TO THE BATPOLES #119: Eureka! Is “Mummy’s Uncle” our favorite Season Three episode?

[bat-rss]

New TO THE BATPOLES! Is "Mummy's Uncle" our favorite ep of Season Three? Perhaps, but what the heck has happened to Adam West's line delivery?? And, we examine the faultline where a 2-parter became two 1-parters!

http://tothebatpoles.libsyn.com/119-eur ... ee-episode

[Jim Akin]

GREAT catch about the recycled Wayne Manor study/batpoles scene from the first Tut episode. Wow! I wonder if the cheat was a consequence of splitting a two-parter into single episodes.

FWIW, Mt. Ararat's main claim to fame is that it's known as the spot where Noah's Ark came to ground as the great flood receded. The biblical account actually says "mountains of Ararat," leaving some wiggle room about the exact location, but crossword puzzles, trivia books and similar scholarly sources cite Mt. Ararat as the ark's resting place.

Also, McElroy wasn't just his poodle's name, it was also Dozier's middle name.

[bat-rss]

GREAT catch about the recycled Wayne Manor study/batpoles scene from the first Tut episode. Wow! I wonder if the cheat was a consequence of splitting a two-parter into single episodes.

Well, the recycling involved using the "yes, Commissioner" scene from season one over again in the first Tut arc from season two, so no, it had nothing to do with breaking a two-parter into single episodes in season three. Sorry, nearly every existing Tut episode was in play in the Research Lab, so it might have gotten a little confusing!

FWIW, Mt. Ararat's main claim to fame is that it's known as the spot where Noah's Ark came to ground as the great flood receded. The biblical account actually says "mountains of Ararat," leaving some wiggle room about the exact location, but crossword puzzles, trivia books and similar scholarly sources cite Mt. Ararat as the ark's resting place.

Oh, right! Thanks.

Also, McElroy wasn't just his poodle's name, it was also Dozier's middle name.

Ah, of course! As we touched on some time ago when someone -- I believe it was you, Jim -- pointed out that "Willy Mac", lyricist of the Batgirl theme, was William MacElroy Dozier! Perhaps Stanley Ralph Ross wasn't aware it was his middle name?

[High C]

Also, McElroy wasn't just his poodle's name, it was also Dozier's middle name.

Ah, of course! As we touched on some time ago when someone -- I believe it was you, Jim -- pointed out that "Willy Mac", lyricist of the Batgirl theme, was William MacElroy Dozier! Perhaps Stanley Ralph Ross wasn't aware it was his middle name?

Pardon me, but I have to point out, Tim, that it was I who mentioned that when I appeared on the podcast. Willy Mack clearly was a pseudonym for Dozier, as fellow board member epaddon deduced a while back.

Given that we were reviewing 'Wail,' perhaps you had heard Siren's stunning note so many times that it caused amnesia! Let me know if you need me to fire up the Recollection Cycle Bat Restorer!

[BATWINGED HORNET]

Watching this in order, one cannot help but think of better Bat-days when Jock Mahoney pops up in his very small role...

The final Tut episode was...okay. The obvious highlight was the mine shaft / Batcave scene, where music and performance of West and Ward were appropriately laced with fear and urgency as they realized where Tut was going. For once during season three, West was not acting like he a combination of disinterested and up too early without his morning cup of coffee...if only for that one scene. Adding to this episode's highlight was the entre "secret identity revealed" scene, which is one of the few times the series really played into one of the strongest comic book tropes.

On that note, of all series villains, in addition to Tut, it seems only Egghead, the Mad Hatter, the Joker (all in their 1st appearances) were seriously interested in learning Batman and Robin's true identities; the other villains--even when they captured the Duo on endless occasions--did not bother, or were the least bit curious about who was under the mask. For that reason, Tut, while not the best villain of the series, gets a credit for thinking like a comic book criminal would if dealing with masked heroes.

I had a memory triggered by the Batcave fight scene, as part of it was used during the 70s for a commercial for the show on KCOP (channel 13 in Los Angeles). So I guess a season three episode had value after all!

