Number 6 Witch of All-Time: Bewitched Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery)
Elizabeth Montgomery portrayal
of Samantha brought witchcraft properly into the nineteen-sixties with a
twinkle of her nose, forever changing primetime television and becoming the
most mainstream witch in history. The contemporary sitcom, Bewitched, was her
vehicle, and the blonde bombshell with girl next door innocence came complete
with a bumbling husband who despised her religion, but reaped the rewards
anyways, a beautiful daughter, a meddling mother and her husband’s buffoon of a
boss. That sits Elizabeth’s character, Samantha, and her little nose trick,
which I still haven’t figured out, squarely in the top ten female witches of all-time,
at number six.
While the show shared a lot in
common with another sitcom, I Dream of Jeannie, what set this show apart was
Samantha’s devotion. She was a devoted wife, mother and daughter and even
though her husband forbade her from using her formidable witchcraft skills, she
still found a way to help him out of personal crisis after personal crisis,
with a twitch of her magickal nose.
While Barbara Eden’s Jeannie character
was drop dead sexy, (sans the belly button), Samantha did all her magick with a
sleek, but chic fashion. Even without the magick, she would have been the
perfect wife. She cooked, cleaned, took care of the family and her man, but
when you added her magick, she was more than a handful.
Born from a long line of witches,
who could appear and disappear at will, and even travel time, Sam’s mother did
everything in her power to keep the family tradition alive, despite husband Darrin’s
(originally Dick York, later Dick Sargent) protests. Often the catalyst to the
shows appeal, the friction between Sam, her husband and her mother was
hilarious. Even though fictitious, the show’s appeal lay squarely on Elizabeth
Montgomery’s realistic portrayal of Samantha. It was kind of like Lucille Ball
meets Glinda the Good Witch of the East, set in modern times, of course, at least
at the time of its production. The show was simply beloved by millions, men,
women and children alike.
Now, I must give the creators
and writers credit as well. The brain trust of this series knew that in order to
reach mainstream America with a witch story, they had to make her appealing and
tasteful. If I possessed the kind of powerful magick that could make anything appear
from out of nowhere, I would certainly be courting the kind of wealth of the
likes of Bill Gates and the children of Sam Walton (Walmart). I would be a
philanthropist, a world traveler, a playboy along the lines of Bruce Wayne. But
Samantha never aspired to those heights. She kept it simple, and kept her
powers in check, only using them when she felt necessary. Perhaps that was the
most impressive thing about Samantha. She put her family and their hopes for
the 1960’s style American Dream first. Kudos, Samantha Stephens!
