MovieChat Forums > Bewitched (1964) Discussion > THe Bewitched "Menagerie"

THe Bewitched "Menagerie"


Can't think of any show that has employed such a wide variety of animals. But not surprising, since so many of the characters had magic powers and could change humans into animals or vice versa.

I started to make a list and it became very long by the end of season three!

'It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog' was only the third episode shown. Sam turned Darrin's horndog client into a real dog,Rex Barker, that's a "subtle" name! ha! Besides being funny, the episode resonates on a serious level.
Of course Darrin was upset that Sam turned his client into a dog. But Sam was more upset that she was practically accosted by Rex and Darrin didn't seem to care. That is, until the end when he punches Rex in the nose.

Darrin flies to Chicago to meet with a beautiful client and Endora turns herself into a pelican to keep an eye on him. But Darrin thinks the Siamese cat he encounters is actually Sam spying on him.

The same cat shows up in 'Ling Ling' when Samantha turns her into a beautiful woman and Darrin uses her in his ad campaign.

In the earlier episode with seductress Sarah Baker, Sam temporarily turns Darrin into a goldfish to keep him from her clutches.

A memorable episode, season two starts off with Sam wanting to tell her wonderful baby news to Darrin. But Aunt Clara has turned him into a chimp. One of my favorites, funny and sentimental.

Later when Sam encounters a black Peruvian rose and breaks out in green spots, Aunt Clara conjures up an ostrich feather as part of the cure. Only she gets the whole ostrich.

What was that like on the set? Ostriches can be mean and have a powerful kick.

Never cared for 'The Horse's Mouth' until recently. I gave it another try and Patty Regan does a delightful job as an escaped racehorse, Dolly, who is resentful because she is "never allowed to run my own race." The horse Sam finds in her backyard was a beautiful animal.

A very young Richard Dreyfuss shows up and wants Samantha. He turns himself into a dog so he can hang around and break up her marriage. Of course Darrin loves the dog!

Endora turns Darrin's client ,Toni Devlin, into a cat. That slimy P.I. Charlie Leach kidnaps her in "The Catnapper". Sam gets the last laugh when she turns HIM into a mouse! Never try blackmailing a witch.

Another favorite of mine is the Halloween party when one of the guests is Eva, a woman who becomes a cat. Or is she a cat who becomes a woman? I NEVER was sure which it was!

Then there was Fergus the frog turned human and his gal Phoebe. Sam obliges Fergus, takes the curse off him and returns him to his amphibious life.

That's just a partial list of animals! Anyone have favorites among those? Or other faves? It's a long list! I need to do a part two.

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I start out enjoying Patty Regan in "The Horse's Mouth", but the episode really starts to drag in pacing, and the horse
track scenes are really boring to me.

I also feel the Dreyfuss ep is fairly awful, and the season seven remake where that love-sick warlock changes into that
"ugly"-looking mutt is far superior (Love the scene he keeps changing breeds right in front of Gladys!!!).

ABNER: "Let me know when he turns into Rin-Tin-Tin. He's my favorite."

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Yes, the scene at the track is boring to me also. Never was a racing fan. But I enjoy the earlier scenes when Dolly Ran is pouring her heart out to Sam and explaining what it feels like when her sister 'Adorable Diane' always wins. Sibling rivalry among horses, who knew?

That episode has some strange elements to it. The tall actor in it who played Gus Walters, was Robert Sorrells. Coincidentally , sorrel is the name for a chestnut colored horse! He had a sad ending. He was reclusive in his later years and alcoholic. He walked into a bar one day and shot two men. He is currently imprisoned for murder and attempted murder. Tragic and sad story.


But getting back to the show, I am always amazed at how they cast the perfect actor as the animal turned human. The delightful John Fiedler was perfect as Fergus the frog.

I don't care for many of the Darrin-less episodes, but I do like season five's " Going Ape" with Lou Antonio as the runaway chimp. I like the way he swings and plays on Tabitha's swing set. It's uncanny. I really get the feeling that this guy WAS a chimp in human form!

The Dreyfuss episode is not very good. Agreed. It wasn't Richard Dreyfuss's best work. That came later when he battled a shark. It was just on my list of animal episodes. But I like the ending when Rodney's mother comes to "claim" him.

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I don't think Deyfuss is the problem. He was sooooooooo talented, even then. You can see STAR written all over
him. He's also supposed to be a cool dude, which doesn't seem like it would be the case - especially considering he
had a big drug problem. I just think the writing (which feels VERY sexist to me in the scenes between Sam
and Darrin) is rather dull, as is the direction.

Sorry, don't agree about "Going Ape." I think it's among the very worst of the worst. Same old tired "story" of
wanting to put the latest magical mishap into a TV commercial. Filler-city. But, yes, as far as casting,
the got a good actor for the chimp.

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Yeah on second thought, Dreyfuss is talented, just not a very engaging episode. The script didn't give him much to do.

"Going Ape", again I just love the performance by Lou Antonio. But it IS, as you said, another "magical mishap" that Larry Tate wants for a TV commercial. You WOULD think that in New York City, Larry would have a huge talent pool of actors to star in his commercials!! But no, it's always someone that Sam zaps up with her magic.

The show had some lazy writing that constantly fell back on formula, i.e., another ad campaign and the problems with it. And in this case Darrin wasn't even IN the episode, so you think the writers could have come up with something else, something original and not another "ad campaign".

Just watched another animal episode, the season six ep where Tabitha has a birthday party and Uncle Arthur entertains the kids with his magic. He tries to conjure up a bunny, but he succeeds in conjuring up a Playboy-type Bunny! I thought Carol Wayne was so believable as the bunny. She was so sweet and a little air headed.

Of course Darrin's client liked her and was going to take her to his hunting lodge, that is, until she found out that he hunted RABBITS!

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How WEIRD! I just watched this episode last night! It's actually a very cute episode (I guess I had
Hugh Hefner on my mind).

Yes, Carol Wayne is terrific. Her sister appeared in the "Osgood RightMeyer" ep in season two.

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Yes, I guess Hugh Hefner was on a lot of people's minds! However, I watched the episode a few days before I heard of Mr. Hefner's passing. I thought it was a strange coincidence.

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All this time I assumed that was Carol and never bothered to look it up.

Still learning about that show after all this time.

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The elephant is always the first to my mind..

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Oh that pink baby elephant that Aunt Clara conjured up! ha! But on the DVD (at least the one I have), the elephant looks lavender colored.

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