Hitchcock Chronology: 1963
Overview
Image Gallery
Images from the Hitchcock Gallery (click to view larger versions or search for all relevant images)...
Month by Month
January
- 6th - The Hitchcocks arrive back in New York after their Christmas vacation in St. Moritz.[1]
- 8th - Hitchcock arrives back in Los Angeles.[1]
- 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.[1]
- 28th - The American Humane Association gives their seal of approval to The Birds after watching a screening of the film.[2]
February
- 1st - With all the effects shots completed and printed to his satisfaction, cinematographer Robert Burks' work on The Birds is completed.[3]
- 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!"[4]
- 12th-14th - In preparation for the Museum of Modern Art's retrospective season of Hitchcock films, Peter Bogdanovich spends 3 days interviewing the director.[5]
March
- 13th - The Today show devotes an whole hour to promoting The Birds.[6]
- 18th - Hitchcock addresses a luncheon of top Washington journalists at the National Press Club as part of the promotional buildup for The Birds premiere.[5]
- 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.[7]
- 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.[8]
- 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.[9]
- 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.[10]
April
- 10th - Australian composer Arthur Benjamin, who composed the Storm Clouds Cantata for The Man Who Knew Too Much, dies aged 66.
May
- Cornish author Frank Baker writes to Hitchcock detailing similarities between Daphne du Maurier's short story and his own 1936 novel, also titled The Birds. Joseph Dubin, head of Universal Studios' legal department responds that "there is no actionable similarity between your work, the work of Miss du Maurier or the photoplay". Despite threatening to, Baker fails to take legal action.[11]
- The Museum of Modern Art publishes Peter Bogdanovich's 48-page The Cinema of Alfred Hitchcock as part of their Hitchcock film retrospective.[12]
- 5th - Tippi Hedren, Alma and Alfred Hitchcock fly from Los Angeles to New York, en route to the Cannes Film Festival. They stay overnight at the Regis Hotel before flying on to Paris.[13]
- 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.[14]
- 10th - Following a large press conference for The Birds, Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren release 400 pigeons.[14]
- 13th - The Hitchcocks fly back to Paris from Nice, where they oversee the dubbing of The Birds trailer into various European languages.[15]
- 16th - The Hitchcocks arrive back in Los Angeles.[15]
June
- 29th - BBC Radio broadcasts an adaptation of Josephine Tey's novel A Shilling for Candles.
July
August
- Hitchcock meets with Peggy Robertson to discuss the possibility of hiring Fay Compton to play a role in Mary Rose. Compton had played the role of Mary Rose in the original London stage production which Hitchcock saw in April 1920.[16]
- 16th - Hitchcock sends a memo to his agent Herman Citron asking him to try and secure the rights to both J.M. Barrie's Mary Rose and John Buchan's The Three Hostages.[17]
- 21st - Peggy Robertson and Tippi Hedren arrive in London at the start of a European tour to promote The Birds.[18]
- 23rd - Agent Herman Citron writes a memo to Hitchcock to confirm that he can purchase the story rights to J.M. Barrie's play Mary Rose from Paramount Pictures.[19]
- 29th - The Birds receives it's UK premiere in the West End of London.[20]
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).[21]
- 20th - Peggy Robertson and Tippi Hedren fly back to the US after their hectic European promotional tour for The Birds.[21]
October
November
December
- 7th - Art Director Norman G. Arnold, who worked with Hitchcock on Blackmail and Juno and the Paycock, and who gave the young Hitchcock his first break into the film world, dies aged 71.
See Also...
- articles from 1963
- births in 1963
- deaths in 1963
Notes & References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 166
- ↑ 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 179
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 184-85
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 188
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 188
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 188-93
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 194
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 196
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 194-95
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 32
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 195-96
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 196-97
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 197
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 198
- ↑ Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie (2005) by Tony Lee Moral, page 207. Moral gives the date as the 26th, but this would clash with the dates Moral gives for Robertson being in Europe in his book on "The Birds".
- ↑ 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 200
- ↑ Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 208
- ↑ The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 201
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 202
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