Aunt Clara's Goofs - Bewitched @ Harpies Bizarre

By Paul

First seen in episode # 7, the talented Marion Lorne played the bumbling, confused, but lovable Aunt Clara in 28 episodes over the first four years of Bewitched. The favorite aunt of Samantha, she was always able to make a mess of any situation with her incantations, which always went wrong. The role of Aunt Clara ended with episode # 137 due to the untimely death of Marion Lorne. The character of Aunt Clara was never recast.

The Arrivals

Aunt Clara was famous for her arrivals at the Stephens’s house. Invariably her arrival was some sort of a catastrophe. Some examples of her arrivals are listed below:

# 7, "The Witches Are Out"

The first time we meet Aunt Clara, she makes her entrance through the front door, one of the few times in the series that she arrives this way. She had not intended to, but she had gotten her spell mixed up and landed on the freeway.

# 37, "Alias Darrin Stephens"

A slightly little different entrance has Aunt Clara falling through the gazebo. She also crashed through the gazebo in # 89.

# 42, "Take Two Aspirin and Half a Pint of Porpoise Milk"

Samantha's witchcraft goes haywire as a result of contact with a black Peruvian rose. After Samantha accidentally creates a door where one of the bedroom dormer windows belongs, Aunt Clara scares Gladys out of her wits when she comes in through the second floor door, which opens only onto thin air.

# 47, "Aunt Clara's Old Flame"

We usually see Aunt Clara trying to leave through walls. In this case, she is trying to go into the house, but she bounces off the wall twice before she makes it on the third try.

# 76, "The Moment of Truth"

One of Aunt Clara's more unusual arrivals, this time by parachute.

# 87, "My Friend Ben"

Another botched entrance occurs when she lands in the hall closet (she was aiming for the kitchen). She also lands in the hall closet in # 27.

# 95, "The Trial and Error of Aunt Clara"

A bit of a different Aunt Clara entrance. This time she comes down the chimney and ends up in the furnace. The picture shows her coming through the cellar door.

NOTE: The cellar door is usually the broom closet. This is the only episode where 1164 is said to have a cellar.

# 105, "Bewitched, Bothered, and Infuriated"

Another typical Aunt Clara entry through the broom closet. She also does this in # 39.

# 116, "Out of Synch, Out of Mind"

Here Aunt Clara lands down the chimney. She also does this in #s 14, 39, 56, 83, and 94.

# 118, "Allergic to Macedonian Dodo Birds"

After Endora loses her powers because of contact with a Macedonian Dodo bird, Aunt Clara acquires Endora's powers, and as the picture shows, arrives in clouds of smoke to show off her newfound powers.

# 119, "Samantha’s Thanksgiving to Remember"

Not a typical chimney entrance because Aunt Clara was sleep walking.

# 130, "McTavish"

This entrance heralds the time Aunt Clara took the polar route from England and landed in the refrigerator.

The Bumbling Witch-Ups

Bumbling entrances are not dear Aunt Clara's only problems. She continually goofs up even the simplest of situations, as the following items illustrate:

# 7, "The Witches Are Out"

Aunt Clara tries to leave by walking through the wall, as the other witches did. But, she doesn't concentrate, and bangs off the wall. This same scene was reused in episode # 27. Aunt Clara also bounced off a different wall in #s 14 and 56.

Bertha, Mary, and Aunt Clara are going to accompany Samantha to protest witches being shown as ugly old hags. The witches make protest signs, but Aunt Clara makes a political protest instead.

# 14, "Samantha Meets the Folks"

Darrin's parents come to visit. Aunt Clara is concerned that Samantha's simple cooking will not impress the guests. So, Aunt Clara decides to cook up a fancy dish. You might say her first effort is all "fowled" up.

# 27, "There’s No Witch Like an Old Witch"

Aunt Clara volunteers to stay at home while Darrin and Samantha go out. She decides to do the dishes, and casts a spell to make soap suds. As usual, her incantation is faulty, and she fills the house with suds.

# 37, "Alias Darrin Stephens"

Aunt Clara arrives to bring presents to Darrin and Samantha on their first anniversary. She brings Darrin a golfing cap, which is way too small. Darrin wants to exchange it, but Aunt Clara insists she can cast a spell that will fix everything. Aunt Clara casts her spell, and the cap fits Darrin well, but instead of the cap being enlarged, Darrin is turned into a monkey whose head is small enough to fit the cap.

# 44, "The Very Informal Dress"

Aunt Clara overhears Samantha say that she has nothing to wear to an office party. So, Aunt Clara zaps up a beautiful dress for Samantha, and while she is at it she makes a new suit for Darrin. At the party, Aunt Clara's spell begins to wear off, and Samantha's dress begins to disappear. Samantha twitches up a new dress for herself. Darrin is not so lucky. It is not long before his state of undress lands him in jail.

