When Alfred Hitchcock swept onto the Universal lot, he was the talk of the town. The lot was mostly being used for television productions at the time and a major motion picture from a big name director was big news. Since Universal’s Lew Wasserman was eager to make Hitchcock feel at home on the lot, the production was a dream.
Strangely enough, even a young Jerry Mathers lent the production a hand or two. In his spare time, he would bike over to the Psycho set and assist in the production of the film’s most gruesome prop- Mrs. Bates herself.
While the production was a breeze, the path forward would be rockier. Paramount, not Universal, would be responsible for promoting the film and they were not too thrilled about the gruesome, violent film.