"Dreaming of Jeannie: TV's Prime Time in a Bottle" by Steve Cox: Book Review

[Arfies]

I don't think this topic has been done before- I searched for any previous posts that did this and didn't find anything. So here goes, and feel free to post your opinion after:

Cox's book is very well researched and gives lots of little-known facts about IDOJ- along with lots of put-downs. Now, I know that he states in the introduction that he isn't at all fond of I Dream of Jeannie right off the bat. But as a writer myself: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. They're going to be Jeannie fans that are going to buy the book. So it's none too smart to dis it, no matter what your personal opinion is. Or if you were peer-pressured into writing a book, as Cox said he was.

Yes, the full-color pictures are nice, along with show stories. But a book full of Jeannie-bashing isn't going to be made up by a (why the heck is it there?!) chapter of Bewitched-bashing. And what's with the "lost episodes of Bewitched"? Even though they were written by a "humorist" (and not a very funny one at that), by putting them right at the end of a nonfiction book, people are going to believe the episodes are actually real. Geesh.

If you want to hear kinder words I Dream of Jeannie, read Bewitched Forever by Herbie J Pilato. I'm serious. It's sad, but true.

[Ms Garthe Knight]

Wouldn't say he really bashed the I dream of Jeannie in his book. But it could have done without the Bewitched bashing, what was the whole point of that?

I have a copy of the book and I must say when I read the Bewitched bit it kind of sounded like Liz and York didn't get along well which I don't think was right. I know Dick York had a lot of nice things to say about Liz. I mean if you work with people you are going to disagree, its only human. I remember reading somewhere Larry Hagman said once on I dream of Jeannie he got angry at Barbara Eden over something, he said it didn't last long and they made up because she was such a nice person. She also save him from getting fired a couple of times. Bill Daily said that him and Larry were the out going ones and Barbara Eden was their rock and they balanced out. Larry Hagman also said when something were wrong he complained and and Barbara would find they same thing wrong but she didn't complain she would keep quite because Hagman did the complaining for them, I can see why they got along well. So I'm sure Liz and York had great times and bad times together, but I know York had nice things to say about her till the day he died.

The book its self was informtive but I think he could have gone a little deeper into the show.

One thing he said was it was nostalgia to write a book about I dream of Jeannie, I didn't think so, it was really the stars fame after I dream of Jeannie and it was the reruns that put it in it place in TV history. I mean wasn't it last month Barbara Eden was voted one of the top 50 sexy people of all time and she was also in the top 100 sexy people of all time for playboy too.

I say if there was going to be a book about I dream of Jeannie a fan should write it. Just about a couple of months ago a fan wrote a book on Knight Rider and its said to be a must for every Knight Rider fan, because it has everything a fan would want to know.

[Arfies]

Right on. A labor of love, more often than not, would definetly bring out the best story there could be in a show. I'll have to take a look at the Knight Rider book.
(Shameless Plug Alert! ) Just comparing Herbie J Pilato's book and Steve Cox's book: You can definetly see which one was the labor of love: Pilato's. He's a longtime fan of Bewitched (and I Dream of Jeannie), along with being a professional writer. It's great reading, giving all sides of the story without being condescending to anyone's viewpoint. He praises his topic without gushing or saying it changed the face of the earth (Personally, I think the show gave the world just what it needed: A good, moral makeover, rather than an entire facelift. )

So a better book, deeper, more exploratory, and less snide (IMO) account of IDOJ is possible, just hasn't happened yet.

[Ms Garthe Knight]

The kind of things I wanted to know were: Actor relationships. In the book it only really went into Barbara Eden, Larry Hagman and Bill Daily's relationship and it didn't really go that deep. I would have asked them what Hayden Rorke was like and Emmaline Henry. I would have loved to have known about Barbara Eden's and Emmaline Henry's relationship. I mean they could have been good friends at the time, I know Barbara, Larry and Bill were. But I notice none of the actors talked about her or weren't asked. And if they still were in contact with her till the day she died. I know Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman went and visited Hayden Rorke just before he died in 1987.

[Ms Garthe Knight]

Opps! sorry I forgot to add this.

I would have liked to have known what kind of jokes they played on each other during the time of I dream of Jeannie. I heard about the one where they left Barbara in a bottle and took off to lunch and she was banging on the bottle for someone to let her out, they also use the footage of that for the show in the episode Jeannie or the tiger. I know Larry hagman and Bill Daily would have done things like that. Hagman was said to be a bit of a joker on the DALLAS set. And where they hung out if they all did hang out just little things like that. I have seen pictures of them at parties.

