Everyone has heard the story about the genie who appears when a lamp is rubbed and grants the possessor of the lamp three wishes. That was probably the inspiration for "Three Wishes," the episode of Bewitched that first aired on this night in 1967, but viewers never saw a genie — or a lamp, for that matter — and the recipient of the wishes didn't know about them.
Darrin (Dick York) was told that he was being sent to Hawaii with some clients on a business trip. The clients weren't taking their wives so Darrin couldn't bring his. Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) believed him — but Endora (Agnes Moorehead) did not. To prove her point, Endora cast a spell on Darrin. She gave him three wishes to prove whether he really did want Samantha to be with him in Hawaii — or wanted to maneuver things so he was alone with another woman. Being alone in Hawaii would be an ideal opportunity.
"Now you'll know how three–faced mortals are," she told Samantha.
It didn't take long for the first wish to be made known, though. At least, Samantha and Endora believed it was his first wish. The clients decided "just like that" that they wanted the agency boss, Larry Tate (David White), to accompany them. Darrin didn't have to go after all; as usual, though, he had to fill in for Larry when Larry was out of the office.
Endora believed Darrin's second wish was a desire to escort a beautiful bathing suit model who was being handled by the advertising agency to Boston, where he was to deliver a speech at a banquet. But Darrin insisted he wasn't going to eat the banquet food. He said he wanted to come home and have dinner with Samantha.
When Samantha told Endora that was the plan, she replied, "Maybe he will and maybe he won't. It all depends on Wish Number 3."
And it seemed that the third wish was the clincher. Darrin called to report that Boston had been hit by a freak snowstorm and all the flights had been canceled. Endora was sure he had wished to be stranded there with the beautiful model. Samantha didn't think so, but her assurance of Darrin's honesty was eroding.
In the meantime, the model showed up at the door of Darrin's hotel room and told him her flight had been canceled. She had no room so he offered his room to her, adding that he would go on to the airport and wait for a flight out.
Unfortunately for Darrin, a telegram arrived from Hawaii, and Endora convinced Samantha to call Darrin in Boston and perhaps read the telegram to him over the phone. It might be important, she told Samantha. When Samantha called, the model answered the phone.
That, apparently, was all Samantha needed to conclude that her mother had been right.
Darrin, meanwhile, was trying — without much success — to get some sleep in the airport.
When he returned home the next day, Samantha gave him the cold shoulder — and finally explained to Darrin about the three wishes as she was about to "go home to Mother" (to which Darrin replied that she couldn't go home to her mother because her mother was always in their house).
Darrin then proved that he hadn't used any wishes by first, summoning Endora, then ordering her out of their lives for a week. Samantha was convinced and did not ask him to make a third wish.
The moral of the story? Thinking something is true is good, but knowing something is true is best.
Or, as they used to tell me when I was a boy, Never assume. When you assume, you make an ASS out of U and ME.
