Breathtaking

Northern Advocate, 13 May 1939, Page 3 (Supplement)

Breathtaking

The scene took place in a dining car compartment on an American transcontinental express. Alfred Hitchcock sat placidly chewing a pencil beside the imposing studio impedimenta of cameras and microphones endeavour ing to clear up the mystery of “The Lady Vanishes.” Naunton Wayne, the famous variety compere, now playing his first “straight” role in pictures, stood with head pressed to the side of a window which dangerously held the remains of a splintered pane of glass. Linden Travers stood behind him shaking with fright.

Suddenly, at a given sign, Wayne lifted his revolver, aimed through the broken window and fired. The noise of the shot resounded through the sound stage and the corridors outside.

But the enemy were to* reply,' and paradoxically enough Richard Beville, who was standing behind Naunton Wayne, had been elected to fill the anonymous role of the enemy. With lead pipe attached to a pressure machine which stood below him, Beville aimed the pipe at a piece of the remaining window beside Wayne’s head. Hitchcock rapped out a command. Crash!

The glass shattered into thousands of bits, Naunton Wayne jerked his head away, and the scene finished. It was estimated that Richard Beville had missed hitting Naunton Wayne's head by a margin of approximately half an inch. Naunton mopped his brow and uttered an exclamation of relief at the news that the shot w.as satisfactory.