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Hitchcock Chronology: Joan Harrison

Entries in the Hitchcock Chronology relating to Joan Harrison...

1934

December

1936

December

  • The Hitchcocks, along with Joan Harrison and Charles Bennett, spend Christmas holiday in St. Moritz. Whilst they are there, a telegram arrives from Myron Selznick offering Bennett a job in Hollywood and he accepts.[2]

1937

August

  • 18th - The Hitchcocks, accompanied by their daughter Patricia and Joan Harrison, depart from Southampton to New York aboard to RMS Queen Mary.[3]
  • 24th - The Hitchcocks, accompanied by their daughter Patricia and Joan Harrison, are photographed dining in New York.

September

  • 12th - The Hitchcocks, along with daughter Patricia and Joan Harrison, arrive into Southampton aboard the MV Georgic.[4]

October

  • The October issue of the World Film News journal carries a short news item stating that Hitchcock is working with Joan Harrison and Alma Reville to adapt a short story by French author Marcel Achard, with the intention of beginning production in November. At present, no decision has been made on casting. Newspaper reports from October confirm the title as False Witness. Instead, Hitchcock eventually takes over the existing Lost Lady project which becomes The Lady Vanishes (1938).

1939

March

  • 4th - The Hitchcock family, along with Joan Harrison, set sail for their new lives in America aboard the RMS Queen Mary.[5][6]
  • 16th - The Hitchcock family and Joan Harrison leave New York by train, for a brief vacation in Florida and Havana.[7]
  • 22nd - The Hitchcock family and Joan Harrison fly from Havana, Cuba, into Miami, Florida, aboard an American Seaplane.[8]

June

1940

February

  • At Hitchcock's request, Walter Wanger hires British writer Charles Bennett to work on the screenplay for Personal History (later retitled Foreign Correspondent) for a period of 4 weeks at $1,000 per week. Together with Hitchcock and Joan Harrison, Bennett fashions a script that pushes against the US Neutrality Acts which limit pro-war propaganda in Hollywood.[10][11]

September

  • 28th - The Hitchcocks and Joan Harrison attend a Halloween party at the opening night of the Palladium ballroom on Sunset Boulevard.[12]

November

  • Alma and Joan Harrison complete an initial treatment of Francis Iles' 1932 book Before the Fact. Screenwriter Samson Raphaelson then spends the next 5 weeks fashioning the full script for what would become Suspicion. Raphaelson would later recall it as being "the easiest and most pleasant" experience he had working in the film industry.[13]

1941

June

  • Still unsure of the best ending for the film, Suspicion is shown to a test audience. The filmed ending — which sees Joan Fontaine drinking a glass of milk she believes to be poisoned only to discover Cary Grant is instead intending to commit suicide by poisoning himself — is rejected. Hitchcock later tells the New York Herald Tribune, the audience "booed [the ending], and I don't blame them." In desperation, Joan Harrison and Hitchcock eventually come up with a new ending, which is the one used in the released film.[14]

August

  • 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.[15]

1948

March

December

  • The Hitchcocks spend Christmas at their Scotts Valley ranch. Their daughter Patricia has flown back to join them for the holiday season. Among their guests on Christmas Day are Whitfield Cook, Arthur Laurents and Joan Harrison.[17]

1955

December

  • 22nd - The Hitchcocks, with their daughter Patricia, and Joan Harrison depart at 9pm from Honolulu to Los Angeles aboard Pan Am flight 510/22[18]

1957

May

  • Hitchcock holds script meetings with Joan Harrison during the first week of May to discuss the Suspicion episode "Four O'Clock".[19]

1962

August

  • 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.[20]

1980

June

1994

August

  • 14th - Producer and screenwriter Joan Harrison, who entered the film industry as Hitchcock's secretary in 1933, dies at the age of 87.

References

  1. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 168
  2. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 193
  3. See passenger list.
  4. See passenger list.
  5. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 330
  6. See passenger list.
  7. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 234
  8. The aircraft was recorded as NC 822-M and was piloted by Addison G. Person.
  9. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, pages 241-2
  10. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 255-6
  11. Wikpedia: Neutrality Acts of 1930s
  12. "Palladium Will Open to Halloween Throngs" in Los Angeles Times (27/Oct/1940)
  13. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, pages 277-8
  14. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, pages 288-89
  15. American Cinematographer (1993) - Saboteur: Hitchcock Set Free
  16. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 415
  17. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 429
  18. The airplane number was recorded as 1026V.
  19. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 551
  20. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds (2013) by Tony Lee Moral, pages 168-69
  21. The Times (04/Jun/1980) - Tribute to a master of the macabre