The early 1960s were magic in more ways than one. Science-fiction and fantasy were replacing the tv-westerns of the 1950s with such shows as Lost in Space, My Favorite Martian, the Addams Family and the Munsters, and the subject of this page: I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched. Both were based on "magic" and both were preceded by movies. Oddly enough, Barbara Eden played the dis-believing girlfriend in the movie version The Brass Bottle (1964) (with Burl Ives as the genie and Tony Randall in the Larry Hagman role); while Bewitched dated back to I Married A Witch (1942) and originally starred Veronica Lake in the Elizabeth Montgomery role in a script by the creator of the ghost-fantasy Topper (there was a film in 1945 titled "Bewitched" by Arch Oboler, but it was a horror movie about a woman with multiple personalities, while the closest the tv series got to horror was Darren's mother-in-law, played by Agnes Moorehead). Also in the 1960s there was a tv series titled "The Ghost & Mrs Muir," though none of the episodes are available on video (I did find a few book versions). A movie by the same name came out in 1947 starring Rex Harrison as the ghost. The Ghost & Mrs. Muir starred Hope Lange (costar of the 1st Deathwish movie) as the haunted house's new renter and Edward Mulhare (who costarred in the "Our Man Flint" movie, the futuristic tv-series Knight Rider, and a classic episode of The Outer Limits), as the ghost.
"I Dream of Jeannie" and "Bewitched" are no longer showing on TV Land channel and Nick At Nite (see episodes page for titles and descriptions). After "I Dream Of Jeannie," Barbara Eden starred in the movie "Harper Valley P.T.A." (1978), based on a popular song about a progressive single mom taking on small town hypocrites. In a move rare for Hollywood, she also got to star in the 2-year tv series based on the movie. It was by Sherwood Schwartz (hope I spelled that right) of Gilligan's Island fame. But he left after the first year and the writers ran out of steam, it was cancelled after 2 years on the air.
Here are magic episodes available on videotape, if individual links don't work, just use Amazon.com search box below:
I Dream of Jeannie: Jeannie's Seein' Stars (1965-70)
I Dream of Jeannie: A Genie in Training (1965-70)
I Dream of Jeannie Collection (1965)
Waiter, There's a Girl in My Bottle (1965)
Risky Business (1965)
Jeannie Ties the Knot (1965)
I Dream of Jeannie Boxed Set (1965-70)
Bewitched: The Collector's Edition (1964-72)
Bewitched: It's All Relative (1964)
Bewitched Collection (1964)
Bewitched: This Spells Trouble (1964)
Bewitched: 'Cuz It's Witchcraft (1964)
Bewitched: Meet the Stephens (1964)
A Bewitched Christmas: V. 1
A Bewitched Christmas: V. 2
A Bewitched Halloween
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
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All Bewitched videos available from Amazon.com (sorry, never made it onto DVD)
I Dream Of Jeannie videos available
Hope Lang (Mrs. Muir) videos and DVDs
See the TV Land listings for any Ghost & Mrs Muir episodes and Bewitched / I Dream of Jeannie episodes.
Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie shared quite a few guest stars, in fact , Paul Lynde is in 4 of the above Bewitched videos as Uncle Arthur and one of the Jeannie tapes. Regular cast members for the series were: Dick York as Darren #1, Dick Sargent as Darren #2, Elizabeth Montgomery as Sam (Samantha), Agnes Moorehead as Endora, Barbara Eden as Jeannie, and Larry Hagman as the astronaut who found her. By the way, the Jeannie series was filmed in the mid 1960s and used actual NASA buildings and space-related equipment in many episodes. As recently as January 2003, the residents of Cocoa Beach, FLA (which still has the world's largest concentration of astronauts), voted to keep its quiet houses of the 1960s intact and not let real estate developers build modern condos or apartment buildings in the area.
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