The Untold Truth Of I Dream Of Jeannie

Publish date: 2024-05-06

"I Dream of Jeannie" was created by TV veteran Sidney Sheldon. For inspiration, Sheldon looked to a film he had seen in 1964. Starring Burl Ives and Tony Randall, "The Brass Bottle," adapted from a novel by Thomas Anstey Guthrie, tells the story of a put-upon architect (Randall) who comes across an antique bottle. Convinced it's a fake, he decides against giving it to his fiancée's father, only to discover that the bottle holds an ancient and affable genie (Ives). Said genie is so grateful to be released that he insists on turning his master's life around, to near-disastrous results.

According to Rebeat, "The Brass Bottle" was met with an anemic reception by audiences and critics in 1964. The film was produced by Universal Studios, which was undergoing a regime change, and may have suffered from being caught in transition. It has picked up a few fans over the years, but Sheldon's refashioning of the basic idea with a young, vivacious female genie has long since outshone his inspiration. Besides the premise, Sheldon also took Barbara Eden from the film; she played Randall's fiancée.

Curiously, an earlier comedy had already brought audiences a gorgeous genie with a penchant for mischief decades before "I Dream of Jeannie." "A Thousand and One Nights" in 1945 featured Evelyn Keyes as Babs, Aladdin's lovesick magical servant. And like Jeannie, Babs gets her man in the end, though not quite in the standard fairy tale ending.

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