Barbara Eden on Why Jeannie and Tony Were Never Intimate: "She was an entity"

[JD]

It never occurred to me that Tony and Jeannie couldn't do it, I had just assumed as long as she's in human form she pretty was human and could do anything a human could do.
I guess she could have made him magically, but him coming into existence the old fashioned way seems like a much simpler explanation, with a lot less questions around it.

Sidney Sheldon tried to cast a Middle Eastern actress to play Jeannie (He auditioned people such as Miss Jordan, Miss Egypt, Miss Saudi Arabia, Miss Israel, etc.). None of them could play the part the way he had written her.

Wow, even considering a Middle Eastern actress for the role seems pretty progressive for the era. Even today it's pretty rare to see Middle Eastern actors/actresses in these kind of lead roles.

To me, it's much more realistic than Tabitha and and Adam coming out of the womb as full-blooded witch and warlock on Bewitched.

Did ever say point blank that they were a full blooded witch and warlock? I don't remember that coming up in any of the episodes I've seen, and I'm assuming they could still have powers even if they were half human and half witch/warlock.

 

[Danja]

Did ever say point blank that they were a full blooded witch and warlock? I don't remember that coming up in any of the episodes I've seen, and I'm assuming they could still have powers even if they were half human and half witch/warlock.

Tabitha in particular went wild with her powers (She brought her toys to life. She made a long-distance call on a toy phone.)

Wow, even considering a Middle Eastern actress for the role seems pretty progressive for the era. Even today it's pretty rare to see Middle Eastern actors/actresses in these kind of lead roles.

Sidney wanted someone with an exotic appearance (he didn't want a Girl Next Door).

Jeannie was supposed to be the Outsider, the Fish Out of Water.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Sidney wanted someone with an exotic appearance (he didn't want a Girl Next Door).

Should have gone with Marlo Thomas.

 

[Christopher]

Wow, even considering a Middle Eastern actress for the role seems pretty progressive for the era. Even today it's pretty rare to see Middle Eastern actors/actresses in these kind of lead roles.

I can think of several -- Sarah Shahi, Tony Shalhoub, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Rami Malek, Faran Tahir, Alia Shawkat. Back in the day, Omar Sharif was quite prominent. And there are actors that people tend not to realize have Arab or Mideastern roots, like Casey Kasem, Salma Hayek, Wentworth Miller, and Shannon Elizabeth.

Of course, that's not even counting Israeli actors like Oded Fehr or Gal Gadot.

 

[Danja]

there are actors that people tend not to realize have Arab or Mideastern roots, like Casey Kasem, Salma Hayek, Wentworth Miller, and Shannon Elizabeth.

Add to that list Catherine Bell (Her mother is from Iran. She wore a chador in an episode of JAG.)

 

[Guy Gardener]

Tabitha in particular went wild with her powers (She brought her toys to life. She made a long-distance call on a toy phone.)



Sidney wanted someone with an exotic appearance (he didn't want a Girl Next Door).

Jeannie was supposed to be the Outsider, the Fish Out of Water.

The most we might have hoped for is a Mexican (Lynda Carter? Really?) with a wonky Iranian accent, like we got in Star Trek The Space Seed.

My brain drifted to the most ethnic looking actress of the 1960s in Hollywood: Sophia Loren?

Not that they could get her, but someone that looked like Sophie might have been as far away from what we got, which was just fine, perfectly serviceable for the part.

 

[Danja]

Should have gone with Marlo Thomas.

How well would she have done in harem pants?

 

[Nerys Myk]

How well would she have done in harem pants?

She wore fashions from the 70s and 60s in That Girl. She'd have done fine

 

[JD]

Tabitha in particular went wild with her powers (She brought her toys to life. She made a long-distance call on a toy phone.)

I know they had powers, I just meant that they could have still been half human and have powers.

I can think of several -- Sarah Shahi, Tony Shalhoub, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Rami Malek, Faran Tahir, Alia Shawkat. Back in the day, Omar Sharif was quite prominent. And there are actors that people tend not to realize have Arab or Mideastern roots, like Casey Kasem, Salma Hayek, Wentworth Miller, and Shannon Elizabeth.

Of course, that's not even counting Israeli actors like Oded Fehr or Gal Gadot.

Sorry, I should have been clearer, I specifically meant as female lead paired up with a white guy in a prime time network sitcom. I know there are a lot of Middle Eastern actors out there who have lead roles.

 

[Christopher]

Sorry, I should have been clearer, I specifically meant as female lead paired up with a white guy in a prime time network sitcom.

