Monday, March 20, 2023

From Primetime to Daytime: Bewitched adapts Jack & The Beanstalk (1969)

 By season 6 of Bewitched, Dick York left the series due to health concerns, and Dick Sargent (ex-Broadside, The Tammy Grimes Show) stepped in to take his place as Darrin.

In the season opener, Tabitha (Erin Murphy) runs away into the pages of Jack & The Beanstalk, effectively trading places with Jack himself (guest star Johnnie Whitaker, Family Affair). NFL star David "Deacon" Jones also appears, but not as the giant.

Edit, 9/4/23: The episode has been deleted as the Museum of Classic Television was tagged for a copyright claim. In its place is a short excerpt.

4 comments:

Mike Doran said...

The burly, booming-voiced giant here is Ronald Long, the guy you kept mistaking for Jackie Vernon in Stan Freberg's Sunsweet Prunes commercial.
Just so you know ...

hobbyfan said...

Certainly played his role well, and not only that, but he made the giant more of a serious villain, as opposed to most iterations of Jack & The Beanstalk. What else did Long do?

Mike Doran said...

According to IMDb, Ronald Long made at least 70 film and TV appearances between 1947 and 1976 - including 6 episodes of Bewitched (including a two-parter as King Henry VIII).
Also two Man From UNCLEs, two Get Smarts, three Perry Masons, and a whole gang of others, up to and including commercials with Stan Freberg ...

hobbyfan said...

I think I've seen him on Get Smart. Didn't he play Leadside (Ironside parody)?

Back in those days, it was fairly common for guest stars to appear in various roles in both dramas and sitcoms.