Endora & Maurice – TV’s first “open marriage” couple?

[Kinda Grumpy 60s Guy]

OK, so maybe I have too much time on my hands. With everything going on in the world currently, here I am researching Sam’s parents’ marital status, which was a little “murky” there for a while. I’ve been enjoyably binge-watching some episodes that feature both of them, and it seems that, at first, they were separated, if not divorced.

The first time Maurice appears on the show is Season 1 EP 10’s Just One Happy Family. The following exchange makes it sound as though he and Endora don’t see each other regularly:
Maurice: Endora, my love, nice to see you.

Endora: It's nice to see you too, Maurice. How are you?

Maurice: In excellent health, thank you.

In Season 3’s “Witches and Warlocks Are My Favorite Things” in which Tabitha's powers are tested by her family, we sense a bit of hostility between them:
Sam: Mother, do you think Daddy'll be here?

Endora: I have no idea where Maurice is, and I have no intention of hunting him down!

Maurice, upon exiting says, “Keep smiling, Endora!” to which she replies, “Ill never know what I saw in that man!”

It is in season 5, episode 28 (Samantha’s Good News), that we find out they are still married but have an unusual . . . arrangement. (Unusual in the context of 1960s prime-time TV, anyway!) Maurice shows up at Sam’s with a beautiful young secretary (well, young by human standards – she looks to be 30-something, but in witches’ years she’s probably in her mid-300s):
Sam (referring to Endora): When was the last time you saw her?

Maurice: Two or three months ago - maybe eighteen. My wife and I have what might be described as an . . . informal marriage.

So, there we have it – in a bit of semantic sleight-of-hand, we discover that Endora and Maurice might very well have been TV’s first “non-monogamous” couple!

[Willbo]

They did have an odd marriage. Maurice always had a lady friend. Endora almost got re-married in the episode where she gets the love spell put on her. It was actually her spell but it backfired and was put on her. Very funny episode. Sam had to stop the wedding.

[Arfies]

Yes, I found Endora and Maurice's "informal marriage" hilarious. A very "bohemian" older couple, lol.

[Chocolate Moose]

agreed. way ahead of its time

[PracTz]

I think they had a somewhat 'royal' union in which, after they'd had their child, they informally separated but could each carry on with others- AS LONG as they didn't do it too publicly. It was when Maurice did so that got Endora threatening to have an 'interlockery' re their union. Of course, the one thing that got Maurice to NOT kill Darren at first sight was Endora threatening to move BACK into his home since even he conceded she was very capable of making his life miserable. Interesting in all the years of the show, the audience never saw EITHER of their homes- just once her popping into Sam's place in a very ornate bathtub which, presumably, was found in her grand bathroom.

[stevea]

Originally Posted by PracTz

It was when Maurice did so that got Endora threatening to have an 'interlockery' re their union.

I forgot about this. I remember something like an "ectoplasmic interlocutory."

[Arfies]

Yes. Endora and Maurice are married but separated, but haven't gone through with an "ectoplasmic interlocutory" (I'm assuming the witch version of divorce).

[stevea]

Right. They never got one, they just fly in their own circles!

[Kinda Grumpy 60s Guy]

Originally Posted by PracTz

I think they had a somewhat 'royal' union in which, after they'd had their child, they informally separated but could each carry on with others- AS LONG as they didn't do it too publicly. It was when Maurice did so that got Endora threatening to have an 'interlockery' re their union. Of course, the one thing that got Maurice to NOT kill Darren at first sight was Endora threatening to move BACK into his home since even he conceded she was very capable of making his life miserable. Interesting in all the years of the show, the audience never saw EITHER of their homes- just once her popping into Sam's place in a very ornate bathtub which, presumably, was found in her grand bathroom.

Interesting! That episode escaped me, I guess. I'll have to check it out.

Now that you mention it - yes, we never got to see their actual abodes! I'm sure the Stevensons' household was very modest, compared to what her parents were used to! LOL

[stevea]

The closest we saw of a house for Endora was the one she zapped up across the street--but she never lived there.

I guess the rest of the time Endora and Maurice spent their time on different clouds.

[Kinda Grumpy 60s Guy]

Originally Posted by stevea

Right. They never got one, they just fly in their own circles!

Excellent way to put it!

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by Kinda Grumpy 60s Guy

OK, so maybe I have too much time on my hands. With everything going on in the world currently, here I am researching Sam’s parents’ marital status, which was a little “murky” there for a while. I’ve been enjoyably binge-watching some episodes that feature both of them, and it seems that, at first, they were separated, if not divorced.

