Royal Albert Hall Legacy of the Great Exhibition

"This hall was erected for the advancement of the arts and sciences and works of industry for all nations in fulfillment with the intention of Prince Albert Consort." (http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/royal-albert-hall-tours/)

First performance at the Royal Albert Hall circa 1871 courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Albert_Hall#2014.

The Great Exhibition, or Crystal Palace Exhibition, of 1851 was such a success that Prince Albert proposed "Albertopolis", the construction of a series of buildings in Hyde Park to promote the advancement of the arts and sciences.  Queen Victoria laid the granite foundation stone in 1867 in front of a crowd of over 7,000 spectators.  "Invocation to Harmony", a composition by Prince Albert, was played followed by a 21 gun salute in Hyde Park.

A glazed iron dome, the world's largest unsupported dome at the time at 135 feet, covered the Royal Albert Hall. Inside were over 5000 seats facing a large stage in the middle.  A pipe organ, consisting of thousands of pipes, was built in the space of 14 months for the price of 8,000 pounds.

During the First World War, the dome was used as a point of reference for pilots flying over London. During the Second World War, the dome was painted black to block out the light when a performance was going on.

Sir Winston Churchill speaks about Lincoln at Royal Albert Hall circa 1944 courtesy http://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/photograph-of-winston-churchill-speaking-at-the-albert-hall-news-photo/513666045.

The first performance, Sullivan's On Shore and Sea cantata, was performed on May 1, 1871.  Since then Royal Albert Hall has attracted the finest musicians, scientists, athletes and politicians.  Richard Wagner played there.  Sir Winston Churchill delivered speeches.  Albert Einstein shared his scientific theories.  Alfred Hitchcock directed his movie The Man Who Knew Too Much at the Hall.  Luciano Pavarotti sang there.

Surprisingly, the Hall did not have the best reputation for acoustics.  It was said that it was "the only place that a British composer could be sure of hearing his work twice".  In the late 1960's, fibreglass "mushrooms" were suspended from the Hall's ceiling as acoustic diffusers, a move that seemed to make a difference.

Today, the Hall hosts up to 350 events a year.  The former conservatory is now the location of the Queen Jubilee steps.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Albert_Hall#2014

Edith Head Inspiration for The Incredibles' Edna Mode

"I let my kids use them [Oscar statuettes] as G.I. Joe's." (Edith Head)

http://www.comicvine.com/edna-mode/4005-55874/

The Incredibles' character Edna Mode, sporting thick round glasses and straight black bangs, is based on real life fashion designer Edith Head.  Just as Mode designed costumes for every superhero, Head designed dresses for just about every leading lady in Hollywood.

Edith Head, born and raised in California, received a B.A. in French and an M.A. in Romance Languages.  Her first teaching job was at a La Jolla school, where she offered to teach art as well as French to make more money.  She enrolled at Chouinard Art College to hone her skills, a move which would lead to her brilliant career in fashion design.  

It started with a job at Paramount Studios where Head was selected to design costumes for the silent film The Wanderer in 1925.  Despite no experience, Head seemed well suited for the job and by the 1930's, she was considered one of Hollywood's leading costume designers.  In 1937, she outfitted Dorothy L'Amour in a beautiful sarong in The Hurricane.  In 1944, Head designed a mink lined gown for Ginger Rogers in Lady in the Dark.  

Head's work on The Emperor Waltz (1937) led to her first Academy Award nomination when a fashion design category was added in 1948.  Each successive year with Paramount brought another nomination for head until 1966.  In total, Head received 35 nominations and brought home 8 gold statuettes.  "I let my kids use them as G.I. Joe's," she once said.  

While Head worked on an astonishing 436 films, here are a few actresses she outfitted:  Bette Davis in All About Eve, Grace Kelly in Rear Window, Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday and Elizabeth Taylor in A Place in the Sun.  

Head developped a close working relationship with Alfred Hitchcock, partnering with him on several films including Vertigo, Read Window and The Birds.  Hitchcock left for Universal Studios in 1960 and Head followed 7 years later.  

Head penned two fashion design books titled The Dress Doctor (1959) and How to Dress for Success (1967).  While she was known for the beautiful gowns she sketched, she chose to wear simple two piece suits, along with the trademark thick glasses copied by Edna Mode.

