SEASON 1
Created by William Dozier.
Theme music: “Batman Theme” by Neal Hefti
Based on the DC Comic book character Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger
- 001. Hi Diddle Riddle – 1/12/1966
- At the Gotham City World’s Fair, the Prime Minister of Moldavia (Ben Astar) hosts a Friendship Luncheon, where a cake explodes and reveals a riddle that indicates that the perpetrator is the villain The Riddler (Frank Gorshin). Commissioner Gordon (Neil Hamilton) and Chief O’Hara (Stafford Repp) use their bat phone to call for help from Batman and Robin, who unbeknownst to them are actually rich socialite Bruce Wayne (Adam West), whose parents were murdered when he was a child, and his ward Dick Grayson (Burt Ward). When Bruce’s butler Alfred (Alan Napier) notifies them of the call, Bruce and Dick escape the party they are hosting and fool Dick’s aunt Harriet Cooper (Madge Blake) into thinking they are going fishing. The exit through the batcave and take the Batmobile to the Commissioner’s office as Batman and Robin. The riddle is solved by Robin and leads them to the Peale Art Gallery. Upon arrival they receive another riddle via phone from the Riddler, and then spot him seemingly robbing the museum curator Gideon Peale (Damian O’Flynn) at gunpoint. When they intervene, however, Peale informs them that the item the Riddler was taking actually had been lent to him by the Riddler. Photographers capture photos of the erroneous bust and the Riddler promised to sue Batman for one million dollars, a news story that quickly is announced by the local news reporter (Jack Barry). The Riddler also hints that there are more clues in the lawsuit, and once Batman and Robin decipher them, it leads them to the What a Way to Go-Go discotheque, which Robin is too young to enter. The Riddler partners with his band of gangsters known as the Mole Hill Mob led by gangster Harry (Allen Jaffe) to meet them there. Their moll Molly (Jill St. John) flirts with batman, but the bartender drugs Batman’s orange juice. Outside the Riddler shoots Robin with a drug that knocks him out, but he is unable to steal or destroy the Batmobile due to its own self-preserving contraptions. As the Commissioner sends out the Batsignal form City Hall, Batman awakens but the policemen (Hans Moebus) now on the scene won’t let him drive since he appears to be drunk. Robin is taken to the Riddler and the Mole Men’s hideout and tied down as the Riddler promises to destroy both Robin and Batman. William Dozier is the narrator. Michael Fox is Inspector Basch. Richard Reeves is the doorman. NOTE: This the first of a two part episode. 12/31/19
- 002. Smack in the Middle – 1/13/1966
- While the Riddler has Robin in custody, he has a mold of his face struck to use to disguise Molly as Robin. He gets word through clues to Batman that he will find Robin at Orleans Cove. Batman heads there and using his homing signal tracks down the Riddler and Robin, but not before the Riddler can fake his own death in a car accident and leave Molly as Robin laying beside the car. Batman rescues Robin and takes him back to the Bat Cave, but when she reveals herself as Molly, Batman is not surprised having noticed a flaw in her mask and rendered her gun useless. In the process of trying to escape, Molly falls into the Batmobile’s nuclear power source and is killed, despite Batman attempting to save her. Batman is able to feed the recording of Robin’s phone call from his location into the Batmobile’s Mobile Crime Computer and correlate it with the train schedule and determine that the Robin is being held underground in the Coolidge Square Station. He blasts through the walls and is able to rescue Robin, but the Riddler escapes to a room behind bulletproof glass and escapes. Using clues he heard while pretending to be asleep, Robin believes that the Riddler’s next robbery will be at the Gotham City National Bank. However the true location of their robbery is at the Moldavian Pavilion where he plans to steal the Fabulous Mammoth of Moldavia, a figure adorned with jewels and filled with rare postage stamps. The Riddler fills the room with laughing gas so that everyone inside including the Prime Minister and his guest will laugh at his jokes before passing out. Much to his surprise, Batman and Robin are hiding inside the Mammoth, having re-thought the Riddler’s clues, and are able to capture the entire Mole Hill Gang and save the Mammoth from being stolen. However the Riddler’s fate is uncertain since he appeared to have been caught in the Nitrous Oxide explosion, but whose body was never found. Batman’s biggest regret though is that he failed to save Molly from her fate. NOTE: This is the second of a two-part episode. 12/31/19
- 003. Fine Feathered Finks – 1/19/1966
- Two henchmen give out free umbrellas outside a jewelry store, promising a promotion if customers open them up inside. When they do, they are met with sparklers and confetti, much to the confusion of the shop owners (Alexander D’Arcy, Johnny Jacobs) and Commissioner Gordon and Chief O’Hara. They speculate that the Penguin (Burgess Meredith) may be behind it since he was just released from prison, but are mystified that a robbery did not go along with it. They send for Batman and Robin, who call in the prison warden Chrichton (David Lewis) to get a sense what he thought of Penguin’s state of mind before releasing him. The warden shows him a hidden video of Penguin vowing vengeance on Batman to his cellmate (Robert Phillips). Elsewhere the Penguin tells his henchmen Sparrow (Walter Burke) and Hawkeye (Lewis Charles) that his plan, or lack of it, involves having Batman help plan his next crime with him, but doesn’t give details. Batman and Robin find out that men are giving out umbrellas outside the bank and rush there. They are able to diffuse the umbrellas by covering them up before the go off, but again there is no robbery. Batman and Robin track the Penguin’s location to the newly opened K.G. Bird & Company, as they are a new umbrella company and their name gives them away. They storm in on Penguin but admittedly have nothing on him. The Penguin then launches a giant umbrella into the street, with a smaller umbrella attached. Certain it is a clue, Batman and Robin take it back to the Batcave to analyze it. When they can’t manage to discover anything, Bruce visits the umbrella company in order to plan a bug, but the Penguin outsmarts him again by equipping the place with an anti-bug alarm. He captures Bruce in a net, and not knowing he is Batman, has his henchmen, put him on a conveyor belt headed toward a 10,000 furnace. Charlie Picerni is Swoop. NOTE: This is the first of a two-part episode. 1/6/20
- 004. The Penguin’s a Jinx – 1/20/1966
- Batman escapes the fiery furnace by waking up and throwing a cigarette lighter into it, causing a small explosion and knocking him off the conveyor belt. The Penguin doesn’t realize that he is Batman, so he lets him go. Batman returns to the Batcave and he and Robin continue speculating on the meaning of the umbrella. Unbeknownst to them, the handle of it has a transmitter so the Penguin can overhear their discussion. Believing that the colors of the umbrella look like a dawn, Batman deduces that they plan to kidnap actress Dawn Robbins (Leslie Parrish). Penguin’s plan all along was for Batman to come up with the next caper, and this one fit the bill, so Penguin planned to undertake the kidnapping of her from the Pelican Arms Hotel. Dawn complains to her manager Mr. Jay (Dan Tobin) about how boring her life it, so she perks up when Batman and Robin get there before Penguin to protect her. However, they are foiled again when the Penguin breaks in and puts Dawn and Jay asleep with the smoke from his cane, and foil the caped crusaders with the Penguin magnet which pulls them in their utility belts to the wall. The Penguin escapes with Dawn, and Mr. Jay is forced to pay the $200,000 ransom. They agree on the mutual drop off location in the front of the ‘neutral’ Wayne Manor. Batman hatches a plan for him and Robin to hide inside the suits of armor that are displayed in the manor, but Penguin overhears all of this through the umbrella transmitter. Knowing they are in the armor, the Penguin uses his gas to put them both asleep upon his arrival. He cleanly gets away with the money and heads back to his shop. There he encounters the actual Batman and Robin who fight Penguin and the gang and arrest them. It turns out that Batman was onto the Penguin when he used the phrase “demented, well-laid” plan, a phrase he had overheard Batman say when listening in at the Batcave. He had placed dummies in the suits of armor. Later Dawn attends a party at Wayne Manor, but seems bored again. Mr. Jay tells them that she is in love for the first time after getting her first glimpse of Batman, much to the amusement of Dick. NOTE: This is the second of a two-part episode. 1/7/20
- 005. The Joker Is Wild – 1/26/1966
