Marsha Queen Of Diamonds

[clavierankh]

MeTV aired this one tonight. It's actually one of my least favorite. Nothing happens. We have the theft of the Pretzel Diamond in the teaser and then the rest of the episode is Marsha trying get Batman in her clutches.

Part Two is really week with a scene that is clearly padding with Alfred advising the commissioner and Chief O'hara on women.


One funny note: Did you after Batman answers the phone in the commissioner's office, he doesn't come close to hanging it up. Probably the vision problems in the cowl.

[Gleeps, it's Batman]

One funny note: Did you after Batman answers the phone in the commissioner's office, he doesn't come close to hanging it up. Probably the vision problems in the cowl.

LOL, good catch. I have to admit I was kind of half-watching it while doing something else, and it's not a favorite episode by a long shot.

Since MeTV left that long Alfred/Commissioner/O'Hara stuff in, I'm wondering what they actually cut out? I see that the TV Land version cut off the very last part of the exchange where Gordon and O'Hara were prompting each other to be the first one to call their wife.

What's with the stuff about a vow never to bring strangers to the Batcave? Okay, Gordon is not a stranger, and most of the others came uninvited (the criminals and Batgirl) but he did bring Catwoman and Venus there. I guess battling a giant clam with someone makes you no longer strangers <g>

[dell]

I guess battling a giant clam with someone makes you no longer strangers <g>

I think that would apply to any giant mollusk, not just clams.

[Gleeps, it's Batman]

LOL, Dell.

I love how they always talk in front of open phone lines. "I'll take it over here on the Bat-extension, Alfred." Hey Commissioner, if you listen closely to background chatter on the phone, you may actually learn who Batman really is. <g> Though to Gordon's credit, he did have Bruce Wayne in mind as a candidate in whatever episode that was near the end of the second season.

[epaddon]

I watched this episode a few weeks ago and I too found the whole teaser scene jarring and at odds with the rest of the episode. Marsha is established first as a thief with a reputation for stealing diamonds (hence the police guarding things) yet this point is never referred to again in the rest of the episode which makes no sense to me. Marsha doesn't act like a thief the rest of the way (more like a swindler who uses potions to get men to give things to her) so why do this? And why does the jeweler blindly obey O'Hara not to mention the rest of the police?


Checking the Bat archives site, there is a memo from the censors about the earlier draft of the script and it reveals a lot of different things about it that indicate that once Carolyn Jones was cast, they decided to rewrite it to make her character more like Morticia. The censor memo refers to concerns about the "high intensity sound waves" of the "Thought Control Device" Marsha uses. Reference is also made to use of a chandelier in a party scene to hypnotize guests. Clearly, the teaser scene with the theft that never gets referred to again is a last vestige of the original concept before Jones got the part. We know that earlier, Zsa Zsa Gabor and also Arlene Dahl had been offered it before it went to Jones.

There is no excuse for the writers not remembering the conceit of Batman using Batgas on visitors to the Batcave. If they wanted to do this right, it would have been far better for Marsha, as befitting a woman who likes to swindle rich men to have tried to trap *Bruce Wayne* into marrying her to gain control of say, a rare family diamond. And I have to say this, Batman really gets out of this because Alfred has in effect used falsified documents which means Batman has condoned breaking the law to serve his ends and Gordon is then applauding this later! That's another thing about the episode that doesn't work because here, you're undermining the series conceit of Batman being such a stickler for the law that he always follows the speed limit and remembers to look both ways!

[Batman1962]

LOL, Dell.

I love how they always talk in front of open phone lines. "I'll take it over here on the Bat-extension, Alfred." Hey Commissioner, if you listen closely to background chatter on the phone, you may actually learn who Batman really is. <g> Though to Gordon's credit, he did have Bruce Wayne in mind as a candidate in whatever episode that was near the end of the second season.

I forget which episode it was, but in one episode, the Commissioner calls and asks to speak to Bruce Wayne. Alfred relays the message to Bruce, and as Bruce is going to answer the phone he chastizes Alfred on his indiscretion. Alfred - with the open phone line right there - says something like "He asked for Bruce Wayne - not Batman."

[Dr. Shimel]

One funny note: Did you after Batman answers the phone in the commissioner's office, he doesn't come close to hanging it up. Probably the vision problems in the cowl.

