Elizabeth Montgomery life, her trials of self-realization, and the chain of events that led her to entertain others is what first resonated after reading TWITCH UPON A STAR. I read it twice. Afterwards I watched re-runs of Bewitched− knowing what I learned from TWITCH UPON A STAR –and what stirred me most were the questions that came to mind which I feel TWITCH UPON A STAR answered. What does a person’s life mean to others? Does a meaningful life mean one’s influence on other’s after one has gone? Does it mean an undeniable mark on others? A lasting fondness? By Pilato reminding us of Elizabeth Montgomery life, he reminds us that to live is to have meaning to others. In the era Elizabeth Montgomery lived, the onset of woman’s lib placed her unsuspecting role as the role of Samantha Stephens on a (sweet little) television show called Bewitched.
It also showed viewers that an extraordinary extent of privacy is possible in one’s own home. After all, if a witch could be hidden from recognition and within the walls of a home was one’s own business, there was a great value to owning a home. The show also conveyed a woman knows best and that her dabbling in her husband’s business affairs brought unexpected gains. That was something unheard of in that era.
TWITCH UPON A STAR is as no other book. And while my being Christian sides me with the direction of thought that us being “perfect” is not attainable (because the only perfect is the Lord) TWITCH UPON A STAR is as perfect as perfect a book can get on this earth. Between the lines we are reminded that to realize (with television) we are watching a place in history made is not what we realize when we watch the best entertainers of our time. After we are affected by what we experience, we just know they took us to a place (in our own hearts) and to that a moment in time that relieved us from our own expectations on ourselves and others. We get to tune out all but what we are watching. In a world where anticipation is half the fun, the best entertainers (as was Elizabeth Montgomery) get us to anticipate and stay in a steady-state of anticipation that detracts us from those levels of expectations from everyday life. Some call it escapism−that being entertained provides−but it is more. Every now and far in between then a person (entertainer) comes along, as Elizabeth Montgomery had, that brings a sheer joy to watch; because we did not know what to expect next out of that person; a humbling experience in observance of what is genuine about a person.
When our values of past have been bruised by the present world we live in, and we’ve evolved away from certain mainstay values in entertainment, the preservation of television’s history and the efforts to preserve, brings us back to the foundational values of being entertained; to bring forth appeal, and all that is unexpected and not anticipated. TWITCH UPON A STAR more than takes us back to a time when. It moves readers forward with hope of what (in similar fashion and form or spiritedness) can be achieved in entertainment; and who better than Herbie J Pilato to bring that message forward to this and the next generation. He is the founder and Executive Director of The Classic TV Preservation Society, a nonprofit organization that seeks to close the gap between popular culture and education.
Thank you, Herbie J Pilato for giving it your all (in this book). TWITCH UPON A STAR is a blessing in disguise; a reminder of the passion, perseverance, devotion, and diligence partook by entertainers. In between the lines of TWITCH UPON A STAR readers are likely to gain a sense that Elizabeth Montgomery lived her legacy while she was alive, and that by her genuine nature, left a mark on society, influenced others beyond her widest imagination, and in what we see of her work in reruns and by Pilato’s artful mastery of the craft of writing, we (readers) get to relive the reasons we have the fondness for the way Elizabeth Montgomery entertained us.
Back to our earlier questions, questions that stirred in me as I read TWITCH UPON A STAR: What does a person’s life mean to others? What would be at stake had that person never existed? Pilato shows readers in more ways than one that one person can make a great difference in the world and that Elizabeth Montgomery did so by not setting out to do so; but by serving to the best of one’s ability. To be given the gift that TWITCH UPON A STAR is proves that a life well lived is not about what you take but what you give.
Bravo to Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. For me, a person who thinks he’s read the best of the best books, you put a twinkle in my eyes with Herbie J Pilato’s mastery of the craft of writing. To relive television’s greatest times is to travel into the depth of one’s own heart and TWITCH UPON A STAR did that for me. Thank you.”
Salvador SeBasco
Book Critic
Literary Director
Host of THE INSIDE VIEW SHOWTM
on staff with CNN affiliate station, KNLE
December 5, 2012
Book Critic
Literary Director
Host of THE INSIDE VIEW SHOWTM
on staff with CNN affiliate station, KNLE
December 5, 2012
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