30th January 1871

Alfred Hitchcock’s Jersey connection

Jersey-born film director Seymour Hicks found fame on the stage, in print and on screen, in a long and varied career, the pinnacle of which was his portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge, in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, in theatres, in a 1913 silent film, and again in the 1935 film, Scrooge. The latter production was the first feature-length version of the story recorded with a soundtrack.

Hicks was a trailblazer in many ways. Born in 1871 and having toured America as part of a stage company in his youth, he settled in London in 1893 where he starred in Under the Clock, the capital’s first ever musical revue.

Perhaps his most impactful achievement, though, was giving legendary director Alfred Hitchcock his big break. In 1923, when Hicks ventured into producing and starring in his own films, he had the luxury of picking his own production staff and settled on the then-unknown Hitchcock to direct Always Tell Your Wife. Had he not done so, we might never have experienced Psycho, The Birds or Rear Window.