Chaplin
Better off silent
Salem Hit by New Dissent Over Witch
A nine-foot bronze statue of Samantha Stephens, the character played by Elizabeth Montgomery on Bewitched, and paid for by the TV Land cable channel, has divided the town of Salem, MA, which had agreed to showcase the statue in a public park. Although several episodes of Bewitched were set in Salem, where Samantha attended a witches' convention, John Carr, a former member of the Salem Historic District Commission, told today's (Tuesday) Washington Post that the plan trivializes the hanging of 19 citizens accused of witchcraft in 1692. "It's like TV Land going to Auschwitz and proposing to erect a statue of Colonel Klink," said Carr. But Mayor Stanley Usovicz noted that Salem deals with its tragic past in local museums. "Will this statue redefine Salem? Absolutely not," he told the Post. "Will it add to the experience of coming here? Definitely."