- During a softball game in the prison yard of the Gotham State Penitentiary, the Joker (Cesar Romero) makes his escape when the catcher substitutes a smoke bomb for the ball, and then ejecting himself with a giant spring over the prison wall. He leaves behind a bust of himself, which Batman and Robin interpret as a clue that he will be visiting the Gotham City Museum of Modern Art that is scheduled to open a new wing of a Comedians Hall of Fame, in which the Joker is not being inducted, and robbing the jewel section. Batman and Robin arrive and ask the front desk attendant (Jonathan Hole) to close the museum. They are surprised to see that the Joker does indeed have a bust, but they are confident when they leave that the Joker will not be able to get inside. However, the Joker and his henchmen (Al Wyatt Sr., Gil Perkins, Pete Kellett) are already inside hiding inside the busts. The Batman figures this out and returns inside to fight them, but they overpower Batman and Robin and are ready to kidnap them, when Batman releases a smoke bomb from his utility belt into the air and they escape. The Joker vows revenge and decides to not only use his own utility belt in a future crime, but tells his henchmen and his moll Queenie (Nancy Kovack) to steal the S.S. Gotham, a new luxury liner that is ready to be launched. He leaves another clue with the police commisioner of a clown doll, which Batman and Robin interpret to mean he will be at a performance of Pagliacci that is being telecast. At the end of the performance, Batman and Robin swoop in and unmask Tonio and it is indeed the Joker. However his henchmen again overpower Batman and Robin and threaten to unmask them on television. NOTE: This is the first of a two part episode. Merritt Bohn is the assistant warden. Dick Curtis is the inebriate watching the opera on TV. 4/22/20
- 006. Batman Is Riled – 1/27/1966
- As the Joker is about to unmask Batman and Robin on TV, Batman releases a small smoke bomb from his utility belt that cause the sprinklers go to off. Joker escapes to the rafters, but is pursued by Batman. However the Joker utilizes his own utility belt to release confetti and streamers that wrap up Batman, and then he makes his escape. This emboldens criminals all over the city to begin a crime wave. A newscaster named Fred (Jerry Dunphy) laments that his eight-year old son Harold is praying for Batman to save them. The Joker and his men take over the TV studio and send a warning and a clue to Batman. This leads him to the safari exploration collection of Professor James J. Laughwell, who is storing his findings at the Last Longer Warehouse. Batman and Robin bust in on the Joker and his men, but again are overpowered by the confetti and streamers in the Joker’s new utility belt. The Joker also leaves a replica belt on Batman during the scuffle, and promises an even bigger show stopper. The Joker substitutes the champagne bottle stopper cork to be used in the christening of the S.S. Gotham ship, with his own stopper, and then has Queenie hand it to the Commissioner at the christening. When Batman suspects that the bottle has been tampered with, he takes an antidote pill and gives one to Robin. When the bottle is broken, the gas knocks everyone unconscious and Batman and Robin are kidnapped again. Back at the Joker’s hideout at the Gotham City Amusement Park, the Joker broadcasts that he will behead Batman and Robin if the city doesn’t hand over the title to the ship. They however wake up since they had taken the antidote, and then fight Joker and his men, overpowering them by utilizing Joker’s belt and tying them up in streamers. Back at the mansion, Bruce and Dick watch the newscast on TV in which Batman and Robin are proclaimed heroes and the streets are declared safe again. Aunt Harriet has no idea that they are the heroes and has Dick return to his piano practicing. NOTE: This is the second part of a two-part episode. Angelo De Meo is a henchman. John Sebastian is a heckler. 4/22/20
- 007. Instant Freeze – 2/2/1966
- There’s trouble in Gotham City when a local ice rink has its ice all melted by a flamethrower during a skating party. A guy and girl (Teri Garr) outside the rink report that its a man riding in an Amalgamated Ice Cream truck, but when the police officer pursues on motorcycle, a man in the back freezes the street and causes a crash. Commissioner Gordon and Chief O’Hara speculate that the culprit is Mr. Freeze (George Sanders), the former Dr. Art Shivel on whom Batman had accidentally spilled cryogenic chemicals upon during an arrest attempt. He is now forced to keep himself at fifty degrees below zero since he has a reverse-metabolism. Batman feels guilty about, but vows to capture Freeze and then see if there is anything that can be done to cure him. Batman and Robin call a meeting with baseball pitcher Paul Diamante (Robert Hogan) short in order to answer the Commissioner’s call. Meanwhile Mr. Freeze meets with his henchmen Nippy (Guy Way), Chill (Troy Melton), and Moe (Roy N. Sickner) and butler Kolevater (John Zaremba), who all have to be kept in a warm area of the moon. Nippy tells Freeze that he has hired five Batman lookalikes and five Freeze lookalikes. As the Batmen start to get spotted around the city, Robin deduces that the fake Batmen are heading toward the Diamond Exchange. Freeze and his men do in fact rob the place of diamonds – aka ice – but Freeze is mostly interested in having the manager Mr. Perkins (William O’Connell) tell him where the high-valued Star of Kashmir is located. When a security guard trips the alarm. Freeze uses a freeze gun to freeze him. The fake Batmen and Freezes show up just before the real Batman and Robin do. They all fight and during the melee, Freeze and his henchmen escape. Batman and Robin return to the cave and use their Interdigital Batsorter Anti-Crime Computer to deduce that Freeze will hit more jewelry stores, but that he is only interested in the high-dollar items like the Giaclio Circlo of Italy, which is owned by Princess Sandra (Shelby Grant) who is on her way to America. At her reception that night, Freeze has himself delivered in a box and then uses his freeze gun to threaten the guests and steal the expensive diamond. Batman and Robin pursue Freeze, but they are shot with his gun and wind up frozen in the street. Don Hannum is Art Rogers. Ken Del Conte is Al Scott. NOTE: This is the first of a two-part episode. 8/3/20
- 008. Rats Like Cheese – 2/3/1966
- Batman and Robin are unfrozen by Dr. Vince (Dan Terranova) in the hospital, and fully recover. From his hideout Mr. Freeze watches the baseball game that Princess Sandra is attending with Bruce and Dick. The announcer at the game reports that Paul Diamante will not be playing the game for unknown reasons. When Bruce sees writing in the sky indicating “Strike Three Batman”, they realize that Freeze has kidnapped Diamante, which translates as Diamond. Freeze makes his demand that he will release Diamante in exchange for Batman, who is more than willing to honor the deal. He doesn’t allow anyone to learn the meet-up point, but Robin attaches a transmitter to Batman. The swap is made as planned and Batman is forced into a helicopter that takes him to Freeze’s lair. Freeze subjects Batman to the extreme cold temperatures, and then sends him to the dining room, where he finds Robin who has tracked him. Freeze toys with them, taking away the heat in certain areas by remote. Freeze then allows only enough heat in the room for one person, so Batman lets Robin have it, then attacks Freeze. He reveals that he has super thermal long underwear on which makes him less affected by the cold. Batman overpowers him and takes the remote, then exposes Freeze to the warmth. He gives him just enough cold to survive, but then his three henchmen come into the room with guns. Batman uses the cold to disarm them, then brings them back into the warmth for a full-scale melee. The police arrive and Freeze and his henchmen are arrested. John Willis is the newscaster. Bill Hudson is the photographer. NOTE: This is the second of a two-part episode. 8/3/20
- 009. Zelda the Great – 2/9/1966
- The First National Bank is robbed on April Fools Day for $100,000, same as it has been for the last two years. The bank guard (Stephen Tompkins) attempts to shoot the robber, but the bullet ricochets off their vest. The only clue left behind is the bullet, so the police look to Batman and Robin, who take a while to respond to the signal because they are stargazing with Aunt Harriet. Batman analyzes the bullet and finds from the fiber and perfume on it that it belongs to a woman wearing orange, and carrying multiple colored handkerchief. The villain proves to be Zelda the Great (Anne Baxter), a female magician who pays the Albanian inventor Eivol Ekdal (Jack Kruschen) the money yearly to design her illusions. He is currently working on a bulletproof escape tank known as the ‘doom trap’ that emits gasses inside, and tells her that the escape method will involve Batman himself. However, since Batman has planted a false story that the stolen money is counterfeit, he won’t reveal the full secret. The paper also features a story about the valuable emerald ‘Star of Samarkand’ that will be on display in the salon belonging to Hilary Stonewin (Barbara Heller). Batman and Robin work with Stonewin to plant a fake emerald with a tracking device inside. They stake out the salon, but Zelda is onto them. She disappears into thin air, the product of a projected image, and abandons the fake emerald in the street. While Batman and Robin were occupied with the robbery, Zelda was actually placing a call to Aunt Harriet telling her that Dick had been injured, and then kidnapping her for $100,000 ransom that must be paid within one hour. Frankie Darro is the newsman. Jim Drum is Officer Clancy. NOTE: This is the first part of a two-part episode. 11/18/20