You know we might be able to get the answers. I know someone who knows Barbara Eden in person and rings and talks to her every now and then. Its a long shot because I don't really know them that well. But I had a question about one of Barbara Eden's TV apparence from the 60s I wanted to know about and I asked him to ask her and he did and I got my answer.

[Just Popped In]

I agree that the book should have been written by someone who actually likes the show, but I don't see what the point was of dedicating a whole chapter to Bewitched (although I do like Bewitched, but isn't the book supposed to be about IDOJ?).

[Arfies]

I don't either. There's already been several (great ) books about Bewitched that, for example, delve into the REAL Jackie Cooper/ EM thing. I've learned not to trust anything that has come out of Cooper's dishonest mouth. Search for some of my previous posts if you want to see me rant.

Have fun

[Ms Garthe Knight]

Originally posted by Arfies
I don't either. There's already been several (great ) books about Bewitched that, for example, delve into the REAL Jackie Cooper/ EM thing. I've learned not to trust anything that has come out of Cooper's dishonest mouth. Search for some of my previous posts if you want to see me rant.

Have fun

Can you please inlight me, about the Jackie Cooper/EM thing?

I read in the book that it was Jackie Cooper who talked Mr Sheldon into Larry Hagman - well the book said he claimed.

[Just Popped In]

Yea, I'm interested too. Being a fan of the original "Our Gang" comedies, I always kind of liked Jackie Cooper.

[Arfies]

OK. I didn't write the following- it was originally posted by LarryT Tate on bewitched.net's message board. So here's the quote followed by his opinion (which is pretty much my opinion, too) :


___________________________________________
PART I (Jackie Cooper's excerpt)

These are all the excerpts from Jackie Cooper's Bio. (He was the head of Screen Gems at the time Bewitched began Production)that concern Liz,what do you all think as to it's validity???

278 / PLEASE DON'T SHOOT MY DOG
I think there was one other by-product of the Screen Gems experi-
ence I must mention. I learned quickly the art of dealing with people
and, specifically, how to be an executive.
The background must be sketched in. My predecessor at Screen
Gems, as I have mentioned, was Bill Dozier. One of his last pilot
films, before he left in the fall of '63, was a show called Bewitched,
which Dozier had made with Harry Ackerman producing. Elizabeth
Montgomery was the star .The series, to be produced the following
summer, had been sold to ABC.
I was convinced the show was a winner and looked forward to
working with Liz. I had met her, years before, when I had done the
show her father used to host, Robert Montgomery Presents. Bob
Montgomery had invited Barbara and me up to his apartment after
that show, which must have been in late 1954, and I had met his
teenage daughter, already beautiful and already very strong and posi-
tive. I had met her since, socially, with her first husband, and then
when she was Mrs. Gig Young, and then when she was Mrs. Bill

Jackie Cooper / 279
Asher. I had known Asher, too, when he directed many of Lucille
Ball's old I Love Lucy shows.
When I took over at Screen Gems in J anuary 1964, Liz called and
said she wanted to see me. Fine. But I didn't want it to be a business
meeting, so I suggested we have lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel. We
had a pleasant lunch, chitchat and food, and then she got very busi-
nesslike.
She said she wanted to remind me of the promises Bill Dozier had
made to her and make sure I kept those promises. What had Bill
promised?
First, that her husband, Bill Asher, would be the producer. Harry

Ackerman could be executive producer, but Bill would be the man .
running things. Second, she had ideas on what direction the show
l should take, and she wanted those ideas incorporated in future scripts.
Three, Dozier had promi! sed her casting approval and director ap-
proval. Four-most important-Billy would direct the first eight or
nine shows in a row, in addition to producing.
I listened to these "promises" of Dozier's. They didn't sound like
Dozier.
"Liz," I said, "Bobby Kennedy once told me that shortly after the
President was shot, he went up to Lyndon Johnson and said that Jack
had told him he wanted something or other done. And Lyndon looked
down at him and said, 'I'm the President now.' Well, Liz, I'm in
charge now. "
She looked at me with her big blue eyes, which can become very
steely when she wants them to, and she said, "It's too bad. It would
have been a nice little show."
I explained to her that none of those "promises" were in her con-
tract; I had made a point of getting out her contract and reading it
before the luncheon meeting. She said she knew they weren't, but
they were verbal promises Bill Dozier had made. I said that I was
sorry, but I simply could not go along with any of those "promises."
She smiled sweetly, thanked me for lunch, and said, as she left, that
she wasn't going to do the show.
As soon as I got back to my office, I called. her agent and told him
about our conversation. He was very nervous. I told him I would, of
course, have to report all this to the head of all Screen Gems divi-
sions, Jerry Hyams, in New York. And he, in turn, would have to
notify ABC. And ABC's first step would undoubtedly be to cancel
the sale, unless (which was very unlikely) a mutually satisfactory
,
280 / PLEASE DON'T SHOOT MY DOG
replacement could be found. The agent said, "Please, hold the fort
don't do anything until I talk to her." In less than an hour he called
back to say that she was firm; she was quitting. I hadn't expected her
to have any other reaction.
This, I felt, was a good time for me to learn how I stood-and also

