(Pop) Cultural Reference in "Ring of Wax"?

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LittleLouisGroovy
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(Pop) Cultural Reference in "Ring of Wax"?

Post by LittleLouisGroovy »

In the episode, "Ring of Wax", during the library sequence, the librarian is shown telling a female patron not to write in the margins of the book she is borrowing. The woman is blonde and wearing a trench coat.

Watching that scene, I couldn't help thinking that it was a reference to something -- perhaps another TV series, a movie, or a character from a novel. The specificity of the librarian's warning and the way the camera followed the patron as she exited made the scene feel more significant than a standard moment used to establish the environment of the library.

Can anyone shed some light on this, given that there is light to be shed? :lol: (Why do I think it might have been a reference to PEYTON PLACE?)
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Jim Akin
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Re: (Pop) Cultural Reference in "Ring of Wax"?

Post by Jim Akin »

I had forgotten the lines you mentioned, but I managed to find the episode online. Maybe there's something to your theory, but if there is, it went right over my head.

My take is that the exchange established Miss Prentiss the librarian as a prim, no-nonsense type -- i.e., as a stereotypical librarian. It wouldn't have made much sense to have her doing the *most* cliché librarian thing -- shushing patrons -- when she was about to have a lengthy chat with Batman and Robin, so my guess is the writers thought of scribbling in the margins as something else she could scold about.

This is purely circumstantial evidence (or the absence of it), but if the blonde in the trench coat had been intended to suggest someone or something familiar to viewers, I also think the powers that be would have literally underscored her exit with some kind of winking musical cue.

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dell
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Re: (Pop) Cultural Reference in "Ring of Wax"?

Post by dell »

If you are correct LittleLouisGroovy, it would have to very obvious for people almost 50 years later to figure it out. I have no clue, but I was 7 when Batman first aired and would not have watched things like Peyton Place.
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Riddler Fan
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Re: (Pop) Cultural Reference in "Ring of Wax"?

Post by Riddler Fan »

I watched that episode again just yesterday and I can't see any reference to any movie or TV show in the scene mentioned. I think the purpose of the prim and proper (yet very naïve) librarian is just for humor. She doesn't know if she's seen a man in a bright green suit covered in black question marks. One can only laugh at the absurdity of that.
Kamdan
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Re: (Pop) Cultural Reference in "Ring of Wax"?

Post by Kamdan »

I must say that woman who checked out the book was really pretty. Wish I came across people like that at my library. Must have been a only in the 60's deal. I also noticed that the woman near the vault in the purple dress and hat looked a lot like Lois Lane of that era. I also got to laugh at the fact the librarian didn't find Moth, dresses in a shiny skin tight purple suit and cape, to be considered "unusual."
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Bill S.C.
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Re: (Pop) Cultural Reference in "Ring of Wax"?

Post by Bill S.C. »

This is just a guess, but since you mentioned a trench coat, perhaps the reference might have been to one of the many spy movies of the time that included scenes where agents passed information by writing codes in the margins of library books.

Just a thought.
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Gernot
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Re: (Pop) Cultural Reference in "Ring of Wax"?

Post by Gernot »

Maybe it was only a "blonde joke" that didn't quite work as well as the writers had hoped? You know, like the blonde who kept staring at the orange juice because it said "Concentrate" and the blonde who kept using White-Out on her computer screen. :)
Edward Nigma
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Re: (Pop) Cultural Reference in "Ring of Wax"?

Post by Edward Nigma »

I never thought there was any particular cultural resonance to the scene between the librarian and the young woman. To me, it was just a bit of character business to establish the fact that the action had shifted to the library.

I do think there were instances in the show's history where a joke was made that everyone would have understood at the time but means nothing now. An example would be the references to the Minstrel as that "nice young man" in Season Two. Van Johnson came to fame at M-G-M came during and immediately after World War II due to his performances as a "nice young man". Enough people in 1967 would have gotten the joke because they would have remembered this middle-aged actor as that person from the 1940s. The joke is completely lost now, though, unless you're really a fan of 40s M-G-M.

Side note about the women sitting outside the library vault in "The Ring of Wax". She's also in the crowd at the "disastrous unveiling" at the wax museum. I guess she hightailed it over to the library just ahead of the Riddler & his gang!
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High C
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Re: (Pop) Cultural Reference in "Ring of Wax"?