You guys made an interesting observation about the fight using one of Riddle's Bat-fight cues; that, the absence of Batgirl (in the fight) and the choreography being just as wild/violent as season one fights, went a long way in showing how the average season three fights were altered to include Batgirl. Can anyone imagine Miss Pirouette & Conveniently Placed Wood Plank in the middle of this glass-shattering, boulder-hurling Batcave fight?

Wait a second...Batman did not have extra Batnesia gas cans stored in the Batcave? Okay...

[epaddon]

The Riddle fight cue was also used in Part 2 of the Londinium trilogy and like that scene it was used because Batgirl wasn't present.

[gothosmansion]

This is one of my favorite season three episodes, along with Wail of the Siren and the two-part Shame episode. It may be my favorite King Tut episode. Love the Dynamic Duo trying to catch Tut and keep their identities at the same time. Buono is great when he finds the Bat-Dummy, a nice throw back to the first part of the two-parter that should have been.

One thing, when Barbara does the "the saddest of these, it might have been" set-up, you cut before Batman does the prose and cons lines...one of my favorite Ross bits.

I wondered if you would mention the Angela Dorian/Victoria Vetri crime. A shame she turned out to be a super villain in real life. I can see her real life as a bronze age issue of Detective Comics written by Frank Robbins. That is why I don't try to find out too much about the lives of entertainers I enjoy. Knowing the person Vetri really was makes enjoying this episode and Invasion of the Bee Girls a bit hard because her real life is always in the back of your mind. She was on The Man from UNCLE once, but her episode wasn't very good, so it isn't one I often revisit.

A bit of trivia....Dorian/Vetri was on the cover of one of the Playboy issues that had a Julie Newmar pictorial. Don't accuse me of being part of the dirty old man market....I wasn't even born when the issue came out.

[Jim Akin]

Pardon me, but I have to point out, Tim, that it was I who mentioned that when I appeared on the podcast. Willy Mack clearly was a pseudonym for Dozier, as fellow board member epaddon deduced a while back.

Given that we were reviewing 'Wail,' perhaps you had heard Siren's stunning note so many times that it caused amnesia! Let me know if you need me to fire up the Recollection Cycle Bat Restorer!

Seconding this. Tim and I corresponded about "Willy Mack" after I found a music-publishing record that confirmed the Dozier pseudonym. But hearing High C on the podcast is what put me on the case. (I'd forgotten it was epaddon who first put the clues together, but I was clearly following his lead as well.)

Cheers and all due thanks (and credit) to fellow bat-scholars.

[Dr. Shimel]

Here's an article on Vetri's conviction in 2011, when she was known by her married name of Victoria Rathgeb:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/former-pla ... r-husband/

She was in the September 1967 issue of Playboy, and her episode was likely filmed in late November of that year. In April of 1968, she was named Playmate of the Year.

Below are two parts of a 1971 article on Vetri/Dorian that give some insight into her career to that point:

[High C]

You guys, and Adam in the episode, said 'High C' so much my ears started burning!

And as you noted, the writers again proved they did not understand the difference between volume and frequency. You'll recall in 'Wail' that Robin said his earplugs protected him from sounds above 14,000 decibels. Even The Siren couldn't reach that volume.

I enjoyed Tim's line, 'we read through imdb so you don't have to.' Bravo.

That was a good point Eisner made about Kathleen Freeman having scenes cut when it was split into two parts. She was an extraordinarily busy character actress who had a long career. It didn't make much sense for her to be doing such a small part that they could've gotten someone else for.

This is not Billy May's fault, but the cue in that previous Tut tag leading to Louie's first appearance feels more like 'Batgirl appears' music. The sound mixers weren't as spot on as they were earlier in the run. Some of Batgirl's cues in season 3 seem too similar to some of the villains' cues.

H.L. Hunter was a play on oil baron H.L. Hunt.