how I could stand up to the pressure, real executive suite action. I
hadn't been sur! e how I could handle that kind of thing. My psychiatrist in New York used to say I was too kindly, and I had to be ,
more firm, esplcially with women.
If I was to be head of the studio, I was to be the head of the studio.
But I wasn't merely being stubborn for stubbornness's sake; there were
good reasons not to go along with Liz's demands. Ackerman was a
tried-and-true TV producer; he should be in charge. No way was Billy
going to direct the first eight or nine shows-nobody in his right mind
did that. Casting and director approval? Not in my studio. And if she
had ideas as to the direction in which the show was going, fine, but
let her funnel them through the producer.
So I called Tom Moore, then the head of ABC, directly. Tom was
a good, level-headed person, not given to hysterics. I explained what
had happened. He said that maybe we could find a replacement,
maybe no. At the least, it would mean a test film on the girl. They
might even want an entire new pilot film. He said, "Let's wait and
see who you can come up with."
I had our casting office begin looking for another girl, of the same
general age and type as Liz Montgomery. I didn't tell the press (nei-
., ther did Liz, I was happy to see) , but there was a leak. In those days
all the columnists in town had people in every studio on their payroll,
at so much a tip, and there was no such thing as a secret. So the story
leaked, merely saying that "Elizabeth Montgomery was unhappy at
Screen Gems," and nobody denied it."
We found three girls we felt were good enough to test for the part
of Samantha. We arranged for the tests to be filmed three days hence,
and we hired a director, selected the scene, arranged for sets and costume, &n! bsp; brought in Dick York ( already set for the costar) to work
with the girls. All of this, of course, was money, and not an inconsiderable sum, out of Screen Gems' pocket.
The day before the tests a messenger appeared at my office, bearing a hand delivered, handwritten note of apology from Liz. She said
"she had realized that her demands were outside her contract. She felt
she should have respected and trusted me. She promised that she


