Was Hitchcock GAY?/ Hitch out of the closet
muf...@labyrinth.net.au
This is in response to several postings under the above headings recently.
I can only repeat: Hitchcock is on record as having said, 'If it weren't
for [marriage to] Alma, I'd have gone gay.'
Despite aspersions aimed at me about the scholarly worth of that as an
actual quote from Hitchcock, I stand by it.
I first quoted it when, back in 'MacGuffin' 12 (February-May, 1994), p.
4, I was reviewing at length Theodore Price's 'Hitchcock and
Homosexuality' (1992). The quote ISN'T from Price's book, and foolishly
I didn't give the source at the time, mainly because Price's own book was
evidence enough for the truth of what Hitch said.
Here's the passage I wrote: 'So, whatever my criticisms of the book, the
main thing is that most of what it says is richly suggestive of
Hitchcock's psychology, and even of just why he once claimed in a moment
of candour that only marriage to Alma (née Reville) had stopped him
"going gay".'
I can be adamant (this to Bill Warren) that 'going gay' was the exact
phrase Hitch used. (Moreover, to me it sounds exactly how Hitch WOULD
phrase the matter - he prided himself on his mastery of appropriate
idioms, not least sexual idioms.) Also, you don't forget something like
that! Another example would be what I always remember Lesley Brill once
writing to me, that my approach to analysing Hitchcock's films was a
useful corrective to the 'inbreeding' of some academic writing.
I can't immediately put my hands on Brill's letter with that word
'inbreeding' in it, just as I can't immediately put my hands on Hitch's
'going gay' quote. But neither is made up, I assure you!
Now, someone further objected when I wrote: 'The evidence of Hitch's
(everyone's?) potential bisexuality is there in his films.' To me that's
a truism, but I gave the main reference: precisely Theodore Price's
excellent book. In addition, there's an abundance of writing these days
on the topic of 'queerness' in Hitchcock/Hitchcock's films, such as
several essays in Corey Creekmur and Alexander Doty (eds), 'Out in
Culture: Gay, Lesbian and Queer Essays on Popular Culture' (1995).
Hope that helps ...
- Ken Mogg (Ed., 'The MacGuffin').
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RaQuEl 7
> muf...@labyrinth.net.au wrote:
>This is in response to several postings under the above headings recently.
>
>I can only repeat: Hitchcock is on record as having said, 'If it weren't
>for [marriage to] Alma, I'd have gone gay.'
>
>Despite aspersions aimed at me about the scholarly worth of that as an
>actual quote from Hitchcock, I stand by it.
I don't think I cast any aspersions. . . .er, did I?
>I first quoted it when, back in 'MacGuffin' 12 (February-May, 1994), p.
>4, I was reviewing at length Theodore Price's 'Hitchcock and
>Homosexuality' (1992). The quote ISN'T from Price's book, and
foolishly
>I didn't give the source at the time, mainly because Price's own book was
>evidence enough for the truth of what Hitch said.
>
>Here's the passage I wrote: 'So, whatever my criticisms of the book, the
>main thing is that most of what it says is richly suggestive of
>Hitchcock's psychology, and even of just why he once claimed in a moment
>of candour that only marriage to Alma (née Reville) had stopped him
>"going gay".'
>
>I can be adamant (this to Bill Warren) that 'going gay' was the exact
>phrase Hitch used. (Moreover, to me it sounds exactly how Hitch WOULD
>phrase the matter - he prided himself on his mastery of appropriate
>idioms, not least sexual idioms.) Also, you don't forget something like
>that! Another example would be what I always remember Lesley Brill once
>writing to me, that my approach to analysing Hitchcock's films was a
>useful corrective to the 'inbreeding' of some academic writing.
>
>I can't immediately put my hands on Brill's letter with that word
>'inbreeding' in it, just as I can't immediately put my hands on Hitch's
>'going gay' quote. But neither is made up, I assure you!
>
Uh, ok.
>Now, someone further objected when I wrote: 'The evidence of Hitch's
>(everyone's?) potential bisexuality is there in his films.' To me that's
>a truism, but I gave the main reference: precisely Theodore Price's
>excellent book.
I'm sure it was excellent. However, that is an incredibly broad statement.
To be fair, I didn't read the book, so I can't really make an informed opinion
about it.
> In addition, there's an abundance of writing these days
>on the topic of 'queerness' in Hitchcock/Hitchcock's films, such as
>several essays in Corey Creekmur and Alexander Doty (eds), 'Out in
>Culture: Gay, Lesbian and Queer Essays on Popular Culture' (1995).
That's true. "Queerness" and who's queer and who's not is a very popular
subject now. Maybe in 5 years they'll be obsessing on something else.
>Hope that helps ...
Well, I dunno. I repeat, I think a filmmaker's sex life is private, though I
seem to be all alone in this. I also repeat that this whole topic was started
as a joke. < shrug >
Anyhow, thanks for sourcing the material.
RaQuel
*****************************************************************
"How perfectly God damned delightful it all is, to be sure."
- C. Crumb
*****************************************************************
deh...@heronet.or.jp
In article <884962476....@dejanews.com>,
muf...@labyrinth.net.au wrote:
>
> This is in response to several postings under the above headings recently.
>
> I can only repeat: Hitchcock is on record as having said, 'If it weren't
> for [marriage to] Alma, I'd have gone gay.'
