Bewitched Kitchen Appliances Early Episodes

[danemodsandy]

Eugene:

"Didn't Tim the Tool Man accidentally blow up the bewitched house on a Tool Time episode?"

Yes, he did, although it was a special effect and did not actually demolish the house.

The Bewitched house, like almost all backlot sitcom houses, serves as storage for filming equipment for items like large lights. Only a small amount of the interior is usable, usually just enough to show a small portion inside the front door. These areas are built only to show a credible amount of interior when someone answers a front door; the real interior is on a soundstage.

Not all "famous sitcom houses" on studio backlots are the original seen in the sitcom; these houses get moved from one part of the lot to another, and sometimes rebuilt, copied exactly. The Leave it to Beaver House seen on Universal tours today is a copy, not the original. Interestingly, it houses restrooms for actors working on that part of the backlot.

Not to worry, 1164 Morning Glory Circle still stands on the Warner Bros. Ranch; HuffPo ran a piece on it earlier this year:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/26/bewitched-house_n_3504264.html[this post was last edited: 11/6/2013-19:24]

 

[vacbear58]

Endora In Black

"I detest sounding like one of those mothers who know it all but unfortunately, I do"

Season 1, Episode 4 "Mother meets Whatshisname" - my favorite of all the episodes

Al

 

[vacbear58]

More Endora

Personally I never found any of the witches threatening, even when watching it when it first aired here in 1966 - I would have been 8 years old then.

As regards Endora's relationship with Samantha, it always appeared to me that she was loving and affectionate - and they did lots of mother/daughter activities - such as when Samantha first goes to view 1164 - and they discuss decorating & furnishing - in their own manner of course.

In episode #4 referenced above she drops in on Samantha for coffee and they discuss cooking while Samantha prepares dinner.

In a later episode they pop out for lunch, albeit "a marvelous little restaurant on the left bank of the Seinne" and take in a Paris fashion show after.

As regards Darrin, to me its just another take on the husband/mother-in-law scenario, its just that MIL is sophisticated, glamorous and not a little mischievous.

For me, it was Darrin who was always the unsympathetic character - in many ways suppressing Samantha and trying to make her something she is not. Maybe even at that young age I recognized something in myself which that chimed with - fortunately for me it was not something I ever had to deal with much.

But I do still think that the actors performances did a great deal to bring added dimensions to the written words - for me there is only, and can only ever be one Samantha and one Endora - Elizabeth Montgomery & Agnes Moorhead.

Al

 

[launderess]

Darrin & Samantha

Have been analyzed and the result often is that the show was about the emerging "new" woman of the 1960's and 1970's (women's liberation movement), versus more traditional roles.

Remove "witchcraft" and substitute employment outside the home for instance and you would have heard husbands all over America saying same as Derwood; "no".

Darrin essentially forces/wants a powerful woman to submit herself to his rule. That Sam wants to be "mortal" or "normal" makes things easier but the result is the same.

In contrast you have other supernatural women of the period "Jeannie" and "Phoebe Figalilly" who are smitten with their men and have no problems in submitting to their will. In contrast to Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie is a 360 turn around. Jeannie has a "master" who though later becomes her husband.

You will never convince me that a creature as beautiful and powerful as Samantha would be happy for decades as a true mortal housewife. Sam claimed she could live as such but when the witches council strips her of her powers it more than rattles her cage. She along with Tabitha, Uncle Arthur and Serena eventually have their powers restored (and Sam cannot wait to test hers out), but the fact it bothered her to be made "earth bound" shows she totally wasn't ready to be wholly mortal.

 

[danemodsandy]

Endora Visits the Cleavers!

Well, sort of.

This is a shot of Agnes Moorhead stepping out of her spiffy new 1955 Ford Country Sedan station wagon in front of what was then known at Universal as the "Paramount House." It was built earlier that year by Paramount Pictures for a flick titled Desperate Hours, and it was built at Universal because Paramount didn't have room for it on their lot at the time. They rented the space on Universal's "Colonial Street," and built the house; Universal's condition was that the house pass to their ownership once Paramount finished with it.

In this picture, it's seen in All That Heaven Allows, with Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson, Agnes Moorhead, Conrad Nagel, the delightfully nasty Jacqueline deWit and Baby herself, Virginia Grey. A portico was added to the house for this movie.

A few years later, in 1959, Universal remodeled the facade, removing the portico, and used it as the Cleaver House in Leave it to Beaver when the show moved from CBS to ABC, replacing the former Cleaver abode on Republic Pictures' backlot. The present-day Cleaver House at Universal is a copy of that iteration; today's "Colcnial Street" itself is also a copy, moved from its 1950s location. Desperate Housewives was a recent use of the current "Colonial Street."

So, that's what Endora's doing at the Cleavers'!

 

[launderess]

All That Heaven Allows

Jane Wyman as the original cougar! *LOL*

Imagine giving up that cool tall drink of water young Rock Hudson because of one's children or gossipy friends.

Agnes Moorehead was delicious as the nasty and gossipy queen of local Society. Her "you'll get back into ... I'll see to that", comment speaks volumes about the sort of closed and closed minded little town/village society that existed at that time.

