The Morning After story
Mrs. Trotter is unhappy that her daughter Sharon is having an affair with married businessman Ben Nelson. Mrs. Trotter appeals to Ben's wife, Mrs. Nelson, revealing the affair to her. That night Ben kills his wife and calls Sharon to set his alibi, but Mrs. Trotter takes the phone call and deliberately gives Sharon the wrong information so that Ben will go to jail. Directed by: Herschel Daugherty. Story by: Henry Slesar, Rose Simon Kohn.
12 total · 9 major · 3 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| disapproving parent | major | Mrs. Trotter disapproved of her daughter Sharon carrying on an affair with a married man who was twice Sharon's age. |
| divorce | major | Sharon was convinced that Ben was going to get a divorce to be with her. The story followed her efforts to get him to do so. |
| extramarital affair | major | Sharon was carrying on an affair with a man twice her age. |
| husband and wife | major | Mrs. Nelson confronted her husband Ben about his having an affair with Sharon. Also note a husband and wife was indirectly featured in the prologue. |
| infatuation | major | Sharon was besotted with a man twice her age. |
| male stereotype | major | Ben was a stereotypical lying womanizing man. |
| mother and daughter | major | Sharon's mother was meddling in Sharon's sordid love life. |
| spouse murder | major | Ben murdered his wife in order to prevent her from divorcing him and in so doing cutting off his access to her fortune. In the prologue, Alfred Hitchcock read a letter from a correspondent whose wife was putting ground glass into his sugar. Hitchcock assured the correspondent that poison was the usual manner in which a wife does in their husband. |
| young and old romance | major | Sharon a the businessman twice her age Ben were having an affair. In the prologue, Alfred Hitchcock mentioned a man of 62 years old who was married to a 22-year-old woman. |
| coping with a meddling parent | minor | Sharon was upset that her mother tried to meddle in her life. |