The bottle that I selected for Jeannie's home was a Jim Beam liquor decanter, which we painted in bright colors.
The first day of rehearsal went smoothly. We had a reading of the pilot script with the cast and our director, Gene Nelson, and I asked the actors if they needed any changes, or if they were comfortable with their lines. I wanted to make sure the actors were satisfied because I wanted no ad-libbing when they started to shoot. Everyone was happy.
I Dream of Jeannie was ready to start creating its magic.
In the morning, less than an hour after production on the pilot began, my secretary said, "Mr. Nelson is calling from the set."
I could not wait to hear the good news. "Gene - "
"I'm quitting. Get someone else. Sorry." He started to hang up.
"Wait! Wait a minute!" I was panicky. "Stay right where you are. I'm on my way down there."
Three minutes later, I was on the set. I took Gene aside. "What happened?"
"Nothing. That's the problem. I can't work with actors who don't know their lines. Larry Hagman doesn't know his lines and Bill Daily doesn't know his lines, and - "
"Stay right here." I was furious.
I called Larry over to the side. "How dare you come on this set the first day of shooting and not know your lines."
He looked at me in surprise. "What are you talking about? I know my lines."
"The director says you don't."
"Well, all I did was to expand on them a little. I had some ideas, and I just added a few things here and - "
"Larry! Listen to me and listen carefully. We have a tight schedule. We have a lot of pages to shoot every day. You'll say the lines exactly as they're written. Is that clear?"
He shrugged. "Yeah, sure."
I called Bill Daily aside. "What excuse do you have for not knowing your lines?"
He said, "I'm sorry, Sidney. I - I've never had to learn lines before. I always worked in clubs like The Improv. I did a comedy act."
"This is not The Improv," I snapped. "If you want to stay in this show, you've got to memorize your lines."
He swallowed. "Okay."
I went back to Gene Nelson. "There's been a little misunderstanding, Gene. I think after today, everything is going to be fine. I want you to stay with the show. Larry will be great. I'm going to tape Bill's dialogue and let him play it in the car on his way to and from the studio, so he can learn it. Will you give it another chance?"
There was a long pause. "I'll try, but - "
"Thank you."
The opening scene of the pilot was filmed at Zuma Beach, thirty miles northwest of Los Angeles. The scene consisted of Larry, as an astronaut, stranded on a deserted island when his spacecraft malfunctions. He sees a bottle, uncorks it, and finds a genie inside. Since he has freed her, by the rules of the genie game, he is now her master. She blinks in a rescue ship and he thinks he has gotten rid of her, but she has no intention of leaving him.
The scene went well. The day went well and we were all pleased.
On the way back to the studio, in a company limousine, I got my first glimpse of Larry Hagman's ambition. We had stopped at a red light next to a car full of tourists. Larry rolled down the window of the limousine and, in a loud voice, yelled out at them, "Someday you'll all know who I am."
Larry had some emotional problems to deal with. His mother was Mary Martin, a top Broadway star, with whom he had a difficult relationship. She had been busy with her career, so Larry was raised by his father, Ben, in Texas.
Some of the time he lived with his grandmother and traveled back and forth to New York, to visit his mother. He wanted to show his mother that he could also be a star. Someday you'll all know who I am.
When the pilot was finished but had not yet aired, I received a call from Mary Martin. "Sidney, I would love to see the pilot. Is there any way you could arrange it?"
"Of course."
I was on my way east to work on The Patty Duke Show, so I arranged for the pilot of Jeannie to be screened for her in New York.
In the projection room were Mary Martin, a few executives from Screen Gems, and John Mitchell, who was head of sales for Screen Gems.
Before the screening started, Mary Martin went up to John Mitchell, took his hand, and said, "I hear you're the best salesman in the world."
I could see John stand visibly taller.
"I've heard so much about you," Mary Martin went on. "They say that you're a genius."
John Mitchell tried not to blush.
"Screen Gems is very lucky to have you."
He barely managed to stammer out the words "Thank you, Miss Martin."
The screening began. When the show had ended, the lights came on. Mary Martin turned to John Mitchell and said, "Anybody could have sold that show."
I watched John shrink.
Jeannie opened to mixed reviews. The critics were mostly dismissive, but the audience was not. The show had a loyal following from the beginning and it grew.
I decided to use guest stars on this show also. Farrah Fawcett did a segment, as well as Dick Van Patten, Richard Mulligan, Don Rickles, and Milton Berle.
I wrote a script about a fake fortune-teller, called "Bigger than a Bread Box and Better than a Genie." I asked Jorja to play the part of a fortune-teller. It was in the spring and Natalie was coming to visit us.
Jorja said, "Why don't you give Natalie a part in the show? She could play one of the characters in the seance scene."
I laughed. "I think she'd enjoy that."
When Natalie arrived, I asked, "How would you like to be on television?"
"I wouldn't mind," my mother said coolly.