Gladys Kravitz, Jewish heroine of "Bewitched"

Last year, I wrote a short essay on the Jewish themes of the classic "Bewitched" sitcom. 

But there is one character in Bewitched that I omitted, and she was the most recognizable Jewish character on the show. I'm referring, of course, to neighbor Gladys Kravitz (nee Gruber), who lives with her long suffering husband Abner. 

The character was played by two actresses, Alice Pearce and Sandra Gould. (Pearce had clearly "Jewish" facial features but was not Jewish; Gould was.) Kravitz was the butt of jokes on the show as the nosy neighbor who would get hysterical when she witnessed the magical goings-on at her neighbor Samantha Stevens' house, but she was never able to prove it to anyone else.

Her husband Abner had recently retired and was not interested in anything she saw, and belittled her in a way that was not unusual between couples for sitcoms of the era. However, they loved each other in their own way, although not with the public displays of affection that Samantha and Darrin would display.   

But what made Gladys perhaps the most Jewish character in 1960s sitcoms was not her name or her stereotypical whiny voice. 

It was that even though no one else could see it, and they all thought she was crazy, she was telling the truth. And she never stopped telling the truth even though she knew that she would be insulted, mocked  and marginalized for it.

There is an old expression: "It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you." In many ways this is a Jewish motto, but it applies to Gladys Kravitz as well. She is a truth-teller in a world of both lies and those who don't want to believe the truth because it is too uncomfortable. 

Gladys Kravitz is, in a way, a type of Biblical Jewish prophetess who warns others of what the reality is. 

There have been other Jewish characters on TV who are the only seemingly sane people surrounded by kooks, with no one around to back them up and no friends who believe them  - Joel Fleischman in the initial seasons of Northern Exposure, and Josh Segal in the hilarious Trial and Error.  In those shows, the Jews are the straight men for the jokes while Gladys is the comic foil in Bewitched, but the concept is roughly the same - the Jew who has to navigate a strange world while trying to maintain their sanity.

Telling the truth in a world of lies is a lonely task. So I salute Gladys Kravitz, the sometimes shrill but usually accurate witness who tenaciously reports the truth to a world that is increasingly willing to believe lies. 

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Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.  Read all about it here!

 

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The Secret Jewish History of "Bewitched"

I always see the Forward find Jewish angles in the most goyishe seeming parts of pop culture, so I'll do one too - from decades ago.

"Bewitched" was a hugely popular TV series about a witch Samantha, who marries mortal man Darrin Stevens. Most plots involve her magical relatives meddling in her marriage, especially her disapproving mother, Endora.

The show was created by Sol Saks under executive director Harry Ackerman and director William Asher. Saks and Ackerman were Jewish, Asher's father was Jewish and he married Bewitched's star, Elizabeth Montgomery. 

Many people see the show as an allegory for the Jewish American experience. Samantha comes from the old country but wants to assimilate in American society, while her relatives disapprove of her mixed marriage to a mortal. Endora looks very "foreign." 

Darrin loves her but wants her to be a "normal" woman and not perform her strange rituals. He's tolerant - but not that tolerant.

In the pilot episode, when Darrin marries Samantha, the theme of prejudice is made explicit. Endora says, "You’re still very young and inexperienced. You don’t know what prejudice you’ll run into!" And later, when Samantha first tells Darrin her secret, he exclaims, "Okay, if you're a witch,  where's your black hat and broom and how come you're out when it isn't even Halloween? Samantha answers, "Mother was right, you're prejudiced!"

There is one other telling incident in the pilot. Darren's ex-girlfriend Sheila invites the newlyweds to a party, where she attempts to demean Samantha as not being sophisticated while making snide comments. At one point, Sheila engages Samantha in a conversation - about nose jobs:

 “Do you know Dr. Hafter, dear? Samantha?”

 “Beg your pardon?”

 “Dr. Hafter, do you know him?”

“No.”

“The plastic surgeon. Does beautiful nose work.”

"No, I don’t know him.”

”Funny, I could have sworn…”

In the 1960s, nose jobs were considered de rigueur for young, upwardly mobile Jewish women.

In the end, as much as Samantha tries to assimilate and stop doing her magic, she can never deny her witchhood.

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Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.  Read all about it here!

 

Read More