Hitchcock Chronology: Month of August

Entries in the Hitchcock Chronology for the month of August...

1890

• 13th - Alfred Joseph Hitchcock is born in Leytonstone to William Hitchcock and Emma Jane Hitchcock.
• 14th - Alma Reville, future wife of Alfred Hitchcock, is born in Nottingham.

1924

• 18th - The Times reviews The Passionate Adventure and says the film contains "pleasant and exciting moments, and much of the acting is unusually good."

1925

• Hitchcock completes the filming of The Pleasure Garden.
• 25th - Having completed her scenes in The Pleasure Garden, American actress Carmelita Geraghty departs from Southampton aboard the SS Leviathan and returns to the US, accompanied by her father, screenwriter Thomas Geraghty.
• 28th - Actress Nita Naldi applies to have her passport extended in order to travel to Europe to work on The Mountain Eagle. The extension is approved on 5th September.

1927

• Filming for The Ring is completed.

1928

• Location filming for The Manxman takes place in Cornwall.

1929

• British International Pictures annouces massive layoffs, firing around 20% of the staff. Although the company is profitable, John Maxwell is concerned that too few British cinemas have equiped themselves for sound movies, which risks the company's future profits.

1930

• 6th - Hitchcock is one of 300 guests attending a luncheon ceremony to honour pilot Amy Johnson at the Savoy Hotel, London. The Hon. Esmond Harmsworth presents Miss Johnson with a cheque for £10,000. The other attendees from the world of British cinema are listed as Brian Aherne, Noel Coward, Annie Croft, Gwenn ffrangeon-Davis, Maurice Evans, Jean Forbes-Robertson, Nancy Heath, W.H. Heath, Lupino Lane, Charles Laughton, Frank Lawton, Auriol Lee, Alison Leggett, Ivor Novello, Mabel Poulton and Glen Byam Shaw.

1931

• Filming on Rich and Strange is completed, having been delayed when Henry Kendall fell ill during the filming.

1932

• 11th - The Times reports that Hitchcock has hired Benn Levy to direct Lord Camber's Ladies for British International Pictures.

1934

• Filming on The Man Who Knew Too Much is completed in early August.

1935

• 6th - The Yorkshire Post reports that Hitchcock will be one of the speakers at fortnight-long film summer school in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, organised by the Educational Handwork Association. Other speakers include British documentary film maker Mary Field and the theme of the event is to explore the use of film within education.

1937

• 18th - The Hitchcocks, accompanied by their daughter Patricia and Joan Harrison, depart from Southampton to New York aboard to RMS Queen Mary.
• 24th - The Hitchcocks, accompanied by their daughter Patricia and Joan Harrison, are photographed dining in New York.
• 27th - Hitchcock is interviewed on the Movie Club radio programme, broadcast on WHN in New York.
• 31st - Despite heavy rain, the stars turn out in New York for the premiere of William Wyler's Dead End (1937) at the Rivoli Theater. Among them are the Hitchcocks — Alma wearing a "slim pale green crepe with matching bolero" — and the film's star, Sylvia Sidney, accompanied by Norman Bel Geddes (father of Barbara Bel Geddes). The other stars of the film are Humphrey Bogart and Joel McCrea.

1940

• Hitchcock purchases the 200 acre "Heart o' the Mountains" estate in Scotts Valley, California and this becomes the family's second home and weekend retreat.
• Hitchcock commences filming on Mr and Mrs Smith for RKO, starring Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery.
• 27th - Foreign Correspondent is given a preview screening at the Four Star Theater in Los Angeles with a limited number of seats available to the public.
• British producer Michael Balcon is quoted in British and American newspapers denouncing the "famous directors" of Britain who have elected to hide out the war in Hollywood. Although not mentioning him by name, his reference to a certain "plump young junior technician" is deeply hurtful to Hitchcock.

