AS SEEN ON TV: ARTFUL DODGERS

"He was about this tall and skinny
With a smudge on his nose.
And he wore a tall, silk hat."
Professor Phipps
'Bewitched'

We have a little something different for the Two For Tuesday edition of the "As Seen On TV" showcase - a literary character, seen on TV, but not actually "real". And it's all in memory of Davy Jones....

JOHN "JACK" DAWKINS

aka

THE ARTFUL DODGER

CREATED BY*:

Charles Dickens

AS SEEN ON:

'The Ed Sullivan Show'

AS PLAYED BY:

Davy Jones

AS SEEN IN:

'Bewitched'

AS PLAYED BY:

Todd Baron

The performance on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' occurred on February 9, 1964 - the same broadcast to feature the Beatles' first appearance on the variety show. No attempt at some extra-dimensional splainin on this one - no creation of a Skitlandian off-shoot for the TV dimension known as Toobstage. This was exactly as master serlinguist Ed Sullivan presented it - an excerpt from the Broadway show that was playing at the time.

As for the Dodger's appearance in the 'Bewitched' episode "The Phrase Is Familiar", he was as Professor Phipps described him:

"Isn't he wonderful, Samantha?

A page out of Dickens, come to life!"

Dodger falls into the same subset of the Tele-Folks Directory as fairy tale character Jack O' The Beanstalk (also from 'Bewitched'), Elizabeth Bennett of "Pride And Prejudice" (but as seen in 'Lost In Austen'), and many of the Storybrooke citizens - also fairy tale characters - from 'Once Upon A Time'. They are all characters to be found in books who are brought to life out of a particular volume/edition of said books.

(They could all have actual counterparts in Earth Prime-Time, but these would be from their life stories as chronicled by Dickens, Jane Austen, and the Brothers Grimm [among others].)

Head feel like exploding any time soon?

* Because Dickens exists in Earth Prime-Time as well, he is considered more of a journalist/biographer who chronicled the lives of his characters instead of creating them.

BCnU!

PS:

Inner Toob will do another Two For Tuesday salute to the character of the Artful Dodger, perhaps next week.......

"Why don't we just return him to the pages of literature?"

Samantha Stephens