"The Birds," Tippi Hedren, and Ladybugs
April 14, 2013
This movie scared everyone in 1963, including me and my friends in high school.
I didn't know much about newcomer Tippi Hedren, Alfred Hitchcock's newest actress in his horror films.
In March of this year, 2013, "The Birds" turned 50 years old. I was privileged enough to attend a screening at the Florida Film Festival on April 12, 2013. After the film ended, Tippi Hedren, now in her 80s, was onstage for a wonderful hour of sharing her memories, good and bad, of working with Alfred Hitchcock on that film. Here is Tippi Hedren as she shared her thoughts and memories with her audience. We sat about 15 feet away from her.
Photo Credit: Mark Baratelli, www.thedailycity.com
Photo Credit: Mark Baratelli, www.thedailycity.com
I learned several things new about the film:
1. It was based on a real-life incident that happened near Alfred Hitchcock's home. Scientists discovered through research in 1991 that the incident was caused by the gulls having eaten seafood that had been tainted with a poisonous chemical, altering their brains.
2. Alfred Hitchcock became obsessed with Tippi Hedren and made her life a living hell. Recently a movie has been made about her experiences and the tragedies he caused her for so long. I believe it is titled, "The Girl."
3. Tippi Hedron, mother of Melanie Griffith and mother-in-law to Antonio Banderas, is still lovely and charming and very intelligent, as well as very funny.
4. I was immediately transported back to my high school days, during the movie, when I was a horror movie fanatic. Ah, memories.
Now as to those ladybugs: I bought a package of live ladybugs the day after seeing the film, 1500 of them, to put on the plants in my butterfly garden to eat all the little pests that live on the plants.
You have to keep them in the refrigerator to keep them dormant until you want to release them. Warning! You only release as many as you wish; do not release all 1500 of them at once. However, once you remove the package from the refrigerator, they warm up immediately and all start moving and trying to get out of the bag.
It was like being attacked by the birds, but in miniature, and I only released about 50 of them, and they started crawling up my arms. I dread going into my refrigerator to release more of them, as they wait in dormancy...creepy. Alfred Hitchcock would have loved seeing this.
