Barbara Eden

Many of my loyal readers may not know it, but Ms. Ruby’s calling to be an interviewer began at age twelve—and my first victim was Barbara Eden. She happened to be in my hometown in Ohio performing with the local summer stock group, the Kenley Players. I found out where she was staying, called the hotel, and put on my most sophisticated and mature voice. In all my wildest dreams I never thought she’d answer but that distinctive lilting voice said, “Hello.” I froze. Again she said, “Hello.” I couldn’t answer. In mortal fear, I hung up. As you see, it was not my most successful interview. Recently, after seeing Barbara’s performance in Neil Simon’s restaging of The Odd Couple, in which she plays Florence Unger (the neat freak Jack Lemmon role), I had to give her a call and make amends.

Barbara Eden is the world’s favorite genie. This pop icon even has her own Barbie doll. I Dream of Jeannie ran for five seasons in the sixties (now daily on TV Land), and this versatile actress has appeared in countless other TV venues: movies, series, and variety shows (including twenty-one Bob Hope specials).  She’s graced the big screen in feature films (co-starred with Elvis in Flaming Star), and has headlined in many concert halls across the country (yes, she’s a singer and a dancer). The girl even has an honorary doctor of law degree, and her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Barbara has been affiliated with various AIDS charities through the years along with her activities for American Cancer Society, the Wellness Community, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Save the Children. 

I ring and Barbara answers in a very friendly, relaxed voice. This time I don’t freeze and I introduce myself. She asks me to hold a minute, as she and her husband of thirteen years, Jon, are having a little difficulty with their new Labradoodle puppy, Djinn-Djinn (namesake of Jeannie’s disappearing dog). She returns with an elated, “Oh, Hi Ruby.”

Ruby Comer: Hi ya Barbara. What a cutie he must be.

Barbara Eden: He really is [she says adoringly].

Let’s get right to it. Though we’ve never really connected, I’ve seen you at various functions and, girlfriend, you look fabulous! 

Thank you [she says modestly].

What’s your secret? What’s in that bottle?!

I take care of myself. Though I don’t go overboard or get crazy. I just think it’s sort of commonsense, but maybe others wouldn’t? [She laughs.] Don’t overeat, and balance your foods. We don’t really need all the food that we eat. [A slight pause.] And, luckily, I’ve never smoked. God bless my mother for that. She smoked and died of lung cancer. She’d say, “Oh, look Barbara, see how yellow my fingers are—so dirty and disgusting. And smell my hair. It smells like smoke; it gets in the curtains, it’s nasty.” From a very early age I associated this with smoking.

What is your involvement with the AIDS epidemic?

I’ve volunteered for Project Angel Food, worn the ribbon, donated money, attended benefits, but I wish I could do more. The greatest need, I feel, is a hands-on approach. A lot of money goes to research and so it should, but I think the people who are sick need support. I know when I’m sick I want somebody there who can cook a meal, clean the sheets, vacuum my carpet, and take care of my pets. So many people are isolated. 

Indeed.

I know of a great organization, Dream Street, which is a summer camp for children who are physically challenged, including HIV infected kids. The doctors and nurses donate their time to care for them. One summer I visited, and boy, they have so many activities!  And in between, they see the doctors and the nurses, get their shots, or whatever, and then return to play.

You’ve lost friends to AIDS?

Oh yes! Early on in the epidemic before it even had a name, a hairdresser-friend of mine kept complaining of being so tired. His name was…Ruby, my husband just came in, could you hold on?

As I hold, harpsichord music cranks out the tune “Home on the Range.” Barbara returns, apologizes, and asks where we left off.

The name of your friend….

Oh, Hugo Carmola. I visited him in the hospital and brought candy and flowers, you know, it was so dumb, not dumb [she corrects herself], uninformed.  The nurse put me in a gown and gloves. I was told he had HIV, and that the precautions were for him not me. They didn’t want him to catch anything else because of his [compromised] immune system. I didn’t know what it all meant. When I walked in he was extremely thin. He didn’t really want the candy I brought. This all happened within a couple of months [her voice is lower, sadder, and heartfelt].

