Merrylou White, a 70-year-old resident of the Santa Cruz neighborhood of Pleasure Point, had purchased a pass for all three days of this year’s Scotts Valley Alfred Hitchcock Festival, held this past weekend, March 14-16.
White grew up in Los Gatos, attending Los Gatos High School, where the theater was named after Olivia de Havilland, a key link in the famed director deciding to purchase a property on the Scotts Valley side of the Santa Cruz Mountains in the first place. When White was 11 years old, she would sneak downstairs to watch Hitchcock’s television presentations.
White said she enjoyed hearing from Aaron Leventhal, co-author of “Footsteps in the Fog: Alfred Hitchcock’s San Francisco,” and historian Jay Topping, as well as Hitchcock’s granddaughter Tere Carrubba during the opening-night ceremonies on Friday.
Next up was a panel discussion with UCSC lecturer Shelly Stamp, talking about the film techniques deployed for the movie “Rope.”
But when it came time to play the film—a snag.
“They couldn’t get sound for ‘Rope,’ but we kept waiting and hoping they’d figure that out,” she said. “I was disappointed.”
Unfortunately, explained Trish Melehan, board member of the Scotts Valley Community Theater Guild, they couldn’t show the movie.
“We did have some technical difficulties that we weren’t expecting,” Melehan said. “The sound of the DVD wasn’t coming up on the speakers that work with the movie screen.”
Her husband, Jim, felt for her. After all, he’d personally experienced the many nights his wife would be on the phone doing everything she could to make sure the film festival would go off without a hitch.
“I openly wept,” he said, exaggerating just a bit. “But people were very understanding.”
Melehan said they’re now working to confirm they have the rights to offer a make-up screening at some point in the coming weeks.
By Sunday, White confirmed she felt she’d gotten her money’s worth.
“It’s really precious to me,” she said, adding she’s proud to see a local organization was able to put on such an amazing event where she could learn more about the things Hitchcock was passionate about. “I share in his enthusiasm for the nature and the beauty of this area.”
John Billheimer, an 86-year-old from Portola Valley, presented last year. Even though that edition had fewer people in the audience than the inaugural year, he was still gung-ho about returning for the festival’s third installment.
“They appear to be thriving,” said Billheimer, noting he attended as a guest during the initial iteration. “I enjoyed being a part of it last year.”
Billheimer said he was quite impressed with the talk by Jeffrey Michael Bays, the author of “Suspense: With a Camera,” about Hitchcock’s television career.
“It’s interesting to see his take on it,” he said, adding he appreciated how the speaker discussed the contributions of those who collaborated with Hitchcock on the smash-hit TV programs. “It’s nice to see that recognized. The people involved were important… He gave them full credit.”
Hitchcock’s influence continues in popular culture to this day.
For example, Warner Brothers took out a full page ad, in the Winter 2024-25 issue of Sight and Sound Magazine, for the remastered 4K UltraHD version of “North by Northwest.”
And, despite Friday’s hiccup, it’s clear that Scotts Valley’s celebration of Hitchcock has staying power.
It’s all thanks to the tireless efforts of their legion of volunteers, such as hospitality manager Melanie Turowski. To be fair, she is dating the president of the Guild. But she also witnessed the magic of the festival last year as a spectator.
“I was fascinated by the speakers,” Turowski said. “It just changed how you saw the films.”
She even brought her parents—her dad ended up getting pretty obsessed with all things Hitchcock afterward.
This year, Turowski was tasked with recruiting and managing volunteers.
“I feel so fortunate to be part of it,” she said. “This is so incredibly unique.”
Hearing a Hitchcock expert, on Sunday, discuss the director’s ability to play with comedy while not discounting the overall sense of foreboding (as parents must track down their child who is running around town with a loaded revolver)—and then watching the television episode in a landscape where gun violence has become a major societal woe—highlighted the master of suspense’s prescience for where America was headed.
On Saturday, after talks by Jason Isralowitz, author of “Nothing to Fear: Alfred Hitchcock and the Wrong Men,” and William Park, author of “What Is Film Noir?,” Kylan DeGhetaldi played piano tunes from the 1920s live, as Hitchcock’s silent movie “The Lodger” played.
Crowd sizes ranged from 80 to 130 people.
“The audiences seemed very pleased,” Melehan said. “We’re hoping to come back even stronger next year.”
