It's Barbie as Jeannie from "I Dream of Jeannie", the TV series, which ran for five seasons, from 1965 to 1970.
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| Sorry she's a little dusty. She's been in Ivy's room all these years. |
The dolls use the vintage style Barbie head and body.
There are two major controversies surrounding the "I Dream of Jeannie" TV series. One is the question of sexism. Jeannie was a provocatively dressed female 'slave' to a male 'master',there to fulfill his every wish and answer his every whim. The other controversy is which was better,"I Dream of Jeannie" or "Bewitched". I can't discuss the one question without bringing up the other. As far as the first one is concerned,here are my responses.
1. Ok. She's wearing a harem outfit. What are genies supposed to wear?
2. Jeannie was supposed to be limited in what she was able to do by being a genie in the first place. She was supposed to do whatever her master told her to do. But Jeannie rarely did what Major Nelson wanted. Instead, she found loopholes,or outright disobeyed,and did pretty much whatever she pleased. She often gave Major Nelson what she thought was better for him, rather than what he wanted. Kind of the way Ken shops for me. In short, Jeannie was supposed to be a 'slave', but she still was less under Major Nelson's thumb than Samantha was under her husband Darrin's thumb on "Bewitched". (Even if she did occasionally get banished to her bottle.She was a genie, after all.)
And that brings me to the other question: which was better? Let me preface my answer by saying I don't like Darrin...especially the second one. The first one was basically a hapless loser at his wit's end most of the time. The second one was just obnoxious for no reason. But both of them demanded that Samantha not use her powers at all. She was just supposed to totally suppress her instincts,and give up everything that made her who she was. He was rude to her family, especially her mother,who might not have hated him so much had he not treated them both the way he did. And Samantha was willing to give up who and what she was, just for Darrin. Darrin threw constant fits about not wanting any help from Samantha's powers, and yet she was constantly saving his job by being better at it than he was. Major Nelson was happy to enjoy the perks of having a genie once in a while. He just didn't want everything done for him, and he wanted to be an astronaut,something he needed no help at. (Unlike Darrin, who hardly ever managed to come up with a winning advertising slogan on his own.)
Other than the Darrin problem,almost everybody on "Bewitched" was unlikable. Darrin was a jerk to Samantha's family,and most of them were happy to screw his life up whenever they could. Larry, Darrin's boss was a bigger,crabbier,bossier pain in the butt than Dr. Bellows ever was.
The outfit is fairly accurate. It has the little tassels on the sleeves and the...bodice?
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| It's missing the lower tassel though. |
The hat is pretty good. It's hard to see, but her hair is braided below that hat.
She's even wearing Jeannie's pearl necklace.
The bottom half has the cutouts on the hips.
This was the second version of the outfit on the show. the first had a more conservative top.
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| That one hair! |
She came with her bottle.
The lid,tiny as it is, even comes off!
Tomorrow we'll see another version of Jeannie.
This doll is spectacular! I love the attention to detail and the evident effort that was put into making the outfit accurate to the real one on the show. The doll herself is also a beauty. That pouty lip, the eyelashes and the painted nails! In my collection there are no vintage dolls or even reproductions, but I'll be moving in that direction because those dolls have some irresistable charm about them.
ReplyDeleteI agree. There is just something special about the vintage dolls. I always thought it was just because they remind me of my childhood,but maybe that's not all it is.
DeleteLOL, I actually liked "Bewitched" better! That just proves that there truly is something for everyone. Your doll is cute, as most of yours are, and I'm excited for tomorrow's girl!
ReplyDeleteLori prefers Bewitched too. Ken likes both,but the girls and I prefer Jeannie.
DeleteI remember watching I Dream of Jeannie in reruns as a kid and thinking that Jeannie was the prettiest woman in the world, ha ha! Oh man I love how they styled the doll.it may not be screen accurate, but it really evokes the feel of the character even with the retro style body and face.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I can think of in defense of what a bellowing freaked-out nitwit that Darrin was on Bewitched is that he didn’t know Sam was a witch until they were already married. Kind of a big thing to keep under wraps from your intended, and geez- how did Sam think that was going to play out? (He’s still kind of a nitwit, though.)
Yes, I forgot to discuss that. It was wrong of her to keep that from Darrin until after they were married. I suppose she knew what a jerk he was and knew it would scare him off. What i can't understand is why she wanted him so badly for anyway!
DeleteI always thought Barbara Eden was beautiful too.It would be nice if somebody would make a Jeannie doll that actually looks like her.
Wow, her outfit is a wonderful replica of the original. There is so much detail. I think this face mold and body type suits Jeannie perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think they did a great job.
DeleteThis doll is new to me.
ReplyDeleteI watched both shows, alas, not in reruns but in first runs (laugh).
I liked both of them. The characters on Bewitched are more memorable to me.
I loved Uncle Arthur and Aunt Clara. I really loved Gladys Kravitz. In fact, I try to emulate her. I am the self proclaimed block captain of absolutely nowhere (laugh).
Dorothy,please tell me you are not a Gladys Kravitz! I do like Aunt Clara. Have you ever seen Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train"? She is basically the same character!
DeleteShe's a pretty doll and it's nice that her outfit so closely resembles the one in the series. I can remember this series being on tv but for the life of me I cannot remember if I ever watched it, but I do recall often watching Bewitched.
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I remember watching them both as a kid, although I don't remember watching Jeannie in anything but syndication. I do remember watching first runs of "Bewitched" though.
DeleteI actually liked both of them. I watched re-runs but thought each was unique to itself. I never thought of comparing them.
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