It's the Dearly Departed Podcast, featuring your host, historian Scott Michaels and filmmaker
Mike Dorsey. All Right, welcome, it's another edition of Dearly Departed podcast.
I think this is episode thirty two, the Lucky number thirty two.
Yes, and I'm Mike Dorsey and I'm Scott Michaels and this is Dearly Departed.
Welcome. How's it Ben, Scott Good, I've been. Uh,
it's been good. It's been cold here in Palm Springs. It goes down
to the actually down to the thirties it want one night, So it's been
it's been cold and windy here for the winter. But um, but but
we had a ninety one degree day the other day, so it's all getting
back to normal. I was in. I went to La a couple of
times since, uh, since we spoke last and uh and uh a couple
of days ago I went. I met up with my friends Trey and Jaws
and we went to Omens. We went to see David omen Yellow Drive.
Yeah, and he's he's doing very well. It was he's in, he's
in. He's in David omen form and uh, we had a nice afternoon.
He actually he let us check out the house next door that's for sale
right now. That was the Ason family house, Jim Mason's house. The
young kid who the housekeeper when here we go again Manson. But when the
housekeeper discovered the bodies at Sharon Tate's house, she ran screaming down the driveway
and ultimately ended up in this house next door to David Omens. And so
we got to go through there. So that was that was kind of fun.
And uh, the cursed, Benedict Canney continues. I went up to
look at Jay Spring's house and got up to his driveway and got into an
accident. So that was wow, what the first first It wasn't anything deal,
but it was the first car at first any kind of car issues I've
had in many, many years that were a an accident, a bump.
But so yeah, but the curse continues. To think of all the times
that you've driven tours up there, you know, and I think have we
talked about this at that On the anniversary, the day of the anniversary,
the fiftieth anniversary, my my band caught on fire on Clo Drive. About
that. Yeah, it was you know, the fiftieth anniversary was crazy the
Tarantino movie was coming out, so I had a lot of involved with a
lot of that energy. With that I had, um uh, well,
Debora Tate was was kind of I was on her list of people she wasn't
fond of that week because we had a fiftieth anniversary thing and it was a
celebration of the sixties. The whole thing was like anti murder. The night
of the anniversary, we had this event at Raleigh Studios and we had friends
of Sharon's come to speak. Well it didn't manit it Debora and I and
it doesn't matter. But anyway, I had that kind of energy aimed at
me. David wanted us to come up big time, wanted us to come
up. And I had like three tours going on that day and I had
probably, you know, maybe seventy five people come from all over the country.
It was just a stressful, tense day of someone I know who was
a very in tune with psychic things told me don't go up there. Whatever
you dud don't go up there. It was just a crazy day. And
on the anniversary we went up there with a group of people and my car
caught on fire and my van, which I every thirty days. My vans
are you know, serviced and double checked by mechanics, and you have to
check the vands every day to make sure all the belts are there and the
fluids are there, and bam, my van cut umpire on the anniversary.
So Clo drive. Say what you will, but I will well, speaking
of anniversaries, we just passed the seventy fifth anniversary of the Black Dolla murder.
It was a couple of Really it's amazing and I early saw anything written
about it, which is kind of weird. You know. It's funny what
I would have happened with the Tate thing, the Manson thing, if not
for not for the Tarantino. You know, I'm sure those people could just
kind of eventually fade away. I mean, it's a different time and that
there's there's a lot more information to consume from those, you know, the
victims of nineteen sixty nine. Whereas Elizabeth Short died in ninety forty seven,
was it, yeah, forty seven? I think so it was, um,
yeah, forty seven. So there's not a lot of media at that
point. We have still images of her, and so that has a lot
to do with it. I think but largely, you know, getting to
be forgot the Black Dahlia. It's just a little interesting. Yeah. Coincidentally,
you posted the story that the John Selden House, which was Hodel's house,
was broken into decently it was a robbery. Yeah, yeah, the
one that uh Steve Hodel claims his father killed the Black Alley in this architecturally
significant house in Hollywood. Frank Lloyd Wright, Our Lloyd Wright, Lloyd right
soon, it's son. Yeah, it's a it's a cool house. I
got to go in it once. I love its Jaws house. Yeah,
yeah, and it's really distinctive because of that. It looks like the shark
from Jaws in the poster. But the thing about Hodel is that he said
that his father killed him in that secret room. Have you been in there?
I've never been. I really want to go in there. And it's
a popular filming location too, which is kind of yeah, I've never been.
Well, the secret room was literally maybe two feet wide. You know,
it's it's not you know, it's like behind the entertainment center of the
house now, you know, it's it's just it's it's not really a room,
but it is a secret as in like a bookshelf that moves and things
like that, but it's not it's not like you know they made it sound,
but uh but still anyway, cool place. Yeah, and also used
in what the black Tail, No, Um, The Aviator, The Aviator,
that was a great movie about Howard Hughes, Leonardo DiCaprio and uh Abitt
Gardner's house that we used for that. And it was also I think it
was in an episode of Studio sixty on the Sunset, the short lived drama
I've seen. I've seen it in commercials before too. I think for a
while it was owned by some advertising executives who would just rent it out for
productions. Um, because it's such a cool space. It was also just
the thirty fourth anniversary today, I think of Divine's death thirty four is it?
I think that's what you wrote on Facebook. Did I check? Yeah,
I know you're right. I did write that. But yeah, God
Divine and that. But also this week was a John Belushi anniversary, so
right, I was gonna say that two days ago was the fortieth anniversary of
Belushi's death at the Mormon Yeah. So, and that's a that's an interesting
place that Bungalow Belushi died in I always thought I've read since then quite a
bit about the marmot And I always thought that the bungalow's you know, were
fairly recently built. But but they've been part of the hotel for for many
decades. And uh and um, and that was also where Anthony Burdane used
to stay all the time in that bungalow, oh of of Bungalow number three,
know that it was Blush's probably, but also you know Nick Ray,
the director, uh stayed in there for years and he you know, Maryland
had been in that bungalow and James Dean had been in that bungalow. I
mean it's it's been that they used it for the rehearsals for Rubble without a
Cause in fifty five or four, so uh, you know it had been.
It's got a lot of a really cool history to it that I didn't
know, uh until fairly recently. But um, yeah, it's a it's
a Marmotza. God. I love that place. I got to meet somebody
I've always wanted to meet the other day too, very exciting. Do you
know who Mary warrenovis? That name sounds very familiar. Yes, Mary Warrenovis.
She was in the Warhol factory, you know, back in reading this
in the in the in the early seventies, and uh, and she's a
really distinctive look. She's one of those androgynous people. I got turned onto
her from Rock and Roll High School. She played the she played Miss Togar,
the principal in Rock and Roll High School, which is how I got
turned down to the Ramones too. But she's been in a ton of Corman
movies as well, uh, Hollywood Boulevard, Death Race two thousand and uh,
and of rock and ROLLI School. But anyway, she's she's an artist,
and I've wanted to buy one of her paintings forever. And then,
you know, I figured one time I ran into her at my supermarket and
I was like, I couldn't even speak. I was so excited, like
you know, you're you. Oh my god, I love you so much.
But anyway, she was doing an art exhibition and they showed h they
showed Eating Raoul. That was the movie that she did that made her kind
of, you know, big on the cult circuit, what started it.
And they showed us screening at that and in art exhibition, I bought one
of her paintings, and then in a couple of weeks she's doing a Rock
and Roll high school screening, so I'm very excited about that. So Mary
Warrenough, that was a cool thing to Actually, yeah, I loved meeting
her. That was really excited. I couldn't even you know. It was
one of those people that you know, there aren't that many people I want
to meet U and I've met some cool people too. I don't want to
sound you know, like you know, I don't care. I do care
a great deal, but she was somebody I really wanted to meet, So
it's right, that's awesome. Um, I wanted to promote a I just
discovered this Twitter account. I put it up on our Facebook. It's called
Daily Laurel Canyon Oh yeah, and it's entirely dedicated to Laurel Canyon music scene
of the sixties and seventies, and it's really fascinating. I think it's a
fairly recent account that just launched. I don't know the person who runs it.
I just came across it, but they've been posting tons of content,
photos, videos, music, everything covering that whole history, and some decent
write ups on stories it's on Twitter. Twitter. It's a Twitter account called
Daily Laurel Canyon. Okay, really cool, a cool person running it.
I wanted to promote that I have no ties to it, but I thought
it was really cool. I stopped at the Canyon Country Store when I was
there, and oh god, you know, you know what that place is,
like, I just get soaked. I would I'm there because it's such
a it's such a oh my god, it's such an unassuming place. It's
got so much cool history. Um, I was just play. They sell
them They sell wine there occasionally, Laurel Canyon Wine. But whenever I go
there, I ask if I can use the bathroom, and they're really nice
there and they say yeah, yeah, sure. So you go to the
back of the store and you go down these stairs to the bathroom, which
is actually under the store. Well, they say, they say that Mama
Castle lived there, and that's that's just not true. It's never you know,
I mean, God bless them. You know, they own the Canyon
Country Store, they've had it for forty years, but they still talk about
Mama Castle living there. That never happen. However, Jim Morrison did live
behind it. We know that he wrote, you know the Love Street song
especially, you know there's a store where the creatures meet. Um but they
but it's still it's really kind of cool to go to the Candy Country Store
and then go back there because it's like an old store used to be.
It's what it is. You know. It opened up probably in the forties,
I think, and um, I know, it's just really hasn't changed.
I hope they never mess with it and always. Really I love that
place so much, I really do. There's not many places you can go
to in LA that still have that kind of magic right to it, you
know. Um have you have you seen this, uh, the new Elvis
movie that's coming out from Baz Lerman. No, I haven't seen anything about
it. It looks wild. Why. I mean, it's bas Lerman,
so you get that's what you get, you get that production. But Tom
Hanks is playing Colonel Tom Parker. Really yeah, Okay, it's basically like,
you know, a biography of Elvis, you know, obviously centering on
his his career, his entertainment career. But yeah, it looks pretty fascinating,
I have to say. I mean it's a big spectacle, which is
what Lerman does. But I'm pretty I don't know, I'm cautiously optimistic about
it. Looks really cool the trailers out. If you guys want to look
it up. I think it's just called out. Definitely want to. Yeah,
yeah, because the guy that plays Elvis is Tex Watson, isn't he?
Oh? Is it the same actor? I think he is. I
think yeah, I think yeah, I'm pretty sure of it. And um,
because this is like his first his first thing. But yeah, the
guy that plays Elvis is Austin Butler, who played Tex Watson's by the time.
Yeah, so yeah, that'll be interesting to see. I don't know.
I mean, I only know about Mulan Rusham baz Lerman. That's all
I know. And that's one of my favorite movies. I haven't seen it
since it came out, but I just loved it because it was like living
in a dream. It would be a great movie to do, like Mushrooms
Too or something. Yeah, this looks like that, but it's Elvis.
It's crazy. Yeah, yeah, cool, I look forward to that definitely.
Um. Kind of seems like it might be like Tom Hanks as Colonel
Tom Parker might be kind of like the narrator, kind of almost from his
point of view. That was kind of the vibe I got from the trailer,
So that's kind of I mean, he's in it, but it also
sounds like he's kind of like it's yeah, it kind of brings the story
around. Yeah, sure, okay, Lou, Yeah, I know nothing
about the movie, so it'll be I'll definitely look at the trailer. Oh.
I just just as an update for people, I did drive past the
LaBianca House and it's still there. It hasn't been torn down or anything.
I stopped at the Monastery the Angels, which is that monastery that's in the
center of Hollywood, which has been there since the twenties, or at least
the monastery that that cloistered bunch of nuns have been there around since the twenties.
They're still there because that's that's supposedly been sold and they're on a month
to month lease now. So just the fact that there's a monastery with cloistered
nuns in the middle of Hollywood is just crazy, but they're still there.
Stopped at the Old Coyote and stopped our friend Billy, and that was that
was kind of me. It was I was there for one day with with
I said, my friends Trey and Joss and uh packed a lot of stuff
in and um, yeah, so it was a it was a good day.
Good, good to be back in La. Good to be back.
I was away from LA for a few years, and it was always like
more special when I came back to visit La for a weekend or whatever.
It always made it. I don't know, it was always like more special.
