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Yes, Lucille and Vivian were too close in age for Ethel to realistically look decades older than Lucy. They had to "frump her up." lol
Remember the country episode with Barbara Eden? When the women got dolled up, I thought Ethel looked pretty good. She fixed herself up but didn't go overboard. Lucy tried too hard too pull off a youthful look.
From what I read, the hairstyle that Ethel wore to the dance, as Fred called it "slicked back like a Pekinese", was the way Vivian Vance was wearing her hair in real life. I thought it was becoming and for a follicle challenged Fred, another silly jibe at someone who HAD hair! lol
As for Ethel's leopard skin dress, strange that I'd stick up for that. I have NO animal print clothes and I'd never wear any. I just thought that the style of gown flattered Vance's figure. It was a great sight gag, both women looked way over the top. No way could they keep up that hair and make-up every day.
Saw this episode in syndication without a laugh track. And the DVD I have has no laugh track. I think no laugh track does the episode justice. It was a somewhat serious episode, there was humor, but a laugh track would have been annoying and intrusive. Just how I see it.
"Hippy Hippy Hooray"? I saw that broadcast without a laugh track. It didn't deserve one! ha! It was the only Serena episode that I found cringeworthy.
At the time it was aired I don't think they realized that the "hippie" aspect would make the episode dated. But that's not my real problem. First, Serena seems to have a major disdain for all things "mortal", why would she involve herself in the hippie counter culture?
Maybe because it gave her a chance to wear hippie "threads" and carry a psychedelic guitar, or as Larry Tate called it , a "psychotic" guitar.
But Serena never sported blonde hair before or after this episode. It was just an excuse for Larry Tate to see her picture in the paper and get his knickers in a twist over "Samantha" becoming a hippy. He said it would be bad for McMann and Tate's "image". And why is that? In the vanity episode, Darrin laments that the firm's advertising targets the "under thirty, youth" crowd. Even today, many ads and commercials target the youth market.
Larry was being a worrisome old fuddy duddy. As if their clients would even RECOGNIZE the wife of one of the firm's executives in the newspaper. No names of the so-called hippies were given.
Why did the Stephens have to explain about Serena? A few months earlier in "That was No Chick, That was My Wife", Samantha is in Chicago with Darrin on a business trip. Louise sees her by accident when Sam pops back home to take care of a problem with Aunt Clara. Sam later enlists Serena's help to explain to Louise that she saw her cousin.
Still, I watch the episode, but I fast forward the IFFIN song. Blech!
Well I think Ethel got a HUGE laugh because the audience was probably prompted with a big sign ( you know, like those APPLAUSE signs). "LAUGH REAL LOUD here!" lol
No seriously, just making that up, but I do think the audience laughed because of Ethel's outrageous pose in the doorway. It was SO unlike Ethel!
But as Ricky said, "This is phony. This is not you." Both women were made up a "tad" too much. But I think that skintight gown showed off Vance's figure. She wasn't fat like Fred was always complaining. And for some reason, I liked that "look" on her, the big earrings, the hair slicked back.
But I will agree that Vance looked very attractive in the last season country episodes. She didn't have to wear dowdy housedresses anymore. In the episode with the baby chicks running amuck, I thought she looked especially youthful in those shorts!
Remember how Lucy had to crank up the heat to keep the chicks warm after little Ricky allowed them to escape from the den? Lucy went for a more comical look with her pants rolled up in the heat. Vivian Vance sported a pair of shorts that showed off a fine pair of legs. I think it was one of the few times Miss Ball allowed Vivian Vance to look better.
Well I didn't think Ethel looked TOO bad in it. It was an interesting look for her, not great, but not as bad as Fred said.
"On you it looks like 'Life with Luigi'. Fred had some nerve commenting on ANYONE else's hair! lol
In all fairness to Vivian Vance, I think the wig was chosen and styled to flatter the star of the show, Lucille Ball. And Miss Ball did look good as either a redhead or a brunette. Vivian Vance looked better as a blonde, imho.
