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Bronze "Bewitched" Bust-Up

MrRING

Android Futureman
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Salem Not Bewitched

Residents of Salem, Mass.—site of a real-life witch hysteria in 1692—are wrinkling their noses at a proposed statue honoring the 1960s sitcom Bewitched, the Associated Press reported. The TV Land cable network wants to erect a 9-foot bronze statue in a city park honoring the late Elizabeth Montgomery, who played Samantha Stephens in the sitcom, about a witch married to a mortal man.

But residents like Jean Harrison said the statue would be insensitive. She told The Boston Globe that Montgomery played a fictional comic witch, but those who were condemned to die in the Salem witch trials weren't witches at all. Others point out that Bewitched had no connection to the city other than a visit by the cast in 1970, the AP reported.

Mayor Stanley Usovicz strongly supports the statue, saying it would be a fun spot for tourists to stop and have their pictures taken. He also says it would be located far from Gallows Hill, where 19 accused witches were hanged, the AP reported.

The sitcom is the basis for an upcoming Bewitched movie, starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell.

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?category=0&id=30936
 
It takes a fair amount to leave me speechless, especially as regards corporate America... :evil: ...but, um nobody at TVLand thought this just possibly might be slightly different than when they put up a statue of Mary Richards throwing her tam up in the air in Minneapolis (The Mary Tyler Moore Show) or Bob Hartley in Chicago (The Bob Newhart Show)?

Mary, Mother of God, I guess we should just be thankful they don't show reruns of Hogan's Heroes or we'd be looking at a Colonel Klink statue outside of Treblinka or Auschwitz...
 
hey if you can't sell it what good is it?

but seriously, not only can I not see the logic behind this move, I just can't understand the trivialising of history that goes with it.

I can't even formulate a rant at this point... I wouldn't know where to start.
 
Personally, I despise the very concept of statues. They reek of idolism and totalitarianism, and I can never see one without wanting to knock its head off. (Although I'd make an exception for Point Pleasants statue of Mothman, seen here in the company of a rather dapper looking John Keel). What does it say about a country when they start putting up statues of TV sitcom stars, I wonder?
 
I'll tell you one thang, if they stacked stones on my chest until it crushed just for a teevee promo, I'd make damn sure to authoratitively haunt the perpetrators and their descendants, whether such a thing was possible or not.


Philo T rings up his attorney to amend his will yet again...
 
Well, there's the wall in Kings Cross where all the Harry Potter fans like to have their photo taken, the countless tourists risking being run over as they pose on the crossing outside the Abbey Road studios so there's money and interest in the trivial and silly. Why not a statue to the Birds of a Feather girls in Chigwell? A Good Life grouping in Surbiton?
It all smacks of exploitation of easily influenced people. There's going to be a Bewitched movie - so the mayor wants a statue to the series for the potential twit-tourists. I wonder how much money he stands to make out of an increase in tourism; tourism, I might add, that Salem already exploits for their links to the witch trials. I could agree with the protesters who worry about a link between a comedy and the ignorance-inspired executions if it wasn't for the fact they already pander to the macabre and 'witch' industry.

They object to no obvious link to the sit-com. Would they complain about Sabrina?
 
What does it say about a country when they start putting up statues of TV sitcom stars, I wonder?

Not a lot, it says more about modern culture.

But its a `slight` improvement on some modern art
 
I think "Sabrina the teenage witch" has a more legitimate claim to be associated with Salem.
 
I can't see the problem at all. Americans have a tradition of celebrating anything given the opportunity and will create new events to celebrate if necessary. If they want to celebrate the small fame of a dead actress then so be it.

As for the 'real' Salem witches, as has already been pointed out, they weren't witches in the first place and secondly, it's not as if Salem doesn't exploit these very same people.

I'd say the real issue is that someone else's idea of witches doesn't fit in with Salem's present public and commercial depiction of witches.
 
I don't feel any particular affinity with witches, nor do I have an image of how I feel they should be portrayed, in fact I am almost completely ignorant on the subject, whether it be contemporary or historical...

however, the idea of a pop culture icon being erected in a town which has such a devastating history, in fact riding on the back of that history, I do find distasteful.

it's no surprise that such a thing should happen, but somehow it's still shocking in its tactlessness. The argument that Salem profits already from its history does not make this particular proposal any less repulsive.
 
light said:
I don't feel any particular affinity with witches, nor do I have an image of how I feel they should be portrayed, in fact I am almost completely ignorant on the subject, whether it be contemporary or historical...

however, the idea of a pop culture icon being erected in a town which has such a devastating history, in fact riding on the back of that history, I do find distasteful.

it's no surprise that such a thing should happen, but somehow it's still shocking in its tactlessness.

Without wishing to diminish the misfortune of those that did die, it does help to put it into perspective. What, 19 or 20 people were killed over 300 years ago?

The argument that Salem profits already from its history does not make this particular proposal any less repulsive.

Perhaps not, but it does make it difficult for the people of Salem themselves to try and take some kind of moral high-ground over this.
 