Thankfully, today, we don’t see that too often anymore.

True, but many of my gay friends were lulled into thinking the AIDS epidemic was over and they weren’t as careful. It’s not over! And you really need to be careful—always.

Go, Girl! And how do we get that message out there?

Campaigns need to fully emphasize condom use, especially for the younger set. This is a communicable disease. We need more ads that say: It’s not over. [She clears her throat.] Get tested. Be careful in your sex life because you never know whom that person has been with. When Jon and I first met, we were tested before we…[she doesn’t finish].

Good for you two. And of course you know drugs are rampant….[she takes my lead].

Yes. I know that many young people use this crystal meth, and to mix that with sex is lethal. One loses all sense of judgment. [She excuses herself to say goodbye to her husband, “All right, Honey. I love you.”]

I know you lost your son, Matthew to drugs about three years ago. He was only thirty-six. What a tragedy. I am deeply sorry, Barbara. How do you deal with a loss like this?

You don’t. You live with it. It’s always there. It will never go away. I control the tears a little better now. Young people think they are invincible, and they’re not. He was very kind, intelligent, talented, loving, a good sense of humor, and not just because I’m his mother.  You can talk to anyone. I miss him terribly. [Actor and bodybuilder Matthew Ansara, 6’ 4” died of an accidental massive heroine overdose. At fifteen, he debuted on his mother’s TV show, Harper Valley P.T.A.]

Losing someone is like a scar. In time it heals but it’s always with you.

I don’t know. It’s more like an open wound. I think unless you’ve lost a child no one can understand. It’s a very small club but a horrible one.

What got you through it?

Work, I guess. I don’t talk a lot about it. I was very active talking openly about his drug addiction. I went to Washington. At that time, it was hard because it was still fresh. I don’t think I was as articulate about it as I could be now. I was so emotionally tied up in knots then.

Several celeb parents have lost their offspring to drugs, namely Carrol O’Connor.

Yes, he did. And I think Mary Tyler Moore’s son did too but she won’t talk about it. She denies it and says he didn’t shoot himself. And that’s baloney.

Good for you that you are active in that arena, and trying to save other parents of having to go through this shock.

Thanks, Ruby. It’s such a messy issue. There are no clean-cut answers.  It’s not black and white. People need to be aware of it and they have to know it’s something not to be ashamed of.

We need to bring it out of the closet.

Because it starts so young. 

Yes! Eleven or twelve.

Oh, yeah…and younger.

Things were so different when I was a kid.  Never in a million years would anyone dream that years down the road, kids would be carrying guns to school and shooting others.

It’s unbelievable. It’s incredible. I don’t know what the answer it. They say we shouldn’t monitor what goes on television but I’m not so sure about that. There are rules we live by and people should abide by them.

Barbara, what is your take on the afterlife?

Don’t know but I’m looking forward to it. [She chuckles.] I do believe that our souls are in a cycle and we are regenerated. We will be back.

Like Jeannie, huh?!  What would Jeannie be doing in 2004?

The same thing she was doing. She’s a genie. She’d react to what’s going on. But people make a little mistake with Jeannie, they think of her as human—and she’s not. That’s why they (Jeannie and astronaut Tony Nelson) should never have married [on the sitcom].

That’s what ended the series, right?

I think so.

Do you and the other cast members stay in touch?

Yeah, we do but we’re so far apart now [she tenderly whines]. Bill’s in New Mexico; Larry’s in Ojai. Several weeks ago I saw Larry at the TV Land Awards [in Hollywood]. [Barbara represents TV Land, and makes frequent national appearances.]

Any gossipy backstage I Dream of Jeannie tidbit you can offer Ruby?

Do you really think I’d tell you [she says slyly]? No, I wouldn’t. 

Oh, you! I keep hearing about an I Dream of Jeannie movie. Is there one in the works?