1941

• Hitchcock travels to New York to meet Sidney Bernstein and Victor Saville and to discuss to the possibility of making a short film for the British Ministry of Information (MoI). Hitchcock would eventually direct Bon Voyage and Aventure Malgache, as well as contributing to Men of the Lightship and Target for Tonight. The three then return to Hollywood to try and persuade studio executives to allow MoI shorts to be shown prior to their main features in the theatres.
• 20th - Having earlier persuaded David O. Selznick to allow him to base his next film on an original story, Hitchcock submits a 134-page manuscript titled "Untitled Original Treatment by Alfred Hitchcock and Joan Harrison". The story involves an act of sabotage at an airplane factory, a cross-country chase, an explosion at a newly opened dam, and a villain falling from the Statue of Liberty. After further development on the screenplay, Selznick decides to let Hitchcock make the film for another studio and a deal is struck with Universal.

1942

• 14th - For her birthday, Alfred presents Alma with a new handbag. Inside is a gold key to the front door of their new home, 10957 Bellagio Road.

1943

• Principal photography begins on Lifeboat.
• Writer Angus MacPhail leaves Ealing Studios to work at the Ministry of Information and begins planning for Hitchcock's two British wartime films: Bon Voyage and Aventure Malgache.

1944

• Hitchcock and Ben Hecht map out a treatment for Notorious.
• Hitchcock has his first meeting with Salvador Dalí to discuss the dream sequences for Spellbound.
• 30th - Hitchcock begins filming the Spellbound dream sequences designed by Salvador Dalí. The sequences take nearly an entire month to film.
• 31st - Hitchcock signs a new contract with David O. Selznick, which more than doubles his salary.

1946

• Having returned from London and France, Hitchcock continues work on The Paradine Case screenplay.
• Notorious opens to positive reviews.
• 17th - According to newspaper reports, Hitchcock was one of many Hollywood notables dining at Lucy's on Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, when two armed men entered and beat up former convinct James Utley who was seated in the restaurant.

1949

• 9th - Alma Reville flies back to America, leaving her husband behind in London to complete production work on Stage Fright.

1950

• Hitchcock begins regular script meetings for Strangers on a Train with Raymond Chandler at the novelist's house in La Jolla in early August. The meetings become increasingly awkward, party due to Chandler's alcoholism. When Chandler breaks into a drunk rant about the script, Hitchcock walks out telling his associate producer Barbara Keon that "he's through" and begins looking for a replacement writer.
• 11th - Alma Reville swears American citizenship.
• Although the film's script isn't completed, Hitchcock shoots second-unit footage for Strangers on a Train at Forest Hills, New York City, including Davis Cup sequences.
• 30th - Hitchcock returns to Los Angeles after filming is completed at Forest Hills.

1951

• 28th - Actor Robert Walker, who memorably played Bruno in Strangers on a Train, dies suddenly, aged only 32.

1952

• 21st - I Confess principal photography begins in Quebec. Hitchcock hires Barbara Keon to work on several of the film's more difficult scenes.

1954

• 3rd - John Michael Hayes' latest version of the The Trouble With Harry script is submitted to the Production Code Administration office. Joe Breen of the PCA responds two days later with concerns about the line "Do you realize you'll be the first man to cross her threshold?", implications that Arnie is illegitimate, and discussions about Jennifer's wedding night.
• 4th - Rear Window is premiered in New York City at the Rivoli Theater.
• The To Catch a Thief masquerade ball scene is filmed during the second week of August. During filming the dangerous rooftop scenes, actress Brigitte Auber is concerned she might accidentally fall and kill herself — when she then spies four Catholic priests who were visiting the set, she jokes, "Mon Dieu! You Americans think of everything!"
• 12th - Rear Window receives its Los Angeles premiere at the Paramount Hollywood Theater.
• 13th - Filming on To Catch a Thief is temporarily halted to celebrate Hitchcock's birthday. Costume designer Oleg Cassini later recalled that Hitchcock's secretary announced, "Could I have your attention for a moment please? Would you all come into the other room, please, and have a piece of Mr. Hitchcake's cock!"
• 16th - Rear Window receives it's Los Angeles premiere.
• Paramount Pictures approves a $1,000,000 budget for The Trouble with Harry.
• Hitchcock dispatches Herbert Coleman to New York to look for a suitable lead actress for The Trouble with Harry, where he watches Shirley MacLaine standing in for Carol Haney in musical The Pajama Game. The following day, Coleman arranges a screen test for MacLaine.
• 30th - After considering several options for To Catch a Thief's final scene with Hitchcock, John Michael Hayes submits the ending used in the film and it becomes one of the final scenes to be filmed.

