The Flying Nun - Series Background

Series Background

Developed by Bernard Slade, the series centered on the adventures of a community of nuns in the Convent San Tanco in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The comic elements of the storyline were provided by the flying ability of a novice nun, Sister Bertrille, played by Sally Field in her second sitcom role, after Gidget.

In the series pilot, Chicago native Elsie Ethrington arrives from New York City after having been arrested for being involved in a protest; she then adopts the name of Sister Bertrille. It is also later learned in the episode "My Sister, the Sister" that Sister Bertrille comes from a family of physicians and is the only one who did not follow in their footsteps. She became a nun after being impressed by the missionary work of her aunt, this after she had to explain to the fiancee of a toy salesman who dated Elsie for eight months the real reason that they broke up that she was the one that wanted to see other people but when she mentioned to him that she might "...join a convent" he blamed himself and had to seek help over what happened after they crossed paths again during a vacation at a San Juan hotel.

Sister Bertrille could be relied upon to solve any problem that came her way by her ability to catch a passing breeze and fly. This was attributed to her small stature and heavily starched cornette (the headpiece for her habit; the cornette was based on one worn until the mid-1960s by the Daughters of Charity, although Sister Bertrille was never said to belong to that order). Her flying talents caused as many problems as they solved. She explains her ability to fly by stating, "When lift plus thrust is greater than load plus drag, anything can fly." The reason behind that statement was that Sister Bertrille weighed only 90 lbs., and in one episode tries to gain weight so she could stay grounded, but the attempt failed. The only time she couldn't take off is when heavy rains or storms occur (she found out the hard way when she tried to get help in one episode) or when she had to wear something that would keep her grounded at all times.

Madeleine Sherwood plays the sober but gentle Reverend Mother Placido; Marge Redmond plays jolly Sister Jacqueline, whose voice also served as set-up narration for the episodes; Shelley Morrison plays Sister Sixto, whose first language is Spanish and who repeatedly mangles English idioms; Linda Dangcil plays Sister Ana; Vito Scotti plays Captain Gaspar Fomento, the local police officer and the only character who never found out about Sister Bertrille's ability to fly. Alejandro Rey plays local casino owner and playboy Carlos Ramirez. Ramirez had been an orphan raised by the nuns and maintains his gratitude to them at all times, despite constantly letting Sister Bertrille draft him into her schemes, something she does with alarming frequency.