Rewind: Drinking With Hitchcock and Writing 'Rear Window'

Rewind Episode: Join Sandy and Terry for a fun chat about how a short story from a dime store magazine turned into one of Hollywood's most talked-about films and the fifth-highest-grossing movie of 1954. The film REAR WINDOW, featuring stars like Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly, Raymond Burr, and Thelma Ritter, was written by John Michael Hayes and directed by Alfred Hitchcock.  

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Executive Producer Kristin Overn
Creator/Executive Producer Sandy Adomaitis
Producer Terry Sampson
Music by Ethan Stoller

Transcript

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Hello, my name is Sandy Adamis, the social media director for the page, international Screenwriting Awards, and your host for the Writer's Hangout. A podcast that celebrates the many stages of writing, from inspiration to the first draft, revising, getting a project made and everything in between. We'll talk to the best and the brightest in the entertainment industry and create a space where you can hang out, learn from the pros, and have fun. Hi, I'm Sandy Adamis. Hi, I'm Terry Sampson. Terry. Today I'm gonna tell you about how a 24 page short story was turned into one of the most discussed works of cinematic art. Ever produced in Hollywood and the fifth grossing film of 1954, the Film Rare Window starring Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly, Raymond Burr, and Thelma Ritter. It was written by John Michael Hayes and was originally a short story by Cornell Woolrich and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Terry. We've all seen Rear window, right? Yes, yes. I'm gonna put you on the spot. I want you to tell me, I'm sure it's been a long time since you've seen Rear Window, right? Yes. From your memory, what is Rear Window about? we can edit this, so, Nope. It's about, it's a guy. A guy in a wheelchair. Yes. He is limited in where he can go. Yes. He. Observes things that are, I can't think of a, a good word for it. He observes around him. Well, he observes things that look like trouble has occurred. Yes. That's his biggest thing. Yes. Something is horribly wrong. He can't do anything about it. Right. And what can he do? Okay. Here is a short synopsis of Rear Window. Rear Window was originally published in 1942 in a Dime Detective Magazine. Under the title, it had to Be Murder. It was a short story by Cornell Woolrich. The story is about a man who habitually watches his neighbor's rear windows in the apartment across from his one day. He believes he witnesses. Evidence of a murder and tries to find proof. Woolrich based the story in part on the HG Well Story through a Window. The author who died in 1968 was considered one of the best crime writers of this time, and more of his work had been adapted into film noir screenplays than any other writer. So, of course, rear Window, Jimmy Stewart, he was in a wheelchair. But basically, and so he had no mobility, which you were saying. Right? So that was added into the screenplay. so let's just get into how Rear Window came to be. Have you heard the name Leland Hayward? I, it seems familiar, but I'm not sure. He was this incredibly, super powerful agent. He also produced Broadway shows and he also became a producer and some of the people that he, uh, careers that he guided. Greta Garbo, Fred Astaire, Kerry Grant, James Stewart, and Clark Gable, Henry Fonda and Catherine Hepburn. Yeah. It's a lot. And as far as on stage, he produced South Pacific and the Sound of Music. Wow. So Leland was known for his taste read a long time ago. His daughter, Brooke Hayward, wrote a memoir called Haywire, and I think it came out in 19. 77. But if you're, if you like to read memoirs about Hollywood, that's a good one. I highly recommend it. It's filled with so much pain, but. Mixed up with just the, just Hollywood and how golden it was. So it's interesting. Did was the painful part of it, her recollecting, her dad's trouble? It was painful in the sense that her mom was Maureen Sullivan. Okay. The actress. Okay, so you've got a beautiful actress. You've got a very powerful father. They grew up in think. If I remember up in the hills, and it was very rugged. There were two buildings that were attached by a corridor. The parents lived in one building and the kids lived in another building. No kidding. Yeah. With the nanny and her sister. I remember her talking about her sister was very, very delicate and the sister committed suicide. Her brother, if I remember correctly, was really good friends with. Peter Fonda, and then I think Peter Fonda's father, of course, Henry Fonda was once married to her mother, or they were together. So it was just kind of, uh, this very too close knitted there. Yeah, it was, it was just. It was a really good memory. I, I'm stumbling over my words. I brought the subject up, but I, you