukee Sentinel (19/Mar/1962) - Hitch Scoop 'Em, Signs Grace
- ↑ Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 11
- ↑ The Times (23/Mar/1962) - Princess Grace to set up fund
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 116-17
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 123-25
- ↑ Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 13-14.
- ↑ Save Hitchcock: The Truth why Grace of Monaco didn't play Marnie
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 127-28
- ↑ Sight and Sound (1997) - Me and Hitch
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 132-33
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 157-58
- ↑ The Times (24/Apr/1962) - Princess Grace film delayed
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 30-31
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 133
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 182
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 159
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 136
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 138
- ↑ Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 207
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 168
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 147-48
- ↑ The Times (08/Jun/1962) - Princess Grace's film plans off
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 149
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 150
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 631
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 154
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 127 & 154
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 167-68
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 168-69
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 633
- ↑ Radio-Television Daily (17/Aug/1962)
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 179
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 160-61
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 162-63
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 164-65, 174-75
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 164
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 166
| Hitchcock Chronology | ||||||||||||
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