An historical Hollywood feud lives on

A few years back, I wrote extensively about Alfred Hitchcock for my Screeenwriter's Cafe column in ScreenTalk (an international screenwriting magazine - forepublication to movieScope magazine): how he created his films at the script level - building them piece by piece, that he did not write the dialogue, and so on.

I also wrote a column about the historical and sorrowful feud he had with courageous Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Michael Hayes, pictured here, who wrote such Hitchcock classics as Rear Window, To Catch A Thief, The Man Who Knew Too Much and The Trouble With Harry, as well as and many more memorable films.

Click here to read the column.


The impact of this feud on Hollywood writers lives on.

Mr. Hayes, who died late last year, told me it was the best and most insightful article on their industry- shakeup flap he had read, and sent me an autographed marketing placard of Rear Window from his personal collection to show his appreciation.

I framed and hung it on my living room wall. It is the only "award" type artifact I have on display in my home.

It's one of my most prized possessions.