Prop genie bottle from I Dream of Jeannie
date: label: date made
content: 1964
name: label: user
content: Eden, Barbara
label: maker
content: Jim Beam
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: 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.
label: Description (Brief)
content: 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.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Associated Place
content: Middle East
topic: label: Subject
content: Television
label: Subject
content: Fantasy
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Popular Entertainment
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Barbara Eden
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2022.0140.01
label: accession number
content: 2022.0140
label: catalog number
content: 2022.0140.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: bottle
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: cork (stopper cork material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paint; plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 14 in x 5 in; 35.56 cm x 12.7 cm
label: Measurements
content: stopper: 4 1/4 in x 1 in; 10.795 cm x 2.54 cm
label: Measurements
content: bottle without stopper: 11 in x 5 in; 27.94 cm x 12.7 cm