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Hitchcock Chronology: 1962

Overview

Image Gallery

Images from the Hitchcock Gallery (click to view larger versions or search for all relevant images)...

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

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

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

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

November

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...

Notes & References

  1. 1.0 1.1 The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 49
  2. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 50
  3. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 109
  4. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 110-11
  5. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 112
  6. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 115
  7. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 111
  8. Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 10
  9. Milwaukee Sentinel (19/Mar/1962) - Hitch Scoop 'Em, Signs Grace
  10. Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 11
  11. The Times (23/Mar/1962) - Princess Grace to set up fund
  12. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 116-17
  13. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 123-25
  14. Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 13-14.
  15. Save Hitchcock: The Truth why Grace of Monaco didn't play Marnie
  16. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 127-28
  17. Sight and Sound (1997) - Me and Hitch
  18. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 132-33
  19. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 157-58
  20. The Times (24/Apr/1962) - Princess Grace film delayed
  21. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 30-31
  22. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 133
  23. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 182
  24. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 159
  25. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 136
  26. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 138
  27. Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 207
  28. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 168
  29. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 147-48
  30. The Times (08/Jun/1962) - Princess Grace's film plans off
  31. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 149
  32. 32.0 32.1 The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 150
  33. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 631
  34. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 154
  35. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 127 & 154
  36. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 167-68
  37. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 168-69
  38. 38.0 38.1 Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 633
  39. Radio-Television Daily (17/Aug/1962)
  40. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 179
  41. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 160-61
  42. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 162-63
  43. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 164-65, 174-75
  44. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 164
  45. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, page 166

Hitchcock Chronology
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