No, we do not like Barbara Eden because of how she performed the song "Spinning Wheel" once on some seventies' variety show. We like her because for more years than seems humanly possible, she was popping up in TV shows and movies, always looking adorable and demonstrating a flair for comedy rarely seen in human beings who look that good.
You know how they often show TV pilots to test groups to gauge their reaction? Well, in early 1965 when I was 13 years of age, I was in a group that was shown the pilot for I Dream of Jeannie. I gave it an enthusiastic "thumbs up," not so much because I wanted to watch it every week but because I wanted to watch her. And I did tune in often if not always, not because I thought it was clever or funny or even because I thought Larry Hagman was a fine actor. He was…but I just liked Barbara.
By the way: In the same session, we were also shown the pilot for Camp Runamuck, which also made the NBC schedule, though not for as long. I thought that was a much funnier show. What did I Dream of Jeannie have that Camp Runamuck didn't? Barbara Eden.
That performance of "Spinning Wheel" might be the least wonderful thing she ever did on television. But even though I've long since outgrown the crush, I can forgive her anything. Judging from my e-mail, so can a lot of guys approximately my age.
And a lot of them are discussing where the hell that clip is from. I guessed Sonny & Cher. Curt Alliaume notes that the IMDB (which admittedly is not complete) doesn't list her appearing on Sonny & Cher but does have her on the following variety shows during the probable years: This Is Tom Jones, The Engelbert Humperdinck Show, two Bob Hope specials, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour and Changing Scene. Changing Scene was a series of four variety specials which aired on ABC between 1970 and 1971, and she was on all four.
Mike Clark, who knows a lot about TV production, writes…
That clip screams "NBC" because of the way the cameras zoom (manually, rather than TV City's servos), the picture profile (NBC TK-44 vs CBS' Norelco PC-70) and the tame direction compared to what Art Fisher did on Sonny & Cher. I'm betting it's from a Bob Hope Special.
Donald Benson writes…
I actually remember that; somehow associate it with Ed Sullivan. Ed would sometimes have oddball numbers that weren't from a Broadway show or somebody's new album. The main thing I remember is my father walking through and muttering something about watching a "girlie show" (instead of more educational fare elsewhere).
From Brian D. Phillips…
Because it's a bit of fun for me, I believe that the Barbara Eden clip may come from one of the series of specials called Changing Scene. There were four of them and the year matches up about right since a lot of people were covering "Spinning Wheel," even the Muppets on Sesame Street!
Joe Brancatelli wrote me to say…
Little known fact: They'd originally booked Blood, Sweat and Tears to sing the original, but David-Clayton Thomas didn't fit into the costume…
…and I'm sure he's right about that. Steve Bailey also seems pretty certain when he writes…
The Barbara Eden video you posted comes from The Sonny Comedy Revue, ABC's very short-lived 1974 attempt to replicate CBS' hit Sonny & Cher show with everything — including the original supporting cast and most of the writers — except for Cher, who had left Sonny by that point. I still remember Barbara trying to do a Cher-like put-down of Sonny at the start of the show.
I don't know for sure but if you forced me to put up money, I'd side with Steve Bailey…and Wikipedia, which of course is never wrong about anything, says he was a guest on that series. So I've dispatched an e-mail to my old pal Chris Bearde, who was one of the producers of The Sonny Comedy Revue to ask him. I'll let you know what I hear. And hey, isn't this a lot more fun (and important) than linking to articles about what a douchebag Donald Trump is?