Everett Herald  Saturday, October 30, 1999

 

Hitchcock fan does thriller-chiller room

Movie images, trappings at home 'all in fun'

By STEVE POWELL Herald Writer

 

EVERETT -- Roger Douthitt's bathroom is for "The Birds."

Or "Psycho" or any of a number of other famous
flicks by legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock.

And he doesn't just get into this stuff at
Halloween. He rebuilt his bathroom to have a
Hitchcock theme year-round.

"It's all in fun," Douthitt said. "It's for my own amusement."

Surrounding his bathroom near the ceiling are birds
on a telephone wire he has stenciled. A fake crow
sits on a branch in a corner behind the toilet.

On moulding that separates wallpaper from paint is "Rope," from one of
Hitchcock's lesser-known films of the 1950s.

There are scissors, such as the ones Grace Kelly used in the stabbing for
"Dial M for Murder."

In the tub area is glass like in the movie "Rear Window."

There are also numerous pictures of Hitchcock, along with one of the house
in "Psycho" with star Anthony Perkins, and a poster from the same movie.

"It's like a black and white movie in there," Douthitt said.

The most dominant feature is a silhouette of a person with a knife painted on
the shower stall from "Psycho." An empty Hershey's chocolate syrup can
sits in one corner. Hitchcock used chocolate for blood in his movies, Douthitt said.

He said he's always been a fan of Hitchcock's humor and suspenseful movies.
He's such a fan that his brother, Chris, bought him a Hitchcock mask about
12 years ago.

He said he's always enjoyed ghost stories and monster movies. He hinted
that by enjoying them, they didn't scare him.

"If you make a joke of it, it can't hurt you," he said.

The bathroom isn't the only scary thing at Douthitt's house. Outside, in his
garden, he has gargoyles and a gravestone.

"The neighbor kids thought I buried someone," he said.

He also has a "dark garden" with a secret entryway.

"It's so dark in there it's hard to get anything to grow," he said.

He said Halloween has always been one of his favorite times of the year.

"I couldn't decide if I wanted to stay a kid and enjoy Halloween or grow up and
be Halloween," he said.

He said it's too bad more people can't see what he's done.

"You can't work a tour of the bathroom in" when children come to
trick-or-treat, he said.

Douthitt is so proud of his efforts that he has them featured on a web site
at home.earthlink.net/~havercroft/thebathroom.html.

So, is Douthitt going to be Hitchcock this Halloween?

Probably not.  "Probably the Grim Reaper," he said.

 

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