- 010. A Death Worse Than Fate – 2/10/1966
- Commissioner Gordon and Chief O’Hara work with Robin to ‘track down’ Bruce Wayne to address the kidnapping of Aunt Harriet. The officers get word that the kidnapper wants to talk to them while they are on TV, so an announcer (Jerry Doggett) interrupts a program to bring Robin and Bruce Wayne on. When the kidnapper claims to be holding Harriet in a straightjacket above a flaming vat of oil, Robin tells her that the money she thought was counterfeit is real after all. She believes them and releases Harriet, and doctor (Douglass Dumbrille) gives her a clean bill of health. Batman is able to figure out from her clue about the vat of oil that she is lady magician Zelda. Furthermore, Aunt Harriet drops some matches from her pocket that lead to the Gnome Bookstore. This was set up intentionally by Zelda, who is still working with evil inventor Eivol Ekdal, who now that he has his money, reveals that he will find out how to escape the doom trap when Batman figure it out. Then two hoods (Victor French, William Phipps) will pay to shoot down the duo. They hide in mummy tombs and wait. Sure enough Batman does in fact escape by igniting the gas that comes up from the floor of the trap, blowing the door off. Zelda feels guilty about all of the kidnapping and murder and warns them of the hoods in the tombs, causing them to duck the bullets and hoods to shoot and kill each other. Zelda and Eivol are arrested, but Bruce later visits Zelda in the prison and tells her that because she saved Batman and Robin’s lives, he will provide her with a job as a magician in a children’s hospital once she gets out. NOTE: This is the second of a two-part episode. 11/18/20
- 011. A Riddle a Day Keep the Riddler Away – 2/16/1966
- King Boris (Reginald Denny) arrives for a United States goodwill tour with his ambassador (Tristram Coffin), and is greeted at the airport with a bouquet of roses from a girl named Mousey (Susan Silo). The roses explode to reveal a message from the Riddler which points them in the direction of the Miss Galaxy beauty contest that King Boris will be judging. The Commissioner and Chief engage Batman to help them to decipher the clue’s meaning. They suspect that the Riddler will steal the winner’s tiara, so Batman substitutes it with a fake and puts a tracking device in it. The Riddler is a step ahead and knows it is a fake, so he returns it with both a verbal and written message which lead them to the exclusive Royal Mushroom Club where the King is attending a reception. While they are checking out the wine cellar, Batman and Robin arrive with a warning to the King, but he is kidnapped through a trap door in the floor and the Queen of Freedom miniature replica that the King was planning to present to the city is stolen. The Riddler leaves behind another pair of clues that lead them to the Gotham Water & Power Plant, where the Riddler, with the help of Fangs (Marc Cavell), Whiskers (Tim Herbert), and Whitey (Roy Jenson) with the Water Rat gang, are holding the King hostage. The Riddler reveals to him that he is only serving as a pawn to capture and kill Batman and Robin. When they do show up, they are quickly captured in a net and attached to a spinning drive shaft that will rotate at 1000 revolutions per second. The King is freed and the Queen of Freedom is returned. Before he turns them on the rotating wheels, the Riddler gives Batman and Robin one more clue to solve – “Why is a woman in love like a welder?” – then he turns them on and the gang leaves them to die. Johnny Magnus is the M.C. of the beauty contest. Joy Harmon is contest winner Julia Davis. NOTE: This is the first of a two-part episode. 3/8/21
- 012. When the Rat’s Away the Mice Will Play – 2/17/1966
- Batman is able to escape the rotating drive shafts by burning the armature with the welder from his utility belt and short-circuiting the power. The Riddler still believes that Batman and Robin are dead, so he moves forward with executing a plan that will get them enough money to escape the country. From their underground lair, the Riddler and the River Rats watch on TV as the announcer (Marvin Miller) introduces the King from the Museum of Fame, housed in the Torch Room at the top of Queen of Freedom monument. There there he presents the miniature replica of the Queen of Freedom monument on behalf of his country. The Riddler then sends a message through an explosion in a police call box to the commissioner, demanding one million dollar or else he will blow up the Queen of Freedom monument. Bruce Wayne then agrees to front the city the money, and while he is meeting with the Commissioner, River Rat Whitey dressed in Batman attire comes through the window and tells the Commissioner to pay the money and that he will see that the money is recovered. The Commissioner suspects a fake and confirms this with Batman. Robin and Batman then solve the clue that the Riddler gave them before he tried to kill them, the answer being that they both ‘carry a torch’, and realize that the Riddler had planted a bomb in the monument replica before he returned it. Batman and Robin get to the Torch Room first and remove the bomb, and then they fight the gang two against four, and claim victory. Mousey confesses to Batman that she’s glad they didn’t succeed in killing him. Back at Wayne Manor, Aunt Harriet offers for Bruce and Dick to come along while she shows room the Queen of Freedom of monument, but they happily decline the offer. NOTE: This is the second of a two-part episode. 3/8/21
- 013. The Thirteenth Hat – 2/23/1966
- Jervis Tetsch, better known as the Mad Hatter (David Wayne), who is out on parole after Batman had testified against him and put him behind bars, is out, and is stealing the hats off of various citizens, then putting them to sleep with the mesmerizer found in hit top hat before kidnapping them. The commissioner sends for Batman’s help, and he and Robin begin to investigate. The Mad Hatter is planning revenge on Batman, and in his lair, along with his moll Lisa (Diane McBain) and his two henchmen Cappy (Roland La Starza) and Dicer (Gil Perkins), they are putting the hats on mannequin jurors, planning to steal the cowl from Batman’s head, so that it can be placed on his mannequin likeness in the witness box. The actual ‘jury’ citizens are all locked up in a room together, and the Mad Hatter plots to steal a collection of presidential hats to hold for ransom. While Batman and Robin are questioning Babette the hat check girl who witnessed the kidnapping of the fire chief, the Mad Hatter steals the hat off of Madame Magda (Monique LeMaire) the milliner, and then kidnaps her. The Mad Hatter’s moll Lisa works for Magda, and gives Batman a card that was supposedly dropped by the Mad Hatter, for Octave Marbot (Alberto Morin), the sculptor who is currently working on a sculpture of Batman to place in the Gotham City jail. Batman figures that all points where the kidnapping took place on the map, forms a top hat when the dots are connected. He heads to see Marbot, but the Mad Hatter gets there first and is able to mesmerize him and lock him in the closet and them pose as Marbot for Batman. He asks Batman if he can go to the dressing room, and then have Robin bring him the cowl to use as he corrects the statue of Batman. The Mad Hatter plans to escape with the cowl in hand, but Batman is on to him. When they find Marbot tied up in the closet, Batman and Robin fight the Mad Hatter and his henchmen. The Mad Hatter attempts to mesmerize Batman, but he uses a mirror to ricochet the laser… but unfortunately it ricochets at Robin and knocks him out. The Mad Hatter dumps quick drying plaster on Batman, and then plans to make sculpture of Batman’s cowl. Norma Varden is Magda’s customer Mrs. Monteagle. Bill Dyer is the chef. NOTE: The is the first of a two-part episode. 7/5/21
- 014. Batman Stands Pat – 2/24/1966
- Marbot is forced to drill into the dried plaster casing containing Batman, and they are all surprised to find him alive inside, thanks to him being able to hold his breath. The Mad Hatter and his men attempt to escape in the Batmobile, but Batman had the alarm rigged to go off when they tried to start it. Batman and Robin return to the Bat Cave and attempt to figure out what the Mad Hatter was doing, realizing that, since he told Batman that he would be hat number thirteen, that he must be kidnapping twelve others. Batman finally remembers that there are twelve in a jury, and realizes that everyone kidnapped so far were on the Mad Hatter’s jury. He also finds out that the twelfth jurist is bowling alley owner Turkey Bowinkle (George Conrad), so he sends Alfred to put a tracking device in Bowinkle’s hat. However, when the Mad Hatter does indeed swipe Bowinkle’s hat, he finds the tracking device, so he purposely leads Batman and Robin to his Hat Factory, where he intends to send them through his hat conveyor belt, which will act as a torture device to them. When Batman and Robin arrive, the Mad Hatter and his men jump out and hold them at gunpoint, sending them into the conveyor room. Batman overpowers them and everyone fights, until Batman finally is able to kick the Mad Hatter into a vat of acid. Lisa takes Batman to the live jurists, just as the police arrive to arrest the villains. Later, Bruce takes his Aunt to buy an expensive hat at Madame Magda’s place. NOTE: This is the second of a two-part episode. 7/6/21