The one time I thought Ethel looked as good as or even better than Lucy was in the charm school episode. She was simply a knockout in her make-over with the leopard print gown.
I do like to watch all the holiday episodes at the appropriate holiday, but never thought of this two parter as a Fourth of July episode. But actually, if you are going to celebrate the Fourth, it might as well be with Ben Franklin!
I watched it yesterday and I think I'll give it another view today. Many interesting things about this offering. The first part was aired without a laugh track. Wonder why they did that? Still, it's interesting. The theme of the show is a bit more serious without the supply of fake giggles and guffaws.
The guest stars supply a lot of interesting elements. The prosecutor, Chuck Hawkins,played by Mike Road, had me wondering, as I was sure I knew the actor from SOMEWHERE! I could not place his face but luckily with the internet, I could look up his acting bio. A few years ago when I looked it up, he supplied the voice of Race Bannon from the Jonny Quest cartoons. It was a favorite show of mine.
Ben Franklin has always been one of my favorite historical figures. When I was nine I took out my first Franklin biography from the school library. He fascinated me.
Well, maybe Lucy just wanted to make Ricky "pay" for being such a jerk! lol Yeah ,perhaps deep down she knew Ethel was right, but Ricky just made her so mad, she wanted a little "wifely" revenge.
Definitely a lame plot device. If they knew just how dangerous Lecter was, and by the level of security that they employed, they seemed to know, they would have sent three or four officers in.
Two would go inside his cage to feed him, two would stand outside the cage with rifles aimed at him to discourage any shenanigans on Lecter's part.
Actually you wouldn't want someone like me holding a rifle on Dr. Lecter. One false move or twitch from him and I'd have no problem giving him a lead haircut! Evil garbage like that doesn't need to be kept alive at the taxpayer's expense no matter how suave and "charming" it tries to be.
Well, Ricky did know it was Lucy, but Lucy was sure she fooled him with her disguise! I also think Lucy was smart and she would have caught on that Ricky was just messing with her. I mean, calling her "the old battle ax", making a date with a stranger, etc.
We just had to accept that Lucy was fooled. The "costume disguise" shtick was used on ILL right from the start.
Remember the first episode when the girls wanted to go to a nightclub for the Mertz's anniversary and the guys wanted to go to the fights.? Ricky and Fred got dates which turned out to be Lucy and Ethel. They dressed in wild costumes like characters straight out of Lil Abner, but really, the guys didn't recognize their own wives! It was only when Lucy went to the desk to get cigarettes that Ricky realized who she was.
Lucy also tried to fool the game show host Freddie Fillmore with a very lame costume. Remember when she sent a letter to his "Be a Good Neighbor", the game show? She wanted to send "the kindly couple" (the Mertzes) to Honolulu with their dear old mother (Lucy). Lucy's disguise as the old woman was a head scarf with a bit of grey hair sticking out and wire rimmed glasses. Hard to believe she thought she could fool him with that "disguise".
Those disguises wouldn't fool anyone in real life but it was just part of the sitcom shtick.
Just bought seasons five and six a few weeks ago and watched that episode. One of the best from season five in my opinion. Can't believe I didn't notice the house. I think I was more focused on "Darrin" climbing the trellis!
I kept saying to myself, "That has to be a stunt double. No way was Dick York able to do those stunts."
Yes I remember that you mentioned a fondness for that weathervane. I actually like the painting of the ship that hung in Darrin's study. I bought one very similar to it for my mom a long time ago.
That client/husband "under the influence" of the love potion was pretty funny. But Endora acting lovesick just wasn't amusing to me. She barely knew the man and there she was hanging all over him. Didn't Callahan sense that something was amiss? lol
To me Agnes Moorehead was a lot funnier as an acerbic, , angry-with-mortal-behavior witch. I enjoyed her conversation with Callahan in the restaurant. But when she was under the influence of the love potion and acted like a simpering schoolgirl, that was just awful to me.
