Bell Book and Candle

I'm starting to get in the mood to watch my list of Halloween movies. One of my favorite lite-Halloween movies is the 1958  Bell Book and Candle starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak. If you haven't seen it this is the story of a young attractive witch living and working in NYC who casts a spell on her new handsome neighbor because she doesn't like the woman with whom he is engaged to be married.  Some of my favorite scenes are at the witch gathering spot called the Zodiac Club. Jack Lemmon and Ernie Kovacs are wonderful. Good stuff.

A bit of trivia I learned recently is Pyewacket, the witch's cat in the movie, is actually named from a list of familiars from an accused witch in Manningtree, Essex, UK. In 1644, a local woman was arrested for witchcraft and deprived of sleep for four nights. She gave a list of her familiar names: Holt, Jamara, Vinegar Tom, Sacke and Sugar, Newes, Ilemauzer, Pyewacket, Pecke in the Crown, and Griezzel Greedigut. That is quite a list. I named one of my cats after the movie cat Pyewacket, but now I'm glad to know she has a much greater name history.  If only I had known of this list before I named the rest of my cats. My next cat will definitely be named Griezzel Greedigut.

Movie Pyewacket and my Pyewacket