Guy’s had some members, like the “Rope” man,[1]
And they kept comin’ back.
One worthy of adoring,[2]
With logs man[3] hit the sack.

This bloke[4] was in six.
Recurrent members; Joe’s[5] one of those.
This one’s number[6] to 3 rose.
He played a lawyer[7]; lover of that
Woman who’s in 3 and helped bring his memory back.

Her[8] husband was put in the jail locked;
She saw the spectral “queen.”
Not worthy of adoring:
The Judge[9] who badgered Keane

“Lifeboat,” “Doubt” got him.[10]
Recurrent members: Bob’s[11] one of those.
This one’s number[12] to 3 rose.

The guy also pulled off of the shelf
Leitmotif legerdemain:
Wrong and charming man, mothers, staircases,
Ice blondes, heights, and trains.
The wry McGuffin.

Recurrent members—plenty of those;
Motif numbers o’er years rose.

Those. . .
Recurrent members,
Recurrent events. . . .


[1]James Stewart, Rope, Man Who Knew Too Much, Rear Window, Vertigo
[2]Grace Kelly, Rear Window, Dial “M” for Murder, To Catch a Thief
[3]Cary Grant, Suspicion, Notorious, To Catch a Thief, North by Northwest
[4]Leo G. Carroll, Rebecca, Suspicion, Spellbound, The Paradine Case, Strangers on a Train, North by Northwest—in more Hitchcock films that any other actor
[5]Joseph Cotten, Under Capricorn, Shadow of a Doubt
[6]Ingrid Bergman, Spellbound, Notorious, Under Capricorn
[7]Gregory Peck, Spellbound, The Paradine case (Keane, the lawyer)
[8]Vera Miles, The Wrong Man, Psycho
[9]Charles Laughton, Jamaica Inn, The Paradine Case
[10]Hume Cronyn
[11]Bob Cummings, Saboteur, Dial “M”
[12]Percy Marmont, Rich and Strange, Secret Agent, Young and Innocent