Jackie Cooper / 281
would not demand or insist that Bill either produce or direct. She
would work well with Harry Ackerman, she was sure. She hoped that
I would bear Bill in mind for the future."
I had won, but I wanted to nail the victory down. I showed the
note to our legal department and asked if there was a way that note
could be made a part of her contract. They said yes, if they prepared
an instrument saying that and had her sign it. So they quickly drafted
such an instrument, and we sent it over to her, and she duly signed it.
From that day on, for the first five years Bewitched was on, Liz
Montgomery never spoke to me. On the other hand, she was never
late, she always knew her lines, she never caused anybody any trouble, she was a perfect lady, and she made the show a huge success.
We did have Bill Asher direct a few shows during the first two
seasons, and in the third year Harry Ackerman became the executive
producer and Bill became the producer .
In 1968, during the Christmas season, I was putting the lights up
outside the house when Liz and Bill drove up. They were bringing a
gift-a large and lavish Christmas wreath which I promptly nailed to
the front door. There were hugs and kisses all around, and we became
good friends again.
Soon after that gift it was time for negotiations with her for another
contract. At the time of those negotiations I knew something she didn't
know,and I hoped she would not find out. That was that ABC was
making us an extremely profitable deal for the syndication rights to
Bewitched. The deal was contingent on our signing her to another
five-year contract. So it was to our interests to sign her before she
got wind of that proviso; if she did find out, she could justifiably hold
u! s up for a lot more money. So I became more generous with her than
I might otherwise have been. I wanted her name on that contract very
quickly, and very painlessly, so the syndication deal could go through.
And so I made her a most generous offer-involving cash, a big
increase in her salary, a deferment arrangement. I believe she received maybe a half million more than she might have, had not circumstances dictated. And that wreath had contributed to my feeling
of kindness. For years we kept that wreath, and whenever we put it
on the door, every Christmas, Barbara and I joked about the "half-
million-dollar wreath." The show, as it was, ran on ABC for eight years. It became one
of the big hits in TV series syndication and turned out to be a gold
mine.

~~~

PART II (LT's opinion)

Needless to say Jackie Cooper was lying through his teeth in his book about Liz's Power Grab,after all why should we believe JC who in effect called Liz a lier & not Liz herself,as Liz
got a guarantee from Bill Dozier that she would have creative control with
Bill: ,final say on all casting, scripts who the principle director would be
&
having Bill do the first 12 (it turned out to be 14 actually)episodes as well as having control over the
direction of the premise.
Then when BD was fired & replaced by Cooper he came in & tried to run
roughshod over Liz using her as an example to show all who was in charge &
what a tough guy he was. Liz was not making any last minute demands, she
was only trying to make sure that she would get what BD had promised her.
When JC tried to take that away from her she walked & was I am positive
ready to drop Bewitched period. She would not have been willing to do the show
without Bill having a major role in the show & working with her. As JC
outlined it Bill would have been forced out & with his pride would have refused
to wait around for a year or two to get some occasional directing
assignments,he would have gone on to something & as a result he & Liz would
have seen very little of each other what with her 14 hour + days & all.
This would have been utterly unacceptable to her & she never would have
considered it for a moment,for one thing she knew what Asher was like &
that
left to his own devises he would stray,so for that reason alone Liz would
have said no to the conditions that JC demanded as she knew it would cost her marriage.
I think the reason she came back was that Harry Ackerman took her to the
side
& said that what BD had promised her ,he HA would give her as Executive
producer & that all of the before mentioned power would be hers after
all,so
as she really wanted this part & the chance to work with with Bill (which
might not have come about otherwise) she decided to throw JC a bone & let
him
seem like he had won a big power struggle since she was the one in
reality
who really won.
That's my take on it,as for the $6 million dollars all that JC said
happened
took place Dec./68 leading up to XMAS ,well i saw an article in TV Guide
dated Jan/68 with all of the info about this Big deal upcoming between
ScreenGems & ABC ,so she already knew & so did everyone & she was able to
use
this knowledge to gain enormous leverage with Screengems as the deal was
contingent on her resigning for Bewitched for at least 4 years,so she had
them by the short & curlies.
As well CBS gave her an offer of one million dollers her own show 50%
ownership,creative control written into her contract & a promise that the
network would develop at least 2 shows for ASHMONT (to be formed),well with this big bat
she brought ABC & SCREENGEMS to their knees & only stayed with them
because
they matched CBS's offer,a very different outcome then the one given by JC
needless to say.
So the bottom line is that JC was lying & that Liz kicked his butt without
smearing her eyeliner,end of story.

In the end Liz & Bill had all of the Casting authority once the show
started
shooting in mid 1964 ,as well Bill was named the principle Director &
instead
of doing the first 12 he did the first 14 & about 90% of them the first 2
years.
In reality they had total creative control & called the shots even though
it
wasn't in their contract & no matter how JC tried to spin it.She put him on
his knees twice,& with a smile on her face I might add.
Bill & she also had final say re scripts & the premis,an example being that
HA wanted to have Samantha lose her powers in the first season gradually
because of her contact with mortals, Liz & Bill strongly disagreed & as
well
JC wanted Bewitched shot on video tape,Bill & Liz wanted film,guess who
prevailed on both counts :^)
So as you say J COOPER was full of bunk period & on an ego trip & feeding
us all a bunch of selfserving drivel.

I choose to believe Liz about the promises made to her by Bill Dozier rather then
JC who ineffect called Liz a lier,so i do not think his chapter on Liz was mostly
the truth at all,it is filled with inaccuracies from her age when JC meet her for the first time
to the color of her eyes & all the rest of what i have mentioned.

Just One Warlocks Opinion

Larry Tate

_______________________________________________

Back to me now (Arfies). Here's my rant:

Originally posted by Arfies
And Jackie Cooper, the studio head, makes Liz out to be a power-hungry spoiled b**** in his autobiography (and later Cox's Dreaming of Jeannie book). Which certainly she WAS NOT. I bet that if a man did the same things she did as BW's Creative Consultant, he'd be considered smart, ambitious, and promising. But if a woman does that, she's a brat, apparently. Look in Cooper's book of the accounts. He mentions "she looked at me with her big blue eyes...." but her eyes were REALLY, REALLY GREEN if he had actually been looking at her face instead of down her shirt (and judging by the context of the book where Cooper brags about sleeping with all kinds of women, that's more than likely what he was doing). Sorry. I needed to vent.

[Just Popped In]

Ok, you're right. I almost forgot that he said that about Liz in the Dreaming of Jeannie book. I never read his autobiography though.

I guess I can't argue you there, because I'm sure Liz was more of a respectable woman than he have her credit for.

[Ms Garthe Knight]

That's it, it was in the dreaming of Jeannie book.