Wanger
endorsed putting Hitchcock on radio mainly for the promotional value - at that
point he and Hitchcock were talking about a long-term association - whereas the
Selznick Agency was motivated by the financial considerations. Myron's brother David,
as usual, was the chief skeptic. Wasn't radio declasse? Wouldn't a radio series
take too much of Hitchcock's time - time better spent on prestigious Selznick
films or better-paying loan-outs? And if Hitchcock did apply himself to radio,
wouldn't DOS be entitled to his usual cut?
?
Throughout
the spring of 1940, the director squeezed in meetings and phone calls and
memos, dreaming up an Alfred Hitchcock radio series. Radio producer Joe Graham
saw Hitchcock as emcee of a weekly anthology program presenting the favorite
detective stories of famous people; the first episode, hypothetically, might be
based on a story of President Roosevelt's choice. But Hitchcock told Graham he
wasn't a fan of detectives per se - he was generally more interested in the
victims and criminals – and the concept evolved, after a few meetings, into a
series of mystery melodramas of Hitchcock's choosing, with him introducing and
producing. The series would be called Suspense.
?
But
the meetings and preparatory work were suspended after DOS decided he didn't
want his director wasting valuable energy on a radio profram over which
Selznick International exerted no control, and for which it was unclear who
would receive the payment. Myron tried to budge his brother - this is one
instance where the agency aggressively pursued Hitchcock's wishes - but, as was
becoming typical, without effect. DOS was was adamant: No radio series. Because
the contract with DOS was ambiguous when came to nonfilm activity, Hitchcock
wasn't convinced it was the producer's prerogative. But lawyers for the
director and the agency warned him repeatedly against skirting the contract.
?
Shrewdly,
then, Hitchcock floated an idea: What if he exercised his acquired rights to
The Lodger for radio? Not only would that help him establish a foothold in the
broadcast medium, but a well-done radio show would enhance his prospects of
remaking the film.
?
DOS
reluctantly okayed a radio production of The Lodger as a onetime experiment.? Hitchcock borrowed two of the main actors
from Foreign Correspondent: Herbert Marshall as Mr. Sleuth (the Lodger) and
Edmund Gwenn (whose English currency had helped secure the rights) as the
landlord. (This was an in-joke: his brother Arthur Chesney had played the part in
Hitchcock's silent film. The Lodger was broadcast as an audition in the Forecast
series on July 22, 1940.
?
Patrick
McGilligan "Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light" (2003)
?
