ARTS COUNCIL TO SHOW HITCHCOCK MATINEES

Actress Janet Leigh, shown in character as Marion Crane in the famous shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller "Psycho." (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The Saturday afternoon matinee, a movie tradition that has been replaced by, is returning this fall on Sunday as the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri.

Beginning this afternoon and continuing every Sunday through Nov. 28, the Arts Council will screen a classic motion picture by Alfred Hitchcock.

1999 is the 100th anniversary of the famous director's birth. "All over the world, people are celebrating the master of suspense this fall," said Dr. Marc Strauss, president of the Arts Council's Board of Directors.

Also on the bill will be a "Rocky & Bullwinkle" cartoon, a chapter from a Buck Rogers serial from the 1930s, and a Three Stooges or Laurel & Hardy short.

Movies will be shown on a big-screen TV. Coffee, tea and snacks will be available. The movies are free but donations will be accepted.

Strauss is a Hitchcock aficionado and will provide an introduction. The audience will be invited to discuss the film afterward.

Strauss is researching two books on the director. "Hitchcock has been a near obsession with me for many, many years," he says. He is especially fascinated by Hitchcock's ability to manipulate his audience.

"If you give yourself up to his work I don't think anybody does it better," says Strauss, who is head of the dance program at Southeast Missouri State University.

The scheduled films are:

-- Sunday, "The Birds" with Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren.

-- Sept. 19, "Psycho" with Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh.

-- Sept. 26, "North By Northwest" with Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint.

-- Oct. 3, "Vertigo" with James Stewart and Kim Novak.

-- Oct. 10, "Rear Window" with James Stewart and Grace Kelly.

-- Oct. 17, "Strangers on a Train" with Farley Granger and Robert Walker.

-- Oct. 24, "Notorious" with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman.

-- Oct. 31, "Lifeboat" with Tallulah Bankhead and John Hodiak.

-- Nov. 7, "Shadow of a Doubt" with Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright.

-- Nov. 14, "Foreign Correspondent" with Joel McRea and Herbert Marshall.

-- Nov. 21, "The Lady Vanishes" with Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood.

-- Nov. 28, "The 39 Steps" with Robert Donat.

The movies will be shown from 2-5 p.m. each Sunday at the Arts Council galleries, 119 Independence St.