Dick York's Exit

[Arfies]

***This is season 5's episodes in order of filming. Season 3 and 4's episodes are on the next page.***

At Harpies Bizarre, there was a thread http://members2.boardhost.com/bewitc...ml?#1282812033 concerning the timeline for Dick York's exit from the show, as not all that much is known about it, and IMO, it's better to try and get the facts straight than rely on rumors. Since Harpies posts disappear into the ether after a certain period of time, I copied them here http://majicst.proboards.com/index.c...play&thread=16. There were a lot of fascinating posts.

Dick York's own account of his last day is here http://www.bewitched.net/filmfax.htm#bewit. I think he says it was "summer" because in California, it would've felt like it.

If anyone knows anything else about this, please post.

The episode list is copied and pasted from a below post here, merely because it's relevant (and I've added some stuff).

The date in which the episodes were aired were not the same order in which they were produced. I think the makers of "Bewitched" purposely staggered the non-Dick York episode airdates around so it seemed like Darrin was there more often.

This production order list was compiled by David*P, with the date the episode was completed, followed by the airdate, then the DVD disc number it's on for season 5:

__________________________________
#142 Samantha Goes South For a Spell 6/27/68 10/3/68 (1)
#144 Darrin Gone! and Forgotten! 7/3/68 10/17/68 (1)
#152 Weep No More My Willow 7/11/68 12/19/68 (2)
#143 Samantha on the Keyboard 7/18/68 10/10/68 (1)
#145 It's So Nice to Have a Spouse Around the House 7/25/68 10/24/68 (1)
#141 Samantha's Wedding Present 8/2/68 9/26/68 (1)
#146 Mirror, Mirror on the Wall 8/8/68 11/7/68 (1)
#164 Battle of Burning Oak 8/15/68 3/13/69 (4)
#148 Is It Magic or Imagination? 8/22/68 11/21/68 (2)
#149 Samantha Fights City Hall 8/29/68 11/29/68 (2)
#147 Samantha's French Pastry 9/6/68 11/14/68 (1)
#154 Samantha's Supermaid 9/12/68 1/2/69 (2)
#170 Samantha & Darrin in Mexico City 9/19/68 4/24/69 (4)
#151 I Don't Want to be a Toad... 9/27/68 12/12/68 (2)
#150 Sam Loses Her Voice 10/4/68 12/5/68 (2)
#155 Cousin Serena Strikes Again (I) 10/10/68 1/9/69 (2)
#156 Cousin Serena Strikes Again (II) 10/15/68 1/16/69 (3)
#153 Instant Courtesy 10/22/68 12/26/68 (2)
#157 One Touch of Midas 11/14/68 1/23/69 (3)
#158 Samantha the Bard 11/21/68 1/30/69 (3)
#159 Samantha the Sculptress 11/27/68 2/6/69 (3)
#160 Mrs. Stephens, Where Are You? 12/11/68 2/13/69 (3) (No Dick York)
#161 Marriage, Witches' Style 1/20/69 2/20/69 (3) (No DY)
#162 Going Ape 1/27/69 2/27/69 (3) (No DY)
#163 Tabitha's Weekend 2/3/69 3/6/69 (3) (No DY)
#165 Samantha's Power Failure 2/10/69 3/20/69 (4) (No DY)
#166 Sam Twitches for UNICEF 2/19/69 3/27/69 (4) (No DY)
#167 Daddy Does His Thing 2/25/69 4/3/69 (4) (Dick York's last episode. Arfies' note: This is the one he collapsed during the making of. However, the completion date here is more than likely when they finished the "mule" scenes rather than the "Darrin" scenes, as they had to change the entire episode's plot due to his hospitalization. Judging by old newspaper articles, York's seizure occurred sometime in January, as an article had him resigning from the show "last Friday," or January 24, probably after a while in the hospital. Originally (judging by York's script on eBay), this episode was to be a two-parter called "Samantha's Surprise," probably referring to when Samantha was going to tell Darrin she was pregnant again (which she later did by phone in the non-Darrin "Samantha's Good News." At the beginning of "Daddy Does His Thing," Sam does mention she has a surprise "for both of us," which she never says later on.) The two-parter later was reused by Dick Sargent as "Daddy Comes for a Visit" and "Darrin the Warlock."
#168 Samantha's Good News 3/4/69 4/10/69 (4) (No DY)
#169 Samantha's Shopping Spree 3/11/69 4/17/69 (4) (No DY)
__________________________________

So it seems like most of the episodes York missed were not on a week-by-week "will he show or won't he?" basis, but instead in one big chunk after he collapsed on the set (with the exception of "Mrs. Stephens, Where Are You?")

Judging by the length of time between the completion dates of "Mrs. Stephens, Where Are You?" (12/11/68, which York wasn't in) and "Marriage, Witches' Style" (1/20/69), even allowing for a Christmas break, I'm going to guess that York's breakdown happened between those two dates, leaning toward January. In William Asher's interview on bewitched.net, he does say it was "after Christmas." In addition, the script of "Samantha's Surprise" is dated January 6 (?)- it's a single-digit that's kind of hard to read.

[comedyfreak]

Interesting read.

[Arfies]

Thanks! I re-watched "Daddy Does His Thing," which as stated, was the episode that "Samantha's Surprise" was turned into after York's collapse.

York does look sort of "out of it," pausing before delivering his lines, but stays through it like a trouper. Maurice gives Darrin a watch that he says will give him magic powers. Darrin refuses, and he turns him into a mule. The "turning-into-a-mule" thing was only supposed to last briefly, then the rest of the two-parter was to follow the plot of what became "Daddy Comes for a Visit, pt. 1" and "Darrin the Warlock, pt. 2." Those two episodes are partial remakes of Season 1's "A is for Aardvark."