- 015. The Joker Goes to School – 3/2/1966
- The Joker is released form prison and buys into the One Armed Bandit Novelty Company. Shortly after, the milk and coffee machines at Woodrow Roosevelt High School, start issuing money instead of drinks. The Commissioner and the Chief make Batman aware of this, so he heads to the school and asks Dick, who is president of the Student Council, to arrange a meeting with its members. The other members Pete (Tim O’Kelly), Herbie (Glenn Allan), and Susie (Donna Loren) all think think the money they are being handed is great, but Dick and Batman both assure them that money is never free, and it may be used to entice them to quit school, and later be forced to join the Joker’s game. Across town, and saloon is held up by a rifle in the jukebox, while Joker’s henchmen Nick (Kip King) and Two Bits (Greg Benedict aka Owen Orr) rob the joint. Back at the Joker’s lair, it is revealed that Student Council member Sue is working with the Joker and has been the one rigging the machines. Batman and Robin go to the school to investigate the machines and run into Sue, who tells them that she saw someone suspicious in the gym. The put a dime in the milk machine, but this time they are leg-cuffed and gassed. The Joker and his crew put them in electric chairs in the back of one of the company trucks. The chair is rigged to a slot machine, which will either release them or put 50,000 volts in them if it spins three lemons. During the first spin, the machine comes up with two lemons, but the third is not revealed. NOTE: This is the first of a two-part episode. Bryan O’Byrne is Principal A.P. Schoolfield. Sydney Smith is Mr. Vandergilt. Linda Harrison and Cherie Foster are the other cheerleaders. NOTE: The is the first of a two-part episode. 12/29/21
- 016. He Meets His Match, the Grisly Ghoul – 3/3/1966
- Batrman and Robin are at the mercy of a slot machine that spins three lemons, which will cause them to be electrocuted. Fortunately for them, the city experiences a blackout at the exact moment, so they are spared, and then freed by the police (Breland Rice). Batman reveals to the law that he had tape recorded his abductors and although it cannot be used in a court of law, he is going to analyze the tape to see if he can determine who the other gang members are. They are both shocked when the female winds up being cheerleader Susie. Robin then goes undercover as himself and tries to infiltrate the gang by appearing to have gone rogue to Susie, who is sitting with Nick in the Easy Living Candy Store adjacent to the hideout. Nick recognizes that Dick is a phony since he pretends he is a smoker and clearly isn’t. Nick advises him to return to the cocktail lounge that had the loaded juke box for another robbery. Batman and Robin both show up there at the time given by Nick, and are fired upon by the gun in the jukebox. Batman and Robin protect themselves using their portable shield. Meanwhile, the Joker makes a large bet against the Disko Tech basketball team, who is playing the Roosevelt team. Batman deduces that Susie will likely be targeted by Joker, since it is clear that Dick was trying to pump her for information. Sure enough when they find her, they see her collapse after using the poisoned perfume that the Joker gave her. The Roosevelt team, led by Fulton (Jim Henaghan) and Joe (Richard Bellis) are confident about their game, but the Joker plans the exam answers in the milk machine, then takes a photo of the players with the test and plans to have the photo handed over to the Board of Education to cause them to have to forfeit the game. Batman and Robin show up and tell them that he has replaced the exam answers with the wrong ones. They also tell them that they administered a universal antidote to Susie and saved her from death. In appreciation, Susie revealed the entire scheme to Batman and Robin, who then fight and defeat Joker and his gang. Susie is sent off to Wayne Foundation for Delinquent Girls, and a sympathetic Dick promises to send her the cheers so she can practice, and then return to cheerleading when she gets out. NOTE: This is the second of a two-part episode. 12/29/21
- 017. True or False Face – 3/9/1966
- The police find a note at the Gotham City Exhibit Hall indicating that False Face (Malachi Throne, billed as ?) is in town and plans to steal the famous Mergenberg crown. The owner of the crown, Princess Mergenberg shows up to check on the crown, when the doorman reveals himself to be False Face. He escapes without the crown, and the princes follows… but turns out to be False Face’s accomplice Blaze (Myrna Fahey). However upon examining the crown later, the police realize that it is a fake crown and the real on has been stolen. They summon Batman and Robin and they come to the police station. A messenger (Hal K. Lawson) shows up with a message for Batman, which reads that F.F. plans to give money to a defenseless little girl. They determine that since False Face speaks in opposites that he will be robbing the Ladd Armored Car Company. Batman unmasks the messenger as Blaze, but she escapes out the window. Back at False Face’s lair with Blaze and his other accomplices, the midget Burns (Billy Curtis), and the thin man Pinkerton (Chuck Fox), and the fat man Brinks (Joe Brooks), he talks about the next step of his plan to due and destroy Bat Man and Robin. The crusaders go to see Mr. Ladd (S. John Launer), the president of the armored car company, and find out that one of their truck is late arriving at the National Bank of Gotham. They go to the location, as well as sending the police there, and find that one of the armed guards doing a pickup is indeed False Face in disguise. The criminals escape but Batman and Robin pursue them and find them, then fight with False Face’s gang. The police show up and arrest the gang, but False Face changes his face to look like Chief O’Hara. He renders the real O’Hara unconscious and Blaze drives off with him. Back at the Bat Cave, Batman and Robin realize that the note from False Face was made of currency paper, which lead them to believe that False Face is counterfeiting money. They head to the warehouse where such materials are stored. There they find Blaze and take her back to the police for interrogation. With False Face disguised as the Chief in the room, they ask where False Face will be counterfeiting, and she claims that he has not confided in her his plans. She does tell him how scared of Batman he is, and admits that Batman is truly good and that she will help them find False Face. The phony Chief suggests that Batman and Robin go with Blaze, and she leads them to a closed underground subway station and then manages to knock them out with her poison gas. False Face shows up and they tie duo to the train tracks. Blaze tries to save them at the last second, but False Face drags her away. A train looms down on Batman and Robin. NOTE: This is the first of a two-part episode. Patrick Whyte is the museum curator. Breena Howard is Mr. Ladd’s secretary. 5/13/22
- 018. Holy Rat Race – 3/10/1966
- With a train bearing down on Batman and Robin, who are tied to the tracks and unable to escape, back at the Bat Cave Alfred hears a mysterious message on the radio that says “Many are called, but two are chosen. Be receptive.” This prompts him to call Batman on the Bat Radio, and Batman tells him to pull the short circuit lever that will destroy his wristband radio. When Alfred does it, the plastic wrap holding his arm in place comes loose and he is able to free himself and Robin. False Face accuses Blaze of helping them escape, but she denies it. However Batman and Robin find out from the radio program manager Leo Gore (Michael Fox) that it was indeed Blaze. She also left a clue behind through Gore that the next target will Gotham National Bank. When False Face and his men show up at the bank and break into the vault, they find Batman and Robin waiting inside for them. During the rumble between them and police, False Face manages to escape, keeping Blaze handcuffed to the car. Batman and Robin pursue them as he drives to the abandoned Bioscope Studios, full of dilapidated old movie sets. He nearly captures the dynamic duo in a rope trap, but Batman shoots the net with a laser and causes it to capture his men. False Face fires a rocket at the Batmobile and seems to disintegrate it, but it turns out to be a fake inflatable version of the car. False Face again escapes on a motorcycle and leads them and the police on a chase around the set. At one point, he disguises himself as a cowboy (Mike Ragan) on the Western set, then as the Commissioner, but he is recognized and captured, vowing revenge on Batman. Later, a former criminal who has been reformed by the Bruce Wayne Rehabilitation Fund comes to see Bruce and Dick. They are surprised to see Blaze, who now modestly gives credit for her rehabilitation to two men equally: Bruce Wayne and Batman. NOTE: This is the second of a two-part episode. Gary Owens appears as the TV announcer. 5/13/22
- 019. The Purr-fect Crime – 3/16/1966
