The Hunter/Hitchcock Timeline

Thanks to Evan Hunter's book, Me and Hitch, published in 1997, it's pretty easy to pull together a timeline of the relationship between the writer and the director - including the decline and fall of their working relationship.

Hunter, although referring to his own records, does seem to get some dates wrong in the book, although as much of the volume is based on letters between him and the production team (Hitchcock or his assistant, Peggy Robertson) we can assume that those dates are accurate.

What's reproduced below isn't a detailed timeline, merely an overview. But it's really interesting to see how the story of their time together plays out and hints at the intensity of their relationship during this period. For many more details, read "Me and Hitch" to hear the story from Hunter's perspective.

During the podcast, our special guest, Herbert West (he of the "Trial Of  A Timelord" podcast), mentioned a very interesting article from Cinema Fantastique, from 1980. This is really worth a read - a fascinating insight into both the technical and the creative processes of making the film. The article is reproduced on the Hitchcock Zone website, here. 

Picture from Galactic Central

March 1953	Evan Hunter’s “Murder Comes Easy” is published in Real magazine.
April 1957	Alfred Hitchcock Presents… Vicious Circle. A TV episode based on the story “Murder Comes Easy” by Evan Hunter.
Early 1959	Hunter is asked to adapt Robert Turner’s “Appointment At Eleven” for the Hitchcock TV show.
(before 4th) Oct 1959	Hunter and Hitchcock first meet on the set of the TV show episode “The Crystal Trench”.
August - September 1961	Hunter is contacted, via his agent, by Hitchcock to ask him to work on adapting Daphne Du Maurier’s “The Birds” as a motion picture. The Hunter family move out to L.A. for the duration of the writing of the film.
November 1961	Hunter completes and officially hands over the screenplay.
December 1961	Hunter submits revisions to the scripts following feedback.
January 1962	Hunter completes further revisions and submits final script.
March - July 1962	“The Birds” is being shot (Bodega Bay/Studio).  Hunter occasionally attends filming.
March 1962	Hunter officially contracted to start work on adapting Winston Graham’s “Marnie”. Hunter writes to Hitchcock to say that he anticipates “No Problems” with adapting the story.
June 1962	Hunter submits his completed script for “Marnie”, but work on that film is postponed.
November 1962	Work recommences on “Marnie”.
March 1963	“The Birds” premieres and goes on general release.
April 1963	Hunter delivers his revised script for “Marnie”, with alternative versions of the wedding night sequence, contrary to Hitchcock’s intention. Hunter receives notification that the script doesn’t meet Hitchcock’s requirements.
May 1963	Hunter officially ‘fired’ from the “Marnie” project.

Side-Pod - The Birds: Oh My Giddy Aunt *THWACK*

Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Sidepod!

Join Paul and his special guest, Herbert West of the Doctor Who Podcast “Trial Of A Timelord”, as they discuss Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film “The Birds”.

In the late fifties and early sixties, Hitchcock and Evan Hunter crossed paths a few times in the course of the making of the TV series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents…” and this led to Hitch inviting Hunter to adapt the 1952 short story by Daphne Du Maurier into the screenplay for his next horror/thriller movie. The journey was not necessarily an easy one and we take a deep dive (from up in the sky – beak sharpened and pointed at your eyes) into what made this film a success, a failure or simply a cinematic curiosity, depending on your point of view (if you’ve got any eyes left after the dive-bombing).

Along the way we hear an interesting theory about how horror and police procedurals work, learn about the magical German device known as the Trautonium and find out what magpies get up to on the winter holidays.

If you want to know more about Hitch and Hunter’s relationship, Evan’s book “Me and Hitch” is a fascinating read, but we’ll put more on the blog about it for you to follow up!

Find “Trial Of A Timelord” on Twitter and Podbean – and why not start with the Paradise Towers episode, eh?

Fare thee well!

Ed McBain's Ten Plus One - Episode 17, Bonus: The Spiral Staircase

Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Bonus Episode!

We continue to discuss the 1963 novel, Ten Plus One, or rather our copies and the various original editions of it, once we've got the important matter of "Poirot and The Spiral Staircase" out of the way (forgive us our indulgences. It was late. We'd got rather silly).

We also tackle a listener question which we'd love to hear your thoughts on: Who would make a good director for an 87th Precinct adaptation? We ponder the variables and make some suggestions. Paul also reveals more about adaptations that do exist, from Japan and Russia, and then presents Morgan and Stephen with presents all the way from America. We love each other dearly, you know!

Join us again for the next  book in the series - "Ax" (1964) - and please keep contributing, sharing and commenting. Fare thee well!

Ed McBain's Ten Plus One - Episode 17: Quality Manly Reading

**Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Podcast!**

Welcome back to the books! After our fantastic diversion off to New York to meet Otto Penzler, we're firmly back in the fictional city of Isola, dodging bullets from rooftops as we put together the pieces of the mystery that is Ten Plus One (1963).

The 17th book in the 87th Precinct series is a bloody and dark tale, with only a couple of amusing characters to lighten the mood of what is a battle against the odds to work out why seemingly unrelated victims are getting gunned down.

In this episode we take our usual look at the charts/movies/politics of the era, have a look at the issue of Argosy magazine this story was featured in, fail to effectively answer a listener question and collectively forget which books we've read and what happens in them - but at least you get the start of a bonus improvised Poirot story from Stevo!

Please do rate, review and share the show and perhaps show your love with a one-off donation to us via www.ko-fi.com/harkpodcast - bonus episode coming soon, plus sharpen your tools for the next story - AX(e)! Fare Thee Well.