Old Black Witch is a well-loved children’s book from the husband and wife duo of Harry and Wende Devlin that was originally published in 1962. The plot involves a widow and her young son who buy an old house and start a tea room. What they didn’t bargain for is the witch who’s been living there for over 300 years.

Eventually it all works out and the Old Black Witch’s “magic” blueberry pancakes make the tea room a smashing success.

Part of the fun of the book is making the blueberry pancakes recipe, something my grandmother would often do for my sister and me:
 

 
There was also a short filmed version of the book, “Winter of the Witch” made in 1969 by the publisher, Parent’s Magazine, who paid NYU film student Gerald Herman $500 to direct it.

It starred English actress Hermione Gingold as Old Black Witch and Anna Strasberg (wife of famed acting coach Lee Strasberg) as the mother. Burgess Meredith did the narration. When the tea room patrons are eating the magic happiness pancakes, you’d think they were made with nitrous oxide and pure LSD.

“Even the meanest and most unhappy people…ONE BITE and they’re not unhappy anymore,” Old Black Witch says. “I just reversed an old recipe…”

Yes, psychedelic magic pancakes. Here’s a genius YouTube comment:

They cut out the part where the DEA raid the place and the area Fundamentlists stage pancake burnings.

 

 
Perhaps you might recall seeing this during a Halloween school assembly? I’d think that at least half of Americans over the age of say, 38, have seen “Winter of the Witch.”
 

 
Thank you kindly, Melissa Kosmicki!