# 47, "Aunt Clara's Old Flame"

When Aunt Clara tries to turn herself and her old boyfriend Hedley into a pair of birds, she goofs the spell, turning Hedley into a baby elephant and makes her own lower half disappear.

# 76, "The Moment of Truth"

Aunt Clara has come to baby sit Tabitha for Samantha. She does not yet know that Tabitha is a witch, and when Tabitha makes pots, pans, and toys fly all over the kitchen, Aunt Clara thinks that her magic has gone haywire and that she is responsible for the moving objects. The picture illustrates the moment when she first notices that the toy has been moved to Tabitha's tray.

# 77, "Witches and Warlocks Are My Favorite Things"

After the testing of Tabitha has shown that she has unusual powers, Endora, Hagatha, and Enchantra want to take her immediately to Hagatha's Witches School. Samantha won't stand for this; Aunt Clara agrees with her. As the picture shows, the three witches leave Aunt Clara out of the decision making due to her incompetence, and prepare to do some "witch-napping."

Samantha calls Maurice, who, showing that he has more power than the three witches, reverses their decision, and lets Tabitha stay at home. This picture shows one of Maurice's rare moments of tenderness, as he prepares to escort Aunt Clara home.

# 78, "Accidental Twins"

Aunt Clara babysits for the Stephens and the Tates. She entertains the children by doing magic tricks, none of which she gets right. She zaps up a toy for Tabitha, and in trying to make another one for Jonathan, she turns him into twins. Then, of course, she can't remember the spell to reverse it.

# 83, "The Short Happy Circuit of Aunt Clara"

Aunt Clara tries to move a piano to Tabitha's room by shrinking it to toy size. Half way up the stairs her spell wears off and the piano returns to normal size. Aunt Clara's spell to re-shrink the piano goes awry, and the lights on the entire eastern seaboard go out.

# 87, "My Friend Ben"

Samantha has a table lamp that will not work. After Aunt Clara drops in to visit she decides that Samantha needs an electrician to fix the lamp. So, she zaps up an electrician; the problem is that she got Benjamin Franklin.

# 89, "A Gazebo Never Forgets"

While on a trip to the park, Tabitha sees a polka-dotted stuffed elephant that she wants. Aunt Clara tries to oblige, but she produces a live polka-dotted baby elephant.

# 94, "The Corn is as High as a Guernsey’s Eye"

Aunt Clara is very despondent since Endora, Hagatha, and Enchantra have been bugging her to give up witchcraft. Clara decides to turn herself into a plant, but as the picture shows, she can't even do that right, and her leaves wilt.

# 95, "The Trial and Error of Aunt Clara"

Endora, Enchantra, and Hagatha decide that Aunt Clara is goofing up too much and should be Earthbound, so they put her on trial. While trying to show she still has her powers, she produces a dog team when attempting to zap up a Baked Alaska dessert.

# 105, "Bewitched, Bothered, and Infuriated"

Aunt Clara zaps up a newspaper because Darrin won't share his. The only problem is that the newspaper is dated for the next day and states that Larry has broken his leg. This sets Darrin off to protect Larry from the accident. Only at the end do Samantha and Darrin find out that the newspaper is 10 years old.

# 116, "Out of Synch, Out of Mind"

Darrin has a problem getting his home movie sound to sync with the picture. Aunt Clara decides to help, and as usual gets the incantation just a bit wrong. The movie and sound now are in sync, but Samantha's voice isn't, with her voice lagging behind her mouth motions. It doesn't help the situation that Darrin's mother is visiting and sees Samantha speaking this way.

# 124, "Samantha’s da Vinci Dilemma"

Samantha is painting the trim on the house. Aunt Clara arrives and decides that Samantha needs a professional painter. So, she accidentally zaps up Leonardo da Vinci.

# 136, "A Majority of Two"

While Darrin is out of town, Samantha has to entertain a Japanese client. Aunt Clara decides it would be nice if she and Samantha dressed the part. So, without asking, she zaps Samantha into a Japanese robe like her own. This leads to a romance between Mr. Mishimoto and Aunt Clara, which Aunt Clara breaks off when she find out that her old beau, Ocky, needs her. This almost costs Larry a client, a problem that Samantha is able to fix.

# 137, "Samantha’s Secret Saucer"

Tabitha is playing with a toy flying saucer when it flies outside. Aunt Clara tries to call it back, but zaps up the real thing instead.

This was Marion Lorne's last episode as Aunt Clara.