Twitch Upon a Star (58 page)
Read Twitch Upon a Star Online
Authors: Herbie J. Pilato
Bewitched
, in particular, was also one of his favorite programs, and Lizzie one of the TV stars who most inspired him, both as a human being and to work in the entertainment industry. As a youngster, he followed her career and was “thrilled to see her starring in her own sitcom. Of course her beauty is only one of the first things that caught your eye. But in addition to that, it was her acting versatility. I loved watching her. She had such a wonderful way to draw you into her character. You knew right from the start that she was a good witch who only wanted to do positive things for people.
Samantha
has a great deal of power but only used it sparingly for only good purposes.”
“To me, spiritually,” he concludes, “it showed the existence of true love in the world. I followed her career and saw the full range of her acting ability. Yes, Ms. Montgomery could also play bad, excellently. As her fan base grew, so did she as an actor. I was captivated by her.
Bewitched
was and still is a major part of my life experience.”
Lizzie clearly hit a chord with the disabled community, the down-trodden, the under-privileged, the put-upon, the physically, mentally, visually, and vocally impaired, and minorities of every kind. The late gifted author Lauri E. Klobas was a loyal advocate of the challenged community, she was also as a big fan of Lizzie's. In her book,
Disability Drama in Television and Film
(McFarland, 1988), Klobas included a review and analysis of Lizzie's renown TV-film,
Second Sight: A Love Story
, about a blind woman's relationship with her seeing-eye dog and the new man in her life. The year her book was published, Klobas offered an explanation of Lizzie's diverse popularity, touching on closed captioning for television programming, which is widely available now (and which Lizzie had unsuccessfully once rallied for on
Bewitched
):
Before closed captioning was available on TV, people who were deaf tuned into action shows where the story line could be followed without dialogue. I remember asking deaf friends in the pre-captioning days what they liked to watch and
Bewitched
was at the top of their list. It was Montgomery's expressive face and “speech-readable” mouth that attracted them. Of course, the graphic manifestations of magic needed no dialogue to be enjoyed by any member of the audience.
Emmy-winning TV producer Dan Weaver has worked on acclaimed talk shows such as
The Phil Donahue Show
and
Hour Magazine
. In 1996, Weaver, who is hearing-impaired, was the guiding creative force behind a tribute to Elizabeth on
Entertainment Tonight
. He had the wonderful fortune of meeting Elizabeth twice. First, in 1986, when he produced a special for
Donahue
called “AIDS: Face to Face.” Weaver recalls:
Phil had wanted to do a show on people battling AIDS in their final stages. It was a powerful experience, and the program was nominated for two Emmys, and received an Alliance for Gay and Lesbian Artists (AGLA) Award. These awards predated the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, (GLAAD) Awards, which also celebrate the most outstanding images of the LGBT community in the media.
On behalf of the show, Weaver, who is gay, proudly accepted the award. “It was a magical night,” he says, including a surprise meeting before the program with Lizzie and Robert Foxworth. Before showtime, Weaver couldn't resist the chance to introduce himself and his life partner, Lee. “Thinking back,” Weaver intones, “Elizabeth and Robert were early allies in the LGBT equality movement in Hollywood. That was during the time when many people believed that you could
catch
AIDS and that it was
God's punishment of gays
. Yet there they were, and she was as gracious and beautiful as I'd imagined.”
During their brief conversation, Weaver said he also “felt her incredible sensitivity.” In a nervous attempt to make small talk, he mentioned that a friend of his was being considered to do some publicity work for her. Upon hearing this, Lizzie's expression changed and she became “defensive,” Weaver recalls, “saying that [it] wasn't true,” and proceeded to ask Weaver if that's the line his friend was telling everyone. “I felt the panic in her voice.”
In hindsight, Weaver believes his innocent remark was probably inappropriate, since he was a stranger to her. Also, too, his friend may have been exaggerating his prospective employment as her publicist. “I regretted that I had said anything,” Weaver goes on to explain, “yet it made me drawn to her even more ⦠her feelings, her vulnerability, and her fragility. I think these qualities motivated her to help the underdogs, others that may have those feelings sometimes, too, like [those in] the LGBT community and the disabled.”
One of Weaver's favorite autographs is a beautiful note he received from Lizzie, thanks to a mutual producer friend who met her at a PBS fundraiser. Weaver's friend told Elizabeth of his incredible fascination with her which, Weaver admits, “I have gotten teased about over the years.”
No matter. Both he and Lizzie kept a sense of humor about it all. Her note to Weaver said, “You may be demented, but you obviously have impeccable taste.”
“I loved her humor,” Weaver adds.
His other meeting with Elizabeth transpired at a “looping session,” where an audio track is recorded after either a movie or TV show is filmed. As a surprise, Weaver's partner Lee had arranged this “second chance” for me. Weaver explains:
I walked in and there she was in the sound booth, speaking Swahili for her TV movie,
Face to Face
. When she came out for a break, I practically pounced on her. Luckily she hadn't remembered our first encounter, but this one became equally uncomfortable for me. This was finally a chance to connect with her. But I overwhelmed her on what amounted to a short work break. I did what many fans do. I couldn't stop talking and did a soliloquy on why she was important to me. Ugh! She was flattered at first and then became uncomfortable. Thinking back, if I were in her shoes, I would have felt the same way.