It seemed like to grow on and see the places you don't see him
every day. Yeah, you know, I don't know. I agree,
because you can't pack everything in and you want to go you dry past as
you go. Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh, I want to do
that, and so maybe it makes you leaves you wanting more. Um,
all right, do we have any hate mail? Hate mail? Lots of
lots of hateful comments, but nothing really creative, except for one which was
kind of I just kind of funny. Uh. There's a there's a Finding
Death on Facebook. We have the Dearlier Party podcast and also there's a group
called the death Heads of Friends of Julia Party Tours I think it's what it's
called. And my friend Jane Osborne and Doris Cook they both moderate it.
You know it's one hundred percent. They're in it. They're the ones that
approve people, et cetera, et cetera, and I rarely hear anything about
I'll pop in and stuff, but I don't. I don't really get involved
with it too much. But anyway, somebody suggested a wrote to me,
it's exchanged. Well, it isn't an exchange because I just ignored it to
begin with, And I guess that was the problem. So if somebody said,
um, would you be so kind to add me to the dear Leader
party group? I didn't say, because I don't do that. You know,
it doesn't It's not up to me. So I ignored it. And
then the next message, fine, I will answer your questionnaire, which is
beyond annoying and aggressive and doesn't ensure true fans are the ones applying. Okay,
so go, And then I got another one saying hello, I answered
the questionnaire and have not been accepted. All right, So okay today,
Seriously, who the fuck are you to ignorege my ignore? It escalates so
fast, I know, Seriously, who the fuck are you to ignore my
messages in my application to the group, You ugly unfuckable loser. Fuck,
it's like, okay, we'll step away, step away from the keyboard.
We're all a little stressed, all right, It's okay. Rarely do I
laugh at loud at nasty comment. I know. I usually somebody spailed the
questionnaires you unfuckable. Fuck. That's really good. I'm gonna have to remember
that one. Seriously. I like, that was good. That's awesome.
I uh. The only I mean, we don't really get to hate mail.
We keep getting positive reviews of the podcast, which is always nice,
especially on iTunes, which is where I think a lot of people will hear
us. But why The only big complaint we get is that we don't do
enough episode, that we don't do it often enough. You know, it
was a couple of months since we did the last one, and you know,
really, we just we do this. We don't have a set schedule.
We do this when our schedules aligned, and when you know, when
you and I are both doing other things too, So we do this when
we can. Yeah. Yeah, And we also do the special Patreon episode
that it's confusing to people because I have my own Patreon page for Dearly Departed
YouTube and so and then we also have a Patreon page for this on the
podcast Patreon page exclusive for the podcast, you get a whole another episode,
right for the exclusive of the Patreon, So we do. There is a
you know that's easily sixty to ninety minutes worth of content for the bonus step.
And we just did another one of those Patreon episodes, um like ten
days ago or something like we can have years ago. Yeah, So when
I post this to YouTube directly below this video will be a Patreon link to
the podcast Patreon episode solely for the podcast and solely for our Patreon only episode
on the podcast. I just need to make that clear because it confuses me
and I don't want to be insulting to the people who are already supporting you
know, our page or my page. So that's you don't want any more
unfuckable fuck email. This is what people saying, Well, I already sponsor.
You actually get that. It's like it's a different thing, and that's
why it's hard for me to explain that. So and the podcast Patreon is
only two bucks a month, right, and you get that whole bonus episode.
So yeah, so that'll be the link below this episode. You will
see Patreon for the podcast and that that's where you'll get the bonus episode.
So I just want to clarify that. So, do you want to do
the main feature? Are we ready? Sure? I'm ready when you are?
All right, it's time for the main feature. And we are doing
Bewitched, which was recommended to us by a few people, and so you
know, we like to deliver. Yeah what people, we listen. We
listened, and we love and the pizza mant delivers. Yes. Bewhich the
famous American sitcom that ran for eight seasons from nineteen sixty four to nineteen seventy
two. It was the highest rated show on ABC up to that point in
time when it aired, and just a huge smash success sitcom, kind of
a trend setting benchmark series. But as a kid, I always confused it
with Dream of Genie because they were both in syndication. Yeah, it was
growing up and they were both you know, they ran around the same time
period, and they were both you know, sitcoms about magic wives that have
magic abilities. There was some crossover there. Well, yeah, that was
a different networks answer. Right, It's like the Munsters in the Adams Family.
We got to have a magic woman. Yeah, have a magic wife
show with a grumpy a grumpy mail figure. You know, you gotta do
that right and which But yeah, I mean talk about a cast. I
mean all these people in this show, every guest star, every extra,
you know, from like a billion other TV shows. You know, like
Bernie Coppele, who was who was in like ten episodes it was you know,
The Love but he was in Court of It, Betty's father. He
was in all these different shows from the sixties. Uh, you know all
of them, Sandra Gould, Bernie you know those uh anywhere, We're gonna
get into them all. But but so many of these people were stock actors
of the sixties TV shows and um and had a great had great reputations and
visibility, and it was a great show. It was a great show.
Yeah, I watched, Um, I watched one episode from season six that
Deacon Jones was in. Yeah, Claire, Yeah, it was a it
was a Jack and the bean Stock thing and he was like the the the
guard at the gate was played by Deacon Jones. Back when it was really
popular, it seemed like for for famous football players to become actors. Brady
Bunch had a couple of those, didn't they. Um, Yeah, a
couple of guests appears. Is that the one that was the one with Johnny
Whittaker, wasn't it where he played Jack? Yes, yeah, that's right.
It's fun again Johnny Whittaker and Billy Mooey who was in Lost in Space.
All those guys are on crazy He's a Twilight Zones and these guys,
oh Andy Griffith and yeah it's nuts. But uh but yeah, that was
and those were fun. They had to get sort of far fetched towards the
end of the run to make them really imaginative and exciting and and uh and
uh yeah I remember that episode very well. That was It was creepy because
they always showed the guy from Low Low Angles, you know, and the
giant, and it was it was really creepy. Yes, some one where
Tabitha goes into the storybook m the daughter. Yeah, all right, Um,
who do you want to start with? I mean, honestly, do
you want to do you want to go with like the most famous to the
least Let's I was gonna say, let's start with the creator, Saul Sack.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, um. He was the creator.
And what's really interesting is he wrote the pilot and then he never wrote another
episode. Oh interesting, He was like that all done? Send me the
royalty checks. I'm I'm rich for life. Isn't it fun? Many who
knew too? He said that, uh, it was. He seems like
it wasn't really an original idea. He kind of he was inspired quote quote
by nineteen forty two As I Married at Which with Veronica Lake and nineteen fifty
eight spell Book and Candle with a Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak and um.
Sachs started out as a radio writer and um, what's really interesting is when
we did a whole we talked about Lucy ole Ball, we did our whole
I Love Lucy episode. His first sitcom writer and credit, after he'd written
for radio for years, was writing the television version of My Favorite Husband,
which Lucille Ball starred in the radio version. It's what kind of gave her
a chance to go into television. And they wanted Lucille Ball to do a
TV version of My Favorite Husband, and that's when she was like, only
if DESI can be my husband and that's and they were like nah, and
then ended up doing I Love Lucy instead, and My Favorite Husband ended up
still getting made, just with different cast and Sacks, the creator of Bewitched,
was a writer on that shows, this first sitcom. I'm trying to
think. I mean, I just saw that Ricardo's movie, and I think
sel Sax is called up by name in that. I think he is called
out by name in that right in like the writer's room when they're negotiating that.
But yeah, maybe, yeah, talk about a guy, yeah,
a television icon. And it's funny because he didn't do that much else after
Bewitched. He really was kind of like, well, I did it.
I came up with my big idea. I'm rich. And he doesn't have
a whole lot of credits after Bewitched because a lot of times, even when
someone creates a show like that, it's the beginning of a whole run.
He would see her, you know, for the next decade or two.
They're you know, they're a kingmaker kind of in the business. It seems
like he was satisfied to just do that. He'd already been in the business
for you know, fifteen plus years. He had been a performer before then,
so maybe he was just kind of like done. But he lived a
long time, and he died on April sixteenth, twenty eleven. He was
one hundred years old and he died from pneumonia. Wow, that's interesting.
I knew that because that name is iconic too, because such an unusual name,
right, so when the show used to be on it, I was
like, Oh, that's a cool name. I like that name. And
uh so, but I'm surprised because I'm not to say I'm not belittling his
career in any way, but I thought there'd be more to it than that,
you know, because his name is so iconic, and I'm not saying
that's all he did, but that's like kind of the thing he's known for,
and that was kind of the you know. So since we just mentioned
William Asher and and I Love Lucy, we might as well mentioned William Asher.
He was the director of Bewitched, which is interesting because now nowadays in
television a lot of times episodes have their own you know, each episode has
a different director, or you know, a director might direct half of a
season or something like that. But he did. I think most are all
of the episodes of Bewitched he directed, And coincidentally, he had directed one
hundred and two episodes of I Love Lucy. Oh that many? Yes,
that's really interesting. Yeah. His TV directing years went back to the early
fifties, you know, the early years of television, so it's really wild.
He also directed a bunch of episodes of Bad News Bears series Alice,
Gidget, the short lived Paul Lynn Show that they did right after Bewitched,
the Patti Duke Show, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah, I was
shocked because he did those uh the Muscle Beach Party, Bikini, Beach,
How Does Stuff a While? Bikini? I mean all those all those you
know, beach films. Uh, we were William Asher's and there was one
episode one of those How Does Stuff a While? Bikini? And Buster Keaton.
Buster Keaton was doing those right, and they were they were pretty he
was he played this like pervy old man. That was always you know,
just lingering, you know, a little bit too long around the young women.
And but in one episode, Elizabeth Montgomery plays a witch his daughter,
uh, Buster Keaton's daughter in the episode, which is kind of fun.
Um. Yeah, well I just it was. I was shocked to see
I watched those movies. I do see them a lot, and to see
Bill Asher still kind of surprising. Um. And he uh, he passed
away after, you know, obviously a very long career in Hollywood. And
he passed around July sixteen, twenty twelve. He was ninety and he had
Alzheimer's. He had, Yeah, he had three kids with Elizabeth Montgomery.
I mean they were together for for a long time. As I understand it,
he had he was he had a drinking problem big time. And one
another one of his wives was joy Joyce Boullifant, who was another seventies actress
who who was played Murray's Gavin McLeod's wife on the Mary Tyler Moore Show,
which she was married to him as well. And uh and said it was
it was rough. It was really rough to to live with him during those
years. And um, you know, they maintained a friendship after they divorced
because they had three children together. But they were close with Agnes moorehead.
They were close with Paulin as you were saying he was. They were friends,
but they were very good friends and they still still hung out together.
And it was Bill Asher that got Elizabeth Montgomery the part I think of.
He certainly pitched her to be Samantha and the trademark wiggle of the nose was
down to Bill Asher recognizing when they were married that she would make an expression
and make her nose. Her nose never really wiggled, but it was really
her upper lip. Yeah yeah, her mouth more than their nose. Yeah
yeah. So but yeah, it was down to Asher who came up with
that sort of gimmick instead of having to do a like grandiose gesture or something
like that. And so so for anyone who doesn't know, to catch you
up. So, Elizabeth Montgomery was the star of Bewitch. She played Samantha
Stevens, the Witch and Bewitched, and so she was married to William Asher,
who was the director of the show, and they had met a year
before, I think on a TV movie that he directed and that she starred
in, and you know, romance and then career. So they had a
production company together called Ashmont Productions. So very it's interesting the parallels with I
Love Lucy and this husband and wife team and having a production company together.
And the whole reason I think that they did the Paul Lynn show was when
they you know, decided not to renew Bewitched after its eighth season. They
had like a contractual allegations, so they're like, oh, well, we'll
do this show instead to fulfill you know, the obligation to the network.
And uh, and that's why that happened. Yeah, it's because when they
when they split up Asher and Elizabeth Montgomery. I think they made another season,
didn't they after their breakup of it? They were like breaking up during
the eighth season. I think, yeah, I don't know. I mean
one of the I guess one of the things that's blamed on the end the
show ending was because their marriage fell apart, and I don't know, maybe
also just because they've been doing it for eight years. How much more is
there to do? You know? I know that she was over it and
she didn't even want to do like the last season because they started recycling episodes.