know, should have looked at the book again. But I remember just being drawn in by, it was very melancholy. I remember, you know, it's, they had everything, but yet they didn't have their parents. Yeah, exactly. And, and as you brought this up, I was, I immediately thought, the reason I even said anything was when somebody with those kind of credits mm-hmm. You'd think their life was pretty great. Yeah. But sometimes. Or not to, to anyone's surprise, those things come at a cost. Exactly. You look at those people and you look at their beautiful homes and you think, just like you just said, nothing can ever be wrong. It's just too perfect to life. And if something does come up, they have the money to take care of it. But that's not necessarily true. And as we demonstrated throughout our episodes with our true crime, bad things happen. Right, so Leland purchased the rights to, it had to be murder, along with five other stories for the amount of$9,250. In February of 1952, Leland hired Joshua Logan to write a treatment, and Logan in turn wrote pages. And he remained very faithful to the original story, but also made several changes that bear similarities to the finished film. He added in a love story. Oh, okay. Which was, oh, sure. When you're translating that. To screen when? When you have a pretty gal there, why not? Yes. In turn, Hitchcock then paid$25,000 for the rights to rear window and 15,000 for Logan's treatment. So I think Leland made out really well. Yeah. Okay. Alfred then went Alfred, let's just say Hitchcock. Hitchcock went looking for a writer and landed on John Michael Hayes. John Michael Hayes was born in 1919 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and he started in radio. His first screen credit was for Red Ball Express. In 1952, the Hitchcock Hayes Collaboration produced four. Motion pictures in two years. That's amazing. Rear window to catch a thief. The trouble with Harry and the man who knew too much. Wow. It was one of the most successful director screenwriting pairings in Hollywood history. Yeah. What did Hayes bring to the Almighty Hitchcock? Hayes was known for writing richly drawn sympathetic characters. And prior to working with Hayes, most of Hitchcock's protagonists had been deeply troubled, dark and complex figures. Hayes also brought voyeurism. Fear of intimacy, fear of death, and the lost of a loved one were seen throughout a lot of Hay's scripts. On a side note, a journalist once wrote, John Michael Hayes. Looks like a Hollywood script writer as played by a Hollywood film star. In a Hollywood film about Hollywood. He was a nice guy. Hayes was known to be a nice guy. He had dark good looks, and he smoked a pipe with a grace. It was said that would make. Crosby looked positively clumsy. His dialogue is friendly and but forceful, and his humor is dry and snappy as a dead twig underfoot. And during all of this, he was about 34 years old. Oh, Hayes scripts also have what he calls, and I wonder if he was the first to capture this phrase, an emotional roadmap, something which drives the character to the end of the story. For this reason, Hayes always insisted on completing a first draft before turning. It into a producer. One of the hardest things for a producer to do is wait. Hayes has been quoted as saying, he also said after two or three weeks, he wants to see some pages. But if you give the producer the pages before you're ready, you'll end up in literary litigation for weeks. And lose your perspective before you get going with your story. That's what's wrong with a lot of pictures. They have great openings and no endings. Hayes Touch goes beyond his dialogue and carefully constructed storylines. Hayes brought a certain integrity to the job of screenwriter, which had too often been cast in the shadow of famous insults like Jack. Warner saying that screenwriters are schmucks with Underwoods. Have you heard that saying before? No. Yeah. He used to say that Schmucks with Underwoods, I'm not even sure what an Underwood is. Underwood typewriter. A dinner was set up between Alfred Hitchcock and John Michael Hayes at 7:30 PM at the Polo Lounge of Beverly Hills. Hayes dressed as well as he could and he had read the short story. Over and over and over. He knew it. Backwards, frontwards, forwards, sidewards. He memorized his notes and ideas and he drove from the valley where we are right now. Yeah. To the Beverly Hills Hotel, and he arrived a few minutes early. I'm thinking. He took cold water. It had to be cold water. Yes. He drives right in there. Yes, he was. I've heard, yes. I have never been to the Polo Lounge. I've been to the Polo Lounge. Well, I haven't either. We, we will. We will do an episode from the Polo Lounge. I think that's an excellent, hold us to that audience. An excellent idea. So again, he arrived a few minutes early, which I applaud. I always like to arrive a few minutes early. Absolutely. So by seven 