The Hatbox story
Professor Jarvis is a teacher of anatomy who discovers that one of his students Perry Hatch is cheating on an exam. Perry pleads for forgiveness, but Jarvis threatens to tell Perry's father. Later, Perry visits Jarvis to try to get him to change his mind. At Jarvis's house, Perry sees the professor disposing an old hat box. Knowing that Jarvis's wife has not been seen in a while, he begins to suspect foul play. He examines the hat box and discovers Mrs. Jarvis's favorite hat which she certainly would have taken if she had gone on a trip. Perry informs a police inspector named Roman who interviews Jarvis. Jarvis claims that he and his wife are separated and denies that there has been any wrongdoing. Roman accepts Jarvis's story and returns his wife's hat. Jarvis takes the hat to his study. He places the hat on a skeleton hanging there and says "Goodnight, Margaret". Directed by: Alan Crosland, Jr. Story by: Henry Slesar.
13 total · 5 major · 8 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| having a skeleton in the closet | major | The conclusion of the story basically reveals that Professor Jarvis was hiding that he'd killed his wife and was keeping her skeleton in his house. |
| how to murder someone and get away with it | major | A point of the story is to discuss ways in which a biology professor might contrive to dispose of a body and never be found out. |
| law enforcement | major | Police inspector Rowan investigated the disappearance of Prof. Jarvis' wife. |
| spouse murder | major | The story centered on the seemingly far-fetched allegation that Prof. Jarvis had slain his nagging wife. It is hinted in the end that he had, indeed, done so after all. |
| the desire for vengeance | major | The police assumed, and accurately so, that Perry's allegations were motivated by a desire to get back at his teacher. |
| anti-intellectualism in society | minor | In his closing comments, Alfred Hitchcock interpreted the story as an anodyne to an "anti-egg-headery" current in society. |
| cheating | minor | Perry was caught in the act of pulling a folded sheet of crib notes out from his shoe in the middle of a biology test. |
| coping with a nag | minor | The viewer was conveyed that Jarvis had been nagged by his wife to the point that he could take no more, and slew her. |
| phrenology | minor | In his opening sketch, Alfred Hitchcock gave a tongue-in-cheek classroom lecture on this pseudoscience. |
| taking a test | minor | In his biology exam, Perry was caught red handed pulling a folded sheet of crib notes out from his shoe by Prof. Jarvis. |