September 17, 2014

"A fetching suburban house­witch in the person of Elizabeth Montgomery ar­rived on the television screen last night in a series entitled 'Bewitched.'"

For "last night," read: 50 years ago tonight.
Both Miss Montgomery and [Dick] York are extremely at­tractive and personable and there is a durable element of fun in watching someone out of this world solve life's mundane problems by making them go away with a snap of the fingers or a twitch of the mouth....

Agnes Moorehead is play­ing Miss Montgomery's moth­er and, with more substan­tial scenes in the installments to come, should be a reward­ing figure as a senior witch given to disdain for human ways. “Bewitched” promises to be a bright niche of popu­lar TV.
And so it was, for 8 years. Note that the above-quoted NYT review accurately says "twitch of the mouth." We were tricked, perhaps by witchcraft, into thinking we were looking at a twitch of the nose.



MORE: Thoughts on why Darren didn't accept Samantha's use of witchcraft here.

39 comments:

Seeing Red said...

She was a beautiful woman.

Joe said...

Bewitched is an awesome show. Wish Netflix would pick it up.

Quaestor said...

Is it interesting that 50 years ago Darren Stevens was both a good natured, befuddled, yet completely loyal husband -- and a "MAD" man, while today the "MAD Men" are some of the most despicable villains on television? Yes? No?

jr565 said...

She reminds me a lot of the actress that plays the mom on Modern family physically. But very hot. When I was a young'un and they ran the reruns of older tv shows it was Wonder Woman, Bewitched and I Dream of Genie that got my prepubescent inner horndog. I think I was more partial to Genie physically, but I also like how she called him "Master". I was thinking of all the sexual possibilities even before I knew what sex was.

rehajm said...

Daughter Tabitha was 'tricked' as well, as she used her finger to twitch her nose.

Anonymous said...

What Seeing Red said. She was indeed most beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Unbelievable that this show was allowed on the air. Witchcraft is satanic. Doesn't matter how much the liberal media tried to make it funny and cute, it is still based on pure evil. No person of good moral character would watch that trash.

Quaestor said...

jr565 wrote: [Elizabeth Montgomery was] very hot.

Another star/character from the era who ranks tops in the smokin' category in the authoritative Quaestor Compendium of Television Sex Symbols is Carolyn Jones as Morticia Frump Addams.

Quaestor said...

Unbelievable that this show was allowed on the air....

Madisonfella may soon know what the cornfield looks like.

George M. Spencer said...

Died too young. Colon cancer.

The Nicole Kidman movie "Bewitched" is great, too.

Anonymous said...

I didn't know she died of cancer in 1995. She had flu symptoms and waited until filming wrapped to get checked at which point there was nothing they could do (even with access to the best care). She died 8 weeks later at age 62.

Virgil Hilts said...

I just read wiki about Dick York and his severe back problems. It was first show I watched growing up where they suddenly had completely different looking actor playing a character and everyone pretending it was the same person. I would have preferred it if they had killed Darren off in a Corvair rollover rather than trying to get us to believe that York and Sargent were really the same dude.

Anonymous said...

She was the Emma Watson of another generation. She looked a lot like my mom during her Bewitched flip hair, shift-to-turtleneck phase, only she had dark hair. (Yep, my moms a looker.)

rcocean said...

As a kid, I was always astounded at how much drinking they did. Every time, Larry shows up, Sam fixes a drink.

richlb said...

Dick York... Dick Sargent... Sargent York...?

jr565 said...

SOJO's mom
Has got it going on
She's all I want
And I've waited so long
SOJO can't you see
You're just not the girl for me
I know it might be wrong, but
I'm in love with Sojo's mom

ron winkleheimer said...

Bewitched would seem to be the seminal "really hot, smart woman married to a guy she wouldn't let buy her a drink in a bar in real life" television series.

Cause Elizabeth Montgomery was HAWT!

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HotWitch

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UglyGuyHotWife

n.n said...

We are still watching it on "Antenna TV"... Along with advertisements for every class action lawsuit under the Sun.

SteveBrooklineMA said...

"Bewitched is an awesome show. Wish Netflix would pick it up."

I'm surprised Netflix hasn't picked up more old shows. I would think they would be relatively cheap. Would be nice to see some of my old favorites.

The Godfather said...

We had this thing about fantasy TV shows in the second half of the '60's: Jeannie, Bewitched, Addams Family, Batman, etc. A similar thing went on with movies in the '30's. Not so much in the '50's and '80's. I guess if you want fantasy, you should vote for Democrats.

But what good TV shows or movies have we gotten out of the long dark night of Obama? Has it been worth it?

traditionalguy said...

A cute fantasy. After all witchcraft is not real...right.

WestVirginiaRebel said...

