Hollis Irving

            On Tuesday morning I memorized the first verse of “Entre l'âme et l'amour” (Between Love and Spirit) by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I played my Kramer electric guitar during song practice for the first of two sessions. 

            I weighed 87 kilos before breakfast. 

            I continued doing research for my final paper. 

            I weighed 86.5 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I weighed 86.5 kilos at 17:30. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:09. 

            I continued to do research for my final essay. 

            I heated three pork ribs, some rosemary-garlic oven fries and had them with gravy while watching season 1, episode 4 of Bewitched. 

            Samantha uses the expression “first time at bat” while talking to her mother and then she has to explain the game of baseball. Endora concludes that it’s typical of humans to spend most of their lives running around in circles for a series of nothing. 

            Samantha needs to call Darrin to find out what time he’ll be home for dinner but the phone has yet to be connected so she’ll have to go to the village. Endora uses witchcraft so she can use the phone wirelessly. 

            Gladys Kravitz, Shirley Clyde and June Foster are the welcome wagon and they ring Samantha’s doorbell. Samantha invites them in and three children barge in as well. One is Shirley’s and one is June’s but they don’t know who the third is. Samantha doesn’t have any dishes or silverware yet so she has to conjure some. 

            The three boys barge into the bedroom where Endora is reading Harpies’ Bizarre. They say they are a cowboy, an Indian and a horse and ask what she is. “I’m a witch”. “Are you a good witch or a bad witch?” “Comme si comme ca”. 

            The ladies have cake and coffee but notice the boys are quiet and boys are always dangerous when they’re quiet. They find the three of them tied up on the bed. Gladys is the only one puzzled about how three of them could be tied up without a fourth person having done it. Then Gladys calls Abner to tell him but he doesn’t see the big deal. Meanwhile she is talking over an unconnected phone. She doesn’t realize this until the telephone company serviceman knocks and says he’s there to connect the phone. 

            Samantha invites her mother to dinner so she and Darrin can finally meet. Before Endora arrives Darrin is nervous that she will look like a storybook witch. Samantha begins to get annoyed and tells him she has five eyes. She wonders why humans care more about appearance than who a person is. The doorbell rings and Darrin answers it. He is pleased to see Endora is normal and looking very elegant in a black evening gown. He asks her if she’d like a cocktail. She says she’ll have a very dry martini, Italian vermouth, Spanish gin and a Greek olive. Darrin says they don’t have those and so Endora conjures her own. 

            She asks Darrin why he objects to her daughter being herself. That’s a good question. He says Samantha doesn’t need that nonsense. She almost casts a spell on him before Samantha stops her. Endora tells him to consider himself lucky that he is not now an artichoke. She warns him to watch his step from now on because mother is watching. When Endora disappears in a puff of smoke Gladys Kravitz is watching through binoculars. She then goes to bed with a smile because she now knows she’s dreaming. Darrin asks Samantha what she could do if Endora turned him into an artichoke. She says, “Nothing, but I could become an artichoke too”. 

            Shirley Clyde was played by Hollis Irving, who is best remembered for her portrayal of Harriet Woodley on the sitcom Blondie. She played the straightlaced Myrtle Busbee in the 1960 film "The Facts of Life". She began her career on the stage in stock companies. She was introduced to actor and director Robert Montgomery while attending a social function at Radio City Music Hall. Impressed by her blonde good looks, slim physique, and petite voice, he took notice of her potential and arranged for her to begin a career in the film industry beginning with her appearing in a major role on an episode of "Robert Montgomery Presents". From there, she would go on to flourish as a notable character actress appearing in over 60 features. Often typecast as wives, mothers, relatives, old maids, secretaries, white-collar workers, girlfriends, neighbors, landladies, eccentrics, curmudgeons, retail clerks, educators, clergywomen, authority figures, and businesswomen. During her career, she was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, was supportive of the Motion Picture and Television Fund, had been an honorary member of Actors Equity, had been an active member of the Hollywood Democratic Committee, was involved within her local charters of the American Red Cross and the Boys and Girls Clubs, was a commercial model for the Ford Agency, had been a celebrity spokeswoman for Cadbury and Neiman Marcus, had been among the several founding members of the Canyon Theatre Guild, and was a theatrical instructor for the Pasadena Playhouse.