Thank you to Doc West and Fort Wayne’s 96.3 XKE for interviewing me about my book GIMME ALL YOUR LOVIN’: The Blues, Boogie, and Beard of ZZ TOP’s BILLY F. GIBBONS. Congratulations on 50 years of rock in Fort Wayne!
963xke.com
Cheers to Talking Hitchcock podcast for having me on to talk about my book about Vera Miles and her extraordinary work with Alfred Hitchcock! And thanks to Rebecca for adding her insight to my book #AlfredHitchcock #VeraMiles
open.spotify.com/episode/43eN...
Incredible find - Lost 1897 Georges Méliès short film "Gugusse and the Automaton” discovered in a Michigan attic blogs.loc.gov/loc/2026/02/...
In a 1989 interview with USA Today, Vera Miles said of her work with John Ford, "If I were to go back and look at the films, I think the most joyous and creative times were the John Ford films… They were high points for me.”
John Ford's THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE premiered in nine theaters #OTD in 1962. Vera Miles starred opposite Hollywood heavyweights John Wayne and James Stewart in one of the greatest westerns of all time. #JohnFord #JohnWayne #VeraMiles #JamesStewart
Can it be true?
A secret song, a new album — why it’s going to be a Rolling Stones summer
www.thetimes.com/culture/musi...
Doing research for a new book project and found this article in a 1981 @variety.com . I'd love to have been a fly on the wall in a pub with a bunch of drunk Irishmen watching "The Love Bug."
On returning to one of her most famous roles with Anthony Perkins for PSYCHO II, Vera Miles was quoted in the film's press kit, saying, "22 years have gone by, and when you reach a certain age your guard goes down and you say, 'Oh well, what the hell.'" #Psycho
Anthony Perkins was born #OTD in 1932. Perkins portrayed Norman Bates opposite Vera Miles in both Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO (1960) and Richard Franklin's PSYCHO II (1983) #Hitchcock #AnthonyPerkins #VeraMiles
Proud to celebrate the 70th anniversary of John Ford's masterpiece THE SEARCHERS with @mahoningdit.bsky.social on June 21! I cannot wait to see this film in 35mm. I'll be introducing the film on what is sure to be a stunning summer night. Tickets & more info:
events.ticketleap.com/tickets/maho...
Of course, if you’d read this far, I’d like to plug my book (released one year ago today!) VERA MILES: The HITCHCOCK Blonde Who Got Away from University Press of Kentucky, which goes into detail about Miles’ work with Hitchcock and her entire fantastic career t.co/LbpsnPCE5x
But I’m curious to know what others may think. Do you think this was intentional on Hitchcock’s part, or a coincidence?
To note, PSYCHO makes no mention of Bates murdering any males before the events of the film (just a reference to “two missing girls”). But I think it would be too much of a coincidence for the name of Vera Miles’ son to be in the ledger without it being a gag at Miles’ expense.
(Try as I might, I cannot find a significance for the “April 18” date of Michael Scott’s visit to the Bates Motel, except for demonstrating how remote the motel is, as nobody else had checked in for nearly eight months.)
But could Hitchcock, known for his attention to detail, have specifically put the name of Vera Miles’ two-year-old son, whose birth prevented her from starring in the San Francisco-set film VERTIGO, in the ledger book, perhaps as the previous victim of Norman Bates?
Wikipedia’s Michael Scott page lists dozens of notable people by that name. A prop master could have simply wrote a dummy name in the ledger without any knowledge of its connection to Vera Miles. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael....
Of course, “Michael Scott” is not an uncommon name. As others have previously pointed out, it is (rather famously) the name of Steve Carell’s character on the American version of the sitcom THE OFFICE. www.reddit.com/r/unexpected...
Since Vera Miles does not appear in the scene where we see the ledger, it’s likely she wouldn’t have seen her son’s name written there until she saw the finished film. It could have been an entirely different prop ledger in Miles’ scene with the ledger.
Vera Miles is not in that scene. But she is in a later scene when Sam Loomis (John Gavin) signs the ledger, though we do not see the signature on the page as we do earlier with Marion. In fact, we never see the ledger close-up again after this initial appearance.
Two years after the release of VERTIGO, a “Michael Scott” of “San Francisco, CA,” is listed in the ledger of the Bates Motel in PSYCHO. He is listed as the last guest before Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) checks in under an assumed name, “Marie Samuels.”
After seeing VERTIGO, Miles was complimentary of the film and Novak’s performance. She told The Hollywood Reporter, “I saw it the other night and loved Kim in it. But I got Michael instead and, y’know what—it was worth it!”
VERTIGO (without Miles) finally began shooting on September 30, 1957, in San Francisco, where the film is set. Vera Miles gave birth to her son, MICHAEL SCOTT, on October 1.
Hitchcock was unable or unwilling (likely both) to delay the film for Miles’ pregnancy, so her part in the film went to Kim Novak. While Hitchcock still worked with Miles, he felt slighted that he invested in making her his next star, only for her to be unable to star in VERTIGO.
As Hitchcock was recovering, Miles broke the news in March 1957 that she was pregnant with her third child, her first with her then-husband, Tarzan actor Gordon Scott.
Miles was prepped for the film, even being photographed for makeup and costume tests in the film’s famed grey suit. The filming of VERTIGO was delayed, first by exhaustion of star James Stewart and second by Hitchcock’s hospitalization for medical issues.
Hitchcock signed Vera Miles to an exclusive contract to make her his next star after Grace Kelly left Hollywood to marry into European royalty. Hitchcock’s first film with Miles was 1956’s THE WRONG MAN. He intended her to next star in the dual role of Judy/Madeleine in VERTIGO.
Hitchcock may have pulled a macabre prank on star Vera Miles in PSYCHO, but I’ve never seen anyone else confirm it, or even mention it.
Alfred Hitchcock was known for his dark sense of humor. We’ve all heard the story of Hitch gifting a young Melanie Griffith a doll of her mother, Tippi Hedren, in a box that the young Melanie thought was a coffin, though that may not have been intended as a joke.
Did Alfred Hitchcock play a ghoulish prank on PSYCHO star Vera Miles by listing “Michael Scott” of “San Francisco” as the last guest of the Bates Motel before Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) met her demise? #Hitchcock #AlfredHitchcock
