Hitchcock had mentioned the birds rise up against humans because they are fed up with us. Given how badly we’ve messed up the planet, I’m expecting The Birds to become a reality any day now. Much of nature seems to be gunning for us these days. Back in the the 1970s there were a slew of movies depicting how mother nature turned into a mean bitch. From Frogs to Long Weekend to Soylent Green, we’ve been told this story again and again. But Hitchcock makes it pretty terrifying indeed. This 40-plus page pressbook for The Birds is a showman’s dream. Like William Castle, Alfred Hitchcock liked to play pitchman to his movies, and appeared to have fun doing so. The 6 foot standee of Hitchcock in a bird cage is awesome. Now my life won’t be complete until I find one.
I was working in the Dead Letter Office when I had a brainstorm. Now, Granny would say anything in my brain is a storm, but that’s not what I meant. She had given me a list of the spots she wanted to include during her absence, so I decided to invite an old friend of the Radio Spot Crypt to come and help out. He has had many letters pile up here in the post office so I thought it was time for him to come pick them up and help me out while he was here…sort of killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.
He agreed, and so, I will turn over this week’s introduction to him…
“Hello, ladies and gentlemen, this is the ghost of Alfred Hitchcock. I am delighted to be here once again at Granny Creech’s Radio Spot Crypt. It has been awhile since I was last here, and I am humbled to see the mail response to my last visit when I presented the radio spots to Psycho. This time I shall attempt to go one step further and present spots to what I believe could be the most terrifying motion picture I have ever made: The Birds.
“At the request of Granny Creech’s most capable and somewhat neurotic nephew, Crazy Gary, I have broken down these spots into two offerings: This week I will feature advance and current lobby spots, those delightful little tidbits designed to fill waiting theater patrons with uncontrolled excitement over the arrival of my movie at the theater; the second installment for next week will feature the spots designed to play on various radio stations in the area to alert the theater-going public that The Birds is here.
“And so, without further ado, I, and Crazy Gary, encourage you to check your doors and windows and ensure that your chimney flue is closed as we present the lobby spots for the 1963 release of The Birds. We hope you get a kick out of them.”
Do you have any radio spots you would like to share? Contact Gary (Granny’s nephew) at [email protected].
