Hitchcock Chronology: Month of March

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

1910

• 1st - Hitchcock's nephew, Henry William Lee, is born to parents Ellen Kathleen and Harry Lee at 1 Hooper Street, Whitechapel, London.
• 28th - Hitchcock's cousin Charles James Hitchcock dies from injuries sustained whilst fighting in Egypt. He had served as a Private in the 3rd County of London Yeomanry (aka the "Sharpshooters") and the Machine Gun Corps, and had also fought in Gallipoli and Palestine. He is buried at Beersheba War Cemetery.

1920

• 12th - Hitchcock's nephew, Clifford John Lee, is born to parents Ellen Kathleen and Harry Lee at 1 Rupert Street, Whitechapel, London.

1921

• The March 1921 issue of The Henley Telegraph contains a final contribution from Hitchcock entitled "Fedora".

1923

• 18th - Producer Victor Saville departs from Southampton to New York. In the US, he hires Betty Compson to appear in two films for Balcon, Freedman & Saville — Woman to Woman and The White Shadow — both of which will be directed by Graham Cutts with Hitchcock the assistant director.

1924

• Eden Phillpotts' comic play The Farmer's Wife begins it's London run at the Court Theatre. It will go on to become a huge success, running for a record-breaking 1,329 performances and reportedly generating box office takings of over £200,000. It eventually closes on 29th January 1927.

1926

• The Pleasure Garden is previewed to the trade, with The Daily Express calling it "an outstanding film".

1927

• Filming continues on Downhill, starring Ivor Novello.
• 30th - The Hitchcocks depart from London for Nice and the French Riviera to film location footage for Easy Virtue.

1929

• The filming of Blackmail continues throughout March, including location shoots at the Lyons Corner House towards the end of the month.
• British International Pictures announces that Alfred Hitchcock will direct an adaptation of Sean O'Casey's play Juno and the Paycock.
• Newspapers begin reporting that Hitchcock will direct an original story by Benn Levy titled "Tambourine" after completing Juno and the Paycock.

1930

• Principal photography starts on Murder!, starring Herbert Marshall, Norah Baring and Edward Chapman. At the same time, the sets are re-used to film a German version titled Mary.

1934

• 5th - Waltzes from Vienna is reviewed by The Times which notes that Hitchcock has treated Jessie Matthews "as a not too important part of the film's design".

1935

• Several British newspapers and trade publications announce that Hitchcock's next project will be London Symphony, starring Clive Brook and based on an original story by Sir Philip Gibbs and his son, Anthony.
• Studio-based filming on the The 39 Steps is completed. A second unit team headed by Penrose Tennyson is then dispatched to Scotland to film location footage at the Forth Bridge and at Glen Coe.

1937

• 4th - At 8:40pm, BBC Radio broadcasts a 20-minute programme titled "Shakespeare: Broadcasting and the Cinema", with Hitchcock and broadcaster Val Gielgud (brother of actor John Gielgud).

1939

• 4th - The Hitchcock family, along with Joan Harrison, set sail for their new lives in America aboard the RMS Queen Mary.
• 16th - The Hitchcock family and Joan Harrison leave New York by train, for a brief vacation in Florida and Havana.
• 22nd - The Hitchcock family and Joan Harrison fly from Havana, Cuba, into Miami, Florida, aboard an American Seaplane.
• 27th - The Hitchcocks arrive back in New York by train.
• 30th - Hitchcock gives a lecture at Columbia University, New York.
• 31st - The Hitchcocks leave New York by train, bound for Hollywood.

1940

• Rebecca opens across cinemas in the USA.
• Charles Bennett submits his draft script for Foreign Correspondent. Despite remaining on friendly terms, Bennett never works with Hitchcock again.

1943

• John Steinbeck finishes work on both the treatment and the novelette for Lifeboat.

1944

• 2nd - Hitchcock flies back to America, having completed Bon Voyage and Aventure Malgache in England. He cables David O. Selznick from the Saint Regis Hotel to say he'd like to write the script for Spellbound with Ben Hecht. Hitch had been scheduled to sail back to America from Greenock, Scotland aboard the RMS Aquitania which was due to depart on the 2nd.
• 23rd - Myron Selznick, Alfred Hitchcock's first American agent, dies from an abdominal hemorrhage, aged 46. His brother, David, is at his bedside when he passes away.