And again, I thought it was so wrong for her to try and break up her daughter's marriage and family. At the very end of the episode Sam and Darrin tell her to basically "get lost" for a while. I think Endora knew she was wrong because she doesn't even argue with them, just pops out!
Hey cool, thanks for the info! I have hit the pause button many times trying to figure out if that was a gas station. Interesting that it was the gas station used in the soap box derby episode.
I remember Endora's house. But I can't recall if it was used in any other episodes.
When I visited L.A. I did a couple of bus tours but I never got to see those sets, wish I had.
Those "outside" scenes when they are actually on a set, I notice that the actors throw a shadow on the background!
So that was a church across the street? That's what it looked like to me. Glad I wasn't wrong. I've seen big houses that were built of stone, but that "house" didn't seemed to fit in with the architecture of the neighborhood. They were middle class homes, not upper class fancy homes made of stone.
One thing I found interesting, the Kravitz living room alternates between the Donna Reed set and another set.
Since you've been on that set (on that street?) what is that building at the end of the block? I mean when Darrin pulls out of the driveway and heads down the street. It looks like a gas station. Also, something I never noticed until I read about it. In the background the California mountains are visible, not something you would see in the suburbs where Sam and Darrin lived (either New York or Connecticut).
Also in some scenes where Darrin pulls up in front of his office , you can see those mountains in the background. There are no mountains in the background in Manhattan! I know, I've been there many times.
Interesting things to notice when you have the show on DVD.
Well, interesting, "Vial" is a rather vile episode to me, bad play on words I know!
There were a few redeeming moments of hilarity in the episode. Endora and Darrin's client, the perfume salesman Bo Callahan, had a funny encounter in the restaurant. He was so clueless as to how he was irritating Endora with his comments about "old dames" had the right to smell as good as "young chicks."
I think she was two seconds away from turning him into an artichoke. I wish the "vial" in question had turned her into someone who was willing to make a perfume commercial for Callahan. After the spell wore off, Endora would be horrified that she lent her image to a mortal, commercial enterprise!
What I did NOT like was Endora asking Sam's old beau Rollo to try and seduce her away from Darrin.
He tells Endora flat out that she was the "one conquest" that got away. So really, what was Endora hoping to accomplish? She would prefer her daughter be some playboy warlock's "conquest", break up her marriage and take Tabitha away from her father? I thought it was Endora at her most selfish and thoughtless.
As for the love potion that caused her to elope... Callahan was not under a spell. Why did he agree to an elopement? The magic aspect of the show was unreal, but the characters lived in the real world. They had no blood test or marriage license. They could not have gotten married then. But if they did get married, Endora would have disappeared when the spell wore off. There was no legal marriage.
And the love potion only lasted an hour. Did Endora think Sam would go of with Rollo after an hour's influence of a love potion?
The first season episode with Christopher George was a bit more believable. Sam was only married a short time and had no children yet. Endora was still trying to get Sam away from her mortal marriage.
Didn't know the actor posed in Playgirl! Maybe Sam saw that issue and that's why she turned him down. LOL
Yes, I think I'll go along with that. The dubbed over voice of Sport is weird at first. But there was a reason for it, i.e., the actress's heavy Southern actress made her hard to understand with all the background noise. It's still an odd episode that I have come to appreciate.
I get a bit disappointed that some of MY personal favorites are not shown when other episodes are. But every episode should have its chance to be shown. All the fans have their favorites, so I don't mind that they show ones I don't care for. I just check the guide on my TV and watch my favorites!
Yes the Brocken family was a rarity on Bewitched. Most of Sam's relatives and friends were portrayed as pursuing hedonistic lifestyles.
I still wonder though, if that was just the background Samantha came from and not an indication that ALL of witchdom lived that way.
Endora was jealous of anything or anyone who took Samantha away from her. Makes me wonder why she tried to get Sam to hook up with her old boyfriends.