Looking at its re-write, "Daddy Comes for a Visit:" Maurice gives Darrin a watch that he says will give him magic powers. Darrin refuses, and he turns him into a dog. Maurice changes him back, then the rest of the episode continues, with the "jackass" jokes replaced with dog jokes. ("Thank you, from the bottom of my withers" becomes "Thank you, from the bottom of my jowls.")

Dick York mentioned his seizure was during a scene where he and Maurice Evans were sitting on scaffolding- a scene which doesn't appear in "Daddy Does His Thing," but does appear in "Daddy Comes for a Visit," when Maurice and Darrin are spying on the Bliss board meeting. Again, the "Samantha's Surprise" script does have characters named Bliss Jr. and Bliss Sr. I wonder how much of the episode York finished, as scenes are often shot out of order.

This is an "inky" : http://www.panavision.com/product_de...&id=223&cat=54

Oddly, "Daddy Does His Thing" is credited to writer Michael Morris, while "Daddy Comes for a Visit" and "Darrin the Warlock" are credited to Rick Mittleman and Ed Jurist. "Story" credit is given to Rick Mittleman, even though Earl Barret wrote the original "A is for Aardvark."

In "Daddy Does His Thing," it's pretty obvious they're trying to kill time. Not only with the "mule" scenes, but also when Maurice does a flashback of when he turned Darrin into a mule- not only does he play it as it was, but then BACKWARDS. Must've been interesting for the writers to try and come up with things to fit within the existing footage they had while still trying to make a semi-coherent episode. No wonder it took so long to finish. Elizabeth Montgomery's "baby bump" is slightly bigger in the "mule scenes," too.

[comedyfreak]

I have to go back and rewatch, I missed alot of things.

[catlover79]

WOW. Dick York gave his own perspective on that day in his posthumously published memoir:

[the truth]

Hey Arfies, I went back through that message board and tried to read through the two pages and there's some threads that talk about the show "Mad Men" and references to Bewitched. I really don't watch the show but are there many of them?

Is it because the writers are fans of the show or maybe because Liz's daughter is the script consultant for season four or what? Just curious.

[Arfies]

Yes- that Filmfax article quotes "The Seesaw Girl and Me," which hadn't been published at that point. I was so happy when it finally came out.


Is she?? I didn't know that about Rebecca Asher! Cool!

I should've linked here instead on Harpies: http://members2.boardhost.com/bewitc...282812033.html

There's only the one reference on "Mad Men" so far, but it was cool that it was there. I wonder if they even knew that Rebecca Asher was Liz and Bill Asher's daughter? I hope so.

I think they HAD to make a reference to "Bewitched" sooner or later, given that it's 1965 and takes place at a New York advertising agency. I've never seen a full episode yet, but I want to.

[the truth]

I'd find it hard to believe that she'd be working on Mad Men right now in season four and the writers/director(s) not know who she is, wouldn't you? At the same time, I've tried to keep up with her a little by tracking her on IMDB and she does seem to do a couple of shows a year as a script consultant. She did about 40 episodes of Arrested Development and directed the second to last episode of that series. I'm not sure if she's switching projects every year by choice or due to shows being canceled or what. So I guess with all the hopping around it could be possible that the Mad Men crew wouldn't know who she is.

Seems like kind of a pain though. Apparently a script consultant works really close with the director of a show and has to be very organized and have the ability to keep a lot of details straight and maybe even sub for the director on occasions. So I'd imagine once you start to get comfortable with a director on a series, the job itself might get a bit easier for you. So it must be difficult when you are forced to start over again on a new show. Almost like starting an entire job from scratch in some cases, I'd imagine.

Rebecca's apparently the only of Liz's children in the business. And really, she didn't get going in that until a couple of years after Liz passed. I just thought it was ironic that Mad Men referenced the program once with an Asher on the crew of their own show.

[catlover79]

^ I'm pretty sure that Rebecca is Liz's only child in the business. Liz's eldest, Billy, has a custom-made guitar business (http://www.asherguitars.com/) and I don't know what her middle child Robert does for a living.

[catlover79]

The only good part about "Daddy Does His Thing" is the dress that Liz/Sam wears throughout:

[novarrofan]

Originally Posted by catlover79

The only good part about "Daddy Does His Thing" is the dress that Liz/Sam wears throughout:

Yes I have always loved that dress that Elizabeth wears during that sad episode as well. I think she might have only worn it once on the show. I can't recall seeing her wear it again unlike some other outfits which reappeared in a number of episodes

[catlover79]

And you always have to love Maurice with his gigantic martini glasses.

[Bewitched Brady]

Hello to everyone on this great forum just joined up 2 minutes ago.Big Bewitched fan.
Anyway i did see a video on harpers bewitched site that involved Dick York that he was that broke that he use to collect aluminum cans to literally survive to pay bills.Also when he did die i remember footage on tv they showed when his goatie beard was so long and i think he had a tube up his nose due to years of smoking and would anyone have that picture by the way,thanks.

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by Bewitched Brady

Hello to everyone on this great forum just joined up 2 minutes ago.Big Bewitched fan.
Anyway i did see a video on harpers bewitched site that involved Dick York that he was that broke that he use to collect aluminum cans to literally survive to pay bills.Also when he did die i remember footage on tv they showed when his goatie beard was so long and i think he had a tube up his nose due to years of smoking and would anyone have that picture by the way,thanks.

They have clips of him being interviewed by ET and other shows on YouTube in his final years, so you may want to check them out.

[comedyfreak]

I'll have to check them out.