One of the highlights of the fashion designer's illustrious career was designing a woman's uniform for the U.S. Coast Guard in the late 1970's.  Edith's last movie, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, which premiered after her death in 1982, was dedicated to her.

http://www.fashiontrendsdaily.com/events/edith-head-hollywoods-original-stylist-we-talk-with-the-woman-who-knows-her-best

North by Northwest: The Hitchcock Picture to End All Hitchcock Pictures

"Fifty years on, you could say that Hitchcock's sleek, wry, paranoid thriller caught the zeitgeist perfectly:  Cold War shadiness, secret agents of power, urbane modernism, the ant-like bustle of city life, and a hint of dread behind the sharp suits of affluence.  Cary Grant's Roger Thornhill, the film's sharply dressed ad exec who is sucked into a vortex of mistaken identity, certainly wouldn't be out of place in Mad Men.  But there's nothing dated about this perfect storm of talent, from Hitchcock and Grant to writer Ernest Lehman, co-stars James Mason and Eva Marie Saint, composer Bernard Hermann and even designer Saul Bass, whose opening credits sequence still manages to send a shiver down the spine." (Time Out, London edition)

North by Northwest was not the brainchild of Alfred Hitchcock:  he is merely the man who adapted it to the big screen.  The original idea was created by journalist Otis C. Guernsey who, inspired by a fictitious spy created by the British, whom the Germans followed around during World War II (see "Operation Mincemeat") hatched his own fictitious agent.  The story involved an American salesman who travelled to the Middle East, was mistaken for a secret agent and got caught in a web of intrigue.  

Hitchcock bought the story for $10,000 and, along with writer Ernest Lehman, adapted it for the silver screen.  Lehman vowed that he would make "the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures".  The famous director changed the salesman to a Madison Ave. executive.  He clothed the character in a gray flannel suit, one that the GQ fashion experts would later call "the best film suit in history".

Hitchcock tossed around plot ideas:  how about a murder at the United Nations or a Detroit car plant or a showdown in Alaska?  And how would the villains attack the main character?  He suggested a tornado.

James Stewart was the original choice for the starring role in North by Northwest.  However, in the end Hitchcock picked the dashing and debonair Cary Grant, who cut quite a figure in the gray flannel suit.  

The director settled on a murder scene at the United Nations building in New York City.  The building was relatively new in 1959, opening soon after the Second World War.

Hitchcock chose a crop dusting scene, rather than a tornado, in Indiana.  The shot, with Cary Grant running down a road, rows of corn on either side, has been compared to the painting "Le Paquebot ou L'Estran" by Leon Spillraerts.  The famous scene was rated number one by Empire magazine, among the 1001 Greatest Movie Moments. 

Hitchcock decided on a showdown in South Dakota at Mount Rushmore.  The portly director suggested that the main character would hide in Lincoln's nose, sneeze and be discovered by the villains.  He even suggested calling the movie "The Man in Lincoln's Nose", but in the end he settled on "North by Northwest" perhaps taken from the Hamlet line "I am but mad north-northwest."

While the Hitchcock changed the title of the movie, the effect remained the same:  the audience was mesmerized.  Journalist Nick Clooney called it "Hitchcock's most stylish thriller, if not his best".  

For more information, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_by_Northwest#Influences.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/11190386/Manhattan-in-the-movies.html

Frederick Knott's "Dial M for Murder"

"Dial M for Murder" premiered on the BBC in 1952, followed by a stints on the London stage and Broadway.  Written by Frederick Knott, the play featured Tony, an ex-tennis player, Margot, his younger socialite wife, Mark a crime writer who is having an affair with Margot and C. A. Swann, a criminal hired by Margot's husband to murder her.

Knowing about his wife's affair, but acting unaware, Tony and Mark go out for the evening, leaving Margot at the flat.  The plan is for Tony to hide a latchkey under the floor mat outside the flat, and let the criminal slip into the apartment unannounced, and murder Margot.  Tony plans to phone at the appointed hour to distract Margot while the criminal sneaks up on her.

However, things do not go according to plan.  Tony is late with his phone call.  The criminal enters the apartment and attacks Margot, but she fights back, stabbing him with the nearby scissors she was using for sewing.  Tony then phones and gets a distraught Margot who explains what has happened, the dead criminal lying at her feet.

The police are called and arrest Margot, thinking that she was being blackmailed by the criminal regarding her affair.  Margot goes to jail, is sentenced to hang.  However, the police later discover an attache case full of money in the flat, money that Tony was planning on paying the criminal to do the deed.

Equally incriminating, the police discover that the latchkey in Margot's handbag does not belong to her but to the criminal.  Tony mixed the keys up:  the criminal, killed by Margot, had a key in his breast pocket,  Tony, assuming it was Margot's flat key, returned it to her handbag.  However, it was the criminal's key.  Tony admits to his guilt and Margot goes free.

In 1954, Alfred Hitchcock acquired the script and adapted it to the screen, his production starring Grace Kelly as Margot, Ray Milland as Tony and Robert Cummings as the criminal.

Dial M for Murder movie courtesy http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046912/.