It’s so long ago that almost all the names are forgotten, although some may survive through cable TV re-runs. I’m thinking of Bewitched, which was an ABC sitcom that ran from 1964 to 1973. It starred the daughter of actor Robert Montgomery, who was better known than his daughter at the time, but she may have eclipsed him over time.
Elizabeth Montgomery played Samantha Stevens, who was a friendly neighborhood witch. She married a mortal named Darrin and settled into a routine life in the suburbs – at least she tried. Samantha was supposed to give up the witchcraft, but she invariably wound up twitching her nose, which caused magic to happen.
Bewitched enjoyed great popularity, and TV Guide magazine included the program in its 2002 list of 50 best TV shows of all time. Interest in its star has continued as well. A new biography of Elizabeth Montgomery has just been released: Twitch Upon a Star, by Herbie J. Pilato, is based on a series of interviews he conducted with Montgomery as a friend.
I was poking through a newspaper archive on a whim and next to 1955 article about Montgomery’s role in the Gary Cooper vehicle, The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell, was a column by a nationally syndicated columnist named Walter Winchell. (I told you these were all forgotten names…) Winchell was well-known for his gossip and behind-the-scenes news items.
He gave a boost to an up-and-coming comedian with his July 18, 1955 column, writing that “Johnny Carson is a new comic with an affable manner. If he gets material to match his skill, he will be a Gobel challenger.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean much as a compliment today, but George Gobel used to be famous in his own right, beginning as a singer as a young man. During WWII, he served as a flight instructor at Altus, Oklahoma and later at Frederick, Oklahoma (where I applied for my first radio job – but that’s another story…). When the war was over, he gave up singing and took up comedy. Years later, during a 1969 appearance on the Tonight Show, Gobel recalled his time in Oklahoma, joking about his service in mid-America and telling the host that “There was not one Japanese aircraft got past Tulsa.”
The Tonight Show host at the time – of course – was Johnny Carson and the appearance of both on the same set proved that the columnist Walter Winchell knew a thing or two about comedians. If Winchell had only enjoyed the witch’s long-life-span of Samantha Stevens he might have made mention of Jay Leno, the rising comedian who took over the Tonight Show – one year after the death of George Gobel.