1956

• 22nd - Hitchcock directs the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Wet Saturday".

1957

• Hitchcock holds final script meetings with Samuel A. Taylor to refine the script for Vertigo.
• Ernest Lehman expresses his doubts about adapting The Wreck of the Mary Deare to Hitchcock. Instead, Hitchcock suggests that they work on an original idea for a film, which will eventually become North by Northwest.
• 18th - Musical director and composer Louis Levy, who worked with Hitchcock on Waltzes from Vienna, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The 39 Steps, Secret Agent, Sabotage, Young and Innocent, The Lady Vanishes, Under Capricorn and Stage Fright, dies aged 62.

1958

• 27th - Principal photography begins on North by Northwest in New York City, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason.

1959

• Hitchcock directs the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "The Crystal Trench".

1960

• 10th - Frank Lloyd, who produced Saboteur, dies aged 74.

1961

• 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.

1962

• 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.
• 12th - François Truffaut and translator Helen Scott arrive in Hollywood.
• 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.
• 19th - Hitchcock arrives into London for a week.

1963

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

1964

• 6th - Actor Cedric Hardwicke, who appeared in Suspicion and Rope, dies from cancer aged 71.
• Hitchcock negotiates a new contract with Universal Studios. In return for transferring ownership of Shamley Productions and distribution rights to Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Rope, Rear Window, The Trouble with Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Vertigo, the director becomes the 3rd largest shareholder in the studio.

1966

• 3rd - The BBC broadcasts an interview between Hitchcock and Tony Bilbow as part of the BBC2 television series Late Night Line-Up.

1967

• 28th - Director Maurice Elvey dies aged 79.

1968

• 2nd - Hitchcock arrives in Helsinki to scout for locations for his next project The Short Night. Over the next couple of days he visits Hämeenlinna, Aulanko and Vainikkala railway station, as well as giving interviews to the Finnish press.
• 5th - Hitchcock leaves Finland and travels to Denmark to shoot location footage for Topaz.
• Hitchcock returns to Los Angeles to finalise pre-production on Topaz.

1969

• Whilst vacationing at the Villa d'Este on Lake Como in Italy, Hitchcock telephones editor William H. Ziegler with the decision that the Orly Airport sequence should be used for the ending of Topaz.

1971

• 2nd - The second week of filming on Frenzy begins with shooting the film's opening sequence — the 2 minute helicopter shot of the River Thames followed by the politician's speech, which was filmed at London County Hall. Much of the sequence was subsequently reshot after Hitchcock watched the dailies.
• 3rd - Attempts to reshoot the opening sequence of Frenzy are abandoned due to heavy rain. Instead, the crew returns to Pinewood and shoots "weather cover" studio based scenes of Chief Inspector Oxford discussing the case with his wife.
• 4th - The scene of Blaney telephoning Babs is filmed in Soho Square using a prop telephone box.
• 7th-8th - As Hitchcock is only able to film scenes at the Old Bailey at weekends, Richard Blaney's trail is rehearsed on the 7th and shot on the 8th.
• 9th-13th - The 3rd week of filming on Frenzy includes reshoots of the opening helicopter sequence, dialogue scenes between Chief Inspector Oxford and his wife, introductory scenes of Richard Blaney, and various pub scenes set in The Globe.
• 14th - The Hitchcocks celebrate their 72nd birthdays with an evening meal at the Carriers Inn Restaurant in Cheshire.
• 16th-20th - The 4th week of filming on Frenzy is centered around shooting Jon Finch's scenes, including the two pub scenes (The Globe and Nell of Old Drury) and his escape from the prison hospital ward.
• 23rd-27th - The 5th week of filming on Frenzy includes shooting the film's ending, along with various retakes of previously filmed scenes. On-set tensions rise between Hitchcock and Jon Finch. The shooting schedule also includes alternative takes for the television print of the film — for example, the final murder victim is filmed with breasts exposed for the theatrical release and then covered for the television print.
• 28th - A Monday bank holiday means that the following week is a 4 day shoot, so the Hitchcocks spend a long weekend holidaying in Scotland.
• 31st-3rd Sep - The 6th week of filming on Frenzy includes various pick up shots and an alternative ending which wasn't used — after arresting Rush, Blaney is invited to dine with Chief Inspector Oxford and his wife. Scenes filmed towards the end of the week include Blaney visiting his wife at her matrimonial agency.

