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Bewitched

Humbug Not to Be Spoken Here

Season 4, Episode 16, Aired Dec 21, 1967

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Samantha gets a mean, miserly manager named Mr. Mortimer to change his thoughts about Christmas and gets him to really think about others.

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Cast & Crew

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GUEST STAR
Don Beddoe

Santa Claus
GUEST STAR
Martin Ashe

Hawkins
GUEST STAR
Rosalyn Burbage

Margaret

Elizabeth Montgomery

Samantha Stephens
Dick York

Darrin Stephens
David White

Larry Tate

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Fan Episode Reviews (1)

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When an unpleasant client of McMann and Tate shows that he has no concept of the true meaning of Christmas, Samantha sets out to show him what it's all about.

1.5

"Abysmal"

By Lady_Lancaster, Jan 16, 2011

The theme of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" has been, literally, done to death in so many tv shows and films that it would be very difficult to count them. In this episode of "Bewitched", it's done again, and not very successfully in my opinion.

Elderly Mr. Mortimer (Charles Lane) has lost any spirit of Christmas that he may have had and Samantha feels bad for the lonely old man, so she uses her magic to take him to the North Pole to see Santa Claus, who greets Samantha like an old friend(as he did in a Season 1 episode). Mr. Mortimer sees toys and elves and an exhausted Santa Claus preparing for his Christmas deliveries.

Most appallingly, Samantha spots a doll known as "Susie Bruisey", a one-of-a-kind doll which, when squeezed hard, comes out all covered in bruises. The message behind this is disturbing, particularly when Samantha says she would love this particular doll for Tabatha. Of course, the show was made in the 1960s and the connotations connected to the name of the doll would not have caused the amount of outcry which it did years later during re-runs.

Predictably, Mr. Mortimer thinks he is dreaming and changes his ways, even visiting the Stephens house on Christmas morning with a gift.

This episodde is so similar to that in Season 1 where we had a young orphan who didn't believe in Santa Claus that it was really quite dull and repetitive.moreless
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TRIVIA (1)
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- As Samantha tries to decide where to put the Christmas tree, she points to one corner, but the tree appears in another corner.
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QUOTES (0)
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NOTES (1)
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- This episode was filmed on October 5, 1967.
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- This is yet another adaptation of "A Christmas Carol". Mr. Mortimer is Scrooge-like, and wants others to work on Christmas eve. He is obsessed with times and clocks, and at one point all the bells on his clocks start ringing. Samantha goes into his room at night, and says "Think of me as the Spirit of Christmas". Then she shows him his servant having fun on Christmas morning, and he says, "What are they so happy about, don't they know they're poor?" Of course, Mr. Mortimer becomes a happy person in the end.
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