I hear about it all the time. I don’t have a clue. I know they’ve written several scripts, but they can’t find one they like.

Beside I Dream of Jeannie name your favorite sitcom of all time.

I Love Lucy. [She also watches Frasier, Will & Grace, and Everybody Loves Raymond.]

Speaking of my favorite TV show too, I will never forget that I Love Lucy episode you were in—“The Country Club Dance” episode 177, the third episode from the finale. You were cast in the part of sex-kitten Diana “Oh but yes” Jordan, and you were just nineteen years old. What was it like to work on that set?

I was just so awe inspired because, of course, I had watched I Love Lucy while growing up in San Francisco. I never thought I’d be on the same soundstage with her. It was very exciting, and even nicer that she was kind enough to want to sign me to a contract. She said, ‘There aren’t very many pretty girls who can be funny.’ I was so thrilled but I wasn’t able to do it. I had already tested at 20th Century Fox and on the last day of filming Lucy I got a call from my agent saying they had picked up the option. So now I was under contract.  But it was an honor to have been asked by Lucy. I’ve often wondered what would’ve happened if I had been able to accept.

Were you nervous the first day on the set?

Oh, yeah [she snickers as if I should already know]. Oh, yes.

I mean, to watch a show as a kid, then to be a part of it, it must have been somewhat nerve-wracking. Almost like the Vicki Lawrence-Carol Burnett story; different circumstance but same outcome—a fantasy come true. This was not your first part, was it?

No, I had done stage. But as for television, it was my third show.

Did you and Lucy become friends?

I wouldn’t call it friends. We’d talk. Other than acting, we didn’t have much in common.

You got on well with Desi, Bill, and Viv?

Yes.

Any thoughts on working with them?

[She hesitates] No. Let me think. Desi was a rascal, ya know? [She titters.] I just stayed clear of him.

You mean there was a come-on?

Yeah. I think it could have happened if I had encouraged it. But I think he did that with every woman. He was very nice and charming. After filming, the director [Bill Asher, former husband of Bewitched’s Elizabeth Montgomery] thanked me for keeping things cool and calm on the set. Because many of the girls they had [supporting cast] would encourage it.

Yes, Desi was a player. Barbara, what’s up for you in the next few months?

I will be going to Vegas to promote the I Dream of Jeannie slot machines.

I’ve played those! It’s fun to hear the theme song and your voice. What a hoot! You were also recently in a movie with Shirley MacLaine and Julia Stiles that was never released in America called Carolina.

Yes, my niece Katherine Fugate wrote it. She also wrote The Prince and Me. For some reason, Miramax didn’t have the money to promote it. It opened in Italy, and played in Germany. Unfortunately, on the ad they put my name under Shirley MacLaine, and I just had one little scene. I did it because it was my niece. 

The reviews are great, so I’m excited to see it. By the way, who created Jeannie’s magic-inducing bob of the head?

That came from me. It was at first just a blink—[director] Gene Nelson’s idea—but I didn’t think that was enough so I did the bobbing, too.

Well with that, Barbara, I need to bob-off. Thank you for this lovely afternoon chat, and let me tell ya Sister—your kind of charm doesn’t come out of a bottle.

Beyond Barbara’s Bottle

She is a former cheerleader.

She debuted in the 1956 plane-crash drama Back From Eternity.

She screen tested for the hit 1960 film, State Fair that starred Pat Boone, Ann-Margaret, Pamela Tiffin, and Bobby Darin.

She was not allowed to show her belly button on I Dream of Jeannie due to NBC's "No Navel Edict."

She published her autobiography in 1986, Barbara Eden: My Story.

She was inducted in 2003 into the California Broadcasting Hall Of Fame.

She was a pop singer as a teenager.

She loves fresh raw peach pie from Marie Callenders. Other fav pies are pecan, and she bakes a mean key lime pie.

Ruby Comer is an independent journalist from the Midwest who is happy to call Hollywood her home away from home. Reach her by e-mail at MsRubyComer@aol.com.

July 2004