The Misadventures of Merlin Jones
1964 film by Robert Stevenson
The Misadventures of Merlin Jones is a 1964 American science-fiction comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney Productions. The film stars Tommy Kirk as a college student who experiments with mindreading and hypnotism, leading to incidents with a local judge. Annette Funicello plays his girlfriend and sings the film's title song, with Leon Ames, Stuart Erwin, Alan Hewitt, Connie Gilchrist and Dallas McKennon in the film's supporting cast.
The film was originally intended as a two-part production for the NBC television show Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color but received a theatrical release. It was followed by a sequel titled The Monkey's Uncle the following year.
Plot
Midvale College student Merlin Jones, who is always involved with mind experiments, designs a helmet that connects to an electroencephalographic tape that records mental activity. He is brought before Judge Holmsby for wearing the helmet while driving and his license is suspended. Merlin returns to the lab and discovers accidentally that his new invention enables him to read minds.
Judge Holmsby visits the diner where Merlin works part-time, and Merlin, through his newly found powers, learns that the judge is planning a crime. After informing the police, he is disregarded as a crackpot.
“The Misadventures of Merlin Jones” enters the record as 1964 film by Robert Stevenson. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Misadventures, Merlin and Jones can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“The Misadventures of Merlin Jones” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Misadventures, Merlin and Jones provides the most credible route into that argument.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3234125. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1964.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Misadventures of Merlin Jones”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Misadventures of Merlin Jones primary sources, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones archive and Misadventures research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Misadventures of Merlin Jones”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Misadventures of Merlin Jones” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.