"Det. Milton Arbogast"
That's the character billing here at moviechat(and also, I believe, at imdb) for the character played by Martin Balsam in Psycho.
And it isn't quite right. In a couple of ways. And why it is used is perhaps worthy of a little discussion.
The first aspect I've covered before, but a return visit never hurts:
Balsam is listed as "Milton Arbogast" in many cast of characters data bases for Psycho, in books and on the internet since that was invented. But in the film, we never learn Arbogast's first name. He always introduces himself by his last name only:
To Sam and Lila: "My name is Arbogast, I'm a private investigator."
To Norman: "I'm a private investigator. My name is Arbogast."
To Sam on the phone: "Loomis, this is Arbogast." (A telling moment, that one -- he calls ANOTHER MAN by that man's last name only.)
Now, out here in real life, I have to introduce myself for business reasons all the time. And I always give my first AND last name. It would seem strange just to offer my last name.
But Arbogast ALWAYS goes by his last name only. I think we've done some guessing that this is 1960, and perhaps Arbogast has a military background(he's forty, so WWII and Korea are possible), and never lost it. Or maybe he was a cop at one time.
When Hitchcock's Psycho is over, all we get are the words "The End." No cast of characters crawl...Hitchcock often did NOT have a cast of characters crawl. Perhaps he felt that it broke the spell of the story.
So...Arbogast never gives his first name in the movie. There is no cast of characters crawl at the end with "Milton Arbogast" listed.
Arbogast is listed as Milton Arbogast in all those places because in Robert Bloch's NOVEL, he is "Milton Arbogast." And in the novel, he INTRODUCES HIMSELF as Milton Arbogast (which blows the idea of this being a 1960 cultural thing out of the water.
In Joseph Stefano's screenplay for Psycho, at the hardware store where he is introduced, Stefano has the detective say "My name is Milt Arbogast." Milt. Hmmm...a diminuitive of Milton. Kind of a Bronx sort of thing.
But it seems that nobody -- Hitchcock, Stefano in writing the script -- was comfortable with Milton Arbogast.
Given that the script directed Balsam to say "My name is Milt Arbogast," it seems to me that a brief huddle must have been taken on the soundstage, possibly like this.
Balsam speaks his line:
Balsam: My name is Milt Arbogast. I'm a private detective.
Hitchcock: CUT. Marty, let's talk a moment.
Balsam: Yessir.
Hitchcock: I'm not sure I like the name "Milt."
Balsam: I think he's Milton Arbogast in the book.
Hitchcock: I'm not sure I like that either. (Pause) Just call yourself Arbogast. In this scene and in your later ones. Are you alright with that?
Balsam: Sure. I guess so.
A character name is actually pretty important in fiction. Especially if that character becomes famous. Like Norman Bates(who can split into "Norma" and "Normal.") Or Marion Crane(named Mary Crane in the book, but there was a REAL Mary Crane from Phoenix, so the change was made.) Or Milton Arbogast.
Who became just Arbogast for who knows what reason. My guess has always been that the very famous Milton in 1960 was...Milton Berle. And Milton was thus a "funny name" AND Milton Berle was pretty famous for dressing up like a woman as part of his TV act.
Just the year before in North by Northwest, the two main henchmen to James Mason's Philip Vandamm were....Leonard(Martin Landau) and Valerian(Adam Williams.) Valerian got no first name either, and with Leonard...well, we couldn't be sure if that was his first name OR his last name, could we? In any event -- as with Arbogast on film later -- the character guys didn't get first names(or two names, in Leonard's case.)
The Milton Arbogast/Milt Arbogast/Arbogast whittle-down in Psycho has always intrigued me. I think given our craving for more detail about Arbogast as a man, knowing his first name(in whatever fictional mode) was information we valued getting. Somewhere.
But this: that name all by itself - Arbogast -- was a pretty cool name. Wrote Raymond Durgnat -- "Arbogast is a slightly scary man...like his name." Sheriff Chambers makes hay of the name later in the film when he says "Fellah name of Ar-BO-gast" to Norman on the phone. He really stretches the name out and hits that "O."
I think the character names of Psycho ALL Became pretty famous in film buff circles. Norman Bates above all. But Marion Crane , too(THAT name is on the movie posters and opening credits, "And Janet Leigh as Marion Crane." Arbogast. Sam Loomis(THAT name was later given to Donald Pleasance in Halloween; the contrast between hunky strapping John Gavin and mousy bald Pleasance sharing that name told us what IS in a name.)