- A valuable golden cat is stolen from the Gotham City Art Museum. As the Chief and Commissioner are investigating, the secretary Bonnie (Elisa Ingram) brings in a package left by a strange man, which contains a kitten and newspaper clipping photo of Mark Andrews (Harry Holcombe), holding the golden cat that was stolen, as well as his second golden cat, which is currently housed at the Gotham City Exposition. One of the cats is X’ed out. They get word to Batman and Robin, who deduce that the culprit Catwoman (Julie Newmar) is not only responsible, but will steal the second cat as well as other treasures belonging to Andrews. Meanwhile at the Gato & Chat Fur Company, hideout of Catwoman, she has instructed her henchmen Felix (Ralph Manza) and Leo (Jock Mahoney) to round up books about the history of Gotham City. She is particularly interested in reading about the lost treasure of Captain Manx, an evil pirate who plundered ships entering the city’s port. Batman and Robin create a radioactive liquid, and then head to the Exposition where they spray the second golden cat, with the notion of being able to track it of Catwoman should get a way with it. While Batman is checking the exits, Catwoman and a cat crawl out from a sarcophagus, and the cat hits Robin with a nerve agent that knocks him out. Batman fights Catwoman’s henchmen, but they all manage to escape. Once Catwoman gets back to her lair with the second golden cat, she covers them with a piece of paper and begins tracing over them. Batman and Robin then track the radioactive liquid to Catwoman’s hideout, but she is expecting them and immediately sets them into a series of traps upon entering the building. They fall down a trap door, and then are stuck in a room with its spiky walls closing in on them. They soon realize that the spikes are rubber. Then Felix sneaks a bomb into their room, but the explosion is extremely minor, and world ‘meow’ pops up from the bomb. A tube then sucks Robin out of the room, and Batman is presented with two doors, once which Catwoman claims to be behind, and one with a tiger behind it. Batman chooses the room on the right, and a tiger exits and heads toward him. NOTE: This is the first of a two-part episode. Pat Zurica is the art museum guard. 9/7/22
- 020. Better Luck Next Time – 3/17/1966
- Batman is attacked by the tiger, but uses artificial claws to climb the wall. He then put in earplugs and sets off a high frequency sound with his belt that causes the tiger to cower in the corner. He beings exploring the catacombs in Catwoman’s lair. She has taken Robin and knocked him out, doused him in catnip, and is getting ready to have her men dump him in a pit of tigers. Batman tracks down the room they are in and rescues Robin. The two fight the henchmen and overcome them. They manage to tie up Felix, but Leo and Catwoman escape. She leaves behind her golden cats, and Batman and Robin take them to the Bat Cave to have them analyzed. They find distinct markings on the backs of each, and Batman remembers the legend of the pirate Captain Manx. He realizes that the markings are a map of Gotham City, and deduces that it could lead Catwoman and them to the treasure. They also deduce that since Catwoman likely held the cats, that the radioactive material they sprayed on one of them is probably all over Catwoman. They use the Bat-o-Meter to track her down to McGilroy Point, and they head there, getting their tires blown out along the way by mines that she left along the road. Once they repair them, they find the caverns at the location. Catwoman is inside and has double-crossed Leo by knocking him out so that she can keep the entire treasure herself. Batman and Robin chase her and she attempts to jump over a large pit but doesn’t quite make it. Batman tries to save her by throwing her a rope, but she refuses to drop the treasure so that she can catch it… and she falls into the seemingly bottomless pit. They don’t know if she survived, but they recall that cats have nine lives. They take Catwoman’s cat back to Wayne Manor to attempt to rehabilitate it, but Aunt Harriet is annoyed when it steals the lobster she is preparing. NOTE: This is the second of a two-part episode. Alex Sharp is one of Catwoman’s other henchmen. 9/7/22
- 021. The Penguin Goes Straight – 3/23/1966
- During an intermission at the theater during a matinee, an armed robber (Ed McReady) enters and holds up everyone in the lobby, including the wealthy Sophia Starr (Kathleen Crowley) who is wearing her valuable jewels. The Penguin is chatting with the sophisticated Mrs. Van Climber (Hope Sansberry) and interrupts the robber using his bullet proof umbrella and is able to knock him out. The Chief and the Commissioner question the Penguin’s motives for stopping a crime and get in touch with Batman and Robin. They have them question the robber and see if he has any connection with the Penguin. When Batman and Robin appear on the scene, the bad guy fears a bat attack and faints. Later, the duo finds out that the Penguin has headed to the Gotham City Millionaire’s Club. The Penguin is in the steam room when two thugs named Eagle Eye (Harvey Lembeck) and Dove (Al Checco) enter with millionaire Reggie Rich (William Beckley). Batman and Robin show up, only to be told that the Penguin saved Reggie from the thugs. Based on his crime-thwarting, the Penguin opens up the Penguin Protective Agency, Incorporated, and is hired by Sophia Starr to protect her jewels. The Penguin meets with his thugs Eagle Ey and Dove to plan how they will earn the confidence of the city before taking their treasures. The Penguin tells them that he has already lead Batman and Robin to believe that he is going to steal Sophia’s jewels. Batman and Robin have another plan, and they send Alfred, posing as an insurance agent, to take photos of Sophia’s jewels. He also tries to swap the Penguin’s cigarette holder with another bugged one… but he is caught in the act and sent on his way. Batman and Robin then use the pictures to have replicas of Sophia’s Starr’s jewels made. They break in and try to swap the fakes with the real jewels in order to protect them, but they are again caught by the Penguin and his men who drive them off. Newspaper headlines then indicate that Batman and Robin tries to commit the robbery. The Penguin calls the Chief and the Commissioner and invites them to his party at the amusement pier. Batman and Robin show up there but are knocked out by a cement-filled umbrella. He then hangs them behind a shooting gallery and swaps the gun pellets with real bullets. The Penguin then entice the Chief and the Commissioner to try the shooting gallery, having them fire at the balloons, with Batman and Robin dangling behind them. Douglas Banks is Lt. Copple. NOTE: This is the first of a two-part episode. 12/26/22
- 022. Not Yet, He Ain’t – 3/24/22
- When the Chief and Commissioner fire their shots at the balloons, Batman and Robin are able to pull themselves up and put their feet forward. Since the souls of their shoes are bulletproof, they are unharmed, and furthermore the jolt to their bodies gets Batman’s knife loose and he is able to cut himself and Robin down, allowing them both to escape. Robin wants to have them arrested, but Batman reminds him that they are the ones who are wanted, and also the ones how trespassed onto the property. The Penguin starts demanding that Batman and Robin are arrested, and to prove that the Commissioner knows their whereabouts, the Penguin uses the Commissioner’s hotline to call Batman. The Commissioner tells Batman that he needs to come in, but Batman only agrees to meet the Penguin at this protection agency. The Commissioner demands that the Chief arrest Batman, while Batman works independently with the Commissioner to come up with an alternate plan. Batman and Robin show up at the Penguin’s place and roughs up him and his henchmen. They flee in their Batmobile with the police in full pursuit. They abandon the car, which Penguin and his men promptly commandeer, and while they are running on foot, Batman and Robin are shot down by the police and killed. As their funeral is planned, many around Gotham City mourn their passing even though they seemingly went out in the midst of a crime. The Chief and Commissioner then discuss the 297 rounds of blank ammunition that they purchased. Batman and Robin, safely back in the Bat Cave, watch the Penguin with Sophia Starr over a tiny TV transmitter that they had installed in the Batmobile. The Penguin then proposes to Sophia and she accepts. The Penguin plans a huge engagement party and wedding with lots of Sophia’s rich friends, who all bring valuable gifts to the wedding. The Penguin’s men then set a bomb in the water pipes, causing it to ‘rain’ inside the room where the wedding party will be. They give all of the guests umbrellas, and then activate a chute that will send all of the gifts down a chute and into the Batmobile. When the Penguin and his two henchmen escape. Batman uses a remote control to affect the booby-trapped Batmobile, including opening the doors while he is driving, ejecting Eagle Eye and Dove out of the car, and then taking over the steering wheel. They are then able to round up all of the criminals and strap them to the hood of the Batmobile. Batman notes that one last detail will be to fumigate the Batmobile. Sophia wonders if her love as a wife might help to reform the Penguin. The Commissioner makes the Penguin aware of this option, which would allow him to keep all of the wedding gifts… but the Penguin demands that they take him off to prison. Bill Welch is the newsman George. NOTE: This is the second of a two-part episode. 12/26/22