Its not PC to put up statues of royalty, millitary heroes or explorers anymore.
 
Homo Aves said:
Its not PC to put up statues of royalty, millitary heroes or explorers anymore.


I don't know about not PC, but the question that does arise especially around London is "Who are these people?", I think they should make statues biodegradable so that they disappear when everyone's forgotten what the subject's famous for...pretty soon we'd be down to Nelson and Churchill (though I hope that Boudicca would hang on)
 
I suspect that's why in Canada they love to celebrate people like Terry Fox; they name streets after him, issue commemorative coins with his likeness, etc. -- because he's "safe" and noncontroversial.

http://www.collectionscanada.ca/2/6/h6-214-e.html

EDIT: I was responding to HA--Timble slipped in there mad fast.
 
Timble said:
Homo Aves said:
Its not PC to put up statues of royalty, millitary heroes or explorers anymore.


I don't know about not PC, but the question that does arise especially around London is "Who are these people?", I think they should make statues biodegradable so that they disappear when everyone's forgotten what the subject's famous for...pretty soon we'd be down to Nelson and Churchill (though I hope that Boudicca would hang on)

I'd like to think that statues exist to stop us forgetting and should stay there for when we do forget. There is a statue of a prominent mill-owner in my town which I really wish more people would appreciate, particularly in light of what the man represented, Hugh Mason, did for the local community.

A liberal mill owner and social reformer, he literally transformed the local area by building decent housing for his workers (still in use) and restructuring the layout of the town, a public library (still in use), a swimming baths for the workers which also included a shed for a fire engine - incidentally one of the first and largest municipal baths in the country, a sports ground as well as children's playgrounds (still in use). He was also the first in the area to allow workers their Saturday afternoons off work.

aul224.jpg
 
<Nods>

In our town centre we have Ismbard kingdom Brunel, who has a strange door in his plinth I have seen policeman entering and mysterious music emmited from.

<shakes head in denial>

He did a lot for Swindon, like give us the Railway.
 
Another potential problem!

Never mind Samantha! Which "Darrin" will they immortalise: Dick York Or Dick Sargent?
 
FuManChu said:
Going back to the original article, that plan has the advantage of excluding any and all TV "personalities".
But, and this is a point, what about historical figures who are popularised by a television series where the tv version is lousy and inaccurate but the real-life person is worthy of thought.

There are many great people who deserve a permanent reminder of what they achieved for society as a whole, regardless of age, politics,gender or race. There are also plenty of statues to "General So-and-So" whose only claim to fame was killing as many of his enemy as his own men. The bio-degradable statue is a nice thought, but some people deserve a more permanent rememberance.
 
And, IIRC, the modern town of Salem is not even the location of the historic witch trials.

Go figure.
 
As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.
Psalm 103

Are not statues simply a symbol of our pathological inability to come to grips with our own mortality?
 
It's up now - you can see a pix of it in the following article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050616/ap_en_mo/bewitched_statue
'Bewitched' Statue Goes Up in Salem Thu Jun 16, 1:24 PM ET

SALEM, Mass. - Welcomed by many — including the mayor and some city councilors — but reviled by others, a statue of 1960s TV icon Samantha Stephens of "Bewitched" was unveiled amid a puff of smoke in Salem on Wednesday.

The statue depicts the late actress Elizabeth Montgomery, who played the nose-wiggling Stephens in the 1960s sitcom, sitting sidesaddle on a broomstick, her skirt flying behind her in the breeze, in front of a crescent moon. Even though hundreds turned out to welcome the statue at Lappin Park, including some people who call themselves witches, others continued to protest.

"I think it's the best thing to happen to Salem in a long time," self-described witch Linda Monroe told WHDH-TV. "It's a long time coming for something so fun and cheery. She's awesome. She's everybody's idol." While some Salem officials said the bronze statue, sponsored by the TV Land cable network, is just a bit of fun and will hopefully draw more tourists to the city, others have criticized it, saying it trivializes the real and tragic events that occurred in Salem in 1692, when 20 people were put to death after being accused of witchcraft.

Those people carried signs at Wednesday's event that said "Tragedy (does not equal) Whimsy" and "Is there no limit to the schlock and hype?" They say the statue is nothing but an ad for the "Bewitched" movie, starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell, scheduled for release June 24. The ceremony was attended by show director William Asher, who was married to Montgomery, as well as a number of actors who appeared in the original series, including Bernard Fox (Dr. Bombay), Kasey Rogers (Louise Tate) and Erin Murphy (Tabitha Stephens).

The network has placed similar statues of famous sitcom characters around the country, including Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden of "The Honeymooners" at the Port Authority in New York and Mary Richards in Minneapolis, where "The Mary Tyler Moore" show was set.
 
It's good to see that the sort of things that happen on the Simpsons happen in real life.
 
So the town hypocrites ... er ... inhabitants who objected to the statue have been overruled then.
Tacky - but fair enough.
 
Yup James, Groener's writers must be shaking their heads in disbelief.
 
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