Wednesday, June 30, 2010

ALFRED HITCHCOCK

Love ole Alfred!!
I enjoyed a marathon of Alfred Hitchcock Presents today! It was so fun. Rose Marie has an entire collection!! We watched four...its hard to watch more when you are snacking and laughing. Alfred wasn't the best looking man on the planet, but his droll sense of humor is right up my alley. He said the funniest things before, during and after the shows
One of the things we found funniest was the commercials - in every instance we realized that none of these products are still around! They were all cartoons too. Silly jingles and so retro (now). We've come a long way in advertising, that's for sure. Another thing was seeing some very famous movie stars over the years since who were so young in these TV shows. We had a bit of trouble remember them until the credits rolled, but we were able to name a couple.
Alfred's PSYCHO came out when I was a senior in high school, 1960. My folks were gone on vacation with my little brothers for two weeks and my best friend Irene was going to spend that time at my house. The fridge was stocked by my mother before they all left. Great. Our boyfriends, Jud and Matt took us to see Psycho .... oh my gosh..talk about scary! That was one of the best ever real suspenseful thrillers! After we got back to my house, the guys were in the kitchen and Irene and I were in the living room. You could exit our kitchen from two sides and end up back in the living room...which those bad boys did with big knives in their hands acting like Tony Perkins! We screamed so loud..and both took off down the hall...I locked myself in the bathroom and Irene locked herself in my parents bedroom. It took a long time for those boys to get us to come out again. We were so scared we went home to Irene's house and the safety of her parents being home for the two weeks. I think poor Irene made her mother sit in the bathroom while she took a shower for months on end.
I think I've seen most his films now. He did a few silent movies in the late 20s. in 1955 he produced: The Trouble With Harry. John Forsythe is one of the stars. Mr. Handsome himself always! I didn't see this film until about 10 years ago and it is soooooo funny. They refer to it as a black comedy.
When I first was married in 1964, Alfred Hitchcock Presents was on TV Sunday nights at 10 pm. It was an hour show. My husband worked graveyard at the time and had to leave at 10:30..Nevertheless, we watched the show..it was always so scary that when he went to work, I could not watch the last half-hour. How stupid is that? Such a wuss! And...why did we even bother with the first half?
Other favorites movies I can watch over and over are: Rear Window, Vertigo, Spellbound, North by Northwest, The Birds (my son was married in Bodega Bay in the church that was in the movie.) and Charade! I remember who I went to see Charade with (Jerry) ...and what I wore (This classic coat dress in black leather) yikes lol ...isn't that something...well they say the elderly have good long term memory...its just the short term that is the problem.
I know today's marathon is just making me want to see his full-length movies again..and I understand you can view them on hulu.com. The Trouble With Harry is there!
Alfred was brilliant!

3 comments:

R. Quilter said...

Did you ever notice the kid who covers his ears before the exposition in North by North West?
I always look for Alfred H. in his movies. Do you always find him?

karenacadle said...

i haven't watched hte movie in a long time KCP....but yes I always look for Hichcock in his movies and I think I have found him each time :) love that old fart.

Anonymous said...

Special K!! You are a busy little blogger! Reading thru your entire blog now, skipping only the extrmemely "domestic" things. Alfred H. was interesting. The old movies were better, generally. Actually, much better. So too many of the old TV shows, such as I showcase on my Western blog. The newer TV shows, at least to me, are essentially unworthy of my time. Great post young woman!