1946

• The Hitchcocks and production assistant Barbara Keon work on the script for The Paradine Case.

1947

• 22nd - Actress Nova Pilbeam plays the title role in a BBC Radio adaptation of J.M. Barrie's play "Mary Rose", produced by Martyn C. Webster. The broadcast makes use of Norman O'Neill's original stage music.

1948

• 20th - With no Academy Award nominations, the Hitchcocks instead spend the evening dining at Romanoff's with Whitfield Cook, Joan Harrison and Sidney Bernstein.
• 21st - Hitchcock appears on The Charlie McCarthy Show, a comedy and variety show starring ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy.
• The Hitchcocks sail for England aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth to complete pre-production on Under Capricorn. Their daughter Patricia accompanies them, hoping to enroll at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

1949

• 24th - Actress Jane Wyman wins an Oscar for her role in Johnny Belinda. Shortly afterwards, Hitchcock contacts her to offer her the lead in Stage Fright.

1951

• At the end of March, the Hitchcocks embark on a two-month long European vacation with their daughter, Patricia. They ship their car ahead and collect it in Naples, with Alma driving the family to Capri, Rome (where they meet with Ingrid Bergman, Florence, Venice and Villa d'Este by the shores of Lake Como.

1952

• The Hitchcocks travel to New York to meet writer William Archibald, who is hired to work on the I Confess screenplay.

1953

• Financial woes at Warner Bros. result in the studio halting production on all new projects for 90 days and studio executives are later asked to take a salary cut of up to 50%. This prompts Hitchcock to ask his agent Lew Wasserman to shop around for a new contract with a different studio — Wasserman eventually secures a lucrative deal with Paramount Studios on the proviso that Hitchcock adapts a story from a collection they've optioned by writer Cornell Woolrich as his first film.
• I Confess premieres in New York City.

1954

• 16th - Hitchcock sends a memo to Paramount's Hugh Brown asking his department to research if there will be any street carnivals taking place in Nice after May 15th that they could incorporate into the filming of the flower market scene in To Catch a Thief.
• 23rd - John Michael Hayes completes his first draft of To Catch a Thief. Hayes is then required to work with a translator to translate the draft screenplay into French in order to obtain the necessary filming permits and work permits for the American cast and crew.
• 28th - The Aberdeen Film Appreciation Group holds a "Hitchcock Night" at the News Cinema in Aberdeen, Scotland, where they screen The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) and Rebecca.
• 30th - The Production Code Administration office issues a certificate of approval for Rear Window.
• By the end of March, key crew contracts are finalised for To Catch a Thief and work begins on scheduling and budgeting the film.

1956

• 4th - The Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Back for Christmas", directed by Hitchcock, premiers on US TV.
• 7th - Prior to filming on The Wrong Man commencing, Hitchcock hosts a "Ghost-Haunted House Party" on East 80th Street. The menu contains such delights as "corpse croquettes, barbecued banshee, ghoulish goulash and formaldehyde frappe."
• 8th - Hitchcock meets Vera Miles at Newart Airport.
• 25th - Actor Robert Newton, who starred in Jamaica Inn, dies of a heart attack, aged 50.
• 26th - Filming commences on The Wrong Man, starring Henry Fonda and Vera Miles.

1957

• 9th - Hitchcock is rushed to the Cedars of Lebanon hospital, where he is operated on to remove obstructing gallstones on March 11th. He spends the rest of March in hospital.
• Actress Vera Miles telephones Herbert Coleman towards the end of March to inform him that she is pregnant. If she is still to play the role of Madeleine/Judy in Vertigo, the start date would need to be delayed.

1958

• With American musicians on strike, composer Bernard Herrmann is unable to record the score for Vertigo. Pushed for time, Paramount London negotiates with the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Muir Mathieson but the recordings in early March are abandoned part way through when the orchestra walks out in support of the American musicians. Associate producer Herbert Coleman quickly tries to find another orchestra in Europe who can complete the score.
• 14th-18th - The score for Vertigo is completed in Vienna with a local orchestra, conducted by Muir Mathieson.
• 16th - Hitchcock returns to Los Angeles from London.

1959

• 25th-26th - Hitchcock directs the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Banquo's Chair".

