The Witches Are Out

 is the seventh episode of the first season of Bewitched. The episode was completed by September 11, 1964.

Plot
Samantha does not like Halloween because of the stereotypical images mortals perpetuate about witches: ugly, mean, and wicked. Samantha tries to get Darrin to see her way when he is working on a Halloween candy account. The client, Mr. Brinkman, wants to use the traditional witch while Darrin displays a beautiful, more glamorous, witch. When Darrin refuses, Larry fires him. When Samantha hears of this, she recruits her aunts Clara and Bertha, and her friend Mary, to help to protest Mr. Brinkman. Brinkman sees the error of his ways when they zap him into the ugly old witch that he so desperately wants to display. He agrees to use the beautiful witch, thereby saving Darrin's job.

General

 * This is the first Halloween episode and the first episode to explore stereotypes and prejudices.
 * The character of Mary is one of the few witch characters whose name does not end in the soft "a" sound.

Casting

 * This episode marks Marion Lorne's first appearance as Aunt Clara.
 * Agnes Moorehead did not appear and received credit only.

Bloopers and Continuity Errors

 * While having a heated discussion with Samantha about societal prejudice against witches, Darrin argues.
 * Darrin: "If I were prejudiced, I wouldn't've married you, would I?"
 * Samantha: "Oh, so that's it. You think you did me a big favor. Took the little witch in. Quite a sacrifice. Must make you feel very self-righteous."
 * Neither acknowledges that Darrin did not know Samantha was a witch when he married her and only learned the truth on their wedding night. This matter is later addressed in Season Two's "What Every Young Man Should Know".


 * Samantha says that her mother, Endora, gets so upset over Halloween each year that she flies to the South of France "'til it all blows over". However, in the third season episode Twitch or Treat, Samantha (and Darrin, by proxy) gets invited to her mother's "annual" Halloween bash.
 * Bertha makes the comment that, if the mortals ever did find out that they were witches, they had better take out lots of fire insurance. Samantha comments, "Oh Bertha, they stopped burning us years ago." Yet, in the seventh season episode Samantha's Old Salem Trip, Samantha and Darrin find themselves in old Salem, and Samantha makes a speech about how the people they have put on trial could not possibly be witches because no mere ropes or binds could hold one. She then causes her own binds to disappear.
 * The snake Mr. Brinkman picks up is obviously rubber.

Cast

 * Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens
 * Dick York as Darrin Stephens
 * Reta Shaw as Bertha
 * Madge Blake as Mary
 * Jacques Roux as Foreign Legion Officer
 * David White as Larry Tate
 * Shelley Berman as Mr. Brinkman
 * Marion Lorne as Aunt Clara