So which Darren was better?

Elizabeth Montgomery was also in the Twilight Zone episode "Two" with Charles Bronson, of all people.

madisonfella must really hate Sabrina, then.

WestVirginiaRebel said...

The Godfather: We seem to be seeing a lot of post-apocalyptic TV under Obama-the Walking Dead, Falling Skies, etc.

The slew of fantasy shows seems to have begun right after the Kennedy assassination and ended by the early Seventies. Although there were a lot of horror and sci fi tv movies during that period (the original Kolchack, the Night Stalker movies, for ex.)

Drago said...

WestVirginiaRebel: "Elizabeth Montgomery was also in the Twilight Zone episode "Two" with Charles Bronson, of all people.

madisonfella must really hate Sabrina, then."

madisonfella doesn't understand the attraction of popular early sitcom.

Cookie doesn't understand the import/impact of symbols on individuals who have something invested in what those symbols represent.

But they want to dicated every phase of our existence, because they believe humans are "perfectable" and they are the ones to perfect us!

A modern "Bewitched" would never make it out of the "pitch" stage in a Cookie or madisonfella Ministry of Culture.

And the producers/director/writers/actors would need to be sent to reeducation camp for their crime of creating anti-revolutionary, decadent and beorgeosie reactionary tripe!!

Wince said...

Sorry. Comely but not hot.

Nick at Night/TV Land onomatopoeically named the Bewitched twitch the "Tinka-tinka-tee".

MisterBuddwing said...

We were tricked, perhaps by witchcraft, into thinking we were looking at a twitch of the nose.

More like, we were tricked by the animated opening credits.

John Lawton said...

Checking Carolyn Jones' IMDB page, I see a 1957 show called "Climax!" (exclamation mark included). I trust this was meant as an imperative.

chillblaine said...

On Election Day 2008, I saw a car that had both an Obama sticker and a Wiccan symbol. That's pretty much when I knew that Obama would win. He had the dark forces all sewn up.

Michael said...

Dick York was extremely attractive? Next to the cast of Sgt. Bilko, maybe...

Anonymous said...

I am a baby boomer who lived in a house where the TV in the living room was on every evening during all the years Bewitched was on. I must have watched it.

I just did some internet reading about the multiple marriages and overlapping affairs of Elizabeth Montgomery and her husbands. Wow! This comes up with many show business people.

I would now be appalled at taking life advice from any of them. I am now disgusted that the show business people had such a prominent role in my childhood.

They made a lot of money by selling us viewers tobacco, sugary cereal, and soft drinks. I feel cheated. My watching paid for those lives?

I think I am owed reparations.

Darrell said...

The Nicole Kidman movie "Bewitched" is great, too.

That's debatable.
It could have been good if Nicole didn't decide on a fake high-voice and differentiating herself from Montgomery's interpretation, and if they focused the movie on her character.

J said...

And after Bewitched became known as O.J.s squeeze.Broke many barriers.Course that didn't work out for Ron and Nicole.

SeanF said...

jr565: She reminds me a lot of the actress that plays the mom on Modern family physically. But very hot.

I'm confused by the word "But" in that second sentence.

Quaestor: Another star/character from the era who ranks tops in the smokin' category in the authoritative Quaestor Compendium of Television Sex Symbols is Carolyn Jones as Morticia Frump Addams.

Oh, my, yes. I was so disappointed when they cast Anjelica Huston in the movies. Not even close, guys.

Jeff Teal: And after Bewitched became known as O.J.s squeeze.

I had to look that up. I thought you were serious.

gerry said...

I was an avid fan of the Bewitched series, although my favorite character was Agnes Moorehead.

I also enjoyed a miniseries Montgomery starred in, The Awakening Land.

gerry said...

...and Quaestor, I am really enjoying Elizabeth and Mary, Cousins, Rivals, Queens.

MayBee said...

Even as a child, I didn't understand why Darren was so against using the magic.

Ann Althouse said...

"Even as a child, I didn't understand why Darren was so against using the magic."

It's an allegory of relations between the sexes. Darren wants to provide for his wife and protect her. He can't do that if she has powers, or so he thinks. Instead of working together to find a new way to live in which the woman can use her full powers and the man can still feel empowered, he forbade her to use them and she tried to live like that, but she nevertheless acted out on her frustration from time to time, though only to help make their traditional life together work out.

Yancey Ward said...

I had a huge crush on Montgomery growing up in the 70s. Bewitched was heavily syndicated, and was a staple show on the afternoons between 4 and 6 p.m. after school let out. I was just looking at Google images of her, and she was a true beauty.

Anonymous said...

@jr565

:)

I talked to my mom and read that to her, you know. She laughed in a slightly embarrassed, yet poised Samantha Stephens way.