The first time Maurice appears on the show is Season 1 EP 10’s Just One Happy Family. The following exchange makes it sound as though he and Endora don’t see each other regularly:
Maurice: Endora, my love, nice to see you.

Endora: It's nice to see you too, Maurice. How are you?

Maurice: In excellent health, thank you.

In Season 3’s “Witches and Warlocks Are My Favorite Things” in which Tabitha's powers are tested by her family, we sense a bit of hostility between them:
Sam: Mother, do you think Daddy'll be here?

Endora: I have no idea where Maurice is, and I have no intention of hunting him down!

Maurice, upon exiting says, “Keep smiling, Endora!” to which she replies, “Ill never know what I saw in that man!”

It is in season 5, episode 28 (Samantha’s Good News), that we find out they are still married but have an unusual . . . arrangement. (Unusual in the context of 1960s prime-time TV, anyway!) Maurice shows up at Sam’s with a beautiful young secretary (well, young by human standards – she looks to be 30-something, but in witches’ years she’s probably in her mid-300s):
Sam (referring to Endora): When was the last time you saw her?

Maurice: Two or three months ago - maybe eighteen. My wife and I have what might be described as an . . . informal marriage.

So, there we have it – in a bit of semantic sleight-of-hand, we discover that Endora and Maurice might very well have been TV’s first “non-monogamous” couple!

Huh. I always thought they were divorced. I guess I thought that because of their constant contempt for one another. But I don't doubt you are right. Great post!

[PracTz]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Huh. I always thought they were divorced. I guess I thought that because of their constant contempt for one another. But I don't doubt you are right. Great post!

Well, witches and warlocks (the then-acceptable term for male witches) were supposed to be immortal or very long-lived, they couldn't have had Endora be a widow and I guess (despite 'The Lucy Show's precedent of Vivian Bagley been a divorced mother a year earlier) they weren't sure the TV audience would have accepted her as an outright divorcee (and, of course, it would have been unthinkable for her to have been a never-married mother in a 1960' sitcom ). However, they wanted the three-way tension between herself-Darren and Samantha to be somewhat undiluted by how they'd have had to deal with any father of Samantha on a constant basis. Hence, it made sense that they had them be a still technically married but informally separated and neither side above carrying on with others they weren't married to. Ironically, in all the zillions of lectures Endora made about why Sam shouldn't have married/stayed married to Darren, she NEVER brought up about how unhappy HER marriage to Maurice turned out to have been for both of them! Of course, it said something about Samantha that despite all of Endora's disses against Maurice, Samantha appeared to genuinely like him as a person- but just wanted him to accept Darren and do him no harm (as she did with Endora).

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by PracTz

Well, witches and warlocks (the then-acceptable term for male witches) were supposed to be immortal or very long-lived, they couldn't have had Endora be a widow and I guess (despite 'The Lucy Show's precedent of Vivian Bagley been a divorced mother a year earlier) they weren't sure the TV audience would have accepted her as an outright divorcee (and, of course, it would have been unthinkable for her to have been a never-married mother in a 1960' sitcom ).

Practitioner of the Dark Arts, sure. But a divorcee? Unthinkable!

(Sorry. It's just funny, seeing how 1960s minds worked.)

However, they wanted the three-way tension between herself-Darren and Samantha to be somewhat undiluted by how they'd have had to deal with any father of Samantha on a constant basis. Hence, it made sense that they had them be a still technically married but informally separated and neither side above carrying on with others they weren't married to. Ironically, in all the zillions of lectures Endora made about why Sam shouldn't have married/stayed married to Darren, she NEVER brought up about how unhappy HER marriage to Maurice turned out to have been for both of them! Of course, it said something about Samantha that despite all of Endora's disses against Maurice, Samantha appeared to genuinely like him as a person- but just wanted him to accept Darren and do him no harm (as she did with Endora).

Well, part of the comedy of Bewitched is Samantha being married to a mortal, and Sam getting miffed when Endora casts some horrible spell on Darrin: "Mother! You reverse that spell right now, or so help me, I won't speak to you for a week!" Such strong language, Sam! Endora could never accept "Durwood" -- it would have changed the dynamic of the show -- and it might have even been possible that Endora was even a bit jealous of the relationship Samantha had with Darrin. She certainly didn't have that type of relationship with her own husband. But why bring attention to her own wrecked marriage when she could try to drive a wedge between Darren and Samantha using witchcraft?

[Arfies]

Oh, I don't think they'd have a problem portraying Endora and Maurice as divorced; it's just funnier that they're still ("informally") married. A very "bohemian" older couple, lol. Or as Samantha says in one episode about someone else, "I don't like his attitude. It's entirely too... French."