This Old-School, Special Edition Jim Beam Whiskey Bottle Became An Iconic Hollywood Prop

Before technology like computer-generated imagery (CGI)and other modern tools, art directors and special effects technicians relied on ingenuity — from massive painted backdrops and split screens to animation and extravagant sets — to make the impossible seem real. On television, where budgets were smaller than film, they often repurposed found objects. This was the case with a special edition Jim Beam holiday decanter from 1964 that was transformed via a paint job into an iconic Hollywood prop for the 1960s TV show "I Dream of Jeannie."

The TV show that ran from 1965 to 1970 featured actor Barbara Eden as a genie named Jeannie who lived in an elegant, vividly colored glass bottle. Jeannie fell in love with astronaut Major Anthony Nelson, played by Larry Hagman, with lots of ensuing hijinks. The transformed Jim Beam bottle was a key prop in the series, from the animated intro to the oft-seen unforgettable pink smoke wafting out of the top that magically transformed into Jeannie. The bottle even had an entire episode dedicated to it in season 2 called "One of Our Bottles is Missing." But how did a limited edition booze container become Jeannie's TV home? The answer is a bit complicated.

For decades, Jim Beam has been and remains one of the most popular bourbon brands around. Back in the 1960s, the distillery often released Beam's Choice, an eight-year-old 90-proof Kentucky straight bourbon, in various unique containers during the holidays (no, gifting whiskey isn't a new idea). In 1964, the distillery went with a smoked green crystal decanter. At the time, it cost $6.62 – $33 today. After the limited edition bottle was released, Gene Nelson, who developed "I Dream of Jeannie," noticed the unusual Jim Beam bottle in a liquor store window and figured it would make the perfect magic bottle for Jeannie (though some sources say it was the TV show's art director, Robert Purcell, who discovered the bottle).

Either way, Purcell initially hand-painted the original bottle in a black-and-gold floral design. He later created other iterations for the show, including vibrant purple bottles adorned with aqua blue, gold, bright orange, and pink Middle Eastern-style designs. Several of these Jim Beam bottles for "I Dream of Jeannie" were made in case of breakage, and some reportedly shattered when the pink smoke effect heated the glass. At the end of the show, Barbra Eden donated one of the bottles to the Smithsonian, and at least one other has been sold at auction, garnering nearly $35,000. With a bit of paint and imagination, Purcell transformed a simple holiday gift bottle into a lasting piece of television and pop culture history.