Years later, in 1996, he was producing the tribute to Elizabeth for
Entertainment Tonight
, where he met “her wonderful daughter Rebecca,” who smiled upon hearing how he met her mother. I am sorry I never got to convey this in the right way to Elizabeth, but it meant a lot to be able to share my thoughts with Rebecca. I'm just someone who truly felt a connection with Elizabeth, someone who sensed her shyness and her goodness. I felt her compassion even as a child. There was a universal appeal of
Bewitched
that made people from many diverse groups feel welcomed each Thursday night at 8:00 PM [when the show originally aired on ABC]. Echoing Lauri Klobas' thoughts, Weaver recalls:
I remember it being one of the first shows I watched with special effects, and for a hearing-impaired person where there weren't subtitles back then, I am sure it was a fun show to watch. Her real-life passion for social causes, witnessed in some
Bewitched
episodes, came through.
The show found innovative ways to work in messages (with episodes like “
Samantha
Twitches for UNICEF,” and “Sisters at Heart,” the latter of which dealt with bigotry). In those days, dealing with such a real issue like racism was rare on TV; and for a supernatural sitcom to take it on was very courageous and creative. Elizabeth and Bill Asher were pioneers in social cause storytelling.
I learn best through storytelling and visualization, perhaps another reason I was drawn to this series that was so visually interesting
As a video storyteller some four decades later, the show had a huge impact on my career, and using TV as a creative tool in educating others on social issues that impact us allâ¦. Elizabeth's beauty both externally and internally, had a truly magical ability to take such a supernatural and
out-there
concept and give it so much grounding and reality.
I always sensed a bit of insecurity with her, one that I have known well throughout my own life. When I would watch her on the screen I had strong feelings about what Elizabeth, the actress, was going through personally. I've learned over time that she so wanted to please her dad, and I felt that. She was a tremendously gifted woman, but I imagine a very sensitive person who, like all of us, had her demons. But I totally also got that she was a very loving person who cared deeply about people, and never saw herself as a celebrity.
I think she struggled with being a celebrity. In a way, she was probably similar to
Samantha
, just wanting to live the simple life, one where people didn't see her any differently than themselves. I think she accomplished this by never forgetting the underserved in this world, and the power in changing lives by taking on personal actions, like doing narration of audio books for the blind. She was a terrific actress and funny. But there was a depth in her that showed much sensitivity and vulnerability. She played
Samantha
as simply someone who was trying to fit in, to have her family accept her husband's world. There was always love for both sides, but it was a challenge. And
Samantha
always had respect for everyone's point of view. It was not easy for her to be in a minority in a mortal world, but she so wanted to embrace it and share those simple and universal family values.
That one word answer she gave (prejudice, in defining
Bewitched's
central theme) really crystallized why the show was so real to me and why I have loved it on one level; I could sit and be entertained yet on another level really consider a much heavier philosophical perspective.
Today, Weaver is a partner and Senior Vice President of Talent Development for Diversity Works LLC (
www.diversityworksllc.com
), a marketing and communications agency whose clients include lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) certified businesses, nonprofit organizations, and corporate allies. Their tagline is: Turning Pride into Profit.
“We work with companies to help build their strategic relationships in the LGBT Marketplace,” he explains, “which is an $800 billion dollar industry. As a minority group, the LGBT market is third only to the African-American and Hispanic populations, and actually exceeds the Asian-American buying power.”
What's more, Diversity Works supports all groups, but has particular interests in LGBT seniors, LGBT people with disabilities, and the transgender community. “We believe these groups have some of the most significant unmet needs and face the most discrimination.”
According to Weaver, one quarter of all gay seniors fear revealing their sexuality even to their own doctors, while an estimated 40 to 60 percent of the transgendered population is unemployed due to workplace discrimination. So for him, “It's been interesting finding out about Elizabeth's compassion for diversity and disability groups. She was a special soul put here, who used her time well, and is on to her next mission. Her work, whether on screen, at home, or with her charitable causes, lives on like a beautiful tale in a storybook.”
Twenty-one
“My parents never tried to force their opinions on me, politically, religiously, or any other way.”
âElizabeth Montgomery,
Modern Screen Magazine
(July 1970)
Lizzie frequently employed her widespread image for the benefit of others, remaining civic-minded throughout her life and career, in spite or despite conservative views expressed by her mother and father. As she explained to Ronald Haver in 1991, broaching politics with her father was like talking to a brick wall.
For one, her stand on Vietnam was not a popular topic with him. As she put it, “He just figured, âWell, there's no sense of even getting into this with someone like that!'” She felt it was more productive that they were on different coasts; she on the West (
the left
); he on the East (
the right
). “And it was just as well that we weren't in each other's company a lot because it would have been unpleasant ⦠for a whole mess of people.”