1961

• 14th - The Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "The Horse Player", directed by Hitchcock, premiers on US TV.

1962

• 5th-7th - External sequences for The Birds are filmed at the Tides Restaurant.
• 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.
• 17th - Production on The Birds returns to Bodega Bay to film scenes at the Brenner Ranch, including the scenes of the children's party.
• 20th-21st - Further external sequences for The Birds are filmed at the Tides Restaurant.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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."
• 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.
• 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.

1963

• 13th - The Today show devotes an whole hour to promoting The Birds.
• 18th - Hitchcock addresses a luncheon of top Washington journalists at the National Press Club as part of the promotional buildup for The Birds premiere.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

1964

• 23rd - Actor Peter Lorre, who appeared in The Man Who Knew Too Much and Secret Agent, dies aged 59.
• Negotiations for Hitchcock's acquisition of the rights to J.M. Barrie's play Mary Rose are completed.

1965

• Italian writers Agenore Incrocci and Furio Scarpelli return to Rome to begin working on a script for the R.R.R.R. project.
• Hitchcock begins script meetings with writer Brian Moore to develop Torn Curtain.
• 7th - Hitchcock receives the Milestone Award at the Screen Producers Guild dinner ceremony. He begins his speech by saying, "They say that when a man drowns, his entire life flashes before his eyes. I am indeed fortunate, for I am having that same experience without even getting my feet wet."
• 26th - Brian Moore completes a 5-page synopsis for Torn Curtain.
• 28th - Novelist and playwright Clemence Dane, author of the novel Murder! was based on, dies aged 77.

1966

• Hitchcock listens to a recording of Bernard Herrmann's score for Torn Curtain. Rather than the upbeat score Hitchcock had asked for, and which the composer had promised to deliver, the score is typical Herrmann with heavy bass, brass and woodwind. Hitchcock immediately fires Herrmann and the two never talk to each other again.

1967

• 2nd - Actor Gordon Harker, who appeared in The Ring, The Farmer's Wife and Champagne, dies aged 81.

1969

• US-based filming on Topaz finally comes to an end with only the film's finalé to be shot.

1971

• With Anthony Shaffer working on the Frenzy screenplay in New York, Hitchcock storyboards key sequences for the film during March.
• 4th - Hitchcock receives the Academy Fellowship Award from the Society of Film and Television Arts during a ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
• 15th - Hitchcock's friend Hume Cronyn writes to the director asking if he could be considered for a role in Frenzy. Hitchcock replies a few days later to Cronyn with a tactful letter saying that he doesn't think any of the bit-part roles would suit an actor of his stature.
• 17th - Hitchcock has a lunch meeting with actor Michael Caine to discuss the possibility of him playing the role of Bob Rusk, the serial killer in Frenzy. Caine will eventually decline the role.
• 31st - Hitchcock comes up with the "Mr. Rusk, you haven't got your tie on" ending for Frenzy.

1976

• 21st - Hitchcock's 53rd film Family Plot is premiered at Filmex, the Los Angeles International Film Festival.
• 23rd - Hitchcock takes part in a large press conference to promote his 53rd film, Family Plot.

1979

• 7th - Hitchcock receives the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award at a star-studded ceremony hosted by Ingrid Bergman. Due to concerns about his health, Hitchcock pre-records his acceptance speech in the afternoon and this footage is spliced together with the evening's speech into the final TV broadcast version.

1985

• 21st - Actor Michael Redgrave, who starred in The Lady Vanishes, dies aged 77.

1986

• 11th - Actor Ray Milland, who starred in Dial M for Murder, dies aged 81.

1992

• 29th - Paul Henreid, who directed numerous episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents], dies aged 84.

1993

• 14th - BBC Radio 3 broadcasts "The Lovesong of Alfred J. Hitchcock", a radio play written by David Rudkin and starring actor Richard Griffiths as Hitchcock.

2005

• 6th - Actress Teresa Wright, who starred in Shadow of a Doubt, dies aged 86.

2007

• 1st - Production designer and art director Harold Michelson, who worked with Hitchcock on The Birds and Marnie, dies aged 87.

2009

• 29th - Composer Maurice Jarre, who worked with Hitchcock on Topaz, dies aged 84.

2011

• 27th - Actor Farley Granger, who starred in Rope and Strangers on a Train, dies aged 85.

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
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