One Foot in 1941

“A clear horizon — nothing to worry about on your plate, only things that are creative and not destructive… I can’t bear quarreling, I can’t bear feelings between people — I think hatred is wasted energy, and it’s all non-productive. I’m very sensitive — a sharp word, said by a person, say, who has a temper, if they’re close to me, hurts me for days. I know we’re only human, we do go in for these various emotions, call them negative emotions, but when all these are removed and you can look forward and the road is clear ahead, and now you’re going to create something — I think that’s as happy as I’ll ever want to be.”

As a child, Hitchcock was sent to the local police station with a letter from his father. The desk sergeant read the letter and immediately locked the boy up for ten minutes. After that, the sergeant let young Alfred go, explaining, "This is what happens to people who do bad things." Hitchcock had a morbid fear of police from that day on. He also cited this phobia as the reason he never learned to drive (as a person who doesn't drive can never be pulled over and given a ticket). It was also cited as the reason for the recurring "wrong man" themes in his films.

Happy birthday Alfred Joseph Hitchcock

☞Tales of Murder, Mayhem, & the Macabre…

☞Today in History -- On today’s date 127 years ago, Sunday, August 13, 1899, during the waning years of the Victorian Era, influential English-American motion-picture director & producer Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (1899-1980), known as “The Master of Suspense,” was born in the Leyton Urban District of Essex County, England, in what is now a part of the city of London.

☞The YouTube video posted in the comments below features the theme music of the 1962-1965 American television anthology series, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.” Popularly known as the “Alfred Hitchcock Theme,” this familiar music is actually the 1872 “Marche Funèbre d’une Marionnette” (Funeral March of a Marionette) -- an ominous-sounding short piece by noted French composer Charles-François Gounod (1818-1893).

☞Note: It is curiously interesting that the Alfred Hitchcock Theme, although originally composed for piano, is most often played on the clarinet, which was invented by Johann Christoph Denner (1655-1707), who shares the same August-13th birthday as Alfred Hitchcock, although they were born 244 years apart.