Throwing his hat onto her bed
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Shadow of a Doubt
wallacemia — 9 years ago(October 04, 2016 09:54 PM)
What was the significance of uncle Charlie throwing his hat onto young Charlie's bed? Thethe dad said something about him being superstitious but I'm not sure what he meant by that. Could someone explain why Hitchcock put that scene in?
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amyghost — 9 years ago(October 05, 2016 04:22 AM)
There's an old superstition that putting a hat on a bed is bad luck. I'm not sure what the origin of it is (google 'hat on bed bad luck' and you'll find some interesting theories), but the scene of Charles' tossing it onto his niece's bed makes it pretty obvious he's staking his claim on her. There's several other hints in that scene that suggest what his intentions towards Young Charlie are, such as looking at her graduation photo, and then breaking off one of the roses in her bouquet on the dresser: she's a flower ready to be plucked.
50 Is The New Cutoff Age. -
joystar5879 — 9 years ago(October 05, 2016 03:23 PM)
Thank you for an interesting post, amyghost. You brought back memories of my visits to my Grandmother, in the early 1960s. We'd always put our coats in the spare bedroomlaid out on the bed. The hats were always placed on a separate chair on the other side of the room.
Even my very practical and unsuperstitious Mother said that hats on beds were "bad luck".
I do hope he won't upset Henry -
amyghost — 9 years ago(October 06, 2016 04:19 AM)
You're welcome, joystar. My dad's pet superstition was 'no shoes on the table' (whether or not you were wearing them, lol), and that's one that carried over to me. Like hats on beds, I have no idea what the genesis of this one is, but I know I get uneasy whenever I see itwhich would make me a poor choice for working displays in a shoe store, I guess
50 Is The New Cutoff Age.