IT WAS IN the Autumn of 1955. Being present here on Planet Earth only since the first full Post World War II period, our 10th birthday was one celebration that made us feel really grown up and "old" even. By this time, perusing the annual Fall Lineup on the TV Networks had become a tradition, much like Halloween Trick & Treating and Opening Day at the Ballpark.
THE ONLY QUESTION that we had this year was; "Who is Alfred Hitchcock, anyway?" The announcement had been made that he was joining the CBS Network family of weekly shows. Well, our folks told us that this was a big name and well known maker of the movies that we saw at the Ogden, the Highway or the Peoples theatres in Chicago.
THE SERIES DID of course premiere and quickly established itself as a staple of our video diet. What we found it to be was a weekly anthology of half hour mystery plays. Their content varied from the very alarming (THE GLASS EYE with Jessica Tandy & Tom Conway) to the serio-comic (CHEAP IS CHEAP with Dennis Day). Every mood in between was featured. There was and is (in reruns)a favourite flavour for everyone.
EITHER BY DESIGN or with the good fortune of dumb luck, the half hour time slot proved to be the perfect length for these mystery plays. It is a case of size mattering; although in the diminutive sense rather than the greater.
WE LATER SAW this proved to be true. The cases in point are both the ALFRED HITCHCOCK Show and THE TWILIGHT ZONE expanded to a full hour each; which proved to be detrimental to the shows. Instead of more being better, we found the expanded episodes of these shows to be heavily padded and filled with scenes that never would have been included otherwise.
NO MATTER WHAT one's preference in these half hours, the greatest and most unique feature of the series was the relationship that developed between the audience and the series M.C., being Sir Alfred Hitchcock, himself. He displayed a previously unknown ability with a unique brand of very dry, deadpan humour.
THE ONLY QUESTION that we had this year was; "Who is Alfred Hitchcock, anyway?" The announcement had been made that he was joining the CBS Network family of weekly shows. Well, our folks told us that this was a big name and well known maker of the movies that we saw at the Ogden, the Highway or the Peoples theatres in Chicago.
THE SERIES DID of course premiere and quickly established itself as a staple of our video diet. What we found it to be was a weekly anthology of half hour mystery plays. Their content varied from the very alarming (THE GLASS EYE with Jessica Tandy & Tom Conway) to the serio-comic (CHEAP IS CHEAP with Dennis Day). Every mood in between was featured. There was and is (in reruns)a favourite flavour for everyone.
EITHER BY DESIGN or with the good fortune of dumb luck, the half hour time slot proved to be the perfect length for these mystery plays. It is a case of size mattering; although in the diminutive sense rather than the greater.
WE LATER SAW this proved to be true. The cases in point are both the ALFRED HITCHCOCK Show and THE TWILIGHT ZONE expanded to a full hour each; which proved to be detrimental to the shows. Instead of more being better, we found the expanded episodes of these shows to be heavily padded and filled with scenes that never would have been included otherwise.
NO MATTER WHAT one's preference in these half hours, the greatest and most unique feature of the series was the relationship that developed between the audience and the series M.C., being Sir Alfred Hitchcock, himself. He displayed a previously unknown ability with a unique brand of very dry, deadpan humour.