Lorenzo semple scripts

[crazedvillain]

This blog has a entry on Lorenzo Semple. Included are the screenplays for the pilot, the first Penguin installment and the 1966 movie.

http://www.knowitalljoe.com/lorenzo-sem ... scripts-2/

[Gleeps, it's Batman]

This caught my eye in the pilot script:

INT. CYLINDRICAL SHAFT - SPECIAL EFFECT

A series of QUICK SHARPLY-ANGLED CUTS to give effect of Bruce and Dick sliding down poles inside an enormously deep burnished metal shaft. They seem to grab now and then at BRIGHT-COLORED whatnots suspended from cylinder walls, and we hear odd ZIPPING SOUNDS.

I'm guessing that was never filmed, or else it's one of the cut scenes we aren't seeing.

[batbelfry]

This caught my eye in the pilot script:

INT. CYLINDRICAL SHAFT - SPECIAL EFFECT

A series of QUICK SHARPLY-ANGLED CUTS to give effect of Bruce and Dick sliding down poles inside an enormously deep burnished metal shaft. They seem to grab now and then at BRIGHT-COLORED whatnots suspended from cylinder walls, and we hear odd ZIPPING SOUNDS.

I'm guessing that was never filmed, or else it's one of the cut scenes we aren't seeing.

That seems like the kind of thing that's easy to WRITE, but not too feasible to actually SHOOT. But who knows, maybe they just thought it was more in keeping with the "style" of the show to just have them appear at the bottom of the poles in full costume, and leave it to the viewers' imaginations as to how it actually takes place.

At any rate, it's pretty cool to read the actual scripts!

[Gleeps, it's Batman]

Thanks for posting these, crazedvillain, and welcome to the message board.

I notice in this script that it *does* say "Gleeps! It's Batman!" but in the script I saw in the documentary that I think was on the Holy Batmania DVD, it said "Leaps" instead. I guess the one in the documentary was an earlier draft than this September 1965 one.

I keep noticing little things as I'm reading. One of them is line 110 with the "bright, shining early ayem sunlight." Ayem for A.M.? I'd never heard that before, so I googled it, and it's apparently slang used by Variety.

ayem — A Variety coinage meaning morning (a.m.); “Barbara Walters is producing a new ayem skein for ABC.”

Interesting. Learn something new every day.

I see the "What a terrible way to go-go" line *is* in the script. Adam made it sound like he'd come up with that, saying that one of the crew said he'd messed up his line because he said "go-go", as if the script was just written to say "What a terrible way to go." Anybody know what dates they actually filmed the pilot? Just wondering if this page was revised after he'd said it, or if it was always written that way.

[crazedvillain]

A couple of sources I've seen, one is Joel Eisner, said October of 1965. I came across this blog with the Lorenzo Semple scripts while doing a search.
Thank you for the welcome. I'm back to the messageboard after a number of years. I was a member of the original site.

[chrisbcritter]

Thanks so much for the link! It finally answered my question about the spray cans A and B - it was scripted that way after all.
Re Molly's fate - Just as well they didn't use a "ZZZZZWAP!!!" overlay there...

[High C]

Terrific stuff, crazedvillain. Thanks so much for sharing!

[Jaws63]

Ho Ho Ho, Haw Haw Haw, Batman's doom will be the law. Say's the Riddler...explaining to Molly a riddling piece of his plan

Dosier Narration: What...the law on Riddlers side? has the enigmatic crook gone mad.

I was looking for some clues to the scene I seem to remember with the manhole and someone walking past as they pull the cover over them. I didn't come across anything of the kind looking over the script, but the script also doesn't explain in detail what was happening during the Dosier Narration above, and I think I remember that particular narration....That must be the scene I was thinking of.

[Jaws63]

Now that I've had time to ponder and sleep on this, I'm !00 percent sure now that the cut scene with the manhole I was thinking of comes in 69'- 70' in the script. I remember Molly with the trench coat I remember Harry with the lantern on his head.

The broadcast version we've been given has two cuts here, we see(what's been given to us) Riddler tell his gang, "into the manhole", Batspin, into Riddler and his gang running through the tunnels with Dosier's narration 'What are the fiendish Riddler and the molehill mob up to now"(funny that this narration was not in the script). The first cut is a little bit of dialogue(Molly's trench coat, Harry's lantern), before they enter the tunnels, I think it's when they first enter the tunnels we wee the scene with the guy walking past. The second cut is the dialogue between Riddler and Molly and the narration of "What...the law on Riddler's side, has the enigmatic crook gone mad".

Yes there are pieces of dialogue that did not make it to what actually aired(the extended dialogue of Aunt Harriett's in the prelude is an example), but mark my words...the original broadcast has it exactly as I just described, I remember it now.

[Kamdan]

Excellent post! I've been waiting years for a post like this to occur. Scripts are usually the only way to find out information pertaining to deleted scenes. It was also interesting to see how differently the show was structured to reflect the 40's serials with each commercial break designed as a cliffhanger. I hope more scripts will be posted in the future for key episodes.

[Jaws63]

This is not the last time you'll hear from me or anyone on the boards about deleted scenes. I almost feel guilty, like I'm a spoiler...talking prematurely on this topic two months before the official release. I want people to understand though that this deleted scene has been bugging me since I first registered in 2006. After reading the script, it was like an OMG moment "I remember this" and felt the passion to post my thoughts.

My thinking though is that there will be a plethora of OMG moments like this after we view the episodes when the release comes out...so I guess I shouldn't feel guilty.

There must have been a reason I felt compelled to write about this. I think it stands to reason(like I said) that there are other deleted scenes like this and apart of why they go unnoticed is the "deleted scene or dialogue" doesn't change our conception of what's going on in the show, however in some cases they do. An example of what I mean by this is that there is a bank robbery scene in "That darn Catwoman" that was eliminated from the current prints. Now we've talked at great length here in this forum and in the archived forum about this scene, but for those that don't know and those that never got to read those threads, there actually was a bank teller that was credited for her roll in the end credits, also Pat Pendings comment(defending his purpose for hiding his money under the mattress) explains to Rudy, "Was that money safe from Catwoman at the bank". This little exchange between Pat and Rudy makes no sense without that bank robbery scene. See what I'm saying, sometimes the "deleted" scene in question is essential to the flow of the episode. Same thing with the pilot episode(this however is a little more subtle), the exchange between Molly and Riddler where Molly asks, how we are going to separate Batman and Robin and Riddler replies(something to the effect) "we won't have to, the law will help us" is Important to the flow of the plot. Without this scene in tact the plot comes across as random, it makes a whole lot of sense that separating B&R was actually orchestrated by Riddler...I wonder if that was the reason this particular "deleted scene" stuck out like a sore thumb.

[Kamdan]

It appears that this script dispels West's claim that he ad-libbed the "What a terrible way to go-go" line. I figured it was Semple's brand of humor and because they set it up with the discotheque being called "What A Way To Go-Go."