Bena Mae’s Kitchen: Why I’m afraid to take a shower

Fifty years ago this month, untold numbers of Americans stopped taking showers. The cause of this sudden downturn in personal hygiene was not a shortage of soap or water but, an overabundance of fear and dread after viewing what all film buffs know simply as “the shower scene” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VP5jEAP3K4) in Alfred Hitchcock’s just-then-released “Psycho.” It’s called the most “nail-biting” movie moment in the history of movies.
One angry father wrote to the brilliant director, saying his daughter had not bathed since viewing a bathtub drowning in the 1954 French film “Les Diaboliques,” and now she was refusing to shower after seeing Janet Leigh’s character slashed to death in “Psycho.” Hitchcock responded, “Send her to the dry cleaners.”
I first saw the movie at a drive-in theater and I’ve seen it numerous times since. The chills are still there. The moments of dread haven’t changed at all. My stomach still balls up in knots as the movie drives the fear and anticipation to an alarming level. Fifty years, and I still think about it whenever I step into the shower. The repeated stabbing through the shower curtain, the eerie music in the background, the bloody water swirling. (It wasn’t blood. Hitchcock actually used chocolate syrup in the scene.)
I am not a fan of gory movies. But I will watch one if the movie has a good story line and actors that I admire. “Fargo” is a favorite. When the movie first came out on the movie channels, my son called and said, “Mom, don’t watch Fargo.” I asked him why. “Too gruesome” he said. Turns out I watched it…more than once. “Silence of the Lambs” is another I was reluctant to watch. Now I watch it, but only in the daytime.
There isn’t enough space to list all of Hitchcock’s movies but I agree with his favorite, “Shadow of a Doubt,” starring Joseph Cotton and Teresa Wright. It’s the story of a young girl who is overjoyed when her favorite uncle comes to visit the family. Slowly, she begins to suspect that he is in fact the “Merry Widow” killer sought by the authorities, and that puts her in harms way when her uncle realizes she knows the truth about him. It’s a nail-biter from start to finish and I highly recommend it.
Slash and burn movies like Scream and the Elm Street series are not my cup of tea. Give me a Hitchcock movie anytime.  His films have withstood the test of time and are as suspenseful today as when they were first released.  
And one of the fun parts of a Hitchcock movie is watching for him to appear in a cameo at the beginning of his movies. Another little trick of Hitchcock magic.

Ham, cheese and asparagus are baked together with seasonings and corkscrew pasta in a cheesy sauce to make this savory baked casserole. Ideal to take to a potluck.

Ham Asparagus Gratin
from Campbell’s®

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell’s® Condensed Cream of Asparagus Soup
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups cooked cut asparagus
1 1/2 cups cubed cooked ham
2 1/4 cups corkscrew-shaped pasta (rotini), cooked and drained
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese or Swiss cheese (about 4 ounces)

Stir the soup, milk, onion powder, black pepper, asparagus, ham, pasta and 1/2 cup cheese in a 2-quart shallow baking dish.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes or until the ham mixture is hot and bubbling. Stir the ham mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Bake for 5 minutes more.