# Was "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" considered racy back in the day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2016, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185 "2016-01-04T22:59:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/1 "2016-01-04T22:59:08Z")
Pilot episode aired in 1955. I was surprised to see [THIS](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RW7zcK-tjQ0/Sj_-i0vBakI/AAAAAAAACHw/Evmnq5SqCPI/s400/VeraMilesRevenge.jpg) lovely lady showing off her gams in the episode. Not really a big deal by today’s standards, but for 1955? Wow, I would have never thought. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/2 "2016-01-04T23:19:37Z")
Vera Miles, a greatly underappreciated babe. She was gorgeous! :o ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/3 "2016-01-04T23:37:39Z")
There are limits to how racy anything can look on a small, possibly snowy, non-pausable, black and white screen. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/4 "2016-01-04T23:42:25Z")
An occasional ‘racy’ shot like that was pretty common in that day. It was considered an adult show, but more for the themes than occasionally a woman showing off her figure. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/5 "2016-01-05T00:48:37Z")
Ahem. It was 1955, not 1855. I’ve watched many episodes in reruns, and I don’t recall anyone considering them in the least bit racy. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/6 "2016-01-05T02:02:40Z")
The same time Alfred Hitchcock premiered, so did The Bob Cummings Show. The show’s entire premise revolved around Cummings, a celebrity photographer, chasing after various bits of cheesecake like [Joi Lansing](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/af/e8/b1/afe8b1132a44c6a4f0f018aa65e4fd59.jpg) and [Ingrid Goude](http://hornsection.blogspot.com/2008/06/some-love-for-that-bob-on-his-100th.html) in skimpy, but censor-appropriate outfits. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/7 "2016-01-05T03:26:37Z")
Hitchcock got in more trouble for having endings where the killer went free (e.g., Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter”). He would sometimes close by saying that the killer eventually got caught. It only kept the censors happy; the audience ignored it. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/8 "2016-01-05T03:33:51Z")
A pretty actress in a modest bathing suit. Shocking, I tell you. Nothing like that had ever been seen before. Except for movies, and magazines, and advertisements, and television. But not once in radio! Never! Radio was pure and clean! You could see the difference! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/9 "2016-01-05T03:39:19Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > He would sometimes close by saying that the killer eventually got caught. It only kept the censors happy; the audience ignored it. I think he pretty much always said during the closing that culprit was eventually caught, even though there was no indication that was the case during the show. (I’ve just finished watching the first two seasons and have started the third. I haven’t seen any exceptions so far. Possibly he relaxed this during later seasons.) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/10 "2016-01-05T03:39:41Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Hitchcock got in more trouble for having endings where the killer went free (e.g., Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter”). He would sometimes close by saying that the killer eventually got caught. My favorite little epilogue came after a husband had his wife murdered while they were in the middle of a telephone conversation (and if memory serves, she had him killed as well): “Oh, dear! Mr \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ committed the ultimate crime: He interrupted a woman while she was talking on the phone!” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/11 "2016-01-05T05:09:55Z")
My parents let this 10-year-old watch it, so it couldn’t have been too racy. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/12 "2016-01-05T15:26:32Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I think he pretty much always said during the closing that culprit was eventually caught, even though there was no indication that was the case during the show. (I’ve just finished watching the first two seasons and have started the third. I haven’t seen any exceptions so far. Possibly he relaxed this during later seasons.) For one intro scene, Hitchcock said he was going to start replacing live actors with robots. They always showed up on time and never complained about working conditions. He had one speak and it squeaked and squonked unintelligibly. Hitchcock explained that as method actors, they’re inclined to mumble. In the closing scene, the robot delivered the monologue with English subtitles, explaining “In front a jury of her peers, \ got 90 years.” Hitchcock thought outside the box before it was even a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/13 "2016-01-05T16:38:13Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > For one intro scene, Hitchcock said he was going to start replacing live actors with robots. They always showed up on time and never complained about working conditions. He had one speak and it squeaked and squonked unintelligibly. Hitchcock explained that as method actors, they’re inclined to mumble. In the closing scene, the robot delivered the monologue with English subtitles, explaining “In front a jury of her peers, \ got 90 years.” Hitchcock thought outside the box before it was even a thing. I’d like to check into that, but the only show that comes up with a search on robot is the sixth show of the fourth season: > [@](#): > > “Design for Loving.” November 9, 1958 > Charles Brailing (Lloyd) is tired of his wife, Lydia (Seldes), so he has a robot double of himself made by Marionettes, Inc to take his place when he wants to get away. Charles’ robot double develops feelings for Lydia and turns on Charles, taking his place Do the two go together or was the closer from a totally different show? ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/14 "2016-01-05T16:42:23Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > … But not once in radio! Never! Radio was pure and clean! You could see the difference! Especially my very favorite form: Silent Radio. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/15 "2016-01-05T16:52:37Z")
> [@Find\_Friends](#): > > Especially my very favorite form: Silent Radio. You mean… “off” ? ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/16 "2016-01-05T16:53:12Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > There are limits to how racy anything can look on a small, possibly snowy, non-pausable, black and white screen. A generally good point. However Mad Magazine once made a counter point. This would be pretty dependent on your reception being high quality, rather than snowy. And perhaps the size of the screen. Although one could always sit closer. Mad showed that, as long as transmissions and sets were all B&W, it was easy enough to imagine showgirls with skin-tight clothing as… nekkid! :eek: A side by side comparison showed that color TV effectively prevented this self-selected illusion. This, IIRC, was accompanied by a man dissatisfied by the progress. BTW, the dubious benefits of certain aspects of progress popped up often enough in the pages of Mad. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/17 "2016-01-05T16:54:18Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > You mean… “off” ? Hey! Great idea! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/18 "2016-01-05T17:05:32Z")
I was somewhat surprised that the pilot episode for the first season, “Revenge,” dealt with a rape and its aftermath. Although it wasn’t explicit about how the woman was assaulted, it was clear that’s what had happened. It seemed rather bold for the mid-1950s, especially as the very first episode of the series. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-alfred-hitchcock-presents-considered-racy-back-in-the-day/742185/19 "2016-01-05T18:03:50Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I was somewhat surprised that the pilot episode for the first season, “Revenge,” dealt with a rape and its aftermath. Although it wasn’t explicit about how the woman was assaulted, it was clear that’s what had happened. It seemed rather bold for the mid-1950s, especially as the very first episode of the series. What happened to her was implied - a kid watching would never know. In the end Hitchcock said the husband got arrested - something not said when this episode was remade as the first episode of the revived series. Which I think was a bit more explicit about what happened, IIRC.