In the present day, I don't think that's at all unlikely. In the '60s, it would've been less common, but I think we would've been more likely to see an Arab-American actress in a lead role than an African-American one, say. In the '60s, there was a tendency to fetishize Asian or Middle Eastern women as exotically desirable; Jeannie's own costume is an example of the sexualization and appropriation of belly-dancing attire. Note that Star Trek: "Wolf in the Fold" cast white actors to play the male Argelians (an alien culture coded as Middle Eastern) but cast Tania Lemani and Pilar Seurat in the female roles, and that the network had a much bigger problem with Kirk kissing Uhura than with casting France Nuyen as Kirk's love interest in "Elaan of Troyius." So I think it would've been accepted if I Dream of Jeannie had cast a Middle Eastern actress such as Lemani in the title role. Although it's more likely that they would've gone for one of the many dark-haired white actresses who tended to get cast in "exotic" roles.

 

[Danja]

In the '60s, there was a tendency to fetishize Asian or Middle Eastern women as exotically desirable;

The Man With the Golden Gun had a female character named Chew Mee.

Jeannie's own costume is an example of the sexualization and appropriation of belly-dancing attire.

Barbara often told a story about Jeannie's harem outfit.

A reporter from TV Guide was on the set with her one day. The reporter asked her, "Anything else under there?" in reference to Jeannie's then-navel-baring harem pants. Barbara shot back, "Quarter a peek."

NBC had a collective coronary. After that incident, Jeannie's navel was ordered covered up (Jeannie's navel wouldn't be revealed again until I Dream of Jeannie: Fifteen Years Later in 1985).

 

[Ssosmcin]

Considering all of the playful innuendo and "will they, won't they" plots of that first season (1965), I have some doubts NBC and the sponsors would have tolerated that between White Larry Hagman and any woman of color.



Funny you should mention that, because in one of the Bewitched bio books, it was claimed Elizabeth Montgomery and her series producer/husband Bill Asher did not like I Dream of Jeannie, with its seemingly sticky fingered borrowing from Bewitched's format (right down to a look alike relative being the "evil" version...because they had black hair, and you know if one character had to be the "good one", it was going to be the blonde).

The strengths of I Dream of Jeannie were in the cast and the style of humor. IDOJ was more physical and the chemistry between Hagman, Daily and Rorke in particular was comedic perfection (not discounting Eden but she wasn't the funniest member of that cast). I'm not a Bewitched expert, but Bewitched seemed to have more gentle humor and also made social commentary that Jeannie didn't. It was aimed a little older in that way. Yet, IDOJ was my preferred series because of the cast and style of comedy. I also found Darren and Larry Tate to be unlikeable. Darren in particular was a wet rag in a lot of episodes I saw and Larry was so underhanded, I couldn't figure out why Darren considered him a friend rather than just his boss. IDOJ still gives me belly laughs. Bewitched never has. I also preferred the Hugo Montenegro underscore a lot more and the NASA connection appealed to the SF fan in me.

So it may have been conceived as a rip off (and they shared sets, backlot neighborhoods and plots), but the execution made all the difference. Star Trek and Jeannie were the two big shows for me and my sister growing up.

Sidney Sheldon's original concept of Jeannie in S1 was that she was born human, but she was turned into a genie by the Blue Jinn after she refused to marry him (This origin was reiterated in I Dream of Jeannie: Fifteen Years Later).

Yep the Blue Djinn original was referenced a few times while Sheldon was actively writing episodes.
As for why Jeannie and Tony never got it on... I'm not convinced they didn't. They "smoked" into Jeannie's bottle a few times at the fade outs of a few episodes and as the series went on, they kissed more often. It was the 60's, we sure as hell weren't gonna see it, especially since we weren't allowed to see her navel, even though we knew she had one (it was glimpsed). She had her genie powers removed by Hadji in "Divorce, Genie Style" (she wanted it forever, he granted one week), and she did age like a human once freed by Tony. And you can't tell me once they were married, they weren't intimate.

Rob and Laura Petrie slept in separate beds and still had Ritchie. He wasn't made by midichalorians.

All due respect to Ms. Eden, she was my first TV crush, but nah.

As for Fifteen Years Later - I don't count it or I Still Dream of Jeannie. No Hagman, No Sale. Wayne Rogers? No thank you. It failed to capture the feel of the original series and the ending was depressing and misguided. Considering that it was directed by Bill Asher, it feels like his middle finger to the series he never wanted made. Nothing in those reunions matters in the context of the series for me. But that's just me.

 

[Christopher]

I'm not a Bewitched expert, but Bewitched seemed to have more gentle humor and also made social commentary that Jeannie didn't.

The first season of Bewitched had a fair amount of social commentary and allegory, but then it succumbed to network pressure to dumb itself down and play up the magical hijinks more.

 

[Mudd]

Asking an actor fifty years later what rationales the producers and writers invented for the motivation of characters in the hundreds of scripts they were paid to perform over a period of years is not going to yield much truth.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The strengths of I Dream of Jeannie were in the cast and the style of humor. IDOJ was more physical and the chemistry between Hagman, Daily and Rorke in particular was comedic perfection (not discounting Eden but she wasn't the funniest member of that cast). I'm not a Bewitched expert, but Bewitched seemed to have more gentle humor and also made social commentary that Jeannie didn't. It was aimed a little older in that way. Yet, IDOJ was my preferred series because of the cast and style of comedy. I also found Darren and Larry Tate to be unlikeable. Darren in particular was a wet rag in a lot of episodes I saw and Larry was so underhanded, I couldn't figure out why Darren considered him a friend rather than just his boss. IDOJ still gives me belly laughs. Bewitched never has. I also preferred the Hugo Montenegro underscore a lot more and the NASA connection appealed to the SF fan in me.

