The Glorious Twelfth: Background Reading NORMAN: It--it might be uh, nicer--and warmer--in the office. [He goes into his office, smiling, looking for her to follow. Marion smiles to herself, then closes her door and follows him.] MARION: [inside] Well, it stopped raining. NORMAN: [tray still in hand] Eating in an office is just--just too officious. I-I have the parlor back here. MARION: All right. [She follows him to a comfortable room--cozy except for a couple of huge stuffed birds perched ominously above the sitting area.] NORMAN: Sit down. [He sets the tray before her. They both sit.] MARION: Thank you. You're very kind. NORMAN: It's all for you. I'm not hungry. Go ahead. [delightedly watching her eat] You--you eat like a bird. MARION: [nodding to the stuffed birds] You'd know, of course. NORMAN: No, not really. Anyway, I hear the expression 'eats like a bird'--is really a fals- fals- falsity. Because birds really eat a tremendous lot. But I don't really know anything about birds. My hobby is stuffing things--you know--taxidermy. And I guess I'd just rather stuff birds because I hate the look of beasts when they're stuffed--you know, foxes and chimps. Some people even stuff dogs and cats--but, oh, I can't do that. I think only birds look well stuffed because--well, because they're kind of passive to begin with. MARION: It's a strange hobby. Curious. NORMAN: Uncommon, too. MARION: Oh, I imagine so. NORMAN: And it's not as expensive as you'd think. It's cheap really. You know--needles and thread, sawdust. The chemicals are the only thing that cost anything. MARION: A man should have a hobby. NORMAN: [sitting back] Well, it's--it's more than a hobby. A hobby's supposed to pass the time--not fill it. From Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' (1960); screenplay by Joseph Stefano