1972

• 18th - Hitchcock is interviewed during the AFI's Center for Advanced Film Studies' University Advisory Committee Seminar. When asked what he likes to do to cinema audiences, he responds, "Give them pleasure, the same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare."

1973

• A minor heart scare sees Hitchcock confined to bed.

1974

• The Hitchcocks celebrate their 75th birthdays at a special party organised by Lew Wasserman at Chasen's Restaurant. Among the guests are Cary Grant, Laraine Day, Paul Newman and François Truffaut.
• Ernest Lehman submits a revised treatment for Deceit, followed by by a revised script a few weeks later.

1976

• 20th - Actress Phyllis Konstam, who appeared in four of Hitchcock's early films, dies of a heart attack, aged 69.

1994

• Actor Barry Foster unveils a ceremonial plaque at the former site of 517 The High Road, Leytonstone, to commemorate Hitchcock's birthplace.
• 14th - Producer and screenwriter Joan Harrison, who entered the film industry as Hitchcock's secretary in 1933, dies at the age of 87.

1998

• 3rd - The United States Postal Service releases a 32 cent stamp featuring Hitchcock as part of their "Legends of Hollywood" series. The design had been unveiled by Janet Leigh in October 1997.

1999

• 13th - Patricia Hitchcock unveils an English Heritage blue plaque at 153 Cromwell Road, Kensington, London.

2005

• Actress Sybil Rhoda, who appeared in Downhill, dies aged 102.
• 8th - Actress Barbara Bel Geddes, who appeared in Vertigo and starred in Lamb to the Slaughter, dies aged 82.

2006

• 25th - Screenwriter Joseph Stefano, who wrote the screenplay for Psycho, dies aged 84.

2007

• 24th - Actor Hansjörg Felmy, who appeared in Torn Curtain, dies aged 76.

2011

• 27th - BBC Radio broadcasts an adaptation of Winston Graham's novel Marnie.

2012

• The British Film Institute's major three-month retrospective of Hitchcock — "The Genius of Hitchcock" — begins. The retrospective includes the first showings of the BFI's new restorations of Hitchcock's silent films.
• 14th - Actress Phyllis Thaxter, who appeared in several episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, dies aged 92.

2013

• 8th - Actress Karen Black, who starred in Family Plot, dies from ampullary cancer, aged 74.
• 23rd - Cinematographer Gilbert Taylor, who worked with Hitchcock on Number Seventeen and Frenzy, dies aged 99.

References

Hitchcock Chronology
1890s	1890	1891	1892	1893	1894	1895	1896	1897	1898	1899
1900s	1900	1901	1902	1903	1904	1905	1906	1907	1908	1909
1910s	1910	1911	1912	1913	1914	1915	1916	1917	1918	1919
1920s	1920	1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929
1930s	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939
1940s	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949
1950s	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959
1960s	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
1970s	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
1980s	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
1990s	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
2000s	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
2010s	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
months	-	-	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	-	-
months	-	-	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	-	-