30, Hitchcock hadn't arrived. Quarter of eight. He still wasn't there. By eight o'clock is still no sign of Hitchcock. Hayes thought he might have gotten the night or even worse, the hotel wrong, and he started to get really anxious about meeting the famous director. And you know, there was no way to pull out your cell and call and. With your people to check with his people and Yep. Just had to sit there, I guess. Yep. So now Hayes is filled with anxiety and so he thinks, okay, I gotta calm my nerves. So he went to the hotel bar and he actually told the bartender, I'm here to see Hitchcock. I don't even know if I have the right night. I'm nervous, give me a drink. Unlike many of his contemporaries in Hollywood. At that time, Hayes was not a big drinker, and he told himself, even before he started two drinks, I'm gonna give myself a two drink minimum. He asked the bartender, give me something that will calm my nerves. The bartenders said, I have exactly what you need, and gave him a martini. Of course Hayes knocked back the drink'cause he wanted to get back to the table really quickly in case Hitchcock shows up. So he goes back to the table and he waits. And he waits and he waits again. No Hitchcock. And so by eight 30, the writer went back to the bar one more time and decided to have one more drink. Then he'd go back, wait a few more minutes for hitch, and then if he didn't show up, he was gonna go back home. So that's exactly what he did. Had one more drink, went back to the table, no hitch. So he decided to go back to his car. So he is walking to his car and as he's walking down the hill, who's coming up the hill, but Alfred Hitchcock in a taxi and he. Waved and stopped him and Hitchcock leaned out the window and he said, I'm sorry. No, no autographs. No autographs. And he said, are you here to see John Michael Hayes? And he goes, oh, you must be John Michael Hayes. Get in. We're gonna, we're gonna go drinking. Yeah, go drinking. And he's just like, that would drives me crazy because I would've wanted the credit for waiting there for so long. Of course. So it looks like, yeah, it looks like Hayes was. Just as late as Hitchcock, I guess. Soon as they got inside the dining room, the head waiter began fussing all over Hitchcock whose reputation as a big spender and a gourmet had been well established before he had even arrived in America. Nevermind the Polo Lounge. They sat at a booth and the first thing that Hitchcock said to Hayes was. Do you drink? Hayes? Replied Well, I've been known on occasion to take a drink. Well, what do you drink? I think the last drink I had was a martini. Wonderful. That is my favorite drink. I like a man who drinks Hitchcock called the waiter to the table and ordered two double martinis. When the drinks arrived, the two men tipped glasses and haze sipped. As cautiously as he could hitch. Called for hor d'oeuvres and another double martini for each of them. Are you keeping count? Yeah. Six. Is that, I think this is six for Hayes. Yeah. Yeah. He should have said something along the lines of, if I, you're like a guy that, uh, drinks, so you should have been with me a half an hour ago. It's, you would've loved me. Then Hitchcock throughout the dinner kept encouraging Hayes, who was trying to of course, slowly drink his drinks. Drink up. Drink up. Relax. We're here to get to know each other. Drink some more. You know, I like a man who drinks Hayes kept imagining he was going to get sick and that Alfred Hitchcock would never speak to him again. And, and up to this point, hitch had never mentioned rear windows. Hayes was just really confused, and he said that he began to start pouring sweat, trying to keep sober and sound intelligent. Hayes recalls the director asking, have you seen any of my movies? Or maybe he would've seen, said, have you seen any of my movies? Do you have an Alfred Hitchcock imitation? No. No. Okay. I'm not even gonna push you on that. I'm gonna go with yours on that one. Yes, I have Mr. Hitchcock. By now, they'd finished their hor d'oeuvres and started a second course of Dover Soul with some rear white wine. Perfect. Wow. Hitchcock like sold the virtues of the white wine, and he poured a big glass for haze and said, please tell me more. Hayes replied, well, for example, shadow of a doubt. What did you think of it? Asked Hitchcock. Hayes began to give an analysis of shadow of a doubt from frame one to the end of the picture, telling Hitchcock what he thought he had done right and what he had thought he had done wrong, where it was strong, where it was weak, and what he particularly liked about the casting. The young writer then continued the assessment. Of shadow of a doubt straight through the next course of steak and red wine, blurred by the combination of martinis and fine wines. Hayes started going through Hitchcock's movies one by one, indicating some things that he hitch could have done better and notorious, and