View Full Version : Aunt Clara


torcan
04-30-2021, 02:55 PM
Lovable Aunt Clara appeared regularly until the end of the fourth season. She was never mentioned again after that, so it was assumed that the character passed on - since witches don't live forever (although the actress that played her passed away).

It has been established that witches can travel back to the past. It has also been established that witches can bring people from the past and pop them into the present. In theory, what's to stop them from going back to the past and visiting a time when Aunt Clara was still alive? Or, taking Aunt Clara from the past and popping her into present time for a visit?

I realize I'm thinking too much about a half-hour sitcom...but when you think about the mechanics of the show, even witches who have passed on maybe have never really passed because of this?

Any thoughts?

MichaelKeith
04-30-2021, 06:00 PM
Unlike humans, who I believe die and their souls either go to heaven or hell, I think the fictional witches who die come back in some other form such as a plant or book or another inanimate object.

tcr1701
05-01-2021, 04:34 PM
As I recall Dick Sargent's Darrin mentioned her once by name in his first season I think. So supposedly she was still around just retired to Florida (probably).

Dick York was Darrin
05-06-2021, 06:10 PM
I'm not a big fan of the Aunt Clara episodes.

For every fictional reality created in TV land, there has to be a reasonableness to it. And for me, it was unreasonable that they continued to allow Aunt Clara to perform magic, when every single time she did, mayhem ensued.

At some point (and they even had an episode about this, but with the wrong outcome) they would have just not let her perform magic any longer.

MikeLutton
05-19-2021, 02:16 AM
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4048/marion-lorne sadly she passed away in 1968

OH Nuts!
05-19-2021, 04:50 PM
I'm not a big fan of the Aunt Clara episodes.

For every fictional reality created in TV land, there has to be a reasonableness to it. And for me, it was unreasonable that they continued to allow Aunt Clara to perform magic, when every single time she did, mayhem ensued.

At some point (and they even had an episode about this, but with the wrong outcome) they would have just not let her perform magic any longer.

To each his own; I absolutely loved her. Her passing, to me, was one of the biggest JTS moments.

But the biggest JTS moment was when Dick York left; tgat’s eny I only have the first five seasons.

AB
05-19-2021, 06:34 PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Lorne

She appeared in 27 episodes of Bewitched and was not replaced after she died of a heart attack in her Manhattan apartment on May 9, 1968, aged 84, prior to the start of production of the show's fifth season. The producers of Bewitched decided that Lorne's character as Aunt Clara could not be replaced by another actress. (Aunt Clara was never mentioned in any subsequent Bewitched episode.)

They could have said her and Ocky (her gentleman warlock friend) got married and moved away.

OH Nuts!
05-20-2021, 02:14 PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Lorne

She appeared in 27 episodes of Bewitched and was not replaced after she died of a heart attack in her Manhattan apartment on May 9, 1968, aged 84, prior to the start of production of the show's fifth season. The producers of Bewitched decided that Lorne's character as Aunt Clara could not be replaced by another actress. (Aunt Clara was never mentioned in any subsequent Bewitched episode.)

They could have said her and Ocky (her gentleman warlock friend) got married and moved away.

A good call; she was irreplaceable, God Bless her soul.

And so was Dick York IMO; I thought the show JTS when DY left.

stevea
05-21-2021, 08:41 AM
Her death, and Alice Pearce's death, were two big losses for the show.

I did not like the way they had Sandra Gould play the Gladys part.

OH Nuts!
05-21-2021, 01:03 PM
Her death, and Alice Pearce's death, were two big losses for the show.

I did not like the way they had Sandra Gould play the Gladys part.

I liked both, but Alice Pearce, God rest her soul, was better. The second Gladys was a little bi##hier.

Dick York was Darrin
05-21-2021, 06:39 PM
A good call; she was irreplaceable, God Bless her soul.

And so was Dick York IMO; I thought the show JTS when DY left.

Asher and Montgomery, who were both huge to the success of Bewitched, were also huge to the downfall of Bewitched. Both of them were heavily involved in the casting decisions, and evidently, only Aunt Clara was irreplaceable to them. Everyone else was easily replaced. Which was nonsense.

They even got rid of the first Louise Tate for purely personal reasons. They didn't like a producer she was friends with. And they would have gotten rid of Dick York earlier if Elizabeth Montgomery had her way.

They built it, and they destroyed it. Give them credit for building it, but also give them blame for destroying it.

Literally the only reason the show continued for three more seasons after York left was because Asher and Montgomery wanted the money. Which they got huge pay raises, to put out an inferior product.

OH Nuts!
05-21-2021, 06:44 PM
Asher and Montgomery, who were both huge to the success of Bewitched, were also huge to the downfall of Bewitched. Both of them were heavily involved in the casting decisions, and evidently, only Aunt Clara was irreplaceable to them. Everyone else was easily replaced. Which was nonsense.

They even got rid of the first Louise Tate for purely personal reasons. They didn't like a producer she was friends with. And they would have gotten rid of Dick York earlier if Elizabeth Montgomery had her way.

They built it, and they destroyed it. Give them credit for building it, but also give them blame for destroying it.

Literally the only reason the show continued for three more seasons after York left was because Asher and Montgomery wanted the money. Which they got huge pay raises, to put out an inferior product.

Outside of what you said about Marion Lorne everything else seems quite plausible. But Marion Lorne was so fantastic in the role it’s hard to imagine another. Esmerelda, Who I guess was her “replacement” was a very lackluster character IMO.

stevea
05-22-2021, 08:37 AM
Esmeralda provided some laughs. The glasses floating in mid-air cracked me up.

Re putting out an inferior product, one indication of that is recycled scripts. If you go thru the episode list on Wikipedia there are plots re-used two and sometimes three times. The final season is loaded with them.

Marion Lorne was wonderful, and so was Alice Pearce's version of Gladys. Couldn't stand Sandra Gould in the role.

biffbronson
05-22-2021, 11:52 AM
Wasn't Alice Pearce about the only original Bewitched cast member to also make an appearance on Hazel? I know that Sargent appeared as well, but he wasn't in the original cast. Pearce was really great on Bewitched.

OH Nuts!
06-13-2021, 06:14 PM
Esmeralda provided some laughs. The glasses floating in mid-air cracked me up.

Re putting out an inferior product, one indication of that is recycled scripts. If you go thru the episode list on Wikipedia there are plots re-used two and sometimes three times. The final season is loaded with them.

Marion Lorne was wonderful, and so was Alice Pearce's version of Gladys. Couldn't stand Sandra Gould in the role.

I liked Alice Pearce’s version better too, although I did like Sandra Gould. For me the difference would be Alice was excellent and Sandra Gould was between good & very good.

Chocolate Moose
07-20-2021, 08:16 PM
Loved Aunt Clara!!!

Bill45
08-09-2021, 04:34 AM
I liked Aunt Clara episodes, but then I grew tired of her, I think she's a character that should have appeared sporadically and not regularly.

merlinjones
08-15-2021, 06:12 AM
Marion Lorne was a sheer delight as Aunt Clara. I always anticipated her episodes and she was dearly missed.

If Aunt Clara did pass on to become an inanimate object - it would most definitely have to be a doorknob!

Bob_
08-25-2021, 05:52 AM
Aunt Clara was one of my favorite characters, she was so funny