By
Paul
The part of Louise, Larry Tate’s
wife, was played by two different actors during the eight
year run of Bewitched. The first Louise was Irene Vernon
who appeared in 11 episodes during the first two years of
Bewitched. At the end of the second season she retired
from the show to, as the story goes, pursue real estate opportunities
in Florida. Beginning in the third season, the role of Louise
was resumed by Kasey Rogers who appeared in 33 episodes throughout
the last six seasons.
Louise’s first episode was # 4,
“It Shouldn’t Happen to a Dog.” She is at
the party given for the client Rex Barker at the Stephens’s
house. She is first seen as Samantha greets her after dinner
and offers to get her a drink. Samantha defers to Louise, as
the Boss’ wife, by referring to her as “Mrs. Tate,”
though Louise refers to Samantha by her given name. Louise is
seen again as the guests are leaving, but she has no other lines
.
Louise appears in four more episodes in the first season
with the last being # 31,
“That Was My Wife.” She is shown here trying to
talk Darrin into giving up the “other woman” that
she and Larry think Darrin has been seeing. The problem is solved
when it develops that the “other woman” is Samantha
wearing a dark wig.
Louise is first seen in the second season in episode
# 40, “My Grandson,
The Warlock,” in London. The Stephens are baby sitting
for the Tates when Maurice, mistakenly thinking the Tate baby
is Samantha’s, borrows him to show him off at the London
Warlock’s Club. Louise is shown here reacting to having
seen Maurice with her baby outside the Tate’s hotel in
London as Maurice is taking the baby to the club.
Louise appeared in five more episodes in the second
season, the last being episode # 65,
“Disappearing Samantha.” The Tates pick up Darrin
and Samantha to take them to hear a lecture by the witch hunter,
Mr. Rightmire. Note the new hair style for Louise.
In the third season Louise appears in 10 episodes,
the first of which is # 76,
“The Moment of Truth.” In this episode, the Stephens
are trying to hide Tabatha’s witchcraft. In the scene
shown here Louise is reacting to one of Larry’s bad jokes.
The last episode in season 3 in which Louise appears
is # 106, “Nobody but
a Frog Knows How to Live.” In this episode Samantha is
trying to hide from the Tates, among others, that the obnoxious
Fergus is a frog in human form. By Louise’s expression
it seems she is not ready to buy into Samantha’s wild
explanation.
In episode # 109,
“Toys in Babeland,” Louise’s first of nine
appearances in season 4, Larry thinks that Darrin is trying
to steal a client to start his own agency. Louise is shown here
trying to calm Larry down so he doesn’t go to the Stephens
house and make a fool of himself, which, of course, he does.
Louise’s last episode in season 4 is episode
# 134, “Tabatha’s
Cranky Spell.” Louise’s Aunt Harriet is baby sitting
for Tabitha, so the girls can gang up on a client who refuses
to update his advertising because he had promised his Uncle
Willie that he would never change it. We see Louise’s
reaction to Aunt Harriet’s offer to contact the ghost
of Uncle Willie to see what he thinks about making a change.
Louise’s first of five appearances in season
5 is in episode # 146, “Mirror,
Mirror on the Wall.” Endora has put a spell on Darrin
to make him extremely vain about his age and appearance, and
to go to extremes in clothing. Darrin and Samantha go to the
Tate’s home to meet with a client. Samantha one-up’s
Darrin in her dress, so he doesn’t look so out of place.
Here we see Louise’s reaction to Samantha’s silver
disc dress and Darrin white silk suit and beads.
The last episode for Louise in season 5 is episode
# 155, “Serena Strikes
Again, Part 1.” This is one of the few occasions that
Louise is seen at the Stephens home for dinner with a client.
Larry makes frequent appearances at the Stephens’s with
clients, but usually has some excuse why Louise is not with
him. This is one of the few things in which Bewitched
varied far from the norm by not having Louise with Larry at
social functions more often, since in usual business practice
the wife would generally accompany the husband to events such
as seen in this episode.
Louise is not seen again until episode # 191,
“What Makes Darrin Run,” in season 6, a gap of 35
episodes (over a full season of production), and is in only
three episodes that season. In this episode, Endora has cast
a spell to make Darrin power hungry. Here Louise and Mrs. McMann
watch as Mr. McMann tries to overcome his alcohol intake to
tell Larry that he is going to make some changes at the agency.
Note that Louise is now a redhead (this is Kasey’s hair.
She wore a black wig her first three seasons on the show).
Episode # 198, “Mona,
Sammy,” is the last episode in season 6 in which Louise
appears. In this episode, Endora produces a Di Vinci painting
that looks like Samantha. In the usual built in confusion, Darrin’s
name appears on the picture and Larry and Louise think the painting
is one Darrin did of Samantha. Larry demands that Darrin do
a portrait of Louise. With Samantha’s help Darrin produces
a very good painting of Louise until Endora sticks her nose
in and ruins the painting. Larry sees the painting and fires
Darrin for how he painted Louise. Before Louise sees the painting
Samantha twitches the painting back to what it had been. Louise
is seen as she gets her first look at the painting. She then
gets mad at Larry for what he has said about the painting when
she thinks it looks just like her.
Episode # 210, “Samantha’s
Old Man,” is the first of three appearances Louise makes
in season 7. In this episode Endora, in a fit of temper, ages
Darrin by 30 years. When Larry and Louise meet the aged Darrin,
whom Samantha tells them is Darrin’s grandfather Grover,
they try to fix Grover up with Louise’s flirtatious Aunt
Millicent. We see Louise’s reaction to Larry’s suggestion
to give Grover and Millicent their theater tickets for the next
night.
Louise’s last episode in season 7 is episode
# 223, “Money Happy
Returns.” In this episode, Darrin finds an envelope full
of money. He thinks Endora zapped it up to make him look cheap.
Finally Darrin expands his accusations to include Samantha,
who blows her stack at him and goes to visit Louise. The crook
who had lost the money shows up to get it back and when he pulls
a gun, Darrin panics and calls Louise to talk to Samantha. Louise,
not realizing how serious the situation is, won’t let
Darrin talk to Samantha. Samantha finally realizes that there
is a problem at home and goes back and straightens out the mess.
Louise is seen in three episodes in season 8, with
episode # 235, “The
Ghost Who Made a Specter of Himself,” being the first
one. Here Larry and Louise show up at Darrin and Samantha’s
hotel to announce that instead of going home, they are all staying
the weekend at an English castle.
Louise’s final appearance on Bewitched
is in episode # 247, “Serena’s
Youth Pill,” in season 8. In this episode Larry stops
by the Stephens’s to return Darrin’s putter and
meets Serena who is baby sitting. Under the guise of a vitamin
pill, Serena slips Larry a youth pill, which reverses Larry’s
ageing. When Larry arrives home, Louise freaks out when she
sees Larry with red hair.
Apparently, Louise and Samantha became
good friends since in Louise’s second appearance in
season one they are on a first name basis and seem quite friendly.
(In the Screen Gems Episode Guide and on the VCR tapes this
is listed as episode # 9
although the DVD lists it as Episode # 8).
Louise went on to become the only mortal friend that Samantha
had in the series. Fans for years have debated the direction
of the show had they become “best friends,” and
there is even speculation about events if Louise had been
let in on the secret that Samantha was a witch.
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