Cooking With TV's Magical Mom: Bewitched's Samantha

by Gina Meyers

Overview

Imagine this. You are invited to a dinner party with all of your favorite Bewitched Characters. Samantha, of course will be there, charming, elegant, talkative. Darrin will be pitching his latest advertising campaign. Larry will be bending over backwards to impress the client. Louise will be watching Larry’s alcohol intake carefully. Endora will be plotting on how to ruin Darrin’s client dinner. Gladys will be peeping through the slats in the Venetian blinds looking for a tasty morsel of outrageous gossip to share with Abner. Abner will be practicing his sardonic reply to his wife’s crazy nonsensical ravings about the Stephens. Arthur will be practicing his latest absurd practical jokes and doing comical jabs, “Hiya Sammy”. Maurice will be reciting a Shakespearian Monologue. Tabitha will be in her room occupying herself by making her stuffed animals dance a pas de deux. Esmeralda will be in the kitchen trying to make a soufflé, but instead makes a real life person materialize. Dr. Bombay will be unavailable as he is busy with one of his “trained” nurses. Aunt Clara will be stumbling on her words. Serena will be flirty, fun, and fascinating. “Weelll”, as Samantha would say, you are in luck. Dinner is served!

Product Details

BN ID:	2940012288226
Publisher:	Serendipity Media Group
Publication date:	02/24/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	659 KB

About the Author

A self-described Bewitched expert by the time I was twelve, I have seen every Bewitched episode, and have memorized quite a few of them. I am constantly surprised when I do run across a Bewitched show that I haven’t seen as much. It is also fun to share those memories and experiences with my husband and children. Recently, my daughter Lauren said, “Mom, you’ve seen this episode a lot before.” Sometimes, the less viewed ones, the ones I didn’t see on network television growing up, seem fresh and new to me. I responded to my ten year old by saying, “I think you’ve actually seen this one more than me.” It was obvious after all, she had told me the entire plot and the ending.
When I was a child, I often wrote and scripted Bewitched plays and would produce the plays in my backyard where I frequently cast myself as Samantha. My neighborhood friend, Rosalie, often would be Serena. As her mom Rachel recently recounted, “Rose used to come home pouting, saying in disgust,( ‘why does Gina always have to be Samantha!’)” Though at the time I had no idea she was upset, I reasoned that since I was directing, writing, and producing the plays, I might as well be my hero, Samantha.. I also reasoned that Rosalie had dark hair like Serena, and I thought it was a compliment.
I started researching for The Magic of Bewitched Trivia and More when I was in junior high school, spending afternoons looking through vintage magazine articles at the Fresno State Library. In high school, while visiting my dad and grandparents in the summers, I would expand upon my information by going to the local San Francisco public libraries and locating articles about Elizabeth Montgomery, and Bewitched on microfiche. By college, I was compiling all of my years of research, writing, revising, and placing my work on disks. At this time, I started to freelance and consulting work for Nick at Nite, and Columbia Pictures. I also was fervently trying to market my book by sending countless proposals to publishing houses.

My life these days is a lot like Samantha Stephens. I am a suburban housewife, who is also an author, small business owner, and part time teacher. I juggle family responsibilities like laundry, bill paying, baking lasagna for dinner, cleaning the house (boy I wish I had one of the those self running-cleaning vacuums like Samantha.) with special time with my husband, and ch