- 023. The Ring of Wax – 3/30/1966
- A wax figure of Batman is scheduled to be unveiled at Madame Soleil’s (Ann Ayars) Wax Musuem, but when the curtain is drawn back, it is a wax figure of the Riddler who shoots red ink at the museum patrons and has a tape recorder at its feet that spouts off a pair of riddles. With the Riddler on the loose just two weeks after being released from prison, the Chief and Commissioner call for Batman and Robin’s help. They decipher the code and determine that the location the Riddler is pointing to is the Gotham City Library. The Riddler and his moll Moth (Linda Gaye Scott) and henchmen Tallow (Joe E. Tata) and Matches (Michael Greene) are hiding out in the Kandle Lite Factory, where they take apart the original Batman wax figure so that they can extract the universal solvent found within its wax, originally located in a remote area of France. It is being smuggled into the United States through wax figures. Armed with the solvent that dissolves the metal of the vault door, they are able to break into the library vault which houses their rarest and most valuable book, including the one the Riddler is looking for, The Lost Treasures of the Incas. Batman and Robin show up at the library and are directed to the valuable book vault by the librarian Miss Princess (Elizabeth Harrower). The Riddler and his men find the book they’re looking for, which contains a riddle that will allow them to find the treasure. Batman and Robin catch them in the vault, but the Riddler is able to spray their feat with wax emulsion that causes them to stick to the floor. The Riddler sets off a gas in the vault and then they create a hole in the wall and escape through it. The caped crusaders are able to free themselves by shooting a laser gun at their feet. They take a sample of the wax back to their lab in the cave and determine what it is made from. They determine that it contains Nitrogen, Uranium, and Sodium, with the first letters able to spell the word SUN. Since the French word for ‘sun’ is “soleil’, the return to Madame Soleil’s wax museum. The American Revolution band wax figures turn out to actually be The Riddler and his crew, and they shoot them with tranquilizer guns, steal the Batmobile, and take them back to their hideout. They tie them up and suspend them over a boiling vat of wax and intend to slowly lower them into it. Al McGranary is the Mayor. NOTE: This is the first of a two-part episode. 6/15/23
- 024. Give ‘Em the Axe – 3/31/1966
- With the fumes building up in the warehouse from the corrosive wax, the Riddler and his team move to another room to watch Batman and Robin die in the boiling wax. Batman spots a barrel containing a wick-treating solution, so he reflects the sun into his belt buckle until he causes it to explode. Although the Riddler thinks they were killed, the explosion nearly knocked them out of their restraints, and they landed safely next to the boiling wax vat. Batman and Robin escape the warehouse and steal back the Batmobile. They inform the Commissioner that they’re not really still alive. The Riddler has given the Commissioner the next clue, which leads them to the Gotham City Musuem. This is indeed where the Riddler is, and they believe it is also the location of the Incan treasure. The Riddler points out all of the torture devices at the museum, including a Maiden’s Bath, an iron mask, the stocks, the rack, and the wheel of death. Robin sneaks into the museum through a window that is too small for Batman. He is ambushed by the henchman and attached to the rack. Batman drives the Batmobile through the entrance doors and calls the Commissioner to send reinforcements. The Riddler believes that the Incan treasure has been buried with an ancient Incan sarcophagus that has been brought to the museum. Batman gets inside the museum and fights the henchmen, attaching them all to the torture devices. He frees Robin just as the police arrive to arrest the Riddler and their men. Moth tells Batman that she’s learned her lesson that crime doesn’t pay, but Batman tells her that she learned it a little too late. The Riddler tells Batman that he may have won the battle, but that the war is far from over. NOTE: This is the second of a two-part episode. 6/15/23
- 025. The Joker Trumps an Ace – 4/6/1966
- An elegant fur salon in Gotham City fall victim to a robbery by the Joker and his henchman, when he manages to ensnare customers Mr. (Tol Avery) and Mrs. Prescott Belmont (Angela Greene) in trap of streamers and then robs them of their fur. The Chief and Commissioner send a message on the bat phone to Batman and Robin for them to come down to the police station. There they find a wrapped package that was just delivered and contains a blow-up figure resembling a visiting Maharajah and a tape recorder with a bad joke on it. The Commissioner had received a report that the Joker had stolen a hole from a golf course and a hairpin from the salon. Batman believes that the hole is a clue to the arrival of the Maharajah of Nimpa (Dan Seymour) and the game that he will be playing with Mayor Linsee (Byron Keith) using his jewel-inlaid sold-gold golf clubs. They rush to the golf course, where the president Prescott Belmont advises they can survey the entire club from the lower terrace. They spot the Maharajan and the Mayor, and when the Maharajah makes the ball into the hole, the ball emits a toxic yellow smoke and knocks out everyone. The Maharajah’s clubs are stolen, and the Maharajah is kidnapped. Batman and Robin pursue them in their Gayfellow Cleaners van across the golf course, but without warning, the van disappears, and a miniature version is left behind. There is an obvious clue in the van that leads them to the Katz, Katz, Katz and Co. refinery. The Joker, his moll Jill (Jane Wald) and his henchmen set up a table and prepare for Batman and Robin’s arrival. When they get there and easily enter the builiding, Batman and Robin spot the Joker and his crew playing cards at the table, but they cannot get to them because they are merely a mirror reflection. They suddenly disappear, and Batman and Robin realize they are using the same method with mirrors that they did when their van disappeared. The henchmen suddenly appear behind a curtain, and they surround Batman and Robin with ropes. The Joker puts them inside a silo tank and tells them that he plans to fill it until they drown, but if they can stay afloat for an hour, he will free them. Once he puts them inside and they have escaped their ropes, he starts to fill it… with poison gas. Batman and Robin realize that there is nothing on the walls of the silos to attach a grappling hook. Batman doesn’t think there is a way out unless someone helps him, but it is only Jill who appears to be sympathetic to their plight. Norm Alden and Johnny Seven are the henchmen. Chuck Hicks is a guard. Jacques Roux is the fur store proprietor. NOTE: This is the first of a two-part episode. 10/13/23
- 026. Batman Sets the Pace – 4/7/1966
- As the gas rises in the silo, Batman and Robin are able to stand back-to-back, link arms, and walk their way up and out of the silo. Instead of trying to capture them, Joker and his crew escape. Batman and Robin head back to the Batcave to investigate the stolen item: the hairpin or the hole removed from the golf course. The hairpin was used to trigger the gas bomb on the golf course, and Batman analyzes the traces of the yellow gas found inside the golf hole. It proves to be an uncommon gas, and the only place that Batman knows where it can be obtained in Gotham City is the Ferguson and Magician Supply Company. They head there and browse around, as the female proprietor (Bebe Louie) shows them around. One of the items is a prism that can see through a one-way mirror. While Batman is looking around, he notices a mirror and uses the prism to see inside. There he spots the Joker’s henchman as well as the Maharajah. He also sees a grating in the back of the room, which covers a ventilator shaft. By looking at a photograph of the magic store with the hills and mountains behind it, he is able to approximate the location of the shaft in the mountains. He and Robin come back later and are able to locate the shaft, and then slide down it right into the Joker’s lair. The Joker is able to activate a Surprise Attack Defense Portal which sets of live wires and streamers all over the room. Batman and Robin are able to incapacitate four of the henchmen, but the Joker and Jill are able to escape. Batman and Robin can find no trace of the Maharajah. Batman calls the Commissioner at his office to report the latest, and while they are on the phone, the Joker calls into the Commissioner to try and reach Batman. The Commissioner relays the call, and the Joker tells Batman that Batman has to help facilitate the ransom payoff. Initially Batman refuses, but after he speaks to the Maharajah and finds out that those are his wishes, Batman agrees. Batman is asked to go to the bank where the Maharajah will write Batman a check for a half million dollars. After Batman endorses it and cashes it, the Maharajah will keep his promise to the Joker and give him the money. Batman tries to talk him out of the plan, since he is now free, but the Maharajah insists on keeping his promise. Batman then sticks a dart into the Maharajah’s side, but he doesn’t feel it until it goes through several inches of padding. Batman rips off some of the Maharajah’s clothes, only to reveal that he is filled with confetti. After a scuffle, Batman unmasks the Maharajah and finds that it is the Joker under the mask. Batman explains that there never was a Maharajah, but only the Joker posing as him. The Joker’s entire plan was to tarnish Batman’s reputation by involving him in the ransom payout. He figured this out when he never saw the Joker and Maharajah together, as well as the fact that nothing is ever as it seems with the Joker. Once again, the Joker is arrested and taken into custody. Later that night, Batman receives another distress call on the Batphone, but this time it is only the Commissioner calling to verify that Batman was not going to respond to a call from California to run for Governor there. Bruce replies that as long as there is crime in Gotham City, he will never leave. NOTE: This is the second of a two-part episode. 10/14/23
