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Prop genie bottle from I Dream of Jeannie

National Museum of American History

Object Details

Eden, Barbara
Jim Beam
Description (Brief)
Prop genie bottle used in the production of the television sitcom I Dream of Jeannie. The glass bottle is repurposed 1964 Jim Beam Christmas edition glass whiskey decanter painted with Middle Eastern design motifs on a purple base paint layer. The bottle has a bulging base section with ridges painted with a pattern suggesting stained glass windows, then narrows to a near-conical flask section painted with curlicues and arches, another small bulging ring with painted gemstones, a cylindrical section painted with arches, and terminates with a flared opening section. The bottle top is a flared glass stopper with an ornamental finial. According to donor and Jeannie star Barbara Eden, the bottle was one of several used in the production of the series and this particular one was given to her as a memento after the last day of shooting by the wardrobe woman, Joie Hutchinson.
I Dream of Jeannie was a fantasy television series that premiered September 18, 1965 and ran for five seasons on NBC. The show was created by Sidney Sheldon and produced by Screen Gems and Sidney Sheldon Productions. The series chronicled the life of astronaut Tony Nelson (portrayed by Larry Hagman), who discovers an ancient genie trapped in a bottle after crash landing in the South Pacific. When Nelson frees Jeannie (Barbara Eden) from the bottle, she is bound to serve him and grant his wishes with her magical powers. After Tony tries to free her, she falls in love with him and stows away during his rescue to continue to serve and live with him in his Florida home. The series found humor in the unusual domestic arrangement of man and lovestruck servant, sometimes verging on transgressive satire on gender roles, married life, and heteronormative sexuality in postwar American life. The series was a moderate success in its 1965-1970 run, placing in the top 30 shows in the Nielsen ratings in two of those seasons, but has been remarkably popular and long-lived in American popular culture in the decades since through reruns and in memory.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Barbara Eden
1964
ID Number
2022.0140.01
accession number
2022.0140
catalog number
2022.0140.01
Object Name
bottle
Physical Description
cork (stopper cork material)
glass (overall material)
paint; plastic (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 14 in x 5 in; 35.56 cm x 12.7 cm
stopper: 4 1/4 in x 1 in; 10.795 cm x 2.54 cm
bottle without stopper: 11 in x 5 in; 27.94 cm x 12.7 cm
Associated Place
Middle East
See more items in
Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
Popular Entertainment
National Museum of American History
Subject
Television
Fantasy
Record ID
nmah_2023255
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng44138a970-9fc7-4762-88b3-4a35127637aa
Prop genie bottle from I Dream of Jeannie
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
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