TO THE BATPOLES podcast #60: Catwoman goes for her M.R.S. degree

General goings on in the 1966 Batman World

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bat-rss
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TO THE BATPOLES podcast #60: Catwoman goes for her M.R.S. degree

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This time, Paul and I discuss "Catwoman Goes to College" and "Batman Displays His Knowledge", another arc that presents numerous duplications of Batman/Bruce Wayne (a statue, two different people disguised as him, the Bat-Syllable Machine...) and self-referential humor (Doesn't Gotham City have anyone in wild costumes?) http://ow.ly/3HA730bqyE5
"I'm half-demented with whimsical outrage!"
-- The Joker, in a line cut from "The Joker's Epitaph"
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Dr. Shimel
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Re: TO THE BATPOLES podcast #60: Catwoman goes for her M.R.S. degree

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Some notes:

*Deanna Lund wasn't the only villain's moll to see their chances for bigger things fade. 50 years ago this June, Sherry Jackson (Pauline in the Riddle Silent Movie caper) played one of Peter Gunn's paramours in the big-screen version, "Gunn." That was supposed to propel her to stardom and she supposedly was offered a three-picture deal that included Robert Redford's "Downhill Racer." However, she said her agent turned it down and she got stuck doing stuff like The Miniskirt Mob and Cotter, the latter of which wasn't released for five years after it was filmed in early 1968.

*Speaking of Riddler, March 30 was also the 51st anniversary of the first airing of "Ring of Wax," the first part of that Riddler caper. The following night, Frank Gorshin was competing against himself--he played a sleazy used car dealer on The Munsters. March 30 was also the 50th anniversary of the last "old school" Batman episode--the Eli Wallach-Mr. Freeze conclusion.

*Regarding the mention of Jim Lefebvre as one of Riddler's henchmen--John Astin version--reminded me that it was during his first year as a baseball manager in 1989 that the Michael Keaton Batman movie came out. That allowed a baseball-themed show to do a segment on Lefebvre's connection to the original show--he joked about the cake deathtrap, with the segment including a screencap of his credit at the end of the show as proof.

*Finally, I was somewhat surprised that when discussing the career of Stanley Adams, you didn't mention his infamous role in Lost in Space's "Great Vegetable Rebellion"--where he played a giant carrot. I almost would have tied that to his sad suicide, but he actually had a number of guest roles in shows after that. A better role for him was in a December 1961 Twilight Zone episode (Once Upon a Time)--where he played opposite Buster Keaton.
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bat-rss
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Re: TO THE BATPOLES podcast #60: Catwoman goes for her M.R.S. degree

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Dr. Shimel wrote: Thu May 04, 2017 2:02 pm *Finally, I was somewhat surprised that when discussing the career of Stanley Adams, you didn't mention his infamous role in Lost in Space's "Great Vegetable Rebellion"--where he played a giant carrot. I almost would have tied that to his sad suicide, but he actually had a number of guest roles in shows after that. A better role for him was in a December 1961 Twilight Zone episode (Once Upon a Time)--where he played opposite Buster Keaton.
Unfortunately, we were never "Lost in Space" viewers growing up, so I haven't seen his turn as a vegetable! Will have to look that up!
"I'm half-demented with whimsical outrage!"
-- The Joker, in a line cut from "The Joker's Epitaph"
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Progress Pigment
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Re: TO THE BATPOLES podcast #60: Catwoman goes for her M.R.S. degree

Post by Progress Pigment »

Brace yourselves.

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Next week, the Dynamic Duo meets the Clock King!
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Re: TO THE BATPOLES podcast #60: Catwoman goes for her M.R.S. degree

Post by BATWINGED HORNET »

From the podcast:
"Its like the only thing she knows for certain is, she needs heterosexual union or she's worthless"
Paul frames that as if to suggest Catwoman--a clearly heterosexual woman--is somehow abnormal / incorrect for a desire that is completely natural for her. Hmm....

She's not implying a value (or lack of one) if she becomes involved with a (Bat) man. She's clearly saying that this is part of her life that she's always desired, and was--up to that point--unfulfilled.

By the way, on the subject of interracial TV kisses, Captain Kirk and Uhura was by no means the first on TV; for one example, Robert Culp & his then-wife France Nuyen (French-Vietnamese) kissed on a 1966 episode of Culp's TV series I Spy. You have Gene Roddenberry to thank (as in many cases) for trying to say "we were first!!!" to build the legend of Star Trek--a series that did not need any help in that department.

Tim, if you're reviewing the series in broadcast order, that means the Green Hornet crossover is next. While I know its been standard practice for some to always refer to alleged comments from Bruce Lee and/or Van Williams about Lee's interaction with Burt Ward, I would suggest you guys take a look at Adam West's book, Back to the Batcave for the most objective view of what was happening on set.

The following is something I would LOVE you guys to analyze on the crossover episode podcast: Bruce Lee's friend and student--M. Uyrehara--wrote a book titled Bruce Lee: The Incomparable Fighter (ISBN 0-89750-120-9), where he sheds some light on an utterly avoided (by Lee fans) dynamic between Lee and Ward:
Page 70: As long as both shows were so popular among viewers, it was unavoidable that one day Robin and Kato would face each other. The young public was clamoring for such a confrontation. The director decided that we should participate in the Batman series instead of ours," Bruce explained. Bruce had no idea what the director had in mind, but after reading the script, his face lit up. He grinned and whispered to himself, "This is great, Kato finally gets to fight Robin!"
But on page 71, this is the kicker--the last two paragraphs in particular:
Outside of the studio, Bruce and Ward kept up their rivalry. Ward had a little advantage over Bruce because he was already exposed to the public several months before The Green Hornet came about. He was earning more money from the series as well from personal appearances, and he was better known from the additional exposure because of the longer television run.

