Chapter 7
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
In 1949, the Hitchcock family took a two-month cruise to Germany, Holland, Norway, and Sweden. On the boat back to New York, Pat met a businessman named Joseph O’Connell. The two began dating. Pat had a lot of friends on the East Coast, and Joseph had family in Boston. They were married in New York in January 1952, at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. Hitch hoped that his new son-in-law might work in the movies.
That way he could stay close to Pat. But Joseph preferred to go into the trucking business. The next year Pat gave birth to Hitch and Alma’s first grandchild, a little girl named Mary. She would soon be followed by a little sister, Teresa, in 1954 and then Kathleen in 1959.
Although Pat and her family visited often, Hitch and Alma were now on their own in their home in Bel Air, California. It was just the two of them and their new dog, Philip of Magnesia.
In 1954, Hitch made two important movies: Dial M for Murder and Rear Window. Both movies starred a new leading lady, actress Grace Kelly. Rear Window tells the story of a photographer with a broken leg who is confined to a wheelchair in his New York apartment. He spends his time peeking into his neighbors’ windows. He comes to believe that one of them has murdered his wife. His girlfriend eagerly helps him investigate, and soon the killer seems to be watching them.
The movie was tense and exciting. Hitchcock gleefully identified with the man in the wheelchair. “Sure, he’s a snooper, but aren’t we all?” he said. Hitch, the boy who had once slyly observed his classmates on the playground, certainly was.
By 1955, Hitch was just as famous as his stars. He lent his name to a magazine that published short stories, called Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.
He also hosted a new television show: Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The show was sometimes funny and often gruesome. In one episode, “Lamb to the Slaughter,” a wife kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb. When the police come to question her, she cooks the murder weapon and serves it to them for dinner.
Hitch himself introduced each episode, and for many viewers his opening remarks were the best part of the show. One Christmas episode began with Hitchcock bricking up the fireplace opening and explaining, “Santa Claus is always bringing surprises to others. I thought it would be interesting if someone surprised him for a change.”
Viewers came to recognize Hitchcock’s round face and unique—large—silhouette from the opening of the show. Children loved to imitate his distinctive voice and serious greeting: “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.”
The Hitchcocks had been living in the United States for sixteen years in 1955. Hitchcock decided to finally become a citizen. On April 20, 1955, he was sworn in as an American.