It’s Enough to Make Them All ‘Psycho’

The remake of “Psycho” doesn’t really stir memories for me. I saw the original in 1960--that is, I attended the original--but didn’t notice much because I had my eyes closed virtually from beginning to end. So it came as a surprise when Jerome Kleinsasser of Bakersfield wrote to point out that in the original film’s opening minutes, when the Janet Leigh character is fleeing Phoenix with someone else’s money, she comes to a fork in the road. A sign says Bakersfield is in one direction, L.A. in the other. And she chooses Bakersfield. Some people will go through anything to avoid our freeways.

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DOOR NO. 1 OR . . .? The Leigh character, of course, has no idea what fate awaits her at the good ol’ Bates Motel. But a directional sign in a Roger Rabbit cartoon leaves viewers with no doubt. Roger Rabbit is mistaken for a hospital patient, tied to a gurney and rushed into surgery. He’s pushed past doors with such headings as “Pathology,” “Neurology” and “Gynecology.” But the one that really makes him scream is the last door on his terrifying journey.

It’s marked, “Burbank.”

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YOU’RE OFF THE HOOK, BAKERSFIELD: My correspondent Kleinsasser points out that Janet Leigh visited Bakersfield not long ago to host a screening of the original “Psycho.” However--much to the relief of the real-life Chamber of Commerce--the Bates Motel is not in that city. Her character stops in Bakersfield only long enough to acquire a new car. Several hours later, she is somewhere on an unidentified country road--when she stops at Norman Bates’ establishment. I wonder if the poor room service she received there had anything to do with the fact that when she signed the guest register, she listed her hometown as “Los Angeles.”

Perhaps she could have scared off Norman if she had instead written “Burbank.”

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SPEAKING OF OLD MOVIES: Lee Martin of Beaumont sent in a snapshot of an unusual title that appeared on a marquee with Disney’s “Peter Pan” (see photo). Not sure what “The Young Loins” was rated.

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FOR THE VACATIONER WHO’S REALLY ON THE GO: Robert Crawford of Upland wonders if a “nonstop round trip” flight to London wouldn’t be a bit boring (see accompanying). The least the airline could do would be to let the passengers out of the plane in London to stretch their legs before starting the trip back to the United States.

miscelLAny:

I’ve been saving a note from Ruth Garino of Canoga Park for the coming holiday season to remind readers to pick up some cans of greeting cards (see accompanying). No use stewing over friends who snubbed you last year.

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Steve Harvey can be reached by phone at (213) 237-7083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com and by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.