telling the director that he thought the bullet stopped by the Bible in the hero's pocket in 39 steps was kind of corny. While Hayes was talking, Hitchcock said nothing. He just continued eating and drinking and munching and crunching and slurping at the conclusion of the meal. Hitchcock ordered dessert to be brought with a concoction of brandy, Dr. And Dr. Sounds like flaming career. I, I don't even know what that is. Yeah. Amazingly Hayes didn't get sick, but. Hitchcock still hadn't said one word about rear window, not one single word. Finally, with the dinner finished, Hitchcock said, well, I've got to go home now. Hayes offered to drive him home, which I think is just adorable. Wow. But Hitchcock said he would take a taxi and after a considerable amount of coffee, Hayes got into his car, put the top down, and drove back over. Which we assume is Coldwater Canyon Canyon back to his home. And when he got home, his wife asked, you know, how'd it go? And Hay said it was, you know, one of the best dinners he's ever had. But I think I'm through with Hitchcock. There's no way he's gonna hire me. I basically just babbled on like an idiot. Yep. I, I was honking if that's where this was going. Yes. Now, well, obviously he, he did write the movie, but this is my theory. Hitchcock probably is always surrounded by sycophants and he's probably always the one to do the talking. And here he is having all this delicious food, all this delicious liquor, and John Michael Hayes knew what he was talking about, Maybe it was relaxing to have someone else talk for a change. What do you think it could be? It could be the quality of the conversation too. Let's, when I, when I've been in a situation where we was talking about something that I was creating mm-hmm. And somebody said something that was legitimately good. Now I might not have chose it, but they say something to me. and I, think it's worth measuring. Mm-hmm. And, and checking out. I'm interested. I'll keep, yeah. I just keep listening and I think, okay, this guy's rolling. Yeah. Let's, let's, let's hear more. Yeah. I think it was the quality of the comments. I, you can say. I didn't like that this happened. And then it just depends on the next thing you say. Yes. And I'm sure he was loose with his words, but I'm also, I believe a hundred percent it was, it was probably spot on and And enthusiastic. Possibly enthusiastic and said with reverence. There you go. Like I said, yeah. On Monday morning, Hay's agent telephoned him and said, you're in Hitchcock, loved you. You start work tomorrow. Report to Warner Brothers where hitch is prepping for dial M for murder. I love that. I love report to Warner Brothers, get up there and tell him where you are. Have five martinis waiting for you. So get the day started and as we know, Warner Brothers in the valley. So yeah, you wouldn't have to drive over cold water again. Yeah, Hayes responded with. Are you sure you have the right John Michael Hayes. We why we never even talked about rear window or anything. You are fine. Send the agent and the next day. Hayes arrived at Warner Brothers and he and hitch discussed rear window for the first time. Baffled by the experience Hayes needed a whole year before he had the guts to ask Hitchcock about that night. Well, let me tell you what happened. Hitchcock said, I went to a cocktail party at Jules Stein's house. That's why I was late. You know, I was dieting and I had several drinks. I remember meeting you and going to eat, but I don't remember anything after that. But you said and talked a lot, and on that assumption that a man who talks a lot has something to say. I hired you, not one to leave an associate completely at ease. Hitchcock added. But don't forget, if I didn't like you two leaks later, I would've let you go. Wow. How about that? I'm too in the back to really know what you're saying, but it seems like a lovely evening. I'm not gonna interrupt it. That's exactly. Wow. So it didn't matter what he said. Nope. And I highly recommend for. Our screenwriters out there not to do that. Yeah. Or to make sure whoever you're talking to is deeply in the bag by the time you chat with'em. Exactly. That sounds like an excellent plan. Hayes met with Hitchcock on the Warner Brothers Lot twice before starting the treatment for where Window His salary was$750 a week with no guarantee. Was officially put on the Paramount payroll on June 8th, 1953. At that time, paramount assigned rear window, a story fund number of 8 4 0 0 1 to keep an accounting of all costs. During their preliminary meetings, Hayes discovered. Hitchcock's main concern, as was true of nearly all his films, was creating a love story, and they both saw a need to create more neighbors to place in the windows of the surrounding buildings and to build these characters so that each would present a reflection of the relationship between the principles while Hitchcock. Bused himself