Script: POP GOES THE JOKER, first draft

General goings on in the 1966 Batman World

Moderators: Scott Sebring, Ben Bentley

Post Reply
User avatar
bat-rss
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2015 5:27 am

Script: POP GOES THE JOKER, first draft

Post by bat-rss »

Image

The next of the scripts I got in Laramie that we're going to discuss on TO THE BATPOLES podcast will be Stanford Sherman's first draft of Pop Goes the Joker!

http://deconstructingcomics.com/Batpole ... tdraft.pdf

Go ahead and start reading, commenting, etc. We anticipate talking about this sometime in December. Will include some of your comments on the show. Will let you know later what our recording date will be.
"I'm half-demented with whimsical outrage!"
-- The Joker, in a line cut from "The Joker's Epitaph"
elmrgraham
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:25 am

Re: Script: POP GOES THE JOKER, first draft

Post by elmrgraham »

Holy Excellent.
User avatar
chrisbcritter
Posts: 0
Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2012 5:59 pm

Re: Script: POP GOES THE JOKER, first draft

Post by chrisbcritter »

Thanks for posting this script! After reading, it seems that this one went to screen with relatively few changes; mainly streamlining the dialogue. A car chase at the end was dropped, but the biggest change is to the Bat-trap; I'm guessing it was easier to film the way it ended up, with only Robin on the -ugh - "Batmobile" (they didn't bother to split or hyphenate it in the script, and it's just as clunky on the printed page).

Baby Jane's first-draft comments in her opening scene scene make it rather obvious that she has a "thing" for artists - "isn't he a doll?" "A real sweetie" "What a hunk of Americana". She also became heiress to the "paper clip fortune" rather than the "Hula Hoop fortune" - doubtless someone figured the folks at Wham-O wouldn't have cared for that - and Davinsky's monkey must have been a later addition :) And now we know the pink stuff that Robin takes a nose-dive into - almost getting de-masked - is supposed to be salt-water taffy!

Line We're Glad Wasn't Depicted On Screen Award goes to what Joker was described as doing to a drumstick in Scene 128.

Continuity clanger: Batman's chest after the Joker "signs" it; looks like "CR" for Cesar Romero?
cap130.jpg
And at Commissioner Gordon's office, it's clearly a J:
cap131.jpg
:lol:
"To the medical eye, such childish claptrap means only one thing, young man: You need some sleep."
User avatar
Jim Akin
Posts: 0
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2012 8:24 pm

Re: Script: POP GOES THE JOKER, first draft

Post by Jim Akin »

Chrisbcritter pretty much sums up my thoughts (especially about the drumstick). :) The only note I'd add is that someone in the production department wisely thought to add the business about painting the batpoles, to prevent Joker from literally reading the writing on the wall to figure out what what was at the bottom of that mysterious descent.
User avatar
chrisbcritter
Posts: 0
Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2012 5:59 pm

Re: Script: POP GOES THE JOKER, first draft

Post by chrisbcritter »

Also, you can see the Bat-logo has been changed but the tights are the same (the stain matches exactly; there are a couple more smudges in the first photo so the scene in Gordon's office may have been shot first?).

ETA: Recycled music. That little piece with the descending organ notes (Sandman's sleep music) is used twice: first, when Batman knocks down the Joker in the gallery and second, when the Joker throws paint all over the "priceless antique table".
"To the medical eye, such childish claptrap means only one thing, young man: You need some sleep."
User avatar
bat-rss
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2015 5:27 am

Re: Script: POP GOES THE JOKER, first draft

Post by bat-rss »

We're planning to record our discussion of this script on Dec 11, so any comments you make here by then could get brought up in that episode!
"I'm half-demented with whimsical outrage!"
-- The Joker, in a line cut from "The Joker's Epitaph"
User avatar
High C
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:01 am

Re: Script: POP GOES THE JOKER, first draft

Post by High C »

bat-rss wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2017 2:35 pm We're planning to record our discussion of this script on Dec 11, so any comments you make here by then could get brought up in that episode!
It's unfortunate that Sherman didn't have a cast list or a description of Baby Jane in this version. I assume he wrote her as a spoiled, airhead rich girl who's never had to think for herself because daddy's money has shielded her. That would be different than how Diana Ivarson played her, as a brain-dead goober only a few decibels lower than Ma Parker.
'I thought Siren was perfect for Joan.'--Stanley Ralph Ross, writer of 'The Wail of the Siren'

My hobbies include gazing at the Siren and doing her bidding, evil or otherwise.

'She had a devastating, hypnotic effect on all the men.'--A schoolmate describing Joan Collins at age 17
User avatar
Ben Bentley
Moderator
Posts: 1270
Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 2:31 pm

Re: Script: POP GOES THE JOKER, first draft

Post by Ben Bentley »

Admittedly i'm only half-way through reading the script as of writing this, but looking at the date of this draft in relation to the shooting date of these episodes - the lack of any huge edits/re-writes is noticeable when compared with an equivalent first draft for a S1 script. A perfect example that springs to mind would be the extensive notes that Lorenzo wrote to Max Hodge after reading his first pass at "Instant Freeze".

According to an Art Department document I have screen-shot and shared below, the final shooting version of the script that they were working to was in place by 10th Feb 1967, literally eight days on from the date of the first draft that Tim scanned at Laremie.
Pop_Goes_The_Joker-Final_Draft_Date.jpeg
User avatar
chrisbcritter
Posts: 0
Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2012 5:59 pm

Re: Script: POP GOES THE JOKER, first draft

Post by chrisbcritter »

They even typed that director's name as waGGner on an internal document?? Should have used a lower-case initial "g" for "george" while they were at it... :roll:
"To the medical eye, such childish claptrap means only one thing, young man: You need some sleep."
User avatar
Dr. Shimel
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:14 am

Re: Script: POP GOES THE JOKER, first draft

Post by Dr. Shimel »

Ben Bentley wrote: Sun Dec 17, 2017 11:46 am Admittedly i'm only half-way through reading the script as of writing this, but looking at the date of this draft in relation to the shooting date of these episodes - the lack of any huge edits/re-writes is noticeable when compared with an equivalent first draft for a S1 script. A perfect example that springs to mind would be the extensive notes that Lorenzo wrote to Max Hodge after reading his first pass at "Instant Freeze".

According to an Art Department document I have screen-shot and shared below, the final shooting version of the script that they were working to was in place by 10th Feb 1967, literally eight days on from the date of the first draft that Tim scanned at Laremie.
My guess is that because this was the second-last episode of the season, the production had reached a "Let's just get this done with" mentality. They had started production for S2 back in June, which was a month after spending six weeks shooting the movie--which was roughly a month after they finished S1 in about 3-4 months. :shock:

In short, cranking out 94 half-hour episodes AND a feature-length film in a span of approximately 15 months had likely pushed the crew, etc. to almost burnout status.
User avatar
bat-rss
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2015 5:27 am

Re: Script: POP GOES THE JOKER, first draft

Post by bat-rss »

It's surprisingly good for so late in season two. There are certainly some rough edges. Many more, though, in the season-ending Mr. Freeze arc!

Our talk about this is going up in about three hours!
"I'm half-demented with whimsical outrage!"
-- The Joker, in a line cut from "The Joker's Epitaph"
Post Reply