BEWITCHED - "The Witches Are Out" (1964)

This week's Countdown To Halloween Saturday Night Special is from season one of the classic bewitching TV show "Bewitched."

This was episode seven titled "The Witches Are Out," and it aired on October 29, 1964.

In this episode, Samantha and her lovely witch friends are having a little tea time together! 

This is Reta (The Ghost And Mrs. Muir) Shaw as Bertha.

Another of Sam's friends is Mary played by Madge Blake. Madge was Mrs. Cooper/Aunt Harriet on 96 episodes of the "Batman" TV show.

Last but not least is the befuddled but lovable Aunt Clara as played by Marion (Mr. Peepers) Lorne.

The brilliant comedian Shelley Berman plays a man named Mr. Brinkman who has some new Halloween candy that he wants Darrin to create an ad campaign for.

What Mr. Brinkman wants is an image of a witch, a really ugly witch with a long nose and warts.

 

Never giving it a second thought, this is the witch image that Darrin creates for the new ads.

Unfortunately, this is the very subject that the ladies were discussing at their meeting, how witches are always portrayed in an unfavorable, unfair and totally discriminatory manner.

So when Darrin brings his work home and Samantha sees what he's doing, they have a conversation about how witches are constantly discriminated against. Darrin brings up the fact that why does it matter since nobody believes in witches anyway, which is a pretty good point, but he doesn't get very far with that logic!

After their conversation, Darrin tears up his artwork, and tells Samantha he's going to approach his client with a different perspective.

These are the sexy witches that Darrin has come up with. Looks like a good idea to me!

But Brinkman, being the jerk that he is, doesn't like the concept, even after Darrin tries to explain to him that he shouldn't stereotype all witches as ugly old hags.

 Brinkman says no, and so Darrin quits the project!

That night, Samantha and her friends decide to pay Mr. Brinkman a visit!

Most guys probably wouldn't mind if Samantha showed up in their bedroom in the middle of the night, but if Bertha, Mary, and Aunt Clara showed up, that's a different story!

The ladies give Mr. Brinkman a pretty good scare!

The pièce de résistance is when they turn Brinkman into an old hag with a long nose and warts!

 

Mr. Brinkman is now more than ready to talk about a different type of witch image!

You can thank the Wizard of the Airwaves for this one!