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PODCAST

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966

Like many who grew up in the "60s and "70s (and perhaps even "80s and later), Tim and Paul had the course of their lives changed by the 1966 Batman TV show, from the types of play they did growing up to their present-day interests. In this series, they discuss the show"s allure and its failures, the arc of the show from satire to sitcom, its influences (the "40s serials and the comic books themselves) and the things it, in turn, influenced. SUPPORT "To the Batpoles!" and DeconstructingComics.com via

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All Episodes

01:06:40

#038 Vote Pengy!

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2016/07/21

Batman battles it out with the Penguin — at the polls! Who will be voted mayor of Gotham City? In Hizzoner the Penguin and Dizzoner the Penguin, writer Stanford Sherman and director Oscar Rudolph deliver biting political satire (complete with Barry Goldwater references!) — but does the arc’s ending invalidate some of their points? Were Paul Revere and the Raiders, with their appearance here, really the first rock band on a sitcom? Is it a coincidence that so many game show hosts make cameos in this

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01:15:51

#037 Pat Evans follows "The Beat of the Bat"

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2016/07/07

As we continue through the series, we notice more and more awesomeness in the Nelson Riddle incidental music- and we also have some questions about it. Pat Evans is working on getting answers to those questions as he does a series of interviews for his documentary film “The Beat of the Bat”! We discuss how Riddle’s scoring for the show is more like that of a Warner Brothers cartoon than most live-action shows; how Riddle and Neal Hefti both recycled bits of past music into “new” music that’s more

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01:28:02

#036 I Wish My Brother Harry Was Here

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2016/06/30

It may be tough to appreciate for us 50 years later, but having Liberace on your show was a big deal in 1966. When he appeared on Batman, it reportedly led to the show’s best ratings ever. Of interest to Tim and Paul is how the show dealt with his alleged homosexuality, writer Lorenzo Semple Jr’s references to Liberace’s real-life backstory, and what his attempts at acting remind us of. His Bat-appearance was such a big deal that the Dynamic Duo themselves were shoved aside for the first 15

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01:16:55

#035 Egghead and a Scramble of Cameos

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2016/06/16

Vincent Price makes his Bat-debut as Egghead! Price is generally associated with the horror genre, although he could also be considered a camp icon. And so could someone else in this arc! Is the character of Chief Screaming Chicken satire or racism? Well… yes. Also, a window cameo by Jose Jimenez. Who? We explore this and several other cameos and familiar faces (or voices) in this arc, with detours through Get Smart, The Brady Bunch, F Troop and more! Holy intertextuality!

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01:21:39

#034 Cause and effect: The Batman TV show and the comics

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2016/06/02

ZAP! POW! The Batman TV show became famous for its “comic book” fight sound effects. Odd, though… before the show began, punches in Batman comics were silent! So where’d the show get the idea for noisy punches? We ponder this question after reading many ‘60s Batman comics, and also explore the changes of “New Look Batman” in 1964; determine what the show borrowed from the comics —and what the comics borrowed from the show; discuss whether the TV show is what saved the character (our verdict:

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01:13:15

#033 Clock King Gets Clocked

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2016/05/19

Our expounding on the coolness of the Clock King arc concludes with a look at “The Clock King Gets Crowned”! Did Madge Blake need help with her lines from the film editors? Is Millie Clock King’s “beard”? Might the first draft of this episode have called for a climactic fight at Wayne Manor? (And, if so, why was it scrapped?) Plus, this episode’s cluster of “meanwhile” cross-cuts and its operatic fight music, and a couple of international Bat-records! “That Man, Batman” - Mike & Bernie Winters

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01:25:08

#032 Pop Goes the Clock King!

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2016/05/05

Where some see a disappointing script from Bill Finger, we see a camp masterpiece! We're talking about The Clock King's Crazy Crimes, which features an amazing riff on pop art (well, and quite a bit of art that isn't actually of the "pop" variety); a Daliesque painting of the Dynamic Duo (who painted it?); another great (but rather subtle) villain theme from Nelson Riddle;Batman and Robin doing some actual detective work;scenes that happen simultaneously and then intersect; and the campiest,

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01:10:54

#031 Ma Parker: Gotham Invader, Resident, and Invalid

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2016/04/21

Perhaps more than most Batman arcs so far, the Ma Parker storyline has many points that don't stand up to scrutiny? How could she have just arrived in Gotham City, already have a house just outside of town, and have also established herself at the local old folks' home? Never mind! Shelley Winters plays a cartoony and ultra-campy villain, so Tim and Paul just go with it and let plausibility slide, while also examining the mysterious "bumper sticker" scene (have we uncovered an in-joke there?),

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58:10

#030 King Tut Can't Resist a Pretty Queen

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2016/04/07

King Tut's back -- and not only does he have the best gang since Bookworm, but Victor Buono has totally dialed into the character, and ramped the camp up to 11! Thus, Paul can't resist marking the occasion by introducing a new podcast feature on camp! Also, how the "Spell of Tut" arc really shows the challenge of filling exactly the amount of time allotted for one TV episode -- necessitating cutting scenes sometimes, and adding relatively useless ones in other cases! Plus, this arc's Lorenzo Semple

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55:22

#029 The Minstrel Hits the Airwaves!

