TO THE BATPOLES #134: What’s My Crime? Bob Dozier’s Joker Drafts

[bat-rss]

Scripts are back! After many months resting our script-research muscles, we're back to tackle the first two drafts of Robert Dozier's "The Joker is Wild”! As usual, draft first-season batscripts tell us much about the show finding and defining itself, and also help us notice some imperfections in the broadcast episode that we hadn't realized were there. (Why does Robin look down at a Batman who’s still standing up?)

https://tothebatpoles.libsyn.com/134-wh ... ker-drafts

[gothosmansion]

Thanks for the show and for posting the scripts. I always enjoying reading them and seeing what changed before filming.

The Joker's Utility Belt was reprinted in Batman 176, which had a December 1965 cover date. According to comics.org, the on-sale date was October 7, 1965. Dick Sprang was the artist, but everything I've seen credits David Vern Reed and not Bill Finger as the writer.

I was involved with a discussion somewhere (I thought it was on this board) that 176 may have been one of the issues William Dozier read. It also reprinted the first (and at that time, only) Mr. Zero story. Mr. Zero later became Mr. Freeze. There were also Catwoman and Penguin reprints, although neither tale was adapted as a TV episode. At this point, Catwoman proper hadn't appeared in the comics since the mid 1950s, although there was a story where Catman tries to persuade Batwoman to become Cat-Woman and join him in crime in the early 60s. In the Catwoman story reprinted in 176, Robin disguises himself as a girl...not the other way around as in the pilot. The Catwoman reprint is a 1940s Sunday newspaper strip story.

In the "Joker's Utility Belt" comic, the Joker has a conveyor belt that leads into a giant Joker face, and the Joker mouth is a furnace. His utility belt is also red in the comic, which may be where that bit came from.

Joker managing to take off Batman's belt and replace it with another belt must mean the Joker has an awfully light touch or did Batman think that was some weird fighting maneuver. If Batman is slim enough to slip out of his belt without knowing it, I guess part two could have been "Batman is Svelte." I thought of one other one, but it was a little too off-color.

[clavierankh]

For the title of part two. In keeping with Batmzn is Riled, how about Batman's Wrath is Felt

[bat-rss]

In the "Joker's Utility Belt" comic, the Joker has a conveyor belt that leads into a giant Joker face, and the Joker mouth is a furnace. His utility belt is also red in the comic, which may be where that bit came from.

Joker managing to take off Batman's belt and replace it with another belt must mean the Joker has an awfully light touch or did Batman think that was some weird fighting maneuver. If Batman is slim enough to slip out of his belt without knowing it, I guess part two could have been "Batman is Svelte." I thought of one other one, but it was a little too off-color.

D'oh! We shoulda read the whole comic before we recorded! I do see that furnace now. I wonder if Stadd also got the idea from this comic, or if he came up with a similar idea independently? And did Semple get it from Stadd or from this comic?

[High C]

The Joker's Utility Belt
Dough-Zier Doesn't Spread His Wealth

The Joker's Utility Belt
Gimme A Bat-Burger And A Giant Clam Melt

The Joker's Utility Belt
Lord Ffogg Wears Raccoon Pelts

[gothosmansion]

In the "Joker's Utility Belt" comic, the Joker has a conveyor belt that leads into a giant Joker face, and the Joker mouth is a furnace. His utility belt is also red in the comic, which may be where that bit came from.

Joker managing to take off Batman's belt and replace it with another belt must mean the Joker has an awfully light touch or did Batman think that was some weird fighting maneuver. If Batman is slim enough to slip out of his belt without knowing it, I guess part two could have been "Batman is Svelte." I thought of one other one, but it was a little too off-color.

D'oh! We shoulda read the whole comic before we recorded! I do see that furnace now. I wonder if Stadd also got the idea from this comic, or if he came up with a similar idea independently? And did Semple get it from Stadd or from this comic?

Don't feel bad. I certainly can't remember all the Batman comics I've ever read. I have a copy of Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told, which reprints the story, on my bookshelf right next to the computer, so Joker's Utility Belt is in easy access. I was able to give it a quick re-read before I listened to the show. 176 is in the long box containing my oldest Batman issues, so it is on top of the stack of boxes and is in easy access, too. I'm sure my collection doesn't go as far back as a lot of board members.