through July and August of 1953 with pre-production for dial M for murder. Hayes went all out preparing the treatment for rare window and he was familiar with uh, Hitchcock's style Plus he was also familiar with the lead Jimmy Stewart, who he had worked with before. Jimmy Stewart. Also happened to be a client of Lee Lynn Hayward again. There you go. So powerful. And so he was attached to the project from the beginning. Like most Hitchcock scenarios, the storyline for Rear Window would develop from its details. As Hayes explained, it started with the fact that we had to give Jeffries. A reason to travel around the world, a dangerous occupation and a reason to get his leg broken. It was more dramatic having it broken in the line of work and not just slipping on the stairs. I really agree with that. That was a really good creative point. I thought. Yeah, it meant something. Hayes, what goes on to say? Secondly, I wanted to give him an occupation that would give him an occasion to meet a girl like Lisa, played by Grace Kelly. Sure. Out of that came her profession. He's a foreign correspondent and his editor said, look, we're out of fashion photographers this week. We want you to do a layout on an upcoming model named Lisa Fremont. And he said, that's not my line of work. And they say, well fill in as best you can. He did the magazine layout and cover. That's how they met. She was fascinated with him. And of course he was very interested in her as a woman, but not as a wife in the beginning. He figures, models are frivolous and she certainly has never been off the sidewalk and couldn't live in safari clothes. So that was backstory, but I really like. Stats Uhhuh that they were even thinking of, okay, he's in a wheelchair. And it would've been so easy for the writer to just go, Hey, he slipped down the back stairs. Right? And he's a international photographer. Of course he knows a model. Nope. Usually those two worlds don't mix. So they really thought about bringing the pieces together. You know, it's funny sometimes if you, if you give too much information, it feels like you're setting people up with something, right? But this, this is a really good example of a guy who fed just enough things to make his. Description of his life, more authentic. Oh, I also like the been off the sidewalk. Yeah, that's, that's a great little turn of phrase in creating the love story, Hitchcock and Hayes considered it a more interesting twist to have Lisa pursue Jeffries rather than the other way around. And it was rumored at the time that Hitchcock was basing this off the love affair between. Ingrid Bergman and the the photo journalist Robert Capra. Oh, but if you listen to more of what Hayes put into the script. Hayes's wife and the character Grace Kelly were very similar. Hayes drew upon his own experience with his wife. He explains in the case of Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window, when Lisa was in danger, he suddenly realized how much she meant to him and that if anything happened to her. My. God, life was worthless. That came out of my life before my wife and I were married. We decided to delay our marriage until I was more successful. We got into an automobile accident and she was thrown out of the car and onto the highway amongst broken glass, metal and everything. But in the brief moment that I saw her rolling down the highway before I was knocked unconscious against the windshield, I said. Oh my God. If anything happens to her, my life won't be worth anything. And I decided I was not going to wait another minute if we ever lived through this thing. So when I got to the situation in rear window, we had to bring Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly together. How are we gonna play it? This is kind of a dull scene, but we never had to have it. When she was in danger, you looked at his face and you knew instantly that he valued her more than anything. So when I came to figure out how we were going to get right, that scene I. The automobile accident, and you remember in the movie, Lisa goes to the killer's apartment across the way to collect some evidence and the bad man comes home, right? And you, you can see in Jimmy Stewart's face the terror. Of him seeing the killer. Oh, another interesting thing that Hayes brought to his treatment in the original story there, Jefferies had a houseman named Sam and Hayes replaced the Houseman Sam with Stella McCaffrey, an insurance company nurse. Who visits Jeff Dailey checking his temperature and massaging his back to relieve the strain caused by the wheelchair in the treatment. Hayes describes Cella as a blunt and earthy woman full of the wise and cynical lore of city living. No, can't, no hypocrisy. In her dialogue, she says what most of us thinks, but revises vocally for greater and social acceptance. Her comments border on the startling and are either extremely penetrating or extremely humorous, and