"The birds attacked me but Hitch was scarier."

December 29, 2009 2:16 PM

Tippi Hedren in make-up test stills for The Birds,*
posted by xod (35 comments total)

Shambawha? That's no (via)..
posted by lumensimus at 2:23 PM on December 29, 2009

I'm not entirely sure why the first link goes to a Tippi Hedron Barbie, nor why such a Barbie exists.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:26 PM on December 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

This post is a little thin, but I like it. Here's some more I just found to pad it out:
Gone With the Wind costume and makeup stills
posted by dammitjim at 2:28 PM on December 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

Hedren, apparently.
posted by gurple at 2:28 PM on December 29, 2009

It's Tippi Hedren, people.

You're thinking of the Hedron Collider.
posted by Joe Beese at 2:28 PM on December 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

Max Hedron.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 2:33 PM on December 29, 2009

Don't you mean the Hadron Collander?
posted by Splunge at 2:33 PM on December 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

...colander... ::sigh::
posted by Splunge at 2:34 PM on December 29, 2009

I had no idea how to spell it, was just going by the FPP.

Also the best part about The Birds is the last shot, which is a composite of 32 elements and looks seamless.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:35 PM on December 29, 2009

To reiterate far less cryptically, the last link (while a perfectly valid cause, I suppose) has been piggybacked with no context onto the post.
posted by lumensimus at 2:39 PM on December 29, 2009

Huh, I hadn't even noticed it. What the hell is that?
posted by shakespeherian at 2:41 PM on December 29, 2009

The Shambala Preserve was founded by Ms Hendren.
posted by xod at 2:41 PM on December 29, 2009

nor why such a Barbie exists.

Barbies are apparently organized in tiers for collectors. This one is: "Black Label™ Collection: Sensational dolls designed for the adult collector."
posted by smackfu at 2:43 PM on December 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

And to think I read the "About" section of that site. Anyhow, there's subtle and then there's subtle
posted by lumensimus at 2:44 PM on December 29, 2009

Mod note: fixed the typo!
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:48 PM on December 29, 2009

jessamyn: [fixed the typo!]

Oh sure so now I look like the jackass.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:55 PM on December 29, 2009 [3 favorites]

now?
posted by jessamyn at 3:01 PM on December 29, 2009 [9 favorites]

I think I have a picture for my MeFi mix disc cover!
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 3:05 PM on December 29, 2009

The Pervert's Guide to Cinema is pretty sharp. I like what he has to say about Lynch.
posted by effwerd at 3:15 PM on December 29, 2009

I was just thinking about this as I worked my way through the gauntlet of french-fry-mooching seagulls at the Morro Bay McDonalds...

And Hitch was always scarier than anything else in his productions...
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:16 PM on December 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

oneswellfoop that's so true. That's why I always loved the Alfred Hitchcock Presents series. Creepy openings ftw.
posted by strixus at 3:26 PM on December 29, 2009

I must apologize for the lack of bloodshed in this comment. I shall try to do better next time.
posted by brundlefly at 3:34 PM on December 29, 2009

French-fry mooching? I once had a seagull steal a slice of pizza out of my hand at the Jersey Shore. But I'm not sure even Jersey seagulls have it over Australian ones for aggression, though: at The Nobbies, a huge sign says in large red letters:

DO NOT FEED SEAGULLS
THEY WILL ATTACK

I was just surprised that people needed to be warned about it.
posted by EvaDestruction at 3:35 PM on December 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

I watched The Birds a lot when I was a kid. Haven't seen it in years.

Watching the YouTube clips above was the first time I noticed the weird oedipal similiarity between Jessica Tandy (playing Rod Taylor's mother) and Tippi. Jessica looks exactly like a just slightly older, grayer version of Tippi.
posted by marsha56 at 3:41 PM on December 29, 2009

MetaFilter hates seagulls.
posted by Joe Beese at 3:46 PM on December 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

Years ago I watched "The Birds" on television. Then I went for a jog in the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, which is a series of levees running way out into the bay. At the farthest extreme, miles from any other person and with no escape, I wandered into the nesting ground of some stilts and was attacked. Not clawed, but charged in the air by big birds hitting me with their wings. I thought I was done for. When I made it back to the park office, the ranger said, "Oh, yeah, stilts. They'll do that to you!"
posted by texorama at 3:48 PM on December 29, 2009 [2 favorites]

On the DVD of The Birds I got from Netflix, there were some immensely creepy clips of Tippi Hedren's screen test. She's on an office set with some nameless actor, and you can hear Hitch's offscreen voice prompting her. "Give him a kiss. Yes, a bit more. Yes."

shudder...
posted by HeroZero at 4:16 PM on December 29, 2009

You mean a director was directing an actor on how to act??
posted by Jaltcoh at 5:10 PM on December 29, 2009

MetaFilter hates seagulls.

Not when they're properly presented.
posted by mediareport at 5:50 PM on December 29, 2009

I'm not entirely sure why the first link goes to a Tippi Hedron Barbie, nor why such a Barbie exists.

Last Christmas, when I was walking through a toy store with my seven year-old niece, I suddenly shouted "Look, [niece] it's a Tippi Hedren Barbie!"

"Who's Tippi Hedren?" says she.

Seriously. I was *this* close to buying one of those Barbies for myself.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:44 PM on December 29, 2009

Well sure, who wouldn't want to fack Mitch?
posted by Naberius at 8:10 PM on December 29, 2009

my all-time favorite thing is seeing someone dressed up as tippi hedren from the birds for halloween. i dont care if its done well or really badly. oh but that one lady...she coulda been tippi's twin. a real woman, but she attacked the project with a level of zeal and dedication to accuracy usually only the most campy professional drag queens can muster. her outfit, hair, and make-up were spot-on, and she had real, taxidermied seagulls protruding from stiff wires so that as she moved, they would flap and bounce about wildly. i saw her stumbling, running, flailing her arms, twisting and screaming down the entire route of the new york city halloween parade, perpetually terrified and flecked with fake blood and feathers. to have stopped her to find out who she was would have ruined the magic, but i like to imagine that she's still out there somewhere, desperately trying to pull ahead of the flock.
posted by sexyrobot at 8:11 PM on December 29, 2009 [5 favorites]

"Blondes make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints."

Ah, Hitchcock. Not creepy at all.
posted by Sparx at 11:33 PM on December 29, 2009

Hitchcock was famously sexually obsessed with Hedren, and his harassment of her (and her rejection of him) on the set of Marnie basically ended her career as a movie star.

OK, that's bad, but presumably the harrassment consisted of something worse than directing an actor in how to kiss another actor.
posted by Jaltcoh at 6:27 AM on December 30, 2009

Hitchcock’s iciest blonde talks about her terrifying time filming The Birds and the director’s unwelcome sexual advances
posted by xod at 10:32 AM on December 30, 2009 [1 favorite]