Vetri had an odd career. She already had racked up a lot of credits before posing for Playboy in 1967. Her exotic beauty led to many ethnic-type roles as Native Americans, Hispanics, Gypsies (on Hogan's Heroes with Cliff Osmond as her brother), even once as a Hawaiian. As one of the items provided by Dr. Shimel noted, she appeared in Rosemary's Baby under her 'Angela Dorian' credit.

There is a bizarre in-joke when Mia Farrow's character meets Vetri's character (Teresa) in the laundry room of their NYC apartment building and tells Dorian/Vetri that she looks like actress Victoria Vetri. 'Teresa' says she's heard that before, but adds, 'I don't see the resemblance.'

I believe Dozier lived on a street called Greenway, hence Greenway Productions.

According to the production numbers, this was the next-to-last episode filmed, so maybe it didn't matter if they trashed the Batcave. 'Minerva' was the final episode to be made, and it had no Batcave scenes.

Great job on the Bat-Research Lab. I had no idea about the recycled teaser scene from the two Tut arcs.

[bat-rss]

Also, McElroy wasn't just his poodle's name, it was also Dozier's middle name.

Ah, of course! As we touched on some time ago when someone -- I believe it was you, Jim -- pointed out that "Willy Mac", lyricist of the Batgirl theme, was William MacElroy Dozier! Perhaps Stanley Ralph Ross wasn't aware it was his middle name?

Pardon me, but I have to point out, Tim, that it was I who mentioned that when I appeared on the podcast. Willy Mack clearly was a pseudonym for Dozier, as fellow board member epaddon deduced a while back.

Given that we were reviewing 'Wail,' perhaps you had heard Siren's stunning note so many times that it caused amnesia! Let me know if you need me to fire up the Recollection Cycle Bat Restorer!

You pointed out -- which? That it was his middle name?

[bat-rss]

Pardon me, but I have to point out, Tim, that it was I who mentioned that when I appeared on the podcast. Willy Mack clearly was a pseudonym for Dozier, as fellow board member epaddon deduced a while back.

Given that we were reviewing 'Wail,' perhaps you had heard Siren's stunning note so many times that it caused amnesia! Let me know if you need me to fire up the Recollection Cycle Bat Restorer!

Seconding this. Tim and I corresponded about "Willy Mack" after I found a music-publishing record that confirmed the Dozier pseudonym. But hearing High C on the podcast is what put me on the case. (I'd forgotten it was epaddon who first put the clues together, but I was clearly following his lead as well.)

Cheers and all due thanks (and credit) to fellow bat-scholars.

I really need to go back and listen to all our old podcasts....

[gothosmansion]

Vetri had an odd career. She already had racked up a lot of credits before posing for Playboy in 1967. Her exotic beauty led to many ethnic-type roles as Native Americans, Hispanics, Gypsies (on Hogan's Heroes with Cliff Osmond as her brother), even once as a Hawaiian. As one of the items provided by Dr. Shimel noted, she appeared in Rosemary's Baby under her 'Angela Dorian' credit.

She played a native American on U.N.C.L.E. She wore a black wig and really looked stunning, but the episode itself is pretty blah.

[zippgun]

Vetri/Dorian certainly was stunning in "When dinosaurs ruled the earth." Which I saw in 1970 at the cinema as a 13 year old.

[clavierankh]

Jock Mahoney was the step father of Sally Field.

I like the Deja Vu segment. Other candidates would be Richard Bakalyan, Joe Tata, Walter Burke (Sparrow in Fine Feathered Finks), Lewis Charles (Hawkeye in Fine Feathered Finks,Armband in The Sport Of Penguins), Ziva Rodan Nefertiti in The Curse of Tut and many others

Loved the "carry the three" bit. I say that myself when I'm trying to figure something out. I've got my wife doing it to.

I loved the line afte You assets far out number your liabilities. Tut pats his midsection and says "Oh that this too solid flesh would melt away" His Tutling replies (rather boldly I think) "Why don't you go on a diet fatty." and Tut retorts "Why don't you go on a diet fatty" Why don't you mind your own skinny business"

In that light here is a link to Victor's Fat Man's Prayer. Wanted to embed it but I couldn't figure out how.

Victor Buono Fat Man's Prayer"