Sketch o’the Week: Sally Field!

When lift plus thrust is greater than load plus drag, anything can fly… even a ridiculous sketch like this! We continue our series of caricatures from classic sitcoms with Sally Field as Sister Bertrille AKA “The Flying Nun!” This was another of the run of shows in the 60’s that featured some kind of fantastical gimmick like witchcraft, genies, monsters, etc… in this case a young, 90 pound sister in a convent in Puerto Rico that can fly via strong winds and her starched coronet. Field famously hated the part and her experience doing the show. She was pregnant in the third and final season, and considered herself a “walking sight gag”, even though they used the standard tricks of having objects in front of her torso to hide her pregnancy. You’d think the Catholic Church would have condemned such a show, but the writing cast the convent and the sisters in a positive light, trying to do good work among the poor and struggling of the village. So, there was little objection from the Church despite the silly concept.