In season one there was 'George the Warlock', one of the more inferior of the early episodes. Played by Christopher George, he was a handsome guy, but definitely a playboy and he had no real devotion to Samantha. He immediately fell for the neighbor, Danger O'Reilly.
"Once in a Vial" in season four had Endora convincing an old beau of Sam's, Rollo, to use a love potion on her. A bad episode all around, imho.
Why would Endora want to break up Sam's marriage to a man who was clearly devoted to her and replace him with a player who ran around with lots of women? Endora seemed to have some strange ideas as to what was "best" for her daughter!
Oh I wasn't serious. I don't like colorization of films or TV. But I'd make an exception in the Porpoise episode... No, I wish the show had done a "special episode" and filmed it in color so we could actually see those square GREEN spots.
I don't think audiences back then would've expected it and we had a black and white TV in our family anyway (as most people still did). But years later I could see it on DVD.
I saw a Bewitched episode on youtube colorized. Morbid curiosity made me watch. But Sam's eyes were blue and everyone knows Elizabeth Montgomery had green eyes. So what else did they get wrong?
As far as the lawns and where things were placed, I've noticed several mistakes watching the old episodes.
One of the worst errors is in the opening teaser of "And Something Makes Three" when Louise Tate shows up and tells Sam that she's expecting a baby.
Gladys is working in her front yard and it's obviously hot. Sam comes out on the patio and "zaps" up a swimming pool. Gladys hears a splash and runs over, probably hoping for an invitation to swim.
But there is NO WAY she could've seen Sam behind that fence from the vantage point of her front lawn. The front of the Stephens house was a lawn and to the left of an onlooker, a driveway and garage. There was no fence there. The fence was off to the right and the Stephens patio was out back, not directly across the street from the Kravitz house.
The other thing, now that you've mentioned where things are, is that building directly across from the Stephens house. I've noticed it in the B&W episodes. It doesn't look like a house, more like a big stone building, almost like a church. In the second season episode when Maurice visits, Gladys tells him she's a neighbor from across the street. That stone "building" is right behind her. So the Kravitz house was at a diagonal from Sam's house. How could Gladys look directly into their living room when she was at least one house over?
Just found another Elizabeth Montgomery movie on youtube called 'Between the Darkness and the Dawn.' It was made in 1985.
I had never heard of this movie, a very engrossing and somewhat sad story. Miss Montgomery portrays a young woman who lapses into a coma when she was seventeen because of a rare form of meningitis. She wakes up twenty years later to find her youth gone and the whole world changed.
Interesting how she struggles to cope and make a life for herself. I'd recommend this one.
They sure had a funny relationship! One of my favorites is the episode when Roseanne tries to quit smoking and acts like a basket case at work.
Leon tells her, "Be psychotic on your own time."
He was one of the few characters who could zing Roseanne with his barbs.
And Roseanne did host his wedding, so I guess there were no hard feelings between them.
From what little I have been able to find out, Charlotte Rae just seemed to be bored with the character after playing her for so long.
She was quoted as saying, "The character was just repeating herself."
Not all actors are like Kelsey Grammer who was content to play Frasier for over twenty years.
I'd settle for knowing just how Hagatha and Enchantra were related to Samantha. lol
In "Endora Moves in for a Spell", the dialogue establishes that Endora was an only child until her annoying little brother Arthur came along.
Could Hagatha and Enchantra be Endora's cousins? Just something I wonder about.
We know Sam's parents married. Maybe there were others who also married. But we didn't get to see them. The flamboyant behavior of Serena and Arthur was a lot more entertaining to watch than a happily married magical couple.
In the season two episode, "A Strange Little Visitor", the Brocken family seemed like a nice, normal nuclear family despite being magical. They even knocked on the front door and didn't just pop in to surprise Samantha.
We never do find out just how many witches there were in the world. I can't believe they'd all be wild and crazy and acting out like Serena.