So it may have been conceived as a rip off (and they shared sets, backlot neighborhoods and plots), but the execution made all the difference. Star Trek and Jeannie were the two big shows for me and my sister growing up.



Yep the Blue Djinn original was referenced a few times while Sheldon was actively writing episodes.
As for why Jeannie and Tony never got it on... I'm not convinced they didn't. They "smoked" into Jeannie's bottle a few times at the fade outs of a few episodes and as the series went on, they kissed more often. It was the 60's, we sure as hell weren't gonna see it, especially since we weren't allowed to see her navel, even though we knew she had one (it was glimpsed). She had her genie powers removed by Hadji in "Divorce, Genie Style" (she wanted it forever, he granted one week), and she did age like a human once freed by Tony. And you can't tell me once they were married, they weren't intimate.

Rob and Laura Petrie slept in separate beds and still had Ritchie. He wasn't made by midichalorians.

All due respect to Ms. Eden, she was my first TV crush, but nah.

As for Fifteen Years Later - I don't count it or I Still Dream of Jeannie. No Hagman, No Sale. Wayne Rogers? No thank you. It failed to capture the feel of the original series and the ending was depressing and misguided. Considering that it was directed by Bill Asher, it feels like his middle finger to the series he never wanted made. Nothing in those reunions matters in the context of the series for me. But that's just me.

A woman with a "ruined reputation" in that era, is neither wife material nor capable of successfully completing a job interview anywhere reputable.

If you were a woman of any era, far from family, who can't find a spouse, or a job then you will die of exposure and hunger from being homeless and penniless.

Of course, in those days, if you go to the next town over, your reputation refreshes, even if you robbed a bank and killed people.

He thought that Jeanie's reputation needed his protection, as if she was a normal sweet 21 year old mortal idiot because Major Nelson was a bigger idiot who did not realize that his sexy house guest was a god, and her reputation didn't mean shit because she could control minds and reality.

Roger n the other hand?

 

[Danja]

for Fifteen Years Later - I don't count it or I Still Dream of Jeannie. No Hagman, No Sale. Wayne Rogers? No thank you. It failed to capture the feel of the original series and the ending was depressing and misguided. Considering that it was directed by Bill Asher, it feels like his middle finger to the series he never wanted made.

FYL may have been intended to end the series for good (NBC came calling five years later asking, "Could you make another movie?" )

 

[JD]

In the present day, I don't think that's at all unlikely. In the '60s, it would've been less common, but I think we would've been more likely to see an Arab-American actress in a lead role than an African-American one, say. In the '60s, there was a tendency to fetishize Asian or Middle Eastern women as exotically desirable; Jeannie's own costume is an example of the sexualization and appropriation of belly-dancing attire. Note that Star Trek: "Wolf in the Fold" cast white actors to play the male Argelians (an alien culture coded as Middle Eastern) but cast Tania Lemani and Pilar Seurat in the female roles, and that the network had a much bigger problem with Kirk kissing Uhura than with casting France Nuyen as Kirk's love interest in "Elaan of Troyius." So I think it would've been accepted if I Dream of Jeannie had cast a Middle Eastern actress such as Lemani in the title role. Although it's more likely that they would've gone for one of the many dark-haired white actresses who tended to get cast in "exotic" roles.

I didn't really think of it that way.

 

[Danja]

He thought that Jeanie's reputation needed his protection, as if she was a normal sweet 21 year old mortal idiot because Major Nelson was a bigger idiot who did not realize that his sexy house guest was a god, and her reputation didn't mean shit because she could control minds and reality.

"Demigod" would probably be a better description of her.

Powerful as she is, she isn't a god (there ARE genies that are more powerful than her).

Asking an actor fifty years later what rationales the producers and writers invented for the motivation of characters in the hundreds of scripts they were paid to perform over a period of years is not going to yield much truth.

Still, it was good to read Barbara's commentary.

 

[Christopher]

"Demigod" would probably be a better description of her.

The show was hardly authentic to the mythology, but djinn are spirits, not gods. In Islamic folklore (which is, of course, non-negotiably monotheistic), they're considered to be equals to humans, not superior beings. Wikipedia says they are capable of sexual interaction with humans, and hybrid offspring can result.

It's possible that the pre-Islamic mythology of djinn was related to the Roman genii (plural of genius), guardian spirits or minor deities. I think the difference between a low-level deity in a polytheistic faith and a spirit, angel, or whatever in a monotheistic faith is largely a matter of nomenclature, but either way, it's not what modern Westerners usually mean by the word "god."