Hitchcock Chronology: Vertigo (1958)
Entries in the Hitchcock Chronology relating to Vertigo (1958)...
1956
October
- With plans to film Flamingo Feather abandoned, Hitchcock turns his attention to the French novel D'Entre Les Morts by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, which will eventually be filmed as Vertigo. Maxwell Anderson is charged with adapting the book, and James Stewart and Vera Miles are expected to star.[1]
- Maxwell Anderson submits his adaption of D'Entre Les Morts, entitled "Darkling I Listen". Hitchcock finds it deeply unsatisfactory, and two other writers will work on the screenplay before Vertigo is ready to be filmed.[2]
1957
February
- Hitchcock, still recuperating at home from colitis, holds initial face-to-face meetings with Samuel A. Taylor to discuss the script for Vertigo.[3] Hitchcock also reads The Wreck of the Mary Deare, a property MGM are interested in adapting.[4]
March
- 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.[5]
April
- Hitchcock, Lew Wasserman, Herman Citron and James Stewart meet at the end of April to discuss who should play the role of Madeleine/Judy in Vertigo. Wasserman favours rising star Kim Novak instead of the pregnant Vera Miles.[6]
May
- Hitchcock holds Vertigo script meetings with Samuel A. Taylor during the first week of May.[7]
- 9th - Herbert Coleman writes to Kay Selby at Paramount British Productions Ltd. in London asking for her help in tracking down a recording of Norman O'Neill's score for the 1920 production of J.M. Barrie's play Mary Rose. Hitchcock is keen for Bernard Herrmann to hear the recording and use it as a guide for Vertigo.[8]
June
- Over lunch in late June, at Hitchcock's home on Bellagio Road, Kim Novak voices her concerns about playing Madeleine in Vertigo. Samuel A. Taylor is also present.[9]
August
- Hitchcock holds final script meetings with Samuel A. Taylor to refine the script for Vertigo.[10]
September
- 30th - Hitchcock begins filming Vertigo in San Francisco.[11]
November
- 14th - Over lunch, Hitchcock offers Vertigo actress Barbara Bel Geddes the staring role in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Lamb to the Slaughter".[12]
December
- 16th - Hitchcock shoots Vertigo's famous "revolving kiss" scene. On the second take, James Stewart slips and falls -- filming is interrupted for an hour whilst Stewart visits the studio doctor.[13]
- 18th - Hitchcock shoots Vertigo's opening rooftop chase sequence.[14]
- 19th - Around lunchtime, Hitchcock shoots his cameo scene for Vertigo.[15]
- With filming on Vertigo completed, Alfred Hitchcock and Alma spend Christmas holidaying in Miama and Montego Bay, along with a brief trip to Cuba. They are accompanied by Lew Wasserman and his wife.[16]
1958
March
- 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.[17]
- 14th-18th - The score for Vertigo is completed in Vienna with a local orchestra, conducted by Muir Mathieson.[18]
April
- 3rd - Hitchcock receives a letter from the London Symphony Orchestra (dated 19 March) explaining why they were unable to complete the recording of the score for Vertigo.[19]
May
- 9th - Vertigo premieres at the Stage Door Theater, 420 Mason Street, San Francisco, California, USA.[20]
1959
February
- 28th - Writer Maxwell Anderson, who wrote The Wrong Man and worked on an initial draught of the Vertigo screenplay, dies of a stroke aged 70.
1962
April
- 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.
1964
August
- 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.[21]
November
- 22nd - Film editor George Tomasini, who worked with Hitchcock on Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Wrong Man, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds and Marnie, dies aged 55.
1981
October
- 24th - Costume designer Edith Head, who worked with Hitchcock on Notorious, Rear Window, The Trouble with Harry, To Catch a Thief, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, The Birds, Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz and Family Plot, dies aged 83.
1995
September
- The owners of the Ernie's Restaurant in San Francisco, which appeared in Vertigo (1958) and was a favourite of Hitchcock, announce that the restaurant will close.[22]
1997
July
- 2nd - Actor James Stewart, who starred in "Rope", "Rear Window", "The Man Who Knew Too Much" and "Vertigo", dies aged 89.
2000
May
- 26th - Playwright and screenwriter Samuel A. Taylor, who worked on the screenplays of Vertigo and Topaz, dies aged 87.
July
- 24th - A fire breaks out in Kim Novak's house in Oregon, destroying her collection of acting memorabilia, including her annotated copy of the Vertigo script and the computer on which she'd been writing her autobiography. Talking to the press afterwards about the book that she'd been writing for 10 years, she said, "I take it personally as a sign my story should not be told. I read signs. Unfortunately, they have to be pretty heavy-duty signs for me to recognize them."[23]
2004
November
- 22nd - Assistant director Daniel McCauley, who worked To Catch a Thief, The Wrong Man and Vertigo, dies aged 88.
2005
August
- 8th - Actress Barbara Bel Geddes, who appeared in Vertigo and starred in Lamb to the Slaughter, dies aged 82.
2006
May
- 24th - Art director and production designer Henry Bumstead, who worked on The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, Topaz and Family Plot, dies aged 91.
2013
May
- 25th - Actress Kim Novak is the guest of honour at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, where she introduces a screening of Vertigo.
References
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 383
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 383
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 545
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page385
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 546
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 546
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 547
- ↑ Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 206
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 552
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 553
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 553
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 556
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 556
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 557
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 557
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 557
- ↑ Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic (1998) by Dan Auiler, pages 142-43
- ↑ Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic (1998) by Dan Auiler, pages 142-43
- ↑ Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic (1998) by Dan Auiler, pages 143-44
- ↑ Reel SF: Vertigo
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 653
- ↑ Inside Scoop SF: Ernie's Restaurant Saying Good-bye
- ↑ Los Angeles Times (25/Jul/2000) - Kim Novak's Home Burns in Oregon