So Ms. Wyman gives up her hunk and what did it get her? Son and daughter leave home and tell her to sell the house (IIRC) and basically abandon her for their own lives.

 

[launderess]

Yes, Endora and Sam Did Get On Well

One of my favourite was when Sam and later Darrin get involved in politics to assist a local election against a crooked incumbent.

At the end of the episode when Endora reveals "everyone has been perfectly miserable because water main hasn't busted, so I burst one!", and while Darrin is babbling to himself going upstairs Sam and Endora look at him as if to say (these foolish mortals....).

Endora: Didn't he want the water main to burst?

Sam: Yes, mother

Endora: Then why does he look so unhappy?

Sam: You wouldn't understand mother.

Looking back Endora was probably being very protective of her daughter out of some very well founded reasons. I mean having lived over a thousand years with mortals Endora knew a thing or two about them (Salem was not the first nor last series of witch trials in history), and their nature.

Endora and the family also knew Sam's time with Darrin would be brief by their standards. Given the average lifespan of white males then Darrin could expect to live only another forty or so years. Sam OTHO would be around for ages longer.

 

[danemodsandy]

Here's....

....A more recognizable shot of the house; you can see the dormers and the large window that are so familiar from Leave It to Beaver.

And yes, that's Agnes Moorhead again.

P.S., Launderess - Wyman tries to give up hunkalicious Rock for the sake of the kiddies (who are both grown and entirely capable of minding their own damned business if only they would), but her inner cougar resurfaces - in the most ladylike manner of the 1950s, of course - in time for the final clinch.

 

[whirlcool]

That was also the Marcus Welby house too. Here's a glitch for you. When you watch that show you see the shingle for Dr. Welby and Dr. Kiley. The house is numbered 127. When you watch the opening or credits to the show the 127 numbering is mysteriously gone!

I think I also saw the Leave it to Beaver house on a episode of Dennis The Menace recently too. All these houses are on the same street at the old Revue Studios which evolved into the Universal Studios.

 

[danemodsandy]

Allen:

Revue was a television division of Universal, founded by MCA, who acquired Universal (buying the lot first, in '58, and then Universal itself in '62) and re-named Revue Universal Television. Universal is the oldest studio in the American motion picture business, having been founded in 1912. Paramount is the closest contender; parts of the Paramount lot date to 1917.

The use of the Cleaver House on Marcus Welby, M.D. was a bad mistake, I always felt. Leave It to Beaver was in heavy syndication at the time, and having the instantly recognizable Cleaver House in Marcus Welby didn't help that show's credibility. I always found exterior shots of the house to be jarring.

 

[iheartmaytag]

Cleaver / Welby house

I never paid attention.
I loved Marcus Welby, would never miss it. The house, must have missed that one.
I'll be derned.

 

[arbilab]

The 55 ford in frame 24

May have been either altered for film or a Ranch Wagon (BOL). We had a 55 Country Sedan. The triangle fill panels over the round taillights were shiny metal, not painted the body color.

The tailgate badge between her skirt and arm says "Fordomatic", a Borg-Warner (Norge!) transmission with 3 forward gears but it started in second unless either placed in L or floored. BW designation was C-3. Ford was not their only customer.

Note that the BW Ford trannys were always superior to the BOL Chevrolet Powerglide which had 2 forward gears, period. A fascinating aberration is Chevrolet Turboglide, which didn't "shift gears" as such but consisted of 3 turbines which progressively took over from each other. While 'anything' is better than Powerglide, Turboglide couldn't have been all that great because it was quickly abandoned. It has parallels to Buick Dynaflow and existed in similar years, 1957-1961.

 

[launderess]

ATHA

Just watched the trailer, and will say it again; what woman in their right mind would turn down Rock Hudson for their adult children? *LOL*

If it were me I'd tell them they were more then welcome to visit, but better ring first as I might be busy. *LOL*

 

[tomturbomatic]

Wasn't A.M. also the nurse/friend of Jane Wyman in Magnificent Obsession?

 

[tomturbomatic]

Al, Thank you for the picture of Endora in black. I think one of the things that is so startling about her appearance was all of the exposed skin. It seems that she usually was wearing more fabric in that region, but maybe it was the color and the hair style. It just shows what Endora could do with a little balck dress. Anyway, Thank you very much.

 

[ovrphil]

Post# 713343 , Reply# 8 11/5/2013 at 09:16 by whirlcool

Bewitched was my sister's habit - but coming to aw.org, I'm looking at it for the first time for the appliances. I recognized the house on other shows, but never watched Marcus Welby, so that's news. As art-trained and oriented as I am, I never noticed the houses used on various shows. As someone said above, who would imagine so much dissection, years later? BTW, that's a cool LK demo(?) with the window.

Here's a link that hints that this house may have been built by Adam R. Jones (possibly):

http://www.1164.com/set/plans/index.html or the shared link

http://www.1164.com/plans/index.html

 

[moparguy]

Hi Tom, yes A.M. was the nurse/friend in Magnificent Obsession.

She was also great as the red-headed judge in 'Bachelor in Paradise'.