Juno and the Paycock (1929) | Presenting Hitchcock Podcast

Gooooood evening. In this months episode of Presenting Hitchcock, Cory and Aaron pour the whisky, sing a ditty, and duck for cover as they discuss “Juno and the Paycock.”

Picture Title: Juno and the Paycock

Written by: Alfred Hitchcock, with scenario by Alma Reville

Adapted from the play by Sean O’Casey

Starring: Barry Fitzgerald, Maire O’Neill, Edward Chapman, Sidney Morgan, Sara Allgood, and John Laurie

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

Watch the Picture (not the best copy though):

Our Favourite Trivia:

The original Broadway production of “Juno and the Paycock” by Sean O’Casey opened at the Mayfair Theater on March 15, 1926 and ran for seventy-four performances. The play was revived on Broadway in 1927, 1934, 1937, 1940, and 1988. 

Although O’Casey had deep reservations about allowing his work to be filmed, Ivor Novello and Adrian Brunel persuaded him to visit Elstree Studios where he met with Hitchcock whilst he was filming Champagne. Over the following months, the two met several times and Hitchcock was not only able to secure O’Casey’s approval to film Juno but also coaxed the playwright into writing a new scene for the beginning of the film.

Hitchcock filmed a faithful reproduction of the play using few of the directorial touches he had incorporated in his previous films. Instead he often asked cinematographer Jack Cox to hold the camera for long single shots. He was eager to have a scene set outside the flat inserted into the film, and after permission from O’Casey, added a pub scene.

This is Alma Reville’s first script credit on an Alfred Hitchcock picture.

Sean O’Casey and Alfred Hitchcock formed a friendship during the filming. O’Casey made quite an impression on Hitchcock, and was the inspiration for the prophet of doom in the diner in The Birds.

Although Edward Chapman played the father of John Laurie and Kathleen O’Regan, he was four years younger than Laurie and two years older than O’Regan in real life.

Whilst praising the film as “work of art; well photographed, well acted, and carrying conviction in every word and scene”, The Times review noted that Hitchcock had “been so faithful to his text as almost to forget the medium in which he was working”.

The Random Draw for Next Picture:

Next up, we’ll be discussing “Topaz”

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