Icons "I Dream Of Jeannie" Bottle Prototype (1997)

One of the Icons un-produced replicas that I receive the most inquiries about, from collectors all over the world, of the now extinct company's 1:1 scale, licensed Film & Television replicas, is the wonderful Jeannie bottle from the classic 1960's T.V. series "I Dream Of Jeannie", starring Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman.

As many Jeannie enthusiast know, the prop Genie bottle used during every season of the production of the classic television series was a painted "off the shelf Jim Beam - Beam's Choice - 4/5 quart 6 year old 90 proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey" bottle.

The R&D of the 1:1 scale "I Dream Of Jeannie" prototype was a labor of love for Icons Creative Development Team. Icons was given unprecedented access to Barbara Eden's original (color-version) prop Jeannie bottle that she had kept in her possession since the end of the much beloved television series, just prior to her donating it to the Smithsonian Institute Museum in Washington, D.C.

The bottle was treated like a National Treasure by the entire Icons staff, and given the "white glove" treatment during its duration at Icons H.Q. in Sun Valley, California.

Interestingly, the examination of this bottle revealed a distinct feature, that none of the resident Hollywood memorabilia experts at Icons had ever seen before...a very unique, thick and "stinky" chemical-compound residue, lining the interior of the circular mouth of the bottle...what was it ? Liquor ? Cork remainder ? Glue of some kind ?...No, it was sulfur-residue from the smoke bombs, placed in Barbara Eden's prop bottle during filming by the T.V. series special-effects man, to create the dramatic effect of the Jeannie bottle emitting magical Genie smoke, each time with her arrival.

Once Barbara Eden's bottle was with Icons R&D, it was meticulously examined, measured, photographed and studied. Hand-drawn templates were created using tracing paper to develop stencils of the intricate design work seen on the original bottle used on-screen, that had each been handpainted by the talented 20th Century Fox art department.

These hand-drawn templates were then scanned into a computer and re-rendered digitally to create master templates that were intended to be utilized in the manufacture of the licensed 1:1 scale Jeannie bottle replicas in China.

The incredibly talented Icons detail paint department known for their brilliant work on the detail paint on the Icons 1:1 scale licensed Star Wars X-Wing fighter miniature replica, was given the task of hand-painting the complex detail work on 2 Jeannie bottle (study) prototypes, that had been molded by Icons off of an original Jim Beam liquor decanter and cast in polyurethane resin. A feat they performed admirably, as usual.

Only 2 "I Dream Of Jeannie" bottle prototypes were ever created at Icons. #1 (seen here) was retained by the company, #2 was delivered to Sony Studios where it certainly remains to this day. The "unpainted" resin bottle that you can see on the pic below, is the unfinished #3 Jeannie bottle prototype.

After proudly producing all of its products in the U.S.A. for well over 3 years, Icons intended on manufacturing this popular Television prop replica, as its first product made in China. And came very close to doing so.

The pinkish Jeannie bottle seen on the left in the pic above, is the actual sample provided by a Chinese manufacturing rep to Icons in the Spring of 1999. It was made of a partially translucent, very lightweight, poly-resin as an unfinished test sample for the "I Dream Of Jeannie" bottle. Needless to say, Icons R&D and executive management at the time were not very pleased with the piece and opted not to proceed with the product manufacture in Asia.

Interestingly, Icons spent over one year working with a representative from China on developing lines of licensed 1:1 scale, prop and miniature replicas from Film and Television. The majority of what was submitted to Icons was rejected as sub-standard manufacturing. It is important to remember that at this time, visionaries such as Todd McFarlane were still educating Asia as to the importance of exceptional authenticity, accuracy and quality being applied to collectibles. And the importance of very, very low edition numbers. This was a matter of timing and was an important negative factor in Icons eventual collapse.

Ironically, the Asian manufacturing rep went on to provide replicas to Master Replicas, Sideshow and Hollywood Collectors Gallery, just to name a few.