- 027. The Curse of Tut – 4/13/1966
- One nice afternoon in Central Park, a giant Sphinx is delivered that seems to have the voice of a woman who warns everyone in earshot that the great king of the Nile shall rise from the tomb and claim his kingdom of Gotham City. When Commissioner Gordon hears about this, he believes it to be a publicity stunt by the Gotham City Museum. He calls Bruce Wayne, who sits on the board of trustees, to ask him if this is the case, but Bruce denies that the museum would ever resort to this kind of stunt. The Commissioner then calls Batman and tells him of the threat to the city. Batman recognizes this to be the work of a former professor who was hit on the head during a school riot, and now believes he is the real King Tut and that Gotham City is his kingdom. Once thought to be dead, Batman and Robin believe he has returned to Gotham City to stake his claim. King Tut (Victor Buono) then gathers in with his concubines and his henchmen, The Grand Vizier (Don “Red” Barry) and the Royal Scrivener aka Harry (Frank Christi), and King Tut admits that the entire effort is to put Batman out of commission. Batman and Robin examine the Sphinx in Central Park, and while trying to enter it, they notice a handle on the back of it. Batman uses caution to open it by tying a rope to it and then pulling, so thankfully the knife that comes out of it misses hitting them. The spot King Tut’s main mole, a woman dressed as the Egyptian Nefertiti (Ziva Rodann), but she escapes them by using an exploding asp bracelet to send smoke into their faces. The caped crusaders then make short order of some of Tut’s henchmen in the park. Bruce Wayne hosts a gallery of Egyptian artifacts at the museum as planned. Inside the Mummy sarcophagus, the Mummy appears to be alive. It turns out to be King Tut wrapped in the bandages, and the doctors that wheel him out turn out to be his henchmen. They knock out Bruce with gas and kidnap him atop a gurney in the back of an ambulance. King Tut has Nefertiti make an announcement through the speaker in the Sphinx, proclaiming that he has kidnapped Bruce Wayne and that instructions for his ransom will be soon negotiated. Commissioner Gorden attempts to call Batman to tell him the news, but naturally, he is not there, so Robin finds out instead. Meanwhile, Bruce rolls out of the back of the ambulance on his gurney and heads down a hill toward a 300 foot drop over a cliff. Emmanuel Thomas is the reporter. Bill Quinn is the board member. NOTE: This is the first of a two-part episode. 2/12/24
- 028. The Pharoah’s in a Rut – 4/14/1966
- Batman frees himself from his hospital gurney as it careens toward a 300-foot drop and manages to grab onto a guardrail before the gurney plummets over the drop. He then goes on TV with the Commissioner and announces that Bruce Wayne is unharmed and will be returning home soon. He also says that he is going to go to Alexandria, Egypt in order to study more information about this Egyptian cult revival. Batman purposely gives away this information to lure King Tut into attempting another kidnapping. This time, they create a fake dummy version of Bruce Wayne, and then Alfred allows a police officer (William Boyett) into the manor when he tells him that he is there to protect Bruce. The officer turns out to be the Royal Scrivener in disguise and uses gas to knock out Alfred and the fake Bruce. When the Scrivener goes out to get reinforcements and a stretcher, Alfred reveals he has taken an anti-gas pill and is safe, and Batman swaps places with the dummy of Bruce. The villains wind up taking Batman out on the stretcher and heading toward King Tut’s hideout. Meanwhile, King Tut has become angered at Nefertiti and banished her to the dungeon. When the Grand Vizier becomes concerned that Batman has tricked him, he hits the figure on the stretcher over the head with a club and knocks Batman out. When they return to Tut’s lair, he is forced to join Nefertiti side-by-side in giant containers with 1000 pebbles dropping on their heads, slowly driving them mad. Robin is able to extrapolate various signals from the transmitter in Batman’s cape to determine the location of King Tut’s hideout, which turns out to be the abandoned Egyptian Exhibition Pavillion. By the time Batman reaches the end of his pebbles, he is talking like a maniac. Tut and his men break open the containers to free Batman and Nefertiti and orders them to dance to some “Bat-music”, but Batman regains his senses, claiming that he kept his cool by reciting multiplication tables backwards in his mind as the pebbles fell. Since Robin doesn’t have a license to drive the Batmobile, Alfred drives him to the hideout location. By the time Batman is out of the container and begins to fight off the men, Robin arrives to join his fight. While everyone is fighting, King Tut sneaks off in the Batmobile. They follow along in Tut’s royal bark but are afraid they’ll never keep up. Batman uses Robin’s tiny transmitter to remote into the Batmobile’s circuit via the Batcave relay link, and are able to activate the Batmobile’s ejection seat, sending King Tut flying from the car. Batman suggests that King Tut is rehabilitated so that he might be able to return to teaching, but are surprised when he awakens from his launch, he thinks he has had a dream and says that he is late for class. Olan Soule is the newscaster. NOTE: This is the second of a two-part episode. 2/13/24
- 029. The Bookworm Turns – 4/20/1966
- While watching the unveiling of a bridge in Gotham City on TV, Robin notices the criminal the Bookworm (Roddy McDowall) in the crowd. By the time he calls Batman in to watch it on TV, someone in the crowd shoots Commissioner Gordon, who fall off of the bridge. The immediately rush to his office, where Chief O’Hara and others are mourning the Commissioner’s death. Just then, the Commissioner enters, claiming that an officer had him arrested for parking violations, keeping him from attending the bridge unveiling. Outside City Hall, the Bookworm’s moll Lydia Limpet (Francine York) plants a copy of For Whom the Bell Tolls in the Batmobile. Batman notices that the ticket the Commissioner received was signed by a nonexistent police officer named A.S. Scarlet, which he deduces stands for the book A Study in Scarlet. They then get a signal from their bomb detector that indicates that there is a bomb in the Batmobile, so they are able to eject it before it explodes over Gotham City. Bookworm’s henchman the Printer’s Devil (John Crawford) reports back that the bomb has been detected, but the cover of the book landed with a readable cover as planned. Batman and Robin find the cover of the book, which they believe indicates that the Bookworm still has plans to destroy the bridge, since that figures into the plot of that book. The Commissioner gets report of an incident at an old warehouse, so he sends out the Bat Signal and has Batman and Robin go to check it out. They find that it is a literal blown-up image of the bridge being projected from on top of a nearby van. They entice out Bookworm and his men, but they escape through tunnels in the street. However, they leave behind Lydia, who is tied up in the van. Batman insists it might be a trap, so they knock her out, take her to the Batcave and hook her up to a lie detector. They learn that she really has no idea what the Bookworm’s ultimately plot is. However, when they take her back to the van and ask her what happened, she pretends that the Bookworm had tied her up, and she tells them that the Bookworm’s plan is to steal the Declaration of Independence from the replica version of Independence Hall that was built for an exhibition and notes that he will strike at midnight. Although Batman now knows it is a trap, he decides to walk into it anyway, but then makes sure Lydia hears him tell Robin that it is a trap. Robin stays with Lydia, and she requests that he read a book to her. When Robin opens it, he is poisoned and knocked out. Lydia calls the Bookworm and tells him that Batman knows that the Independence Hall red herring is a trap. The Bookworm rescues Lydia, and then ties Robin to the clapper of a giant bell in the Wayne Memorial Clock Tower. Jerry Lewis appears uncredited as a citizen in the window. Anthony Aiello is the henchman, Pressman. Jan Peters is the henchman, Typesetter. NOTE: This is the first of a two-part episode. 6/30/24
