Witch Says Studio Doesn't Know Which Broom End Is Which

July 9, 2001 (RNS) -- Miffed about what he believes is a breach of broomstick etiquette in an upcoming film about Harry Potter, a witch in Britain has cast a spell for the Warner Brothers Studios film to fail at the box office.

The boy wizard-in-training is incorrectly shown riding a broomstick with the broom brushes behind him, according to Kevin Carlyon, a high priest of the British White Witches.

Carlyon said he wants the studio to agree that "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," scheduled for release in November, is inaccurate.

"Warner (Brothers) claims the film is an accurate portrayal of things that happen in witchcraft, yet woodcuts from the 16th and 17th centuries show broomsticks being ridden with the brush part in the front," Carlyon told Reuters news agency.

"It's a common mistake--even the '60s TV series 'Bewitched' showed broomsticks being ridden backward, but this is not correct," he added.