Author: Anne Ewbank / Source: Atlas Obscura
For decades, Alfred Hitchcock was a cinematic giant. Decades of making films such as The Birds and Dial M for Murder established his reputation as “The Master of Suspense.” It was a reputation Hitchcock played up off-set as well, even at dinnertime.
At two of Hitchcock’s dinner parties, every single item of food was blue. At another, every dish was death-themed.Hitchcock’s culinary quirks stemmed from his love-hate relationship with food. He had an uneasy childhood as the son of an English grocer. Once, when his parents stepped out at night while he slept, young Hitchcock woke up unexpectedly. His parents found him eating cold meat and crying. As an adult, he couldn’t stand cold meat, and he loathed eggs (their shape unnerved him) and cheese. Food took on meaningful quality in many of his films as well, from the sinister sandwiches in Psycho to Grace Kelly’s coy offer of “a leg or a breast” of chicken in To Catch a Thief.
Hitchcock’s wife, Alma Reville, also a director and screenwriter, was a fantastic cook. But she didn’t enjoy Hitchcock’s practical jokes, which could be downright cruel: He locked one actress, who was afraid of fire, into a phone booth and filled it with smoke. (Tippi Hedren, the leading lady in The Birds, has accused Hitchcock of sexual assault, suggesting an even darker side to his callousness.)
Some of Hitchcock’s pranks took the form of dinner parties. Hitchcock himself said he didn’t enjoy entertaining much, but he held many perfectly normal dinners, which were often attended by leading actors and celebrities. Other times, though, Hitchcock let his showmanship take over.
One such party was more of a practical joke than a soiree. He held his blue dinner in the upstairs room…
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