MovieChat Forums > Bewitched (1964) Discussion > The Murphy Twins...so Different

The Murphy Twins...so Different

posted a year ago by [email protected] (5490)
5 replies | jump to latest

How did the show manage to get away with using fraternal twins? When I watch episodes now, I know immediately if it's Erin or Diane.

I guess back then audiences were not always aware that the baby on the show was twins. It certainly never occurred to me as a child. I just took it for granted that it was one baby and I "saw" what I was supposed to see.

In the third season episode when Aunt Clara conjures up a second Jonathan Tate, you can see that they are identical. Other shows used identical twins. When I watch I Love Lucy, I can never tell if it's Joseph or Michael Mayer.

Apparently Lucy couldn't tell either! In one Lucy book she is quoted as telling the twins mom Mrs. Mayer, "Michael was very good today." She told Lucy, "That was Joseph."

If you watch closely you can see that the Murphy twins even act differently. Erin was often smiling and seemed to have affection for her TV parents. Diane usually had a stunned, confused, "What am I doing here?" look on her face.

It just amazes me that I never noticed when I was a kid. Did anyone else notice the difference?

[–] strntz (10775) a year ago

Hmmm.. I've noticed that Tabitha seemed a bit mercurial, but I honestly didn't know they used two girls to play her!!!

https://groovyhistory.com/content/50893/58e91701c153cb22befb620c1cb5bd02.jpg

I think they looked enough alike to pass for a TV show that would usually be played once first run, once during summer re-runs, then maybe a few more times in syndication. That it's still played daily 50 years later is amazing.

[–] [email protected] (5490) a year ago

I don't recall when I learned that Tabitha was a twin. It may have been later on when Diane was actually listed in the credits.

After a few seasons, the role was exclusively Erin's. She said that she and her sister started to look too different. They went with Erin because they thought she looked more like Elizabeth Montgomery. My theory is that she seemed way more at ease in front of the camera than her sister.
Diane plays the role in a later episode. Erin was sick during filming and they needed Tabitha for a scene in the park. I forget the episode title, but it's the one where Sam and the other moms fight to keep their park. A shopping center was going to be built.

Diane is in the opening scene on a sliding board and accepts a boy's challenge to "slide up the slide". Sam sees her daughter going up the slide and rushes over to scold her. "We slide DOWN a slide". You can clearly see that Tabitha is not Erin.
I always wondered if the show got letters about that episode.

[–] strntz (10775) a year ago

I'm just not that observant I guess, even when watching on a 70" HDTV.. I imagine people watching those huge 23" standard def TVs over an antenna years ago would be less likely to pick up the two different actresses used.

Thanks for the info.

[–] [email protected] (5490) a year ago

Well I'm not that observant either or it wouldn't have taken me decades to notice the difference!

An episode that uses both twins alternately is the third season "Hoho the Clown". Since Tabitha is featured prominently in the show, they have to use both babies. When Samantha and Tabitha are in the studio audience (at the Hoho the Clown Show), it's Erin. The second time they attend the show, it's Diane. At the end of the episode they alternate the twins in the same scene. It's very obvious if you watch closely.

[–] strntz (10775) a year ago

I'll watch for that episode.