When Bruce started to earn more money from his television series, he moved to Barrington Plaza, a plush apartment high-rise located in West Los Angeles. He never mentioned to me why he had settled there, but I had a feeling he did it because Burt Ward was there.
Bruce's interest in Ward started to wane after both series were taken off the air, but he still maintained some interest until the very end. Somehow, Bruce knew the whereabouts of Ward even while he was living in Hong Kong.
So, even while Lee was struggling to establish a film career in Hong Kong, away from his family, and right up to the point of his death (remember how many years after the end of Batman that was--how Ward pretty much stopped acting after the series, and Batman was off of the bigger cultural landscape in the early 70s) he had and interest in and knew where Ward was! Please wrap your minds around that in time for the podcast!

Keep up the interesting work!
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Re: TO THE BATPOLES podcast #60: Catwoman goes for her M.R.S. degree

Post by robinboyblunderer »

BATWINGED HORNET wrote: Fri May 05, 2017 1:51 pm From the podcast:
"Its like the only thing she knows for certain is, she needs heterosexual union or she's worthless"
Paul frames that as if to suggest Catwoman--a clearly heterosexual woman--is somehow abnormal / incorrect for a desire that is completely natural for her. Hmm....

She's not implying a value (or lack of one) if she becomes involved with a (Bat) man. She's clearly saying that this is part of her life that she's always desired, and was--up to that point--unfulfilled.

Keep up the interesting work!
I'd have to go back and listen to that again to find out if I hear what you did, but I can say that every woman in my experience has wanted to be in a relationship, wanted marriage, a house, husband etc. Even ones who seemed full of fiery independence eventually wanted to settle down. I'm not surprised it's the same with Catwoman. I always figured the two of them would end up together, him eventually reforming her, putting away cowl and cat-ears alike.

Clearly no other man she's going to meet is going to match up to Batman, who's a master of physical combat, deduction, able to engineer and construct futuristic technology, successfully maintain two identities, put himself into a life-saving trance if need be, can resist mind control drugs, fluent in many languages as well as a practitioner of the floating rope trick, well read, ran a successful mayoral campaign based only on the issues! read that one again, seriously, holy independent! can surf, knows classical music down to the note, has a dry sense of humor, can batusi, expert fencer, able to count bullets fired from a machine gun, handsome and able to resist Catwoman's seductions (let alone other molls) on many an occasion, is an expert high speed driver, can pilot a helicopter, has created the Universal Bat-Antidote Pill...! and is fond of using Bat as a prefix. And he's rich!

cheers
Jthree
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Re: TO THE BATPOLES podcast #60: Catwoman goes for her M.R.S. degree

Post by Jthree »

I wish I were Batman.

===jthree
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Re: TO THE BATPOLES podcast #60: Catwoman goes for her M.R.S. degree

Post by bat-rss »

Progress Pigment -- Thanks, um, for that.. I guess... lol

Batwinged Hornet -- as we mentioned at the end of the latest episode, before we get to A Piece of the Action, we're doing a one-episode discussion of the Hornet series, which is already in the can. In an effort to keep a bit of cushion against our self-imposed deadlines, we're planning to go ahead and record our Piece of the Action episode this week, so your message is right on time. Will keep this in mind. Thanks!

And I'm not quite sure why Paul specified heterosexual there -- maybe just to draw a contrast between that and all our comments about Batman & Robin being in a relationship that keep surfacing on our show! Well, will see what he says.
"I'm half-demented with whimsical outrage!"
-- The Joker, in a line cut from "The Joker's Epitaph"
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Re: TO THE BATPOLES podcast #60: Catwoman goes for her M.R.S. degree

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bat-rss wrote: Thu May 04, 2017 7:34 pm
Dr. Shimel wrote: Thu May 04, 2017 2:02 pm *Finally, I was somewhat surprised that when discussing the career of Stanley Adams, you didn't mention his infamous role in Lost in Space's "Great Vegetable Rebellion"--where he played a giant carrot. I almost would have tied that to his sad suicide, but he actually had a number of guest roles in shows after that. A better role for him was in a December 1961 Twilight Zone episode (Once Upon a Time)--where he played opposite Buster Keaton.
Unfortunately, we were never "Lost in Space" viewers growing up, so I haven't seen his turn as a vegetable! Will have to look that up!
Yahoo has it as part of their freebie lineup:

https://view.yahoo.com/show/lost-in-spa ... -rebellion
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bat-rss
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Re: TO THE BATPOLES podcast #60: Catwoman goes for her M.R.S. degree

Post by bat-rss »

Dr. Shimel wrote: Sat May 06, 2017 7:03 pm
Yahoo has it as part of their freebie lineup:

https://view.yahoo.com/show/lost-in-spa ... -rebellion
Unfortunately only works inside the US. I'll have to get a VPN or something! Thanks.
"I'm half-demented with whimsical outrage!"
-- The Joker, in a line cut from "The Joker's Epitaph"
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