often both. This is how he described Lisa, a life beautiful, honey haired young woman of perhaps 26 years. Her dress and adornment have the exacting perfection of a Vogue Magazine model. Her beauty seems to go deeper than the surface. Her eyes alert and her face intelligent, but there is something about her physical movement, the way she walks, turns sits that has a professional touch to it. It is as if she is always conscious of the need for dramatizing her appearance. It could be a result of great insecurity, vanity, or professional training. In Lisa's case, it is the latter. I. Hayes turned in his completed treatment on Friday, September 11th, 1953, while Hitchcock was still busy directing scenes for Dial M for murder, which had fallen behind schedule. The treatment was then delivered to Marge Wonder at Paramount for retyping and the official studio treatment dated September 12th. 1953 boosted Paramount's belief that they had a real winner in rare window and that 75 page treatment was handed out by the story department as an example for a perfect way to write a story treatment. Yeah. Side note, James Stewart had enough faith in the film and the future of its success to forego his salary in exchange for part ownership of the picture. After completing the treatment, Hitchcock and Hayes met again to make adjustments to the basic construction. But the characters, their motivations and the tone of the film had been set in stone. That was done back then. Huh? Jimmy Stewart's. Uh, I'll take a piece of the action rather than a salary. I know Immediately thought of Star Wars. Yeah. I see. That's. Seventies back then and that was a good move on the part I part of Jimmy. Yeah, it's a good idea. I bet you Leland told him to do that. Yeah, maybe so. Hayes started to meet with Hitchcock at the Bel Air Home to discuss the screenplay. Hayes recalled hitch was still working on dial M for murder in post-production. We did have conferences to keep up with what I was doing, but he gave me my head and he let me go ahead and write the screenplay. And this is what Hitchcock says about working with writers when they go off to write. The screenplay Hitchcock said, I always insist on sitting with the writer from the very beginning and creating about a hundred page outline of all the details. From the first shot to the end. On October 14th, Hayes had completed his first draft of the script. And everybody thought it was a remarkable job. Hayes had breathed life into the characters, expanding in every way on what had already been in the exceptional treatment. From the dialogue emerged a depth of characterization he hadn't achieved before in the medium. He then met with Hitch almost daily, turning the screenplay into a Hitchcock shooting script. The writer recalled, we sat down in his office and he broke up all the scenes into individual shots and made sketches of them and laid out the picture. Now that a script was in hand, a production team was quickly assembled. Although a Paramount press release boasted that rear window in its entirety was shot on one stage and in one set. The statement is not completely accurate. Following the opening shot of the courtyard and Jeff's apartment, the script calls for a brief scene inside the office of Jeff's. Photographer editor and hitch shot the scene, but it was never used in the film. And one of the reasons why historians film historians think that Hitchcock shot the scene was. Because of rope. It was static an all in one set. The powers that be might be nervous thinking this was gonna be another static set. And if you've seen Rear window, it's the exact opposite of that. Mm-hmm. But he probably threw that in, probably shot the scene. Just so he can say he had it, but he never planned on putting it in the movie. Principal photography began on Friday, November 27th at nine in the morning with the exception of a few minor injuries such as Raymond Burr straining his back, lifting Ted Mapes, Jimmy Stewart's stunt double. The production came off without. A hitch. The final day of shooting was January 13th, 1954. Hitchcock and Hayes managed to transform a 24 page short story, not only into the fifth highest grossing film of 1954, but into one of the world's most discussed works of cinematic art ever produced in Hollywood. And for you and I, we have now. Can add to our palette of comments that it was a quote, six martini idea. That sounds like a six martini idea, doesn't it? I think we've named the episode. The resources for this story was the book Writing with Hitchcock by Steve DeRosa. That's a rep for the Writer's Hangout. Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe, like, and thrive till we get to hang out again. Keep writing. The world needs your stories. The Writers Hangout is sponsored by the Page, international Screenwriting Awards executive producer Kristin Ove, producers Terry Sampson and Sandy Adamis. Music by Ethan Stoller.