They just did the same episode again, you know, changing the plot
line a little bit. But there was a reason why she stuck it out
one more season. But she was she was she didn't hate it. But
you know, what else can you do with this? You know, there's
not a whole lot of we've done it. We've done every plot already.
And this was a time when they would do thirty plus episodes in a season.
It's it's unheard of now. It's crazy how much you know, you
have to start recycling plots from other episodes. Yeah, yeah, but I
just you know, I I you know, it was one of those shows
I will always if I'm thumbing, you know, just flicking through TV channels,
I'll always stop on it because it's always funny, you always. And
I've seen them, you know, we've all seen them all. You know,
there's the one with dot dot dot and uh. And it's shocking because
some people have become so iconic because of their appearances on Bewitch. But out
of two hundred and sixty or two hundred and fifty episodes, you know,
these people have been in like nine, you know, but they're so synonymous
with the show that uh that you know, it's almost like they were a
main character through the whole series. And it's just not that way, but
it was. It's a testament to how big bee, which it was as
a show. Yeah so, um so. Elizabeth Montgomery, the star of
the show. Um two of her real life pregnancies with Asher were written into
the show. Would have got permission to do that, as we know from
you know, doing I Love Lucy, you know, a decade before that
was considered to have a pregnant character on a TV sitcom was you know,
pretty boundary pushing um And I guess she was pregnant when they did the first
season in the pilot and they would just kind of did the whole hider behind
things to hide the bump. And then when she got pregnant the second time,
they were like, we're not doing that again. Let's just have her
have it. Let's just have folded in and have them have a kid.
They've been married for a while by this point in the life of the show.
Um, you know, to start a family. People do reproduce.
But it's I'm trying to think of Bewitched. Ever went the root of the
two share sharing the same bad they must have. They must have like the
Munsters did so so I'm sure Bewitched did you know, they probably started as
double bads or twin bads or rather, but uh, but yeah, eventually
they did show them I think touching and in in one vehicle bed I know,
but yeah, yeah, but she's another Yeah, she was really active,
you know, on television, doing a lot of dramatic television actually surprisingly
and until and then Bewitched happened, and it went boom. That's that's how
we know her now. But yeah, her father and then after be which
she wanted to do, she went back to doing more dramatic roles. Again.
It's like she wanted to not be that character where we know the comedian
you know. Yeah, one of her first projects was a case of rape.
I mean, you know, it's like it's like Samantha, but she
was never she was never. I mean she was done with Bewitched. She
didn't hate it, but she was done with it. And but she's always
really kind to people about it. When when she was approached and she always
answered fan mail about Bewitched, you know, she's always very She never was
shitty about it, and um, there's no reason she would have been.
It just she was just tired of it. But yeah, then trying to
break the mold and doing that whole uh missus. Sun Dance was another one
that I liked a lot that she was in. And you know, she
was married to Gig Young. Are you familiar with him? I know that
name. Yeah, Gig Young was another one of those actors. It was
in a billion different things in television and films. He was the original choice
for the gene Wilder part in Blazing Saddles, but he had a real he
had He was supposed to be Charlie and Charlie's Angels, but he had a
drinking problem big time and he couldn't even like be coherent about it, and
so they were together. Elizabeth Montgomery and Gig Young were together from nineteen fifty
six to ninety sixty three. He had married, oh and also his his
just for a backstory, his psychiatrist was that Eugene Landy, the Nuts that
was after Brian Wilson that latched onto Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and ended
up like becoming the producer and co writer of all Brising Lynon Wilson's Brian Wilson's
music, etc. But anyway, it was nineteen seventy eight that Gig Young
got married to his second his third wife, I think it was in three
months. Three weeks after they got married, he shot her in the hat
and then killed himself in an apartment in Manhattan. So, um, it's
just the bizarre murder suicide. Nobody really knows why, but clearly he had
substance abuse issues and psychological you know issues, and it's wild how often that
is especially a problem. It seems like in that era alcoholis from alcoholism and
drug problems and just poor health and heavy smokers. And I mean we talked
about this before. I just watched The Misfits for the first time finally.
Oh, I mean, which is wild really, just because it's Clark Gable
and Marilyn Monroe's last film for both of the Gable died just days afterwards.
It's kind of somewhat in some ways killed him, you know, in addition
to his horrible unhealthy lifestyle. M Montgomery Cliff is also in its. It's
just like and John Houston directed it. So so you're talking about just like
a disaster of you know, people coming together. It's a miracle that they
finished it. I think I saw that. Marilyn Monroe said that something like
Montgomery Clift was the only person she ever met who was more messed up than
she was. Yeah, yeah, that's true. That did come. And
the other thing was that they they heard Montgomery Clift. They say they recognized
disaster in each other's eyes and giggled about it, you know. And that
was another thing I did when I was in la As I went to the
telephone pole that Montgomery Clift hit I made some video about that they'll be releasing
soon. That kind of destroyed his brain. But I saw you you posted
that photo and I recognized it. Yeah, that was that was but so
yeah, very very interesting and uh yeah it was alcoholics obvious. You know,
there was nobody was in recovery back then. It was you know,
card Gable when he had his heart attack was in this hospital with an ash
tray clip to it. It's like, yeah, he had he had a
heart attack two days after they wrap production and died ten days after that.
And anyways, it would be fun to do a Misfits episode actually, because
that gives you an intro to cart Gable and Marilyn Monroe and like, I
mean, some great tragic characters depressing. Yeah, I did not. That's
a that's a hard movie to sit through. I it was good, but
it's it is not a lighthearted movie, right Uh yeah, the whole drama
with Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller in the background. He's writing it and he's
really just kind of writing out his problems with her in it, and and
um, and he's probably the only I was very impressed by her acting in
it. It was. There was a different layer to her that I had
never seen any other movie. She's just very raw and kind of very super
emotional and almost like you know, I mean in real life she was kind
of falling apart and she her character is doing that. That's a hard movie
to sit there. I yeah, it might be. It may it's it's
it might be fun to ELpH into it. But something it might be fun
to do one day, Mike is to watch a movie together with the sound
of the movie off, so people could be like, MST three K,
you know, yeah, just a movie coming. Yeah, that'd be fun.
We could totally do that. Start the movie now right exactly. That
would be cool. That'd be cool. That's a fantastic idea, Scott,
we should. If you're listening to this, you I have ideas for a
movie that we could do. Let us know. I got Sergeant. That
would be awesome. So um, all right. So Liz withth Montgomery was
very after she finished with you know, she did movies and television afterwards,
really pretty straight stuff. Not any real lighthearted uh you know, Samantha E
kind of stuff. She was doing dramas, police dramas. She was she
was an aids activist, UH, gay rights activist, women's rights activist,
um when Dick Sargent came out of the closet, who played the second Darren
She and he who was who maintained a friendship with the grand marshals of the
LA Gay Pride Parade, right, he had just come out a few years
prior to that. Yeah, and you know, it embraced it, finally
embraced it. Yeah. Yeah, and she was not a shocker, you
know, to her. I mean everyone probably knew it. And this is
another interesting thing I found out about about her. Now I didn't. There's
a producer named Richard Michaels on the show, and I because that's my dad's
name, I used to clock it all the time, you know, and
I saw it. Apparently, according to what I've read, that she had
a fling with Richard Michaels and that's what ended the marriage to Asher, was
this fling that she had with him. And she also had an affair with
Alexander Goodnov, the ballet dancer, which yeah, it's just so interesting because
they're saying that he was really in love with her and she died, you
know, when she died ninety five. But so he he died like in
later ninety five, and they say that that's part of the reason he drank
himself to death, which also fits into it was with Montgomery sort of gravitating
towards heavy drinkers. Alexander Goodnov died of alcoholism a short period of time after
she did. She didn't die of alcoholism, but um, but yeah,
so it's kind of interesting. And then she hooked up with Robert Foxworth,
who was an actor and I don't I don't know much about his career.
I think he was supposed to be j R. Ewing or something like that.
And uh, and he turned it down. Lots of people turned down
some roles and crazy he was. Yeah, so but he and also just
as a piece of trivia, Robert Foxworth is the guy who does the narration
of the Helter Skelter audio book, which is really good, which is really
good. Yeah. I read that they were together for like twenty years and
then only married for the last few Yeah, it does seem like a genuine
love affair. And uh and uh, he sounds like a really decent kind
of guy. Stability sounds like because it sounds like the other stuff, the
swinging sixties cocktail era is quite you know, quite dramatic and uh so um
so, yeah, it was probably nice for that kind of steady relationship.
I thought it was interesting that she voiced Samantha on an episode of flint Stones.
I guess it was like a crossover thing. Yeah, sometimes that would
happen, um, you know, uh and like Spatman going on Scooby Doo
right without the West um, which I thought was interesting because the flint Stones
was produced by Hannah Barbara, who also animated Bewitched opening titles and opening credits.
Yeah, and Sally. They also produced the I Dream of Genie animated
spinoff Genie Oh with Baboo the Big Guy and Apple Damn movie. That's right,
that's right. Yeah, Yeah. Hanna Barbara's got their fingers in all
of this and so yeah, they totally do. Yeah, those are some
iconic credits, the opening credits. Uh, that's so cool. Hannah Barbara.
That's very interesting. Well, and we we we would be remissed if
we didn't mention that, you know, Bewitched has like one of the most
famous opening sitcom theme songs ever. Yeah, one of the most recognized,
instantly recognizable even if you aren't from you know, of that era. Yeah,
you know. It's funny because there's a there was an album that came
out of TV show theme songs a couple of years ago and well a couple
of years ago like twenty five now. But they would do that, They
would do all the orchestration, but when it comes down to the nose twitch,
it's not the same one. You know, they use like the I
phone or something. Oh really, and then on the soundtrack, but then
you watch it on The Flintstones and it's not the same thing. It's not
the same noise that she made when she twitched her nose and the same with
that how to Stop a While bikini. They show her doing the nose twitch,
but it's not the same noise, and it's it's almost it's like disappointing
when you don't hear the same noise. You know, it's like what would
like the sound department of b Wisch not loan the fully sound effects got to
be it. That's the only way I can explain he because he can on
their own to come up with their own sound. Yeah, I mean,
but like the bee witch thing on on the Flintstones had Dick York and they
were the animated characters, so there's a you know, it can't be that
that copyrighted. She was a witch you know on the show, so they
had to let it go. But for some reason, that noise and it's
very disappointing when you don't hear that noise. That that that the right one,
you know what I mean, that's my ring tone. That's one of
my that's one of my ring tones is the bewitch twitch um. Another one
of her other projects that she did, she did a TV movie about Lizzie
Borden m where she played Lizzie Borden, you know, the famous axe murder
story. And I guess I assume that this is true. After she died,
it was discovered that she was actually very distantly related to Lizzie Borden.
Oh really like a cousin, you know, six times removed kind of a
thing. Yeah, you know, at a certain point it's you know,
you go back far enough, are kind of all related? But yeah,
yeah, well yeah, I mean, but no, that is interesting.
Yeah, because like Princess Diana as Mary was related to Humphrey Bogart. You
know, it's like all right, yeah, that makes sense. I'm reading
Bogie's Bogie's biography right now, are you. Yeah. It's one of those
doorstop sized books. Though. Man, it's going to take me a long
time to get through it, but it's really good so far. It's called
old. How old is the book? I mean, how long ago was
it written? I mean I think sometime within the past, like a couple
of decades. Now. It wasn't like a contemporary of him, I don't
think so much. Yeah, interesting, man, um. I also thought
it was interesting that she started in a TV movie with O. J.
Simpson, which one nineteen seventy seven. This is this is just wait for
the title, um, she plays Um. They both played detectives who have
an affair with each other, and the name of it was called a Killing
Affair. Ain't true? I sting? Yes, OJ was in a TV
movie called a Killing Affair? Huh allegedly allegedly if he did it, I
don't know. Wow, that's yeah, that's that's there you are. It
was with Montgomery God, and you know the famous line I asked. I
did a couple of short YouTube videos with Aaron Murphy who played Tabitha and Bewitched
and h and I asked her if it was true. I guess we'll talk
about it when we get to Dick Dick Sargeant, so we could talk about
the fame. Well, no, we already brought it up, the gay
Pride thing, right, so I can may as well I can address that.