We'll never know what issues Semple or the other writers may have read and pulled ideas from, other than the stories that were adapted into episodes. I wish there was some way we could find out. I've always wondered where the TV writing staff got copies of A Hairpin, A Hoe, A Hacksaw, A Hole In The Ground from Batman 53 (Joker Trumps and Ace/Batman Sets the Pace) or Penguin's Nest (Penguin's Nest/Bird's Last Jest) from Batman #36. I don't think those were ever reprinted until the 2000s, but if any other board members know better, please correct me. I hadn't read those two stories before then. DC even left Penguin's Nest out of the TV stories book.

Plus, it isn't like comic book writers don't homage/rip-off older issues.

[chrisbcritter]

Got it:
The Joker's Utility Belt
To Joker - Futility Dealt

[Kamdan]

My second part title would be Batman’s Hand is Dealt.

[artemisknab]

I'm catching up on your podcast and only listened to episode 82 last week. Thanks for highlighting the Bat Swings! album, my little guy and I have been playing with our Lego classic Batcave and it's been the perfect background music. Really enjoying the show!

[BATWINGED HORNET]

Great show, guys.

Tim, you were right about the high number of characters dying on 1960s TV series; think of Star Trek--far beyond the old joke about all of the "redshirts" dying, a large number of guest characters met their end in the Final Frontier. On Batman--specifically "Better Luck Next Time"--when Catwoman shot powder in the face of Leo (Jock Mahoney) with her bullwhip's handle, I always assumed he fell over and died. Yes, I know she used the bullwhip handle powder to knock Robin out earlier in the episode, but for Catwoman to have claimed so much treasure, why would she keep Leo alive, only for the henchman to seek revenge for betraying him?

I enjoyed the early Bat-fights being so chaotic with so many close-ups. It felt dangerous, almost like the feeling one would get if he walked through a crowded room just as a fight broke out. Of course, the series would use more stylized fights in the season/years to come, many feeling just as dangerous, but this arc's fights are a favorite.

For anyone who has the habit of glossing over the series as having one tone or approach, they should look at this Joker arc, where Romeo gives a more sinister performance (he chokes Batman during the first fight), very different than the bug-eyed, over-reacting version seen in late season 2-forward.

Lava soap commercial...nice.

[bat-rss]

Don't forget, Thursday night is the deadline for "D'oh Prize" entries! What rhymes with "The Joker's Utility Belt"?

[High C]

Don't forget, Thursday night is the deadline for "D'oh Prize" entries! What rhymes with "The Joker's Utility Belt"?

Jingle Bells
Batman Smelt

[High C]

In the "Joker's Utility Belt" comic, the Joker has a conveyor belt that leads into a giant Joker face, and the Joker mouth is a furnace. His utility belt is also red in the comic, which may be where that bit came from.

Joker managing to take off Batman's belt and replace it with another belt must mean the Joker has an awfully light touch or did Batman think that was some weird fighting maneuver. If Batman is slim enough to slip out of his belt without knowing it, I guess part two could have been "Batman is Svelte." I thought of one other one, but it was a little too off-color.

D'oh! We shoulda read the whole comic before we recorded! I do see that furnace now. I wonder if Stadd also got the idea from this comic, or if he came up with a similar idea independently? And did Semple get it from Stadd or from this comic?

Oops, not being a comics reader, I did not know that either. My bad. Fair point, gothos mansion.

Also, a few quick points:

--I agree with Ken Householder's original point--I can't stand 'funny drunks,' so that scene fell flat for me

--I agree with you guys--Joker killing his own henchmen, even if they were double-crossing him, doesn't fit with the tone of the show

--I love the idea of a moll falling into the nuclear pile every week a la South Park

--It was unfortunate Nancy Kovack did not have more lines, because her line in the 'What's My Crime' spoof of What's My Line is a nice impression of Arlene Francis of What's My Line

[bat-rss]

--It was unfortunate Nancy Kovack did not have more lines, because her line in the 'What's My Crime' spoof of What's My Line is a nice impression of Arlene Francis of What's My Line

Given how late her character's part was built up from next to nothing, she was lucky to have as many lines as she did! It's so weird that B. Dozier had her appearing suddenly mid-part two, and then barely doing anything. I wonder if his thought was simply that Joker recruited her to deliver the champagne to Gordon and Batman?

[chrisbcritter]

At least she was good in that silent bit where she gasses the ribbon-bound cameraman to sleep, and dismisses him with a little shrug - "hmm - whatever"