- 030. While Gotham City Burns – 4/21/1966
- With Robin tied to the clapper of the giant bell in Wayne Memorial Clock and Batman heading the wrong direction, Chief O’Hara notifies Batman that they didn’t find Robin where he said they would be. When Batman can’t reach Robin on the utility belt frequency, Batman goes through his memory to recalls a quote from Lydia about striking at midnight and deduces that Robin might be at the Memorial Clock Tower. Batman races across town to get there just in time to throw two lines to the bell and the clapper and attached them both to the positive terminals of the nuclear power source. This cases the clapper and bell to repel each other so that it doesn’t strike with Robin in the middle of them. The Bookworm and his team lament the fact that Batman and Robin have now gone free, but the Bookworm comes up with an alternate plan. The Bookworm visits Wayne Manor claiming to be from the bookmobile, and he gasses Aunt Harriet and Alfred, then steals a rare cookbook from her collection. He then places a gigantic cookbook called The Delight of Cooking in the middle of the street at Cedar and 5th. Batman and Robin head to investigate the cookbook to see if it contains explosives. They then use a super-powered magnet to open the book. Actually, the Bookworm is controlling the book and opens it for them. They enter the book and find soup cooking inside. A gas is then released while they are trapped inside. Batman is able to contact Alfred and has him plug him into the Anti-Crime Computer where he is able to see the blueprints of the city. Meanwhile, the Bookworm and Lydia head to the impenetrable Morganbilt Library in the Batmobile that they stole while Batman and Robin are inside the book. They plan to use the Bat Beam from the vehicle to get into the Morganbilt safe. The police are able to use explosives to blow into the book, but when they get inside, they find that Batman and Robin are gone. The Bookworm uses the Bat Beam to break through the outer wall of the library, but it is Batman and Robin who come out, having escaped the Delight of Cooking book through a manhole below the book. The Bookworm’s conversation in the Batmobile was then relayed to them through a hidden microphone. Batman and Robin fight the henchmen, and then arrest the Bookworm and Lydia, who have been hiding while the others did the fighting. Bruce Wayne donates $5000 to the state prison library. The Chief brings the Bookworm and Lydia in to meet Bruce and Dick before hauling them off to prison. When the Bookworm misnames the source of the quote “They who lose today may win tomorrow” and Bruce corrects him, the Bookworm tells him that he is almost as obnoxious as Batman. Jim O’Hara is the police sergeant. NOTE: This is the second of a two-part episode. 7/1/24
- 031. Death in Slow Motion – 4/27/1966
- Mr. Van Jones (Francis X. Bushman) hosts a silent film festival at Washington Center. After it ends, he is thanked for sharing his film collection by the theatre manager (Walter Woolf King), and then a Charlie Chaplin impersonator enters the lobby and puts on a routine, where he meets a damsel and is chased by the Keystone Kops. He then enters the box office, where he releases a gas from his bouquet of flowers, rendering the cashier (Judy Pace) unconscious. Chaplin then robs the money from the theatre. Most of the crowd seems to enjoy the performance, but Van Jones finds it offensive that some is stealing attention from the films themselves. The manager then finds the cashier unconscious and calls the police. The commissioner then calls Batman and Robin and reports that the Chaplin impersonator was actually the Riddler, who has left behind a riddle “why is a musician’s bandstand like an oven?” Robin solves it to mean that it is where a man makes his bread. This leads them to Mother Gotham’s Bakery, where the Riddler, his moll Pauline (Sherry Jackson), and his men Von Bloheim (Theodore Marcuse), Wolf (Burt Brandon), and his cameraman C.B. (Richard Bakalyan) have already set up shop. As C.B. films them, they enter the bakery with a tray of pines, which prove to be full of whipped sleeping cream. They use them to knock out the bakery employees and then blow up their safe and steal the payroll. Batman and Robin arrive too late and find another clue on the wall: “As one baker to another, how do you make a dishonest shortcake?” Robin again solves it to mean ‘lie-berry’, which they interpret to represent the branch library on Baker Street. When they enter the library, Batman and Robin are hit on the head with a giant book called The Pictorial History of Silent Films, containing two more clues: “What do you find in a kitchen cabinet that is not alive?” and “When is a new car considered to be seedy?” While the Riddler’s team is filming them, they take the giant book back to the Batcave. The Riddler’s team return to the bankrupt movie studio where they are holding up and screen the silent footage that they’ve taken so far at the bakery and the library. They solve the clues to mean “deadpan” and “lemon,” which indicates the silent film comics, and the fact that Van Jones is holding a party where he is serving nothing stronger than lemonade. Although Bruce Wayne was invited to the party, it is Batman who shows up. He quickly learns that the Riddler has spiked the lemonade with juice. Everyone at the party, including the Chief and the Commissioner, are in horrible moods due to the lemonade, and it ultimately leads to a huge group fight… all as the Riddler’s team films the action. Outside, Robin is approached by Nadine, who is dressed as Little Bo Peep. She releases gas from her staff and knocks Robin out. While Batman tries to stop the rumble at the party, Robin is taken to the Riddler’s lair where he is attached to a rotating saw. As Robin is knocked out, he heads toward the saw with no sign of Batman showing up to save him. NOTE: This is the first of a two-part episode. 11/1/24
- 032. The Riddler’s False Notion – 4/28/1966
- When Batman leaves the party, he finds that Robin has disappeared. Two clues eject form the exhaust of the Batmobile, “Why is a bear like a fallen tree?” and “Why is silk like the grass?” Batman solves the riddles as “lumber” and “yard,” so he heads to the lumberyard where he finds Robin on the band saw, which is cutting through his head. However, he realizes that the body on the saw is no more than a mannequin figure of Robin. While Riddler and most of his gang escape, Batman is able to grab Pauline and take her to the commissioner’s office. He can’t get any information out of her, so he decides to take her and the commissioner back to the Batcave. He renders them both unconscious, with the commissioner’s permission. While there, he gives her a Truth Control Bat Tester, but she can only answer the location of Robin by using two riddles, “Why was Flo Ziegfeld like a nearsighted man?” and “What kind of men are always above board?” The answers are “spectacles” and “Chess men.” Batman is able to tell by a breath meter to see if she lied, and he determines that she is telling the truth. He surmises that the spectacles represent silent comedian Harold Lloyd and the high-rise death-defying feats he often performed in the films. He thinks the location will be at the Chessmen building. Meanwhile over at the Chessmen, the Riddler had Robin ties up on a ledge with his hands bound and plans to film him falling to his death. Batman arrives just in time so that when the Riddler knocks him off the building, he is able to throw Robin the bat wire, which Robin catches in his teeth and is pulled to safety. The Riddler and his team escape in a helicopter and leave two more clues written in the sky, “What kind of machine has ears?” and “Why does a cowboy wear a tight belt.” With the answers being a “train” and “to hold up his pants,” they deduce that the Riddler is planning to holdup a train, so he has the commissioner send men to Gotham Central Station. However, the Riddler is actually paying a visit to Van Jones, who has commissioned the Riddler to make a silent film comedy starring Batman and Robin. Van Jones is excited to have such a rarity in his film collection. When he goes to get into his vault for the $100,000 to pay the Riddler, the Riddler turns on him and pulls a gun, telling him that he is going to steal his film collection from his vault and then ransom them back to him. He calls in his men, all dressed like cowboys, to help him with his plans. However, Batman and Robin also arrive, having realized that the clue had to do with the rare silent film The Great Train Holdup, which is part of the Van Jones collection. Batman and Robin square off against the Riddler and his men and are able to defeat them soundly, sending the Riddler straight back to jail. Later that night, Aunt Harriet is getting ready to meet Bruce and Dick to celebrate her birthday dinner, but Alfred seems to be delaying her. It becomes clear why when Batman and Robin show up in person to wish her happy birthday and kiss her cheek. She is on cloud nine as she heads out to meet Bruce and Dick. NOTE: This is the second of a two-part episode. 11/2/24
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