[Ads-l] Alfred Hitchcock Quotation

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Good work, Peter. Below is a pertinent citation in 1963 that was just
located by researcher Donna Halper. Hitchcock refers to George Bernard
Shaw, but he does not seem to be quoting him. He might be making a
joke about the long length of the first act of an early play by Shaw.

Date: November 22, 1963
Newspaper: The Oregonian
Newspaper Location: Portland, Oregon
Article: Behind the Mike by Francis Murphy
Quote Page 7, Column 1
Database: GenealogyBank

[Begin excerpt]
Motion pictures are the only form of entertainment where the audience
is forced to sit quietly for two or three hours without interruption,
Hitchcock continued. In theatrical terms, television is superior in
this regard to motion pictures. The hour-long show is broken into
three acts because of the commercials.

"Wasn't it George Bernard Shaw who tried that noble experiment in one
of his early plays? He tried to discover how long the first act could
run, based upon the endurance of the human bladder. I wish I could
recall his conclusions."
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Thu, Sep 7, 2017 at 8:03 PM, Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:
> "Focus on Hitchcock," by Albert J. LaValley apparently includes a version of the quote.
>
> https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001011761
>
>
> It is available for purchase on alibris.com for as low as $1.00.
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Sent: Thursday, September 7, 2017 4:43:36 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Alfred Hitchcock Quotation
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Alfred Hitchcock Quotation
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Alfred Hitchcock is credited with the quotation "The length of a film shoul=
> d be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder."  Can anyone p=
> oint me to any pre-1980 evidence of Hitchcock, or anyone else, uttering or =
> writing this?
>
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
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