So I did you know some YouTube videos with Aaron Murphy who played Tabitha,
one of the two girls that played Tabitha. Though Aaron Murphy was when
it was used the most, and I asked her if this was true,
you know it wasn't With Montgomery and Dick Sargeant. The second Daring were the
grand marshals of the Gay Pride Parade in West Hollywood in nineteen ninety two,
because Dick Sargeant came out of the closet and she wanted the sower show port.
According to legend, they asked Elizabeth Montgomery why she did it, and
she said it, I did it for the love of Dick, you know,
I did ask Aaron Murphy, and I think it was I think the
quote was I think that well it's I think the quote was miss you know,
twisted a little bit, but I think I did it to support Dick
or something like that. But it's always been I did it for the love
of Dick. That was always that was always the uh, the joke.
And so you asked Aaron Murphy about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, because she I mean, yeah, she she well, she's become
you know, she's the only one that's left except for the little boys,
you know, the play the twin Brothers. And uh. But she she
she did confirm that she said something to that effect, but it was the
quote was was miss you know, misquoted a little bit, just for for
for umph of course. But anyway, well, yeah, Aaron Murphy,
we'll talk a little bit about her later, I guess when we get down
to the cast. But uh, but Elizabeth Montgomery, she definitely had a
sense of humor and uh and it was clear during the show when she did
the Serena character too. I mean I think I think she loved doing that
because it was no longer Samantha. You know, she could get she could
get you know, get crazy and you know, sing and do all those
sorts of things. I always said that, like the Tim Curry makeup and
Rocky Horror was partially based on Serena's makeup. If you look at it,
if you look at it, there's a couple of really distinctive times when she
turns her head and stuff. It's very Tim Curry. But um, but
Serena was a great, a great addition to the cast. And I think
that might have been part of it. The reason they did it was to
give, you know, to appease Elizabeth Montgomery, to make it fun for
her, you know, so right, so and she did and and it
was really fun to watch the episodes and how they used the doubles, you
know, the back of Samantha's had and every once in a while they'll be
Serena in a scene and Samantha's double will walk by and you catch the face
and it's clearly not her, but you know it's it's it's so it's so
fun. Anyway. I love that, love that stuff. But and I
love Serena so um. Elizabeth Montgomery passed away on May eighteenth, nineteen ninety
five. She was only sixty two, and she had cancer um possibly colon
cancer that spread to her liver. I'm not I'm not sure, but she
I guess you know. She died only eight weeks after being diagnosed, because
she apparently had ignored her symptoms while she was filming something yeah, and kind
of delayed going in to see somebody about it, and they said there was
nothing that they could basically do for her, so she just went home.
She didn't want to dine a hospital. Yeah, I think she was.
I think yeah. It was the end. It was morphine only they just
gave up treatment and she had like two days and said, I want to
go home. And as it sounded to me like there was a I don't
want to I don't want anyone with me when this happened. So they kind
of sat outside the room and it happened, and they were they were told
after it happened. So her wish to wish to now have anyone with her
at that moment, I guess, is what it sounded like. But Elizaeth
Montgomery died at twelve thirty Benedict Canyon Boulevard. That was that was her address
on Benedict Canyon Boulevard. Elizabeth Montgomery died across the street from John Ridder's house.
It was twelve or five Benedict Canyon Boulevard. So, um huh.
I'm not saying I'm just saying the curs of Benedict Canyon. So rest in
peace, Elizabeth Montgomery. Yeah. So next, of course, we have
to talk about dick Yorke, who was the first Darren Stevens, the first
actor to play her husband on it, which he was nominated for an Emmy
four she was she was nominated for five Emmy's. Yeah, there were some
serious nominations going on with this show and wins. Yeah, yeah, totally.
Um so he um. I think what's most interesting about him, the
reason he was replaced is really a tragic story and all about kind of the
ruining of his life to some extent. Years before he did Bewitched, he
was in a film called They Came to Cordura with Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth,
and this was in nineteen fifty nine, and while filming it, according
to him, it was the last shot of the day on the second on
the second to last day of filming, and he and Cooper were using one
of those railroad hand cars you kind of crank up and down, and while
doing it, I think the actor yelled, he said, the actor yelled,
cut, and some extra reached up and put his hand on the crank
as he was lifting it up, and so it ended up being a different
weight than what he was expecting, and he tore the muscles in his back
and caused it basically a permanent back injury to himself as a result of that
move. It was just a freak accident, all right. I gotta think
that one through because if the if the I know what you're talking about.
It's like a teeter totter thing, right, and somebody's pushing, but it's
never a blifting. It's always a push. Or maybe it was. Maybe
he's just I don't know how he said it, but he was pushing down.
But whatever was exactly what you mean. There was more resistance on the
move than what he was expecting to happen, and he ripped his back,
He ripped his muscles. So he quote he quote said that was the start
of it, all the pain, the painkillers, the addiction, the lost
career um and he said his spine healed incorrectly. So he had back issues,
you know, going into the show. And they just got progressively worse
and worse and worse as the first few seasons bore on um to the point
where by season five they were I think they were writing, you know,
scripts for him to be seated or laying down just so he wouldn't have to
be on his feet as much. And then finally you know in in Well
in the season five he couldn't do it anymore. Yeah, they did,
like there's there's I don't know x amount of none Darren episodes where he was
away on business and sure they would talk about him, but there was there
was no Darren. And I remember reading that that they had we like when
they were making the a of Oz, the ten men couldn't sit down with
his makeup on, so they they filled a platform so when he wanted the
rest that he could just lay lean back. Yeah, and they had one
for Dick York because he had such a problem with standing after a while.
And uh, and there was one episode, I guess there was an episode
it sounded like, um, he passed out, Dick Yorke did and on
the set and Asher said, you want to you want to you want to
stop it now? And I think it was like do you want to stop
this episode now? But it was an agreement that do you want to stop
being on this show now? And he was like, yeah, I think
it's time. He had I think he was like climbing up on scaffolding or
something for the show and he had an episode. Next thing he knew,
he was on the floor basically, Yeah, they were all standing around him.
Yeah. And he was also, um, you know, he was
in a couple. I think he was in like a fantasy island or something
after he was in one or two different things after it Bewitched. But he
he'd been married to his wife for thirty plus years and her, the wife's
mother, passed away and they went to Rockford, Michigan, and lived in
Rockford, Michigan for the last part of his life. And he was a
three pack a day smoker, so he had emphysema. And I remember he
would show up in interviews with this this thing around his nose, uh,
you know, and and the most chipper nice you know, like not like
not morose, not because I think they were on welfare for a while,
Dick York was, I mean, um, yeah, because he was making
only like four grand a week for Bewitched, for our per episode, I
think it was. But I don't know. Residuals and royalties weren't a thing
yet, I don't. I don't think so much back then. And um,
so he ended up spending his last years in Michigan, and he was
an activist and he would uh he was. I remember, uh, he
used to be a frequent guest on this show that I used to listen to,
this Johnny B radio show in Chicago, and he would always he'd raise
money or he raise m He donate sleeping backs to homeless people, and he'd
raised money for to feed homeless people. And I remember he there was a
thing you this is probably not on your radar at all, but there was
a thing in the eighties there was some whales trapped in the ice. And
I forget where this was near the North Pole and I'll ask or something like
that, but it was just they had the world's attention for a while that
there was this little hole of ice and these whales were trapped there and they
couldn't get him out. And dick Yorke was a big, you know,
proponent of raising the money to get that done. So he was, you
know, for being a guy that was down physically, big time down physically,
remained really optimistic and active and causes that that was that's pretty didn't let
him bring him down mentally and emotionally. Yeah. Yeah, And he also
kicked his drug habit. I supposedly he kicked. He finally he went cold
Turkey for like six It took him six months. Yeah, you know,
torture agony basically to kick the painkiller habit. It's quite you know, four
thousand all he said, four thousand a week or an episode four episode.
That's I mean, I just looked it up. That is thirty four grand
today. It's not you know, back then it was a decent amount of
money. Yeah, it's just I think a lot of these guys, they
at least actors, they just didn't I don't they had bad business management and
they didn't put the money away, or maybe in his case, his career
ended before he planned on an ending, so that that was the problem.
I don't know. They never do spend it. Yeah, he had a
house. I know. The house that he had was on scenic right off
Beachwood Canyon. So it wasn't like a crazy, you know, mansiony house.
It was right off. It was right off like Franklin right about Franklin.
Um sure, but uh but yeah, I guess that was it.
But that was like Battle Legosi. You know, here's your you know,
your fifty grand for being in the show. The end. You know what
else it also, you know, he had drug and medical issues that's gonna
stuck up a lot of obviously, and it wasn't in syndication so until much
later. So yeah, but he was everyone's favorite Darren. You know,
everyone pretty much thinks he's he was the best Darren of the two. Yeah,
it seems like people, to at least the fans, did not like
Dick Sargeant as much in the role, which is ironic because Dick Sargent was
offered the role first and refuge. So so Dick Yorke passed away in February
twentieth, nineteen ninety two, only sixty three years old, from emphysema or
complications from emphysema. M Yeah, he's buried in Michigan too, which always
really surprised me. It's like Michigan, but yeah, that's where he is.
So you're from Michigan, I know, but he's on the other side
of You're like, but I'm not gonna be buried there. Well, I
do have a great in Michigan too, but um, the dicks, so
that both of the dicks were really you know, I used to hate the
fact that they wouldn't let her use her witchcraft. I used to hate that.
You know, It's like, how fun is that to have somebody around
to do that and he's forehead man, both on the same team. Yeah,
remember mom, that was her mom's constant gripe was witchcraft. Yeah yeah,
that that she wasn't allowed to use it. Yeah. So. Um
So, Dick Sargent replaced York after York had to leave for the health reasons
to play the husband Darren Stevens. And to your point, he originally turned
the role down to begin with, so he was originally their first choice,
so it makes sense they went back to him when they needed a replacement.
And he was born into an entertainment family. His mother was a silent film
star a bit parts and his father was a business manager in Hollywood was Douglas
Fairbanks business manager and Eric von Straheim. Um. So he was born into,
you know, a connected entertainment family, which I'm sure didn't didn't hurt.
And he was in Operation Petticoat with Carry Grant, the Ghost and Mister
Chicken with Don Knots. That's got to be our Halloween episode this year.
Oh my god, it's one of my favorite movies in the world. I
love that movie so much. And all the characters should be witched here in
it. You know that great? Oh my god, I love that movie
so much. That should be our live watch. You know that should be
our we should we should watch that. That would be great. I loved
the incredible mister Limpett when I was a kid. I thought that was like
the best movies ever with Don Knots. So I'm on on board with it.
Um. And he was also and Live a little Love with Elvis,
bringing things back around full circle to the beginning. Interesting um guest appearances and
tons of shows like what we've been saying. He was an I Dream.
Coincidentally, he was in I Dream of Genie, Ozzie and Harriet Three's Company,
Charlie's Angel, The Love Boat, Uh Taxi, Different Strokes, Murder.
She wrote, La law et cetera, et cetera. You mean you
look at the stuff that guests started, and it's like almost every show from
the seventies and eighties. Yeah, yeah, So I think it was surprised,
and in fact I got the movie out, so I'm gonna watch it
later on. He was in Hardcore with with George C. Scott, which
is this this movie? It was in seventy nine, where George C.
Scott finds out that his daughter was in a hardcore porn movie and the whole
idea is this like this this noir, you know, thriller kind of movie,
drama movie. And I'm like, Dick Sargeant was in there. I
forgot so I'm gonna watch it again tonight just to just to see. But
they're saying that was that was, you know, one of his uh dramatic
roles, which I'd never even know he did, because he's always been that
same guy, you know, whenever you see him. Do you know what
his birth name was, Darren what? No, No, his birth name,
because Dick Dick Sargent was a stage name. His birth name was Richard
Cox. Really, so he was born Dick Cox, Dick Cox, and
so he takes the stage name and keeps the dick and who doesn't ladies in
terms, which so apparently though his name, that stage name came from there
was a famous artist who did these very normal Norman Rockwellest Saturday Evening post covers
whose name was Richard Sergeant. That's who he took his stage name from.
Interesting. Wow, that's yeah, that's sort of unusual choice. But there
are so um you know. Also, I was never a fan, but
apparently he was in two seasons of Dukes of Hazard. Uh oh really yeah,
he played a sheriff and Dukes of Hazzard a sheriff, not the sheriff.
But but yeah, that's so, that's what I anyway, But yeah,
interesting, but there you are, for the love of Dick um So.