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2016/03/31

It's a new villain -- even new to the Duo themselves: The Minstrel (Van Johnson)! But his crimes don't involve robbing music stores and the like: he's out to shake down the stock market, though by using methods that Batman and Robin are at pains to tie back to the malfeasant musician's tuneful guise. And finance-related crimes seem to be a specialty of writers Francis and Marian Cockrell.By the way, who was Van Johnson? And how does the Minstrel arc measure up? We also look at the references that

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01:39:36

#028 Top Bat-records of '66! Tim and Paul are...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2016/03/17

When Batman hit the airwaves in January 1966, its instant popularity led to an explosion of all kinds of Bat-merchandise -- including records! Singles and albums by musicians (Nelson Riddle, Neal Hefti) and actors (Adam West, Burt Ward, and some Bat-villains too!) associated with the show, as well as some with no connection who just wanted to ride the Bat-wave (for example, Dickie Goodman). In this episode, Tim and Paul count down their favorite Bat-records, a crazy journey in which we cross paths

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01:08:44

#027 Catwoman goes camping!

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2016/03/03

In "Hot off the Griddle" and "The Cat and the Fiddle", Julie Newmar's Catwoman takes on new dimensions, including sex kitten and little old lady. In discussing whether this arc has too many un-Semple-like zingers, Tim and Paul make a digression into the definition of “high camp.” Are people using this expression to describe Batman without quite understanding what it means? Also: the advantages to having the same writer, Stanley Ralph Ross, continue to write Catwoman. And, is the character of Jack

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01:02:51

#026 Arch Talk about the Archer

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2016/02/18

Season two begins! We dig into what ELSE was being broadcast the week of Batman’s season two premiere on still-struggling ABC-TV and its two muscular competitors. Then, why did the season start with Archer? Why Art Carney? Why do all these bizarre, puzzling things happen in part one? Why isn't Spike Jones band member Doodles Weaver funny in this? It's a headscratching arc, but not without its highpoints, such as Alfred's first turn as a Caped Crusader and the flaaaaaming performance of Robert

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01:34:02

#025 Batman: THE Movie (There are others?!)

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2016/02/04

The summer of 1966 brought “Batman: The Movie"! Now, in the winter of 2016, Tim and Paul, joined by “Batman at 45” author Chris Gould, look at the film from many directions: the fantastic music, the new elements not seen in season one (Compressed Steam Batpole Lift!), the references to Lyndon Baines Johnson (both the man and his policies!), the dangers on the Batman set, the dynamic among the four villains, and much more.

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01:07:14

#024 Surveying Season One and Sampling Semple

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2016/01/21

Having finished Season One, this episode we take a breather and consider what we've learned. Firstly, just because a show is successful doesn't mean it has money to throw around. We explore such aspects as Joker's laugh, the lack of continuity in '60s TV shows, and the interesting camera work sometimes employed on the series -- deep shots such as Penguin watching the Duo from afar. We do all this through the lens of a 2008 interview of show co-creator Lorenzo Semple Jr. - what it tells us about his

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54:46

#023 Finny, not Feathered

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2016/01/07

The Penguin is back, but this time his hideout and henchman names are on the theme of fish, rather than birds! And he’s aiming to steal all the money donated by millionaires to smokin’ hot babes (each girl representing a charity, of course). Yes, the final arc of Season One is also its most sexist — and that’ s not even considering the rather suggestive bellows scene! Tim and Paul discuss this arc’s Playboy Mansion feel, the staggering count of plot holes, the subtle joke at the expense of the

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01:08:19

#022 The Riddler is a Tramp

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2015/12/31

In Frank Gorshin's last Bat-appearance till Season Three, the Riddler's making a movie. Silent-film-scholar Paul is digging this arc! But why does the Prince of Puzzlers bother filming Batman and Robin when he's got luscious, leggy Sherry Jackson on his team? More to ponder: This arc is based on a comics story in which the Joker, not the Riddler, impersonated Charlie Chaplin. Does this work as a Riddler story? Also: Francis X. Bushman reunites with a silent-era costar; why the "Aunt Harriet's

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59:02

#021 Bookworm and the Bat-eared Boobs

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2015/12/17

And at last we reach the Bookworm arc, perhaps one of the greatest of the series. I mean, it's got a giant cookbook in it! And it's got a shocking first scene, the great Roddy McDowell, one of the best supporting gangs we've seen, the first bat-climb cameo... oh, and did we mention the giant cookbook? True, it also contains the seeds of some of Season Two's excesses. But overall, you can't go wrong letting a writer write about a villain who's... a bad writer. Tim and Paul discuss some of the arc's

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01:00:43

#020 King Tut and two dummies

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2015/12/03

Victor Buono as King Tut is perhaps the most divisive villain among Bat-fans: some call him a genius, others roll their eyes whenever he appears. What is it that makes him more/less fun than the Joker or the Penguin? In this episode, having just watched "The Curse of Tut" and "The Pharaoh's in a Rut", we discuss this question and others: Why are there so many dummies in this episode? (Bruce certainly acts like one in the museum scene...) What happened to the Batmobile's security functions? Who the

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51:17

#019 The Joker's Hoe-down

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2015/11/19

Joker's latest crime is a hit on a fur store, in which he steals -- a hairpin? The story in "The Joker Trumps an Ace" and "Batman Sets the Pace" is loosely based on a comic-book story ("A Hairpin, a Hoe, a Hacksaw, and a Hole in the Ground") from Batman 53 (1949) — a bit too loosely, so that it doesn't quite make sense. This episode, Tim and Paul discuss the source material penned by Bill Finger, and how Francis and Marian Cockrell's script removes the Hoe, the Hacksaw, and the logic. Also: Doesn’t

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