>
> Despite aspersions aimed at me about the scholarly worth of that as an
> actual quote from Hitchcock, I stand by it.
BUT WHY won't you say where you heard it? Did he say it to you? Or
can't you remember where you heard it from? (That isn't meant as an
aspersion, I often remember things distinctly but can't remember their
source - when that's the case I say so! I've also started keeping better
notes of where/when I see things of interest.)
Does a director's private life influence what films he chooses and how he
directs said films? What films did Hitch personally choose to direct and
which were 'forced' on him? I've been reading Nature of the Beast about
Fritz Lang and that guy definitely treated actors as less than cattle.
Did Hitch ever make an actor take a take 70 times and then use the first
one?
George Shelps
Ken Mogg:
>Someone further objected when I >wrote...
Maybe that was me, Ken, except I didn't object. I simply asked for
clarification.
Your response here is:
>To me, that's a truism.
Well, OK, but do you care to share your reasoning with those of us who
are not
(yet?) "true believers?"
JMK
deh...@heronet.or.jp wrote in message <885003675....@dejanews.com>...
>> I can only repeat: Hitchcock is on record as having said, 'If it weren't
>> for [marriage to] Alma, I'd have gone gay.'
>BUT WHY won't you say where you heard it? Did he say it to you? Or
>can't you remember where you heard it from? (That isn't meant as an
>aspersion, I often remember things distinctly but can't remember their
>source - when that's the case I say so! I've also started keeping better
>notes of where/when I see things of interest.)
If you've read all of his posts, you would have found that he DID say he
cannot remember where he heard it and that he's trying to find the source...
BillyBond
>From: muf...@labyrinth.net.au
> But neither is made up, I assure you!
Sorry, Ken, but while I believe you really read that quote somewhere, I still
don't believe that Hitchcock said it. In other words, I believe YOU, I just
don't believe the person who claimed he said it, for the reasons I mentioned
before. Sounds like a Boze Hadleigh quote.
Bill Warren
lst...@webtv.net
I heard once [and take note-my source may or may not be reliable] that
Hitchcock made life miserable for Tippi Hendren after she rejected his
advances. Has anyone else heard anything like this?
muf...@labyrinth.net.au
Bill Warren said something here recently about how he didn't think, even
if I'd got the quote itself right, that Hitch's 'going gay' remark
really applied!
Pretty hard to defend oneself against that (concealed) accusation! -
except by asserting, Bill, that I really believe that few people
scrutinise more carefully what is written about Hitch, or attributed to
him, than yours truly. Especially in the case of that particular
quote! I saw no reason at the time, or now, to doubt the truth of
Hitch's words: 'If it weren't for [marriage to] Alma, I'd have gone
gay.'
Besides, at the risk of being misunderstood, let me say that I believe
that the phenomenon of a 'broadening' of sexual thoughts in older
persons is natural and common enough. When the philosopher Schopenhauer
was 71, he added an addendum to Chapter 44 of Volume II of 'The World As
Will and Representation' (his main work). The chapter is called 'The
Metaphysics of Sexual Love', and the addendum concerned homosexuality.
Bryan Magee's 1983 book on Schopenhauer - which I deeply admire - says
this: 'But the most impressive aspect of it all [the addendum] was that
characteristic in Schopenhauer which most influenced Nietzsche, who
tried consciously to copy it, namely his utterly fearless honesty not
only with society but with himself - his ability not just to speak out
[in 1859] the unmentionable but to confront, within himself, the
unthinkable.' (Magee, p. 325)
Mutatis mutandis, the same goes for Hitch, I suggest.
- Ken Mogg (Ed., 'The MacGuffin')
BillyBond
>From: muf...@labyrinth.net.au
> I really believe that few people
>scrutinise more carefully what is written about Hitch, or attributed to him,
than yours truly.
I'm aware of that; your website and your postings make that clear. My comment
has NOTHING to do with YOU or your own veracity. I guess I failed to make
myself clear, and for that I apologize. I'll try again: I believe your claim
that you read that somewhere.
What I don't believe is that THAT SOURCE was accurate.
Bill Warren
Richard Schultz
muf...@labyrinth.net.au wrote:
: I can only repeat: Hitchcock is on record as having said, 'If it weren't
: for [marriage to] Alma, I'd have gone gay.'
No, you are on record as having claimed that he said that. You have
yet to produce any evidence that he actually did -- and, in fact, have
more or less admitted that you cannot.
-----
Richard Schultz sch...@gefen.cc.biu.ac.il
Department of Chemistry tel: 972-3-531-8065
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel fax: 972-3-535-1250
-----
"You don't even have a clue as to which clue you're missing." -- Miss Manners
Iksnamhcok
>I heard once [and take note-my source may or may not be reliable] that
>Hitchcock made life miserable for Tippi Hendren after she rejected his
>advances. Has anyone else heard anything like this?
Yes, Donald Spoto's biography, "The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred
Hitchcock" deals extensively with this reputed incident. I recommend you find
this book.
Martin Koolhoven
Please, let's be realistic.
I have made two short films in which gay men played apart. I'm also
working on a script that has a lot of homosexuality in it. (and have one
that was never realised)
I do have a girlfriend and I am not gay.
Will you all please stop talking nonsens about Hitch being gay, hating
gays, hating women or whatever.
I'm surprised nobody has said Hitch was a murderer in his spare time.
Martin