Geoffrey Shurlock
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Geoffrey Shurlock (1884–1976) was an American film censor with the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, the successor of Joseph Breen.
The film Hitchcock shows Geoffrey Shurlock saying with regards to the production of the film Psycho "no American movie has ever found it "necessary" to show a toilet, let alone to flush it."
GEOFFREY SHURLOCK[1]
The Code will absolutely not permit you
to show a knife penetrating a woman's
flesh.
ALFRED HITCHCOCK
I assure you, Geoffrey, my murders, are
always models of taste and discretion.
GEOFFREY SHURLOCK
Is there any improper suggestion of
nudity in this murder scene in the
shower?
ALFRED HITCHCOCK
She won't be nude. She'll be wearing a
shower cap.
Shurlock makes a note. A man utterly devoid of any sense of
humor.
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED:
GEOFFREY SHURLOCK
We might accept a shot from outside the
bathroom window with Marion in silhouette
above the shoulders -- provided the glass
is frosted.
Hitch greets the suggestion with barely concealed contempt.
Shurlock turns the page.
GEOFFREY SHURLOCK
Then -- this scene with the toilet.
ALFRED HITCHCOCK
It's completely necessary. Marion flushes
evidence later found by her sister. It's
a clue to the girl's disappearance.
GEOFFREY SHURLOCK
No American movie has ever found it
"necessary" to show a toilet, let alone
to flush it.
Hitch turns to Peggy and a Paramount Executive.
ALFRED HITCHCOCK
Perhaps we ought to shoot the film in
France and use a bidet instead?
No response from Shurlock's end of the room. Peggy stares
down at the table.
GEOFFREY SHURLOCK
Mr. Hitchcock, if this office denies you
a seal, and we're certainly heading in
that direction, your movie will not be
released in a single theater in this
country. Will you be making jokes then?
Hitchcock gives a slow but meaningful shrug.
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