Yeah, So he came out in ninety one and um, I think
he'd had one of former partner who he never revealed, who had died in
the seventies, I think from some health issues and then UMU was with someone
else for you know, a long term relationship when he when he died,
Yeah, I thought I know that there was when he was towards the end,
I think they thought they were assuming that it was age related because he
had lost so much weight and uh and that just wasn't the case. Not
that he needed defending of that, but it just wasn't he I think it's
he he went public with the prostate cancer, but everyone thought, you know,
oh, because it was at the time, you know, it was
still it was relevant and his quote about it what kind And he died just
you know, three years after he came out, so it would have been,
you know, definitely on his mind that people would be thinking that.
His quote was I don't have AIDS I am. I am HIV negative,
but if I did, I would wear that badge as proudly as everybody else
who has it. HM. I've heard that the reason he came out is
because someone was going to sell the story to the tabloids, and he was
sort of gonna, you know, cut it off, do it before,
you know, take away the power of the gossip by just owning it.
And I think those but Montgomery had a lot to do with the public embracing
that. They didn't they do? Uh. I know they did a Roseanne
episode where they switched the Becky's. They did at Roseanne Reunion and it was
literally a bewitched reference about the Darrens and I forget what it was, but
oh interesting it was. It was it was exactly the same thing that the
Beckys and getting rid of the dicks are switching. Switching the dicks. Well,
that will never get old for me. Um so uh. He died
on July eighth, nineteen ninety four. Um And Elizabeth Montgomery died less than
a year later. Um And he was only sixty four and it was prosay
cancer. Oh gossip, though I've heard a rumor alleged. Note this is
not a fact. I heard that, Uh that Dick Sergeant and Tony Perkins
had a thing going on. Oh interesting, yeah him, Yeah, that's
the goss. I wonder what tab Hunter would have thought of that? Yeah,
I wonder so rest in peace, Um, Dick Sargent, the Dicks
r I p um all right, the one and only Agnes Moorehead who played
Indoor Samantha's mother, who had about a story to a career in Hollywood as
a person, show business as a person could have started starts out early in
life as a principal player in Orson Wells as Mercury Players theater Company stars with
them in the radio show The Shadow, the Famous you know, one of
the fa famous radio shows ever. Um, and then is his character's mother
and Citizen Kane like and this. One of my favorite movies as a kid
was the Charlotte's Web animated movie and she played a goose in it. That
was later late in her career. What are you talking oking about? I
love that movie. What are you talking talking about? Tubble double I double
F double lie. I love that. Apparently you talk about people getting tired
of the show. She did was not crazy about the show. Obviously she'd
done. You would look at what else she had done in her career in
doing this kind of what she mean. She referred to the scripts as hacky
or like hack scripts, and come on, they were compared to what she
had done before. And she kind of took the show not thinking it was
going to be successful, and then was kind of trapped by the show's success.
Hated the scripts, but then you know, it made her more famous
than she'd ever been before, and she got six Emmy nominations out of it.
Yeah. I don't think she was ever nasty about it. I think,
like it was in Montgomer, just bored with it. But she was.
She played along with the crazy makeup and the crazy outfits, and so
I don't think because she was in almost every episode two, along with Elizabeth
Montgomery most more than the Darren's I think she had apparently had a contract where
she would only be in seventy five percent of the episodes. Oh, she
would at least have some free time, yeah, to do other things and
not be doing this around the clock. Wow, suppose, but a lot.
She is so good. She's so good. I mean, you know,
if it was, I mean, yeah, it's got to be weird
to be that accomplished. I mean, hush, hush, sweet Charlotte.
And and um and sorry, wrong number was another radio show which is really
good. Actually that's on YouTube and if you listen to that one, Ellen's
that one's an insane radio show. Uh with with her she was in The
Conqueror, that famous film, Uh that it was Howard Hughes film. I
think we're all yeah, with all those people die to cancer they were filming
it, like where they were nuclear bomb testing and stuff. It's interesting,
like forty one percent of the crew got cancer after you know what, through
through during their life the rest of their lifetimes after that. So it's kind
of recurred referred to as a curse because supposedly they filmed near you know,
nuclear testing sites in Utah. Yeah, but it's also I guess kind of
been. It's been a little bit disproven and the the rate of cancer was
not beyond what the norm would be for that many people because of Twitter and
some people worked on the movie. And yeah, yeah, but that's I
mean, that's that's significant though, especially that was early on too. I
mean those guys died, you know, in the seventies, Edgins, Moorehead
and John Wayne died in the eighties I think, And so they died young,
a lot of them. Yeah, so uh yeah, And it's much
like well, much like a lot of things are attributed to it. So
I'm sure there's some stretches in there for sure. But but yeah, but
she was and she had remember that twilight zone she was in with the with
the aliens that landed there were there were the tiny aliens. That was a
good one. She was a lot of these people were in good twilight zones.
Magnificent Amberson's dark passage she was in. And uh and also now her
family were really devout Christians. They she was raised by an altar Christian like
preacher family, and she had a ranch in Ohio and she and eventually that's
it just gets unusual of all the places, she ended up being buried back
in Ohio. I went to her grave fairly recently too, and I was
like, why how did you end up here? But she had a ranch
in Ohio where she was actually from, and that's why she ended up back
there. And there's the rumor that she was a lesbian and that she had
an affair with Debbie Reynolds. That's always been the rumor. Now I knew
a guy. There's a guy I know by the name of Bose Hadley who
wrote a book called Hollywood Lesbians, and almost every woman that he spoke to
basically admitted to him that they were lesbians. But you know, they're all
dead now, so there's no way you can. You can you could prove
it, but uh but he he aluded. He said straight out that she
that she was. Um. I don't necessarily agree with that, and I
know that Debbie Reynolds took exception to that. Of course she would. But
I remember Carrie Fisher when when Eddie Fisher wrote his book, his tell all
book, that Carrie Fisher his daughter said I'm gonna have my DNA fumigated after
that because the book is so so really vulgar and and and he brought out
the whole lesbian Agnes moorehead think that that Debbie Reynolds was had an affair with
her. They were close, very very very close, but they weren't lovers.
I don't Apparently Paul Lynde was credited with being one of the main purveyors
of that rumor. He talked about it a lot, and I think at
one point said everybody the whole world knew she was gay or something like that.
Um. But yeah, Debbie Reynolds denied it, and I know others
close to her denied it, including I think I read somewhere that she had
an assistant or somebody that worked for her, I think that was gay,
and was like, no, he said she wasn't. And they basically blamed
it on Paul Lynde just spreading rumors. Yeah, Eddie Fisher though he did
because I would. Carrie Fisher. Um, she was pissed, I know,
because she told you know, she said I was gonna say, hey
when I sund I dropped these things like I you know, I'm friends with
them. I wasn't, but she did. When I talked to her about
it the book, she goes, this is my mother. He's telling you
know, my father is writing these things about my mother. And she was
really really angry about it. And Todd Fisher I listened to his book recently,
Debbie's Son and Uh and talks in date in great detail about the Agnes
moorehead relationship and how close they were, and there was some screwed up stuff
at the end of her life. She was Debbie Reynolds was supposed to be
the executive tricks of the estate, and some other family got in and got
everything and et cetera, et cetera. Was an ugly, ugly aftermath after
she passed away. But but but it's just yeah, it's sort of sad
because you don't really hear her talking. Talk about her being along with men
too much, you know, but that doesn't mean anything. She just might
not have been interested. But yeah, not everybody who's not in dating that's
to be gay. She called her Pelind called her one of the one of
the bull Dikes or something. Didn't he didn't he that's right, that's right,
something like that. Yeah, Paulin was a nasty drunk, though funny
guy, but a nasty drunk. Yeah. Um. Agnes Moore had passed
away on April thirtieth, nineteen seventy four. She'd been in kind of failing
health for years. I think she was she was seventy three, and I
think her eventual cause of death was uterine cancer. Yeah, so again that
you know that conqueror cancer curse. Um. And interestingly, her mother outlived
her by sixteen years. Her mother lived to be one hundred and six and
um she left you know, provisions in her will to take care of her
mother because you know, she knew she was she was dying and her mother
wasn't. And I think her mother was really her only person, you know
that she left behind in her estate. There had been a son, but
not really a son. I guess that she didn't consider a son, but
she'd had a foster son that she had had lived with her for a few
years, but I don't think she ever acknowledged him as being a relative of
hers, which is kind of I don't know what the I don't know what
that story is. But yeah, her mother I lived her by sixteen years
and was taken care of by more heads of state after she passed away.
Interesting she the house that Agnes Moore had lived in was in on Roxbury Drive
in in Beverly Hills, get down like two doors over from Rosemary Clooney and
the Gershwins, and Lucy was across the street in peter Fall. But they
it's kind of neat because they the people that own Agnes Moorehead's house now decorate
it for Halloween and not in the Agnes Moorehead necessarily, like they don't have
and Dora's like sitting around, but but they do, you know, embrace
the whole spooky sort of thing. On Halloween. You can go check or
treating at and Dora's house, which is kind of cool. That would yeah,
yeah, I think my favorite Halloween house is there's a house in Santa
Monica and the nice, fancy, nice neighborhood there and kind of north end
of Santa Monica that they have a child's jim aum in the front yard,
which is kind of unusual, like one of those metal dome shaped ones,
like what you would see in like a playground, and they put they put
fake black crows on it, like the birds have fun, which I think
is awesome. Yeah, that is cool. Have you been to that house
in Santa Monica that they based the Bewitched House on. No, I've never
ridden. I think it's on Eighteenth Street, but it is the Bewitched House.
It's mirror image. It's on a corner eighteenth and something. But if
you look at it, I mean it's it's undeniable. It's just the mirror
image. You know, it's like everything that the siding and the brick,
and but it just it just from right to left instead of that it's from
left to right. It's kind of it's kind of funny. Well, and
coincidentally, the house that they used for all the establishing shots on Three's company
is in Santa Monica. Oh really, if you ever look, it's it's
a photograph that they use the same photo throughout the entire run of the show.
Basically, they just took a picture of a round some he found it
though. It's down in kind of south center, kind of on the way
towards Venice, not far in the ocean. Yeah, someone has located I
mean it's I say, it's a house, even though it's supposed to be
a stand in for like more of a little apartment, you know, a
part an apartment complex. But I think in real life it's a house.
But yeah, someone found it. And then the Golden Girls House is just
north of east of there in Brentwood, that word, even though it's supposed
to be Florida. Yeah, and I think the Golden Girls House is still
there probably well, I probably would imagine so, because I think we'd heard
about it. If it isn't it, how could you tear that down?
You know, it's the hell with the viper room. The Golden Girls House
saved the real history. Yeah, Blanche. They did a heck of a
job though, finding that house, because I really, I always really did
believe it was in Florida. It always felt like a Florida house. And
apparently no, it's Brentwood. We'll see Mike and Hollywood. They do things
a little different east, thing called movie magic. Maybe you haven't heard.
Yeah, I mean it's not too far from OJ's house. Yeah, in
that general area. Yeah, I think so, yeah, oh that you
know? And um, what's her face? Um? The one it just
died? Betty White. She lived on Carmelina, which is that street that
Maryland die off of. You know, she's on fifth Helena. You know
there's like all the way to eighteen Helena's you know, there's fifth, sixth,
seventh day and Betty White was on Carmelina that all the Helenas are off
of. That's what I didn't forever and ever, Yeah, I need did
I actually I still remember that day we went we filmed over there, m
h without permission. It was great yeah, you know what, I was
just talking to somebody about that. Well, these guys that it took around
the other day we went to the Wonderland House and I was explaining that business,
you know, and it's like talk about you know, you gotta be
you gotta go rogue, you gotta go rogue. You have to that's my
best that's our best get ever, at least that I was a part of.
Yes, that was a hell of a that we got to walk around
inside the Wonderland Murder House. When you get an opportunity, it's like,
you know, I heard about it. It's like bam, I called you
and within an hour we were there the nearest camera I can find and we
ran over there. You can if you and um and you can the videos
on YouTube if you guys look it up. We posted it. It's a
classically for the faint of heart, though it does show dead people. So
yeah, yeah, the fact, yeah, well we talked about that before,
but they used we we edited the original crime scene footage that still let
the victims in it with the empty rooms when we were in it, and
that was that was that was something and it was famous for being the first
time that like video video tape footage was used to document a crime scene.