What's with the stuff about a vow never to bring strangers to the Batcave? Okay, Gordon is not a stranger, and most of the others came uninvited (the criminals and Batgirl) but he did bring Catwoman and Venus there. I guess battling a giant clam with someone makes you no longer strangers <g>

The Marsha episode was on almost two months before Penguin, Joker and Venus made it in there. The Shame and Puzzler episodes were filmed in between those two capers.

[Dr. Shimel]

Found an interesting item about how Carolyn Jones was briefly scheduled to also make a guest star appearance on an episode of The Green Hornet, but was scratched for off-camera reasons.

When Jones was married to Aaron Spelling, they were good friends with director James Komack and his wife. When Jones and Spelling divorced, the friendship between the two couples faded. Komack was then told that Jones would be a guest star on the GH episode he was set to direct, which could have made for some awkward moments.

Dozier fixed the issue by coming up with some arbitrary rule that Carolyn's appearance on Batman had been on too soon for her to make one on GH.

[clavierankh]

Hadn't thought about the open phone line stuff.

Regarding breaking the law, the phony marriage certificate was used only to truck Marcia. It was never used to represent Aunt Harriet as Batman's wife in any legal venue.

It was essentially a little white lie, and Batman himself said in "Give 'Em The Axe" a white lie is forgivable when dealing with arch villains.

[Gleeps, it's Batman]

There is no excuse for the writers not remembering the conceit of Batman using Batgas on visitors to the Batcave. If they wanted to do this right, it would have been far better for Marsha, as befitting a woman who likes to swindle rich men to have tried to trap *Bruce Wayne* into marrying her to gain control of say, a rare family diamond.

Batman said he wouldn't break the vow he made, not even for Robin. Wow, way to have Robin's back, Batman. Just use the Bat-gas, as Epaddon mentioned.

And I bet Adam West would have liked Epaddon's idea of using Bruce Wayne instead, since he pushed for more time out of the costume second season.

[epaddon]

Regarding breaking the law, the phony marriage certificate was used only to truck Marcia. It was never used to represent Aunt Harriet as Batman's wife in any legal venue.

It was essentially a little white lie, and Batman himself said in "Give 'Em The Axe" a white lie is forgivable when dealing with arch villains.

The problem there, is that Marsha isn't doing anything illegal by trying to marry Batman. You could thus say that Batman is defrauding Marsha!

To me, this is just sloppy writing that reveals they should have gone with a different approach altogether.

Regarding the phone, why should Batman have Alfred pick up the Batphone in the Batcave if he's there and the extension is within arm's reach?? Of course if Alfred has to answer it, it would have been funny if he'd turned and said to him, "The Batphone, sir," and Batman replied, "Yes, Alfred, I know," followed by an embarrassed Alfred going, "I'm sorry, sir, I forgot where I was!"

[clavierankh]

The problem there, is that Marsha isn't doing anything illegal by trying to marry Batman. You could thus say that Batman is defrauding Marsha!

I would say drugging Robin and holding him hostage to force Batman to marry her was slightly illegal.

[High C]

The problem there, is that Marsha isn't doing anything illegal by trying to marry Batman. You could thus say that Batman is defrauding Marsha!

I would say drugging Robin and holding him hostage to force Batman to marry her was slightly illegal.

True, but then why doesn't Batman report her to the police and have her arrested while he works on the Bat-antidote? Bottom line is this is another poorly-plotted Stanford Sherman clunker of a script, much like Nora.

[Gleeps, it's Batman]

OH wow, it was written by the same person who wrote Nora Clavicle? No wonder it was a mess!

[Gernot]

The problem there, is that Marsha isn't doing anything illegal by trying to marry Batman. You could thus say that Batman is defrauding Marsha!

I would say drugging Robin and holding him hostage to force Batman to marry her was slightly illegal.

True, but then why doesn't Batman report her to the police and have her arrested while he works on the Bat-antidote? Bottom line is this is another poorly-plotted Stanford Sherman clunker of a script, much like Nora.

Yes, but if Batman DID report Marsha to the police, who knows what would've happened to Robin, Gordon, and O'Hara? I can't remember: Did Batman even know the latter two were captives of Marsha along with the other men? If he left to get the police, Marsha would just abandon her HQ and set up shop elsewhere. If Batman stayed, he'd probably be overpowered by her giant henchman and the rest of her gang, not to mention Robin, who'd fight for her.

I think Batman did everything he could've done.