Post by High C »

Edward Nigma wrote: I do think there were instances in the show's history where a joke was made that everyone would have understood at the time but means nothing now. An example would be the references to the Minstrel as that "nice young man" in Season Two. Van Johnson came to fame at M-G-M came during and immediately after World War II due to his performances as a "nice young man". Enough people in 1967 would have gotten the joke because they would have remembered this middle-aged actor as that person from the 1940s. The joke is completely lost now, though, unless you're really a fan of 40s M-G-M.
Interesting. In a similar vein, board member epaddon told me about a reference to Rudy Vallee, prior to his appearing as Ffogg. In the Egghead ep, when they have to give raccoon pelts to the Native Americans, Bruce says something like he bought the pelts from a down-on-his-luck crooner. Vallee had been a very famous singer many years before and he often wore a long raccoon coat.

I had no idea what the line meant when I saw the show years ago.
Side note about the women sitting outside the library vault in "The Ring of Wax". She's also in the crowd at the "disastrous unveiling" at the wax museum. I guess she hightailed it over to the library just ahead of the Riddler & his gang!
HAHA!! Great observation. That reminds of the Nora episode when the crimefighters are talking outside the bank. I spotted the same extras walking past them one way, then coming back and walking past them the other way! :lol:
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Edward Nigma
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Re: (Pop) Cultural Reference in "Ring of Wax"?

Post by Edward Nigma »

High C wrote:
Edward Nigma wrote: I do think there were instances in the show's history where a joke was made that everyone would have understood at the time but means nothing now. An example would be the references to the Minstrel as that "nice young man" in Season Two. Van Johnson came to fame at M-G-M came during and immediately after World War II due to his performances as a "nice young man". Enough people in 1967 would have gotten the joke because they would have remembered this middle-aged actor as that person from the 1940s. The joke is completely lost now, though, unless you're really a fan of 40s M-G-M.
Interesting. In a similar vein, board member epaddon told me about a reference to Rudy Vallee, prior to his appearing as Ffogg. In the Egghead ep, when they have to give raccoon pelts to the Native Americans, Bruce says something like he bought the pelts from a down-on-his-luck crooner. Vallee had been a very famous singer many years before and he often wore a long raccoon coat.

I had no idea what the line meant when I saw the show years ago.
Yes! That's another example. Unfortunately, some of the guest star specific humor (which was prevalent in Seasons Two and Three) can be fairly incomprehensible now depending on whether or not the particular star's fame has lasted. Even though Van Johnson lived a very long life, his films are rarely shown today and, as such, the gentle ribbing the show gave him during his episodes falls flat in the 21st century. (Rudy Vallee's legacy is in even greater eclipse than Johnson's.)
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High C
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Re: (Pop) Cultural Reference in "Ring of Wax"?

Post by High C »

Edward Nigma wrote: Yes! That's another example. Unfortunately, some of the guest star specific humor (which was prevalent in Seasons Two and Three) can be fairly incomprehensible now depending on whether or not the particular star's fame has lasted. Even though Van Johnson lived a very long life, his films are rarely shown today and, as such, the gentle ribbing the show gave him during his episodes falls flat in the 21st century. (Rudy Vallee's legacy is in even greater eclipse than Johnson's.)
Yeah, a good example is the Egghead/Olga S3 ep in which guest Alan Hale Jr. is the owner of 'Gilligan's' restaurant. If Gilligan's Island, with Hale as the Skipper, hadn't also become a much-repeated cult classic, I wouldn't have gotten the joke.
'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
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A. Pennyworth
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Re: (Pop) Cultural Reference in "Ring of Wax"?

Post by A. Pennyworth »

always wondered if this use of the name Irving in a bank setting had some inside or cultural meaning?Image
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High C
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Re: (Pop) Cultural Reference in "Ring of Wax"?

Post by High C »

I think this is your answer, AP:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Trust

***
Irving Trust was a bank headquartered in New York City, and the principal subsidiary (from 1965 on) of the Irving Bank Corporation.
***

Whether the joke actually was funny is another matter entirely. I thought it was more silly than humorous.
'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
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A. Pennyworth
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Re: (Pop) Cultural Reference in "Ring of Wax"?

Post by A. Pennyworth »

Thanks, I think this was posted before? so thank-you for the reminder and answer!
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