I think, yeah, was that the actual crime? So yeah, and
all the victims are you know that died or still there when they film it.
They had moved him yet, so well, rest in peace, Agnes
Moorehead. Do we want to talk about David White? Sure? Um.
David White played Darren Stevens's boss at the big advertising firm that he works at.
His character's name was Larry Tate and he was a White was a popular
character actor who did tons and tons of guest experiences like so many of these
others were talking about. He was also in Brewster's Millions with Richard Pryor,
which I really cool. Yeah, And tragically, his son died in the
lockerbee bombing of pan Am flight one h three in nineteen eighty eight, as
some was only thirty three years old, and he had previously lost his wife,
who was his son's mother. She died from complications after childbirth in the
fifties. Yeah, that's a kind of a tragic personal life, Yeah,
for sure. Yeah, it's funny. You know, I don't He's not
one of those characters that I looked back lovingly, you know. He was
he was so skeasy on the show and um and uh and uh but most
people agree that, you know, his son's death really did it for him
as as it would uh yeah, completely so uh yeah, so I think
his wife didn't die in childbirth, but very closely afterwards, I think and
uh so yeah sad but um and he and he's that very famous episode of
the Witch Word and Dora sculpts Darren and Larry Tates, uh busts their heads,
not their bust but they're just their heads. And they creep me the
heck out when they would turn and talk and that was so scary and um
and uh and he ended up getting that prop and putting it. It's in
his grave. I mean, that's his niche at Hollywood Forever as that heat
and uh yeah, because he died so you're the kindred trauma for you for
from that show is part of his memorial, which you know, and even
kind of weirder is that he it took him a long time to be several
years after he died, he was cremated and he and his son are together
in this niche at Hollywood Forever. O. Well before they were put there.
I bought my niche there, and my niche is two down and three
over. So I bought mine and they got there's later. And that head
is right above my niche at Hollywood forever. So so my kinder trauma is
going to be above me for all of eternity. M David White passed away
on November twenty seven, nineteen nineties, so just a couple of years after
his son died. He was seventy forty. He had a heart attack.
Um, since we just talked about the Larry take character, his wife was
played by Irene Vernon HM and for very only for the first season. Yeah,
And there's an interesting story here that I really want to into and I
couldn't find anything else about it about why she left. But what happened was
there was the lead producer and head writer on the first season of Bewhich,
who I think maybe it's somewhat credited for having a lot of you know,
obviously a lot of creative input and how the show came out was a guy
named Danny Arnold, and he left the show after the first season. And
the unofficial story is that Irene Vernon then, who played the wife of Larry
Tate, was fired because she was close friends with Danny Arnold, and I
think there was whatever reason he left was not was bad blood or something,
and she was kind of asked to leave the series by Montgomery and Asher and
was kind of forced out, although I think the official thing was that she
was she needed to take time off to take care of her husband who was
sick. So and Danny Arnold, the writer and producer the left. He
went on a decade later. He had a long storied career. I think
he got the WGA Lifetime Achievement Award in nineteen eighty five. He created the
Barney Miller series eight years later, so he had a huge but he was
apparently a very difficult, kind of a difficult person to work with. I
think the word determined bipolar was dropped him one of the things I was reading
about him. So I'm really fascinated. I would love to know the inside
story of why Danny Arnold left and how that also led Irene Vernon having to
also leave after that. Yeah, first season, and at that point though
it was probably it was just a stupid show. Nobody knew anything about it.
You know, it was only on for one year so at that point,
so I mean I'm not dismissing that, but it's like, well,
you know, you're not welcome here anymore, or you can stay and we'll
make your life really miserable. You know, they might have been invited,
if she might have been invited to leave, or may have left on her
own volition. But and then we got the lovely Casey Rogers. Yes,
so Irene Vernon passed away on April twenty first, nineteen ninety eight. She
was seventy six from congestive heart failure and coronary artery disease. M So rest
in peace, I mean, and yes, she was replaced in the same
role by Casey Rodgers, who took over the part of Larry Tate's wife and
ran and had that totally you know for the rest of the run of the
series. Yeah, yeah, she was well. Thus the portrait behind me
this is from one of the episodes of which it was. It was an
episode where and Dora put a curse on Darren. That or no, Samantha
was wanted to be an artist. No, Darren wanted to be an artist.
I think it was anyway, Darren painted a portrait of Louise Tate.
It was actually and Dora that made it look really good, and Larry Tate
saw it and brought his wife over to see it in the meantime, and
Doris switched it over to this one, so it was it's called the Goofy
Louise Tate uh and uh and so I had this one made for Troy a
couple of years ago for Christmas. So it actually does have a proper place
of honor in our home. We know, it's not like stuck away somewhere.
It's featured. So if you're not, if you're if you're not watching
the video version for this episode, Scott has had this painting on display over
his shoulder. Um, and it is a very wonky looking Louise Tate with
the cross eyes and the funky teeth and yeah, goofy Louis. Where do
you have it on display in your house? Well, it's in their family
room, so you know the rumpest rooms. Yes, So if you're coming
off the patio, that's the painting is heading straight and looking right at you.
So well one of the eyes is yeah. Yeah. Her stage name
because Casey Rogers is not her birth name. She was born Josie Rogers.
Her stage name was because I guess as a kid she was good at baseball,
so the kids started calling her Casey, you know, for the Casey
at the Bat poem. And later on a manager you know, recommended that
she you know, changed the sea to a K and go by Casey Rogers.
So that's what she did. And I remember she was she started because
when she started, she wanted to look like the original one. And she
was wearing a black wig for a long time and then Asher said, what
are you wearing that wig for? She said, well, you told me
too. He goes, no, no, do what you you know,
just look normal. So she left. She put the took the wig off
after that. But yeah, it was like a Serena wig. I mean
it was really dark and it didn't look you know, but sixties wigs never
did look good and uh and uh yeah, so she went natural. For
the last couple of years of Bewitched. You know, Luise Tate was not
a huge character. You know, she was the wife of a side character
basically right right right, But you know, after everyone dropped dead, it
was you know, her, Casey Rogers and Bernard Fox. She played Doctor
Bombay and Sandra Could played We're going to talk about these others that we're doing
the conventions. Same with Aaron Murphy doing all the Bewitch conventions, so it
was kind of She also wrote several books on cooking and crafting, and I
think one of them was called the Bewitched Cookbook Magic in the Kitchen. So
there you go, there you are. Don't don't quit the hit. You
get some milk out of that turn up or whatever the hell expression is.
You know, but well, in the seventies, was an early proponent of
female motocross racing, which I thought was interesting and founded a founded uh that
organization? She was found an organization for female motorcycle racers. Wow, yep,
who knew? Who knew that? Wikipedia? Wikipedia? Somebody told me.
Somebody said that they went up to her at an autograph show. A
friend of might told me this and said to Casey Rogers, you are the
glue that held that show together. And she was like, thanks, that
sounds so terrible. It's not so mean. I mean, she was she
was people's best friend and stuff like that. So she was very into cooking
and crafting, and she actually tried to get a crafting show going at one
point that never got took off. I don't know what that was going to
be. But she should have been a hit on YouTube, you know,
really totally yeah. But unfortunately she passed away on July sixth, two thousand
and six. She was eighty. She died from a stroke and I be
theere She's at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills. Oh God, what is it
now? It's just it started coming to me now I should know this.
I should know this aff time. And there was an episode of a show.
Gosh, I should I should be researching a train now. At the
end of the show whatever it was, Casey Rogers and Bernard Fox, who
were the only characters that were left from Bewitched at that point, blew up
the Bewitched house at the end of some show. God, what was this?
I got to look it up right now, but it happened. We're
looking things up live people. I want to buy that Bewitched cookbook now I
cook you know what I have it, I'll give it to you. Oh
I would love that. I would love I would love to exchange it.
Yes, So an episode of Home Improvement, Casey Rogers, Sandrac Goold and
Um and Bernard Fox blew up the Bewitched house. I mean didn't really do
it, but they went to the back lot that weren't a ranch to the
Bewitch set and much like you know it just they whatever movie magic, television
magic, blew up the Bewitched House. Um yeah, and you know the
Bewitched House is going to be torn down soon. You know, it's the
one in Santa Monica. No, no, the one, the TV one
that's on the war ranch. They it's where the Friends fountain wise and they've
they've moved the Friends Fountain now to the Warner Brothers down the street and all
that that whole street is going to be demolished for more sound stages. So
the Bewitched House, the idream of Genie House, the Partridge Family House,
which was also the Kravitz House, uh, and the stuff that was using
the music man and you know, just all these cool television houses, um
are all gonna be torn down now, which is very very sad. But
I wish I could have the Bewitched House. I got to do it one.
I got to drive through the lot, the back lot the Warner Ranch
in my car and pull up into the Bewitched driveway and get out and go
into the front door of the Bewitched house. It's like, I wish I
would have got down video. But I do have a picture of my car
in the Bewitched driveway, which was which was pretty cool. That's also yeah,
that's that's all gonna be torn down. But the address was eleven sixty
four Morning Glory Circle was the Bewitched address. There you go, Yeah,
you're like so. So Casey ros passed away on July sixth, two thousand
and six. She was eighty and it was a stroke and she is at
Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, allegedly RP Casey Rogers. So Alice Pierce played
the nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz and I rewatched, you know, part of season
one again before we did this, and she was my favorite character. I
loved her. She's the nosy neighbor and she sees what's going on, but
nobody believes her, and she's treated like she's crazy, which I think is.
I think it's hilarious, the whole bits with her husband and everything,
and I think it's I think it's one of them our entertaining parts of the
show. Interestingly, she opposed supposedly turned down the role of Grandmama in the
Adams family. Okay, I can see that. I can see a lot
of crossover back and forth of characters and actors, you know, a bunch
of Yeah, another one of those actors or actresses at a show up in
every single show at all, you know, of every sixties show. But
and what a face I mean. She she had the face for comedy,
you know what I mean? She the sour Lowe. Yeah, pulling those
expressions like like like crazy. She was. She was a great Gladys Kravit.
She really was um. And she had a tragic story. She apparently
already knew that she had terminal cancer when she took the role before the first
season even filmed, and she kept it a secret. And she had ovarian
cancer. And so she died about a year and a half into the show's
run on March third, nineteen sixty six. She was only forty eight years
old. And she won a posthumous Emmy two months after she died, And
I thought this was interesting. Elizabeth Montgomery and her husband William Asher, gave
her husband a job directing Bewitched after she died, because he had been a
director and it supposedly kind of put his career on hold, you know when
she got sick to kind of take care of her. Huh interesting, really
nice if that's true. Yeah for sure. Wow, yeah, I didn't
know that. Well, the actress died as as you just said. And
then for a few episodes they were they didn't they didn't know what to do
with it with the character, so they brought in this Mary Grace Canfield,
who was another sixties staple who to play Abner kravitz sister for a few episodes
until they decided to replace the character with a new missus Kravitz. So it
wasn't for very many episodes that she was in there, but then she became
famous for being Ralph on Green Acres one at the Handyman Ralph and Alf.
So yeah, and then they brought in Saunder Gould, who was again one
of those people that was in a billion different things during Mcgeenie, I Love
Lucy, also the ghost of Mister Chicken, and and she well, they
say that Alice Ghostly was offered the role of missus Kravitz. First, Alice
Ghostly, who ended up playing as Morelda the Maid. So here's what's weird.
Alice Ghostly, who played Esmeralda The Maid originally played the Tate's maid next
Door I'm Bewitched, So Alice Ghostly was turned down the role of Gladys.
Kravitz took the role of the maid from the Larry Larry and Louise Tate.
And then when Marian Lorne, who played Aunt Clara, died on the show,
then Alice Ghostly was given the part of Esmeralda to basically be the same
character. It's confusing because they're all interchangeable. So and so was offered this
role, turned it down, ended up getting this role. This one died,
We're bringing in this one, you know. It was like chess pieces.
But Sandra goold God. I ran into her at one of those autograph
shows and she was just cramming a subway sandwich in her face and just cramming
in her face. I started talking to her and I told her what I
did, and she started spitting at me, like Howking music because he usually
have me on your tour as a guest. And it was like this spraying
subway sandwich all over me. Nice lady, don't get me wrong, but
those things are so bizarre. I mean, those autograph shows are great.
