View Full Version : Did Jeannie Have A Mom & Dad on 'I Dream of Jeannie?'


Brian Damage
12-29-2010, 12:04 AM
Just curious if they ever mentioned or shown Jeannie's parents?

ClassicTVGal
12-29-2010, 12:16 AM
Oh goodness yes. :)
They showed her mother off and on...

And her father was only shown once...it was in Season One. ("My Hero")

Brian Damage
12-29-2010, 12:50 AM
Oh goodness yes. :)
They showed her mother off and on...

And her father was only shown once...it was in Season One. ("My Hero")


Thank You! :)

Do you happen to know the actors who portrayed them?

TV Knowledge Fan
12-29-2010, 02:22 AM
Do I know them...? Sure, I do!!!!!!
;)

Florence Sundstrom (whose best known TV role was "Belle Dudley"- opposite George O'Hanlon's "Calvin Dudley"- on 'THE LIFE OF RILEY"'s 1955-'56 season) and Henry Corden (best known as "Fred Flintstone's" voice after Alan Reed's death in 1977) played Jeannie's parents in "My Hero?", the second episode of season one. Then, Lurene Tuttle [veteran radio/TV character actress, who was "Effie Perine" to Howard Duff's "Sam Spade" on his radio show in the late '40s] turned up as "Mama" in episode fourteen, "What House Across the Street?". After that, Sidney Sheldon downplayed the idea of having Jeannie's parents appear on a regular basis {probably so as not to "imitate" Samantha's mother's and father's frequent appearances on "BEWITCHED"- he'd already gotten flak from William Asher, the series' frequent director and Liz Montgomery's husband, about "swiping" the idea for his show}.

In the fourth season, though, Sidney hit upon the idea of having Barbara Eden herself appear as "Mama" in two episodes {"Jeannie and the Wild Pipchicks", "Is There A Doctor In the House?"}, since Barbara was so good at playing a character unlike Jeannie [her rotten sister!]- her "Mama" was somewhat "nutty"- an Arabian Nights variation of a "Jewish yenta" (right down to the chicken soup and the mittel-European accent).

:tv:

treky
12-29-2010, 03:31 AM
wasn't there a color episode wher Spring Byington played her mother? I seem to remember seeing it on TV LAND before they "jumped the shark".

snelson
12-29-2010, 10:48 AM
wasn't there a color episode wher Spring Byington played her mother? I seem to remember seeing it on TV LAND before they "jumped the shark".


spring byington played tony's mother.

Jude The Obscure
12-29-2010, 12:48 PM
I thought it was just ludicrous for Barbara to play her own mother and it changed the character as well.....I didn't care for it....JMO.

old grouch
12-29-2010, 02:53 PM
In 'What House Across the Street?', Jeannie invents fake parents using characters she saw while watching TV commercials.

TV Knowledge Fan
12-29-2010, 03:11 PM
...but Jeannie's mother was in the background, guiding her as to how they should appear before Roger. Incidentally, in Arthur Alsberg & Bob Fisher's first draft script, they were referred to as "Mr. and Mrs. Prescott", but the finished episode omitted their names, although the actors portraying them [Oliver McGowan and Avis Scott] were credited as the "Prescotts" in the closing credits.

:tv:

ClassicTVGal
12-29-2010, 09:29 PM
Thank You! :)

You are welcome! :)

old grouch
12-30-2010, 02:43 PM
...but Jeannie's mother was in the background, guiding her as to how they should appear before Roger. Incidentally, in Arthur Alsberg & Bob Fisher's first draft script, they were referred to as "Mr. and Mrs. Prescott", but the finished episode omitted their names, although the actors portraying them [Oliver McGowan and Avis Scott] were credited as the "Prescotts" in the closing credits.

:tv:

That episode is one of my favorites. I like Jeannie's real mom, and her fake parents are a hoot, the way they keep quoting lines from commercials.

allstar77
02-13-2011, 09:53 AM
I thought it was just ludicrous for Barbara to play her own mother and it changed the character as well.....I didn't care for it....JMO.

I have to disagree. I loved Barbara Eden playing both Jeannie and her sister ... and the occasional "extras". It was just display for her amazing talent.