Most of you probably know that Alfred Hitchcock, the subject of this year’s Crazy Christmas Cabaret, Hitchcock-Up!, made a point of appearing in every one of his films, but did you know that his daughter, Patricia, also appeared in a fair number?
Surprised? Not as much as her that she was born, given that her father had a phobia of small children. And eggs, as it happens. Which initially sounds unrelated, but might explain why Daddy helped to fertilise Mummy’s just the once. So you could say that Patricia was the sum of her father’s phobias.
One of her appearances was in Psycho, a film Hitchcock deliberately made as cheaply as possible, which is presumably why he hired her. But it still managed to slip in a cinematic taboo. No, it wasn’t the shower scene or a man dressing up in women’s clothing, but rather bizarrely the sight of a toilet being flushed, which had only been seen in animation before (err … Dumpo, Peter Bed Pan, the Aristocraps or Mary Poopins – do I get the job now, Vivienne?).
Well, it’s too late, Hamilton. Mrs McKee finished writing this year’s Crazy Christmas Cabaret months ago, and really, her timing couldn’t be better, with Hitchcock starring Anthony Hopkins out in the US (Feb 23 in Denmark) and the HBO/BBC miniseries, The Girl, about the life of Tippi Hedren, on the way after screening in the States last month.
Yeah, now we all love him, unlike when he was alive. The Academy snubbed him repeatedly for an Oscar, and while the English queen eventually knighted him, it was only a couple of months before he died.
Elsewhere, it’s a quiet week, but Hitchcock probably would have been inspired by it. We can see him spying on the voyeurs on Istedgade or visiting Bogforum for some source material for his next movie, although as a gentleman who prefers blondes, the fiery senoritas at the Latin Festival won’t be his cup of tea.
But you never know, the master of suspense liked the curveball – he might have even attended the Viking Cats’ ‘Little Mermaid’ Cat Show, even if was just to wow us with one last surprise appearance when we were least expecting it to prove there’s life in the old dog yet.