I mean I went in one and the chicken plates snow white. Adriana Casolatti
was, you know, smoking a cigarette in the bathroom, you know,
eating and it's like, you know this. I helped Kevin McCarthy like pee
once because he couldn't get around very well. This is a guy that it
was invasion of the body snatchers. He was in the accident with Montgomery Clift
and and Kevin McCarthy, and I was helping him pee. Because that sounds
so nice. I don't mean that to be mean. I don't. It's
just these are the situations you end up in in Los Angeles. The weirdest
things happened to you, and you're gonna go You're not gonna believe what just
happened to me. And I know who is your co host in Hollywood Death
Trip? Hello Haaris. Yeah. She talked about going to them and how
she her shoulder always smells like bo after every one of them because she's tiny,
she's short, and everybody puts their arm around her shoulder and she ends
up with all it's like a hundred armpits on her shoulder. That's right.
She said she has special convention clothes because because yeah, people are always touching
you and yeah she was such a tiny girl. Yeah, that's funny.
But I love those conventions. I love those conventions. God, I got
to talk to so many amazing people. I mean, Casey Rogers and Bernard
Fox and Sandra Gold and all these people, you know, the guy Jan
from Jan and Dean and I've met so many cool people at these places.
It's so neat anyway. Yeah, and I mean I met I met Lana
Clarkson at one right before she was d by Phil Smith. Yeah, it's
crazy, Well we should you doing? What was it for? We?
Um? She was at a convention down by Lax And it was right after
I'd moved to La. I hadn't been her for very long, and I
was I was working on a micro budget vampire movie that never got finished,
and at one point they needed just a scream queen day player bit part and
they knew about her, and so me and one of the producers went to
this convention and met with her and gave her the script and talked to her.
She's very nice, shook the script and she apparently was interested. And
then, um, we didn't hear from her, and I'm the producer is
getting kind of upset that she wasn't calling us peck. He had seen the
news and then he called me in a panic. He was at the grocery
store and he saw the story and like a magazine or in a newspaper there
and realized that she was who Phil Spector had murdered. And he's like,
oh my gosh, somebody's got the lost footage. So the last footage of
a lone of Clarkson is still can well she never she never shot it.
Oh okay. That was why he was upset, because she seemed interested.
And then we never heard from her again, and we're trying to put her
at like, trying to schedule her to come in and do the scene.
And yeah, that's how her I remembered. Anyways, this was, you
know, twenty years ago, but that's how I remember it unfolding in so
um okay. So Sounder Gold died following heart surgery after a stroke on July
twentieth, nineteen ninety nine. She was eighty three years old. Now.
Her husband, Abner Kravitz, was played by George Tobias, and George Tobias
was in Buy Cheat Sheets here, but he was in he was in Mildred
Pierce. He was in the original Hunchback of Notre Damn. Not a featured
person, you know, just one of those people. He was in Yankee
Doodle Dandy with Jimmy Cagney. He was in the glass Bottom Boat Door's Day
movie in Tora Tora Tora. I mean, these are classic movies. But
everyone knows him as Abner Kravitz from from Bewitched, and he did um After
Bewitch went off the air in nineteen seventy seven, there was a series for
like one year called Tabitha, and as as guests on Tabitha, both George
Tobias and Sandra gool played Kravitz's on one of the episodes, which is kind
of kind of neat that they did that, But he himself is interesting.
He died of bladder cancer back in nineteen eighty I think it was, but
I know the guy who who picked his body up at Cedars and he had
him in not a Hurst but in a station wagon and they were taking George
Tobias to the mortuary and they got into a car accident right at the corner
of Sierra Bonita and Sunset, which is where they where Lady Gaga's dog got
you know, died, his kidnapped to put him. But so they got
into an accident with George Tobias in the back of the of the station wagon.
They got out, left the keys in it, and somebody stole the
station wagon with George Tobias's body in it, and they made it about two
blocks. So they got to Sierra Bonita and Franklin and realized what they did,
and they ditched. They ditched the station wagon with Abner Kravitz's body in
it, which is which is kind of fun, I think. So.
Yeah, George Tobias's body, you know, did not stop moving after he
died, and uh, but now he is. He's been buried in um
somewhere else. I am so tired. So he's buried somewhere else. I
don't know anyways, Rest in peace, Sandra Gold Gold and George Tobias and
George Tobias. Why not you got a bonus name in there. Marion Lauren
played Aunt Clara. Yeah, and I really wanted to mention this one because
it's very interesting. So Alice Pierce wins an Emmy for Best for Outstanding Performance
by an Actress in the Supporting Role in Comedy. She wins it, you
know, posthumously two months after she dies. And then Marian Lauren has a
heart attack in nineteen sixty eight at the age of eighty four while still doing
playing the character of Aunt Clara, and ten days after she dies, she
wins an Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Comedy Emmy,
the same award. Yeah, both won posthumously for the same show.
I can't imagine that that's ever happened before. That's got to be a one
and only. Yeah, they had a hell of a cast, though,
you know, and there were so many people going here and there, and
you know, I mean all those there were a hell of a lot of
nominations on that show, you know, I think of a lot. So
but yeah, and Mary and Lauren was so wonderful as Aunt Clara. I
mean she was just you know what they would say now, they'd say she
has Alzheimer's or something, you know, because I mean, you know,
she was always forgetting things, I always screwing up her spells and everything.
But but she's so beloved and she was in her she made her I think
she made her her film debut and Strangers on a Train the Hitchcock movie first
movie, and I think the last appearance that she did was in The Graduate
and she had a scene with Alice Ghostly, who was as Marilda. They're
like party. I think they were like party guests in the hotel or something
like that. Probably it's been many years since I've seen that movie to I
have to revisit that one. And but she and in real life collected door
knobs and she would bring them on the set and they would they wrote it
into the character that she collected door knobs. And Aaron Murphy, the Tabitha
woman told me that Marian Lore gave her a door knob and I'm like,
really, can you bring it? Because she spoke at one of my events.
She goes, oh, I don't know, I lost it somewhere.
I'm like, how do these people? How can you have one of Mary
and Lauren's door knobs and nuts still have it? I don't understand people.
That thing would be like on a velvet pillow, you know, with a
single Like makes me crazy, how can you not have that? But anyway,
so she was I think she was in twenty twenty seven episodes. I
think that's a which a significant that's a lot of episodes and uh and uh
yeah, because she was when she passed away, it was no mention of
it on the show whatsoever. And next up came as Morelda, the other
sort of forgetful screwing up spells all the time made. And Mary and Lauren
died on May ninth, nineteen sixty eight. She was eighty four years old,
and she's buried in Ferncliff Cemetery in New York State. Oh that's a
nice name for a cemetery. There there's a road down the down not too
far from me called maryon Lane, and I keep saying it's Mary and Lauren
because I liked her so much that you should alter the sign Mary and Lauren
Street, and they would have that out here. See so I love they
have like Ginger Rogers Road, Bob Hope. I live right off Frank Sinatra.
There's Dean Martin down this street. It's such a such a buddy Rogers
and mont Hall, the police departments on Monty Hall. I love that,
such a bizarre place. But and then so then after Mary and Lauren came
Alice Ghostly, who was Asmeralda the Maid, who was um also famous for
being on Designing Women, which is a hilarious show that she again sort of
played the als Merelda character a bit more wacky, bit more of a sex
fiend in a way, but innocently so, and a very funny, very
funny lady. So Alice Ghostly funny enough when I did when I first moved
to la in ninety four and I was doing the grave Line tour, a
group of women rented our tour and um and she it was her. I'm
like, I turned around, like why you and she goes, oh,
yeah, and we you know, it was like it was really cool because
her sister was there too, and I mean I maintained communication with her sister,
Alice after Alice Ghostly died. But but it was just the weirdest thing
because you know, she did say, well, you know, what's she
gonna say, I'm Alice Ghostly. It was just a bunch of girls,
women that rented my bot and she was one of them. And she wouldn't
take a picture with the hers unfortunately, that would have been really good.
But she's the one that told me about Larry Tate's son dying in Lockerbie back
in the early nineties, so I think but she Also, it's kind of
interesting. So Alice Ghostly after Bewitched was over with, she ended up in
a lot of different shows. She shouldn't. She ended up on Designing Women,
And the guy who plays Anthony on Designing Women, his name was me
Shock Taylor. I think I got to talk to him in one of these
autograph shows and I started asking him about Alice Ghostly and he said that Alice
Ghostly was a scream He says, they would be She would say something and
everyone in the cast would just start cracking up, and Alice Ghostly would be
like, what the fuck are you laughing about? You know, like like
very deadpan. It's a really good sense of humor. And also Paul Lynde
and Alice Ghostly were friends. And what I've come to learn is that Alice
Ghostly was that original character that Paulin sort of took that kind of you know,
had had a sort of tone of voice that Paul Lynn sort of lifted
from Alice Ghostly. Alice. You know, everyone thinks Alice Goostly is like
the female paul nn, but actually it's it's vice versa. Paulin sort of
took Alice Ghostly's persona and went with it um and it's sort of interesting.
But Alice Ghostly was always very polite about that. But I did ask her
about Agnes Moorehead being a lesbian and all she said was, oh, I
heard that too. And I did show her from death but they got Yeah.
I did show her Paul Lynn's death house too. She didn't give me
anything on Paulin. That would have been kind of cool to get more out
more on that, but it was cool to have her in the back of
my car. I wish I would have got a picture, but I did
have an autograph that she did sign Best Witches Alice Ghostly, which I can't
believe her name was Ghostly and she wouldn't take a picture with the hearse thank
you. I'm with you, Scott. Yeah. And she when she died,
it was in two thousand and seven. She was eighty four years old,
and she was cremated and her remains were buried in her backyard with her
husband under an orange tree for a long time, and then when the house
was sold, I guess, thankfully. I think they were in urns.
They dug him up and took him back east, and I think they're buried
in Ohio. Too, but but she's actually and her sister now who who
I was acquaintances with, is buried there with her. But she, you
know, just another one of those great old sixties character actresses and rest in
peace, Alice Ghostly, So that I mean naturally leads us to Paul Lynde,
another classic sixties actor. He was He went to Northwestern University. His
classmates were Chloris Leech and Charlotte Ray and um and uh, Jeffrey Hunter,
Patrician Neil and he was. There was a show called The New Faces of
nineteen fifty two on Broadway, and this thing launched like some major characters,
and Paulin was part of that, along with Earth the Kit and Alice Ghostly
and Uh. Eventually Paulin got the part of mister McAfee and by by Bertie
on Broadway, and then that brought him sort of to more national attention,
and he started getting parts on television and he was one of those that spending
a billion different things amunsters and a lot, and he was in Son of
Flumber Flubber, Son of Flubber, Beach, Blanket, Bengo, Bill Asher
and Uh, and that's probably how he got to the attention of William Asher
to hire him to be Uncle Arthur, but he was first on Bee which
as a driving instructor, not as Uncle Arthur. But they liked him and
they brought him back, so he was. He was one that was an
only I think ten episodes as Uncle Lar but again a classic actor that's almost
synonymous with Bewitched, even though he wasn't in that many wow. Oh and
also Templeton in Charlotte's Webb he was a porch Templeton and you know Templeton,
the rat, you know the Yeah, Agnes moorehead was the goose. He
was. And he had this amazing Holly Halloween special which is on YouTube,
the Paul Lynde Halloween Special with Margaret Hamilton as a witch and it's I mean,
she does the whole wicked witch thing. And that was in nineteen seventy
six. Billy Hayes who was Witchy Poo on Puff and Stuff and Donnie and
Marie were on that show as well. And an interesting story. He was
a drinker, heavy drinker, nasty, nasty drinker, like he would turn.
They said he was fine up until about four drinks and he would turn.
But there was an incident that happened with him in New York that it
was a nineteen sixty five I think that he was partying or partying with some
kid, twenty four year old guy. All of us said they were he
They were horsing around, was the quote, and drinking a lot, and
it was San Francisco. Actually fell off this kid fell off the eighth floor
of a balcony of this hotel in San Francisco. So that kind of was
a who knows what really happened, but you know, they were drinkers big
time. And also, you know, paulnn was gay, and it was
at a time where he hardly hit his homosexuality, but it probably hindered his
choices as far as work goes, which is why he was on the Hollywood
Squares as much as he was, and resented that too because it sort of
pigeonholed him literally the Center Square. Did you ever watch his show, the
Paul Inn Show, Oh, the sitcom? Yeah? What was the set
up for it? I don't even know. Well, it was probably just
a father you know, I remember there were kids, right, but sitcom?
