Though there are famously two Darrins in the classic sitcom Bewitched, history ignores a third actor who played the character before Dick Sargent took over.  The context is that Endora secretly grants Darrin three wishes, which he mindlessly squanders.  His third wish is to be his boss, Larry Tate, for a day.  And so David White plays Darrin for half an episode.  York—White—Sargent: the three Darrins are in reverse alphabetical order, just as magic reverses what's considered normal.


But, improbability aside, could there have been yet a fourth Darrin?  Yes!  When Dick York's Darrin has to cancel a vacation in Miami due to work commitments, Endora splits him into two Darrins: happy-go-lucky Darrin and workaholic Darrin.  The fun Darrin goes on holiday with his wife while the serious one keeps his nose to the grindstone.  So Dick York actually plays the fourth Darrin as well as the first.

An illustration from Told After Supper by Jerome K. Jerome (1891).  The text reads: "Now is the Very Witching Time of Night."

A portrait of a British novelist at home:  an illustration from an 1899 issue of The Idler magazine.

Did you know that the classic sitcom Bewitched's biggest feat of magic was turning its entire audience into practitioners of modern witchcraft?  It all happens in episode two (1964), with a clever set-up and a breaking of the fourth wall.  We begin with the witchy mother Endora deciding to get a look at her new son-in-law without him seeing her:



The son-in-law senses an invisible presence and asks, "Who's here in this room with us?":



In the final scene of episode two, Endora breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience directly.  Indeed, we've been invisibly eavesdropping on the household along with Endora, and it's fitting that she looks right at us -- her fellow witches, floating in the air alongside her at roof-level.



And may we add, what better place to break the fourth wall than on the roof!

An illustration from a 1905 issue of Wide World magazine.  The caption reads: "I was soon enveloped in the fiery tongues of flame."

An illustration from an 1862 issue of Punch magazine.

An illustration from a 1911 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine.  The caption reads: "The ceremony of 'Berrying' the Ghost.  Observe the berries in the children's hands."

An illustration from an 1899 issue of Pall Mall magazine.

"The Witching Hour":  an illustration from a 1909 issue of Life magazine.

"A Strange Valentine": an illustration from an 1883 issue of Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly magazine.  The caption reads: "Sprinkling the pulverized herbs over the fire, and with her eyes fixed on the bright moon, she pronounced, in an extremely tremulous voice, the invocation."

An illustration from a 1901 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.  The caption reads: "Drawing a mystic half-circle on the floor."

An illustration from a 1919 issue of Harper's magazine.

Witchy illustrations from Harper's magazine, 1859 and 1860.

An illustration from an 1878 issue of Harper's magazine.  The caption reads: "A brocken witch."

An illustration from a 1909 issue of Century Illustrated magazine.

An illustration from an 1867 issue of Harper's magazine.  The caption reads: "The unspoken curse."

Dedicated to Teresa Burritt.