10 Crazy Facts about the First American Film Ever to Show a Toilet Flushing

The first American film ever to show a toilet flushing was the movie called ‘Psycho’ starring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh. It was released in 1960 and directed by Alfred Hitchcock who was already famous as the screen’s master of suspense. Even though the movie featured flushing of paper in the toilet it provided a shock among the audience as toilets were never virtually seen in American cinema in the 1960s and were considered filthy. This movie celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2020. Psycho was nominated for four Academy Awards. This first Hitchcock movie that featured flushing of a toilet in ‘Psycho’ is now considered one of Hitchcock’s best films. But surprisingly, the movie Psycho did not win an Oscar.

Here Are 10 Interesting Facts About the First American Film Ever to Show a Toilet Flushing:

• On the first day of the shoot, Alfred Hitchcock made the cast swear that they would not reveal any details about the movie outside the crew and also he did not let them know the ending of the film until it was time to film it. Despite all the efforts of the director at keeping the movie a secret, the spoilers of the movie were revealed by many magazines.
• The director of the movie Alfred Hitchcock received a letter from a father stating that his daughter refused to take a shower after watching the movie ‘Psycho’.
• Janet Leigh received only $25,000 for the movie, it was just a quarter of her normal pay. She agreed to it just to work in Hitchcock’s movie.
• The famous shower scene which happened right after the flushing of a toilet in ‘Psycho’ took almost 7 days to film, featuring 77 camera angles and 50 cuts.
• In the opening sequence of the movie, Marion is seen wearing a white bra indicating that she is pure and innocent and once she has taken the money, she is seen wearing a black bra which indicates her dark and evil side.
• The very famous shower scene was originally intended to have deathly silence, but the composer of the movie Bernard Herrmann composed a score anyway and Hitchcock loved it and increased his salary.
• Alfred Hitchcock wanted to keep Janet Leigh on edge throughout the movie so he hid scarier versions of the ‘Mother’ dummy in her closet.
• The Bates Motel shown in the movie is still at Universal Studios, Los Angeles.
• Director Alfred Hitchcock secured the rights from Robert Bloch for $9,000 and then bought as many copies as possible to keep the ending of the movie a secret.

When the movie was released, guards were appointed in order to prevent late admittance to the movie. This made the public wait in queues making the people wonder what they would miss if they were late.