Yeah, I think it was basically just that, probably going on the
Byebye Birdie thing too, which which fished him off when he was made when
he was in the Bybye Birdie film, because he was supposed to be the
star of it, well the yeah, basically the star of it. But
Anne Margaret, it was her first movie, and he was like, well,
I was the big cheese on Broadway. Uh, you know, although
Dick van Dyck was a title, it was a star. But I mean
Paul Lynn was going to be the big deal. And then it became introducing
Anne Margaret and Paul Lynn kind of added ship on his shoulder about that too.
But um, but he was say he was a legendary drinker. And
he passed away on January tenth, nineteen eighty two. It's fifty five years
old. Had a heart attack in his sleep, I think, was the
official ruling. Yeah, a lot of rumors about his death. A lot
of people think that say that he was doing poppers with a with a male
prostitute, and that was always yeah, and he had a heart attack after
that. But it turns out that he was good friends with Paul Barisi,
who was the detective. But Paul Barisi was friends with Paul Lynde and Paul
Barresi is the one who found Paul Lynn's body. And they always say that,
you know, somebody was with Paul Lynde when he died, but that's
not he said that. Paul Barisi said that the house was locked and alarmed,
and when he broke into the house, the alarm went off. So
and it was when Paul Lynn like didn't show up for a birthday party or
something, I think, yeah, I went over to check on him.
Yeah, yeah, but yeah, he was a Facebook friend of mine,
Paul Barsi, Barisi for a while. There's a rabbit hole. Look up
Paul Barresi and John Chavolta. That'll get you busy for a while. So
just a couple of other characters that I wanted to talk about. One of
them was Bernard Fox, who played Doctor Bombay. He was in I believe
he was in nineteen episodes with a total of twenty nine costume changes. He
was a very famously you know, calling Doctor Bombay, calling Doctor Bombay,
emergency, come right away, and he would show up in scuba gear or
you know, skiing with a beautiful woman on his side and U and he
was also he did an episode of that Tabitha show as well, so that
you had the Kravitz as well, and he was born in Wales, Port
Talbot, Wales, which is where peg End Twistles from who jumped up the
Hollywood Sign. And also Anthony Hopkins is from Port Talbot, Wales. It's
a little tiny town and I think Shirley Bassi's from there too, and he
is. Bernard Fox was in the movie Titanic, the Big One with Leonardo
DiCaprio, but he was also in the first one, A Night to Remember,
in nineteen fifty eight, where he played the guy in the Crow's nest
saying Iceberg right ahead. So Bernard Fox was in A Night to Remember and
in Titanic, which is kind of an interesting bit of trivia that he was
in both the major Titanic movies. And an asked away on December fourteen,
twenty sixteen, at the age of eighty nine years old. A quick mention
of Mabel Anderson, who played the mother Darren's mother, Phyllis Stevens, who
always had a sick headache, and she was the neurotic one that kind of
had the idea that Samantha was a witch and was never she would see stuff
kind of like like Sandra Goldwood or Alice Pears as the Alice as the Gladys
Kravitz character. She was the sister of Jack Albertson who was Willy Wonka,
Grandpa Joe Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. And she was also in Barefoot
in the Park. She was on What's Up, Doc. She was and
also one of those make Room for Daddy Gunsmoke Andy Griffith's show A Billion things
like that, and she died in September twenty eight, nineteen eighty two,
complications from Alzheimer's. And then Maurice Evans who played Urice and Dora's ex husband,
Samantha's father who he was also in The Tabitha Show with Lisa Hartman.
He was in Rosemary's Baby. He played a warlock in Rosemary's Baby as well.
Maurice Evans died on March nineteen eighty nine at the age of eighty seven.
Another accomplished like as in John Gielgood actor classic British actor that is best
known for being on Bewitched for twelve episodes at least two American audiences. And
then I think that's what I have as far as the actors from b which
I think that's pretty much all of them. I wanted to talk quickly about
one of the artifacts that we have in our museum. So Liz Sheridan,
who was in this relationship with James Dean for a year, which is significant.
Her nickname was Dizzy Sheridan. She was also signed I think Jerry Seinfeld's
mother on Seinfeld who Liz Sheard and was a regular on SEINFELDT. And when
Elizabeth Montgomery died, Liz Sheridan got this wicker sete and now it's mine.
It ended up in our museum, and it was kind of funny because I
did that short YouTube series with Aaron Murphy who played Tabitha, and we did
it sitting on Elizabeth Montgomery's settee, which is that's awesome. Yeah, yeahs.
I love those kind of like little poetic pieces of silliness. But and
we cannot finish this without about at least addressing for just a moment, the
Bewitched movie that was made Will Ferrell. Yeah, talk about a missed opportunity.
You know, we used to play, of course, we're gays is
what we do. We used to sit in bars and drink and cast a
Bewitch movie just for conversation, and they and Nicole Kidman was always going to
be Samantha Steve. She's perfect choice. Now instead of Will Ferrell. For
Darren, we would have had Jim Carrey. I think he would have been
a very good Darren. Oh, he would have nailed it, You're right.
And for dra they had Joan Collins in the movie. No, no,
that Shirley McClain in the movie. But Joan Collins would have been perfect
as Endorra. Those would have been That was our dream. Our dream cast
was those. I think Michael Caine was fine as Maurice the Father, but
those those guys would have been good. But the whole show, I think
New York Times said it was that movie was an unmitigated disaster, and it's
a real shame because they had a lot of opportunity to be really special.
Yeah, it was just an uninspired script. I think. Yeah, yeah,
we remake a movie. I don't care, it doesn't matter to me.
That doesn't affect the original one as far as I'm concerned. But they
really missed the boat with that one. Yeah, it's unfortunate. But there
you are. Speaking of reboots. Did you see The West Side Story,
the new one? Did I see it? Yeah? No, Oh,
the Spielberg. Yeah, you can see it. No, No, I'm
not. I'm not into I'm not into the musicals so much, so I'm
not either. But because it was Spielberg and West Side Story, I was
in West Side Story in high school, so I had a connection. And
then the fact that the Spielberg and I did an amazing job on it.
That it's good, it's really good. But now I'm not a big musical
guy either. Anyways, I'll cut that out. You don't have to,
because it's interesting, it's fascinating, Mike, I love talking about That's my
life. My conversations go nowhere. The last thing I guess we could talk
about, just briefly was is the the Children bewitch to two boys the Adam.
You know, it was sort of like the they would say jump the
shark, but be which was done. I think that last season, you
know, before it started, it was like an obligation, We're just gonna
do this. That was like a financially motivated almost or or maybe a um
contractually obligated. And they did have the sun Adam and we're twin boys David
and Greg Lawrence who had turned out later were Tony Curtis's kids that that was
announced on some talk show that they they were The term illegitimate isn't politically correct
anymore, but they were a a product of an affair that Tony Curtis had,
these twin boys, and as far as I know, they're still alive.
I haven't looked, but but yeah, well they are. I did
look. They are alive. I would hope so there would think. You
know, we're talking about these Did you do you watch that WandaVision show?
You watch that? Yeah? It was amazing. Did you like it?
Really? I M I lost interest really quickly in it. I know it's
not for everybody, but it really if you get you gotta get through the
first three episodes. It gets more interesting as it goes. It expands beyond
the kind of limited black and white sitcom vibe at the beginning. It really
it goes through the eras really fast, through the decades of television quickly after
a certain point. Yeah, I thought, And they did do it like
an almost identical Bewitched episode, as I understand it. On one, like
they recreated the sets and everything. I think there's something like that. Yeah,
they did that in the few episodes that I watched they did that quite
I mean redoing the Dick van Dyke living room and stuff like that. That
was incredible. So the amount of detail that they put into these things is
really incredible. But uh, but yeah, I never saw that. I
didn't make it as far as the Bewitched one goes. Anyway, another another
episode down right, we did it. That's Bewitched, everybody. Yeah,
there's I think our podcast is probably longer than the entire season. Yeah,
it was. You can watch, Um, you can buy seasons of Bewitched
on Amazon on I want to say maybe or on Paramount. Maybe through Amazon,
I can, I'm not exactly sure. Um, and I don't know
if it's streaming free anywhere, but you can definitely get it on Amazon if
you want to go back, and Bewitched movie pretty easily on Oh gosh,
yeah, I think you could actually get it for cheaper than you could buy
a season of which for sure. They It's interesting to watch these old shows
too, because they're a product of their time, and you know, the
roles of husbands and wives that kind of old fashions, you know, the
housewife and cooking dinner for the husband and trying to know when he's going to
be home for it and all. It's interesting to watch them, and I
want to watch it. Um. I want to skip through some seasons and
get because you know, a lot happened in the world between nineteen sixty four
and nineteen seventy two when this show began and ended, and I would love
to go compare, you know, and contrast the last season with the first
season, just to see how things changed culturally. And you know, yeah,
yeah, it's interesting that first season when you see like and Dora coming
down and she's actually very you know, sort of conservative, and she became
this clown, you know, towards the end. I mean, I loved
it, but it's the way the crazy red hair and the you know,
the wild makeup, and she wasn't like that at the beginning. Yeah,
I went back and watched. Um, I watched I binged all of Cheers,
Oh my god, a couple of years ago, which I never really
watched it. I mean, I was a kid when that was on and
watching a you know, a show about adults hanging out in the bar wasn't
really my thing. But what was really interesting about it was that, you
know, Ted Danson's character, he's the lead character in it. He is
at the beginning of the run, he's a total womanizer, and so many
of the gags you know, on his character, his Sam Malone character.
You know, he's this ex baseball player womanizing guy. But as the show
progressed through the eighties and headed into the nineties, that went away, that
went away almost completely, and because it was no longer cool for him to
be, you know, a womanizer, and the misogynistic jokes went away,
and stuff that was funny in you know, nineteen eighty two or eighty three,
we're not funny anymore by you know, the late eighties. Yeah,
it's interesting out that more so I really want to watch I want to watch
Bewitched and these old shows like this that ran for a long time, just
to see how that how the dynamics changed and how the characters kind of altered.
Yeah, yeah, because I seem to recall, there was a couple
of uh yeah, it's very socially relevant episode just leave it at that,
and the very special episode as they would call it. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, the after school specials. But yeah, cool stuff. Which what
a great show it was and is still and it is still You could watch
it and it holds up. You know, Yeah, some shows just don't
and that one will always and the effects for being on a TV budget,
the effects that they had to do in every episode are not terrible. Yeah,
they're actually pretty cool. You know, she has to do a lot
of because you just do Witchcraft all the time. And actually there was some
pretty cutting edge effects for their time that they did with that UM stuff.
You know, we're compositing in like the Jack and the Beanstock one is a
good example where they have to show large people standing next to small people and
you know that was all done with the probably back then like blue screen,
yeah, green screen. But yeah, yeah, they did really good job.
The cut takes were a bit choppy, but it didn't matter because it
was it was. It was great. And also the way they masked them
with those explosions, when like major characters would show up with the smoke effects
and stuff like that, that was always so cool. But uh, and
the split screen with UM with Samantha and Serena is always really interesting to watch
closely because that's a that's a that's an interesting effect. I mean they did
that with two pieces of film, didn't they and spiced them together. I
mean that's that's what they would have had to do with the split screen,
right, I mean, yep, that's right. And uh so that's interesting.
Well, thanks everybody for joining us. Again, the world keeps getting
crazier, but we stay the same level, stame level. All the energy
that we started this show still that that day we started in El Coyote.
It's still still got the fire. Oh yeah, thank you so much.
So thank you guys for watching. Appreciate it. And Mike, it's always
a pleasure to spend time with you. You as well, Scott, and
again, check out um if you want. We always make these shows free,
but check out our Patreon if you want to throw a few bucks our
way. It's always appreciated. Then you get you get a freepison episode,
that's right, and no one else gets. So yeah, that's right.
Um, So thanks and again everybody for joining us, and we'll see you
on the next one. Until next time, Danner Natter. This has been
an episode of the Dearly Department podcast. Dig up more episodes at Dearly departedpod
dot com and on iTunes and Google Play. See you next time.