Worst, most ridiculous villain from the 60s Batman TV show

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

...My vote is for the 1940s mainstream movie actor Van Johnson as "The Minstrel," a "medieval lute-playing electronics genius," and you can read the synopsis of that episode here: http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/GuidePageServlet/showid-713/epid-6388

Second choice would be the next-to-last episode, "The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra" in which another 40s legend, Ida Lupino, stars as "Cassandra Spellcraft/Dr. Cassandra."

A synopsis from the TV Tome Web Site (http://www.tvtome.com/Batman/season3.html):

"Meanwhile, Dr. Cassandra and Cabala use their camouflage pills and sneak into Gotham State Penitentiary to release 6 of Gotham City's arch criminals - The Joker, The Penguin, The Riddler, The Catwoman, King Tut, and Egghead! - and take them with them to their secret hideout in the basement of The Mortar And Pestle Building on Abracadabra Lane, where they're all issued camouflage pills and given a specific section of the city to rob."

Now, the show already had one foot out the door...so they were NOT going to pay the famous actors who played those villains...so no faces are shown, they are all stunt doubles. Bleh.

[Lefty48197]

1. I liked the episode with the big clam

and Mr. Freeze. He was cool.

[NightTrain]

2. A few more for you

The Archer (Art Carney)
Louie the Lilac (Milton Berle)
The Bookworm (Roddy McDowall)
Lord Ffogg (Can't remember who played him, sorry!)
Lola Lasagne (Ethel Merman?)

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

5. Fogg was legendary crooner Rudy Vallee, and Ethel was in fact Lola...

[flamingyouth]

3. That really was not Van Johnson's finest hour

He really was a great actor, and a huge star for MGM back in the '40s and '50s. He was great in "30 Seconds Over Tokyo." He had a pretty sad life, though, and well, you can see what happened to his career.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

6. I am a sucker for any Esther Williams movie, so...

...I've seen plenty of Van Johnson. He was in some strange little black and white flick on Turner Classic Movies yesterday. He was pretty cool in "The Caine Mutiny," too.



From "about.com"...

"For a guy with a metal plate in his head (the result of a serious auto accident in 1942), who survived skin cancer in 1963, Van Johnson is doing pretty well, celebrating his 85th birthday this month."
http://classicfilm.about.com/library/weekly/aa082601a.htm

(He was born August 25, 1916 in Newport, Rhode Island, so the article appeared in August 2001).

[Fenris]

4. False Face (Malachi Throne)

Lady Penelope Peasoup (Glynis Johns)
The Bookworm (Roddy MacDowell)

[alvis]

7. Somewhat unrelated

I was going through some old things today and happened across Frank Miller's Batman (Hardcover). Really great stuff, Dark Knight Returns, brings back memories of a great Batman storyline. Set in the future, Batman returns from retirement to fight crime, and also Superman. :evilgrin:

This in turn makes me pine for Batman: Arkham Asylum. Another hardcover graphic novel with fully painted pages. Love the art and the story. The story is that all the enemies that Batman sent away went to Arkham Asylum for the criminally insane. The inmates took over the prison and Batman has to go in. A very dark and grim Batman.

I was never a big fan of Batman, but I can really appreciate these.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

10. Supposedly the new movie draws upon Dark Knight for inspiration...

...that series, as well as his Daredevil stuff, dragged a whole industry into the modern age...all of the "graphic novels" and stuff that followed had roots in Miller's work...which had ITS roots in the great storytellers, like Will Eisner on "The Spirit."

Alan Moore got the "esoteric" crowd all fired up with his version of Swamp Thing, Watchmen, etc...but Miller was the ground breaker.

[alvis]

12. I would hope the new Batman

draws on the the Dark Knight mythos. I'm thinking Christian Bale would make an excellent Batman, if there are any doubts, watch Equilibrium. He's certainly got the action down.

I hear there is going to be a Sin City movie. Should be interesting, at least one would hope(Robocop 2 not withstanding).

Frank Miller's Hardboiled. Classic.

I'm Nixon. I'm a tax collector.

[Enraged_Ape]

8. Cliff Robertson's Shame

I think he was supposed to be a parody of Alan Ladd's Shane. But it was pretty damned obscure, even by 1967 standards.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

9. With the kid who did the voice of Linus in the Peanuts cartoons...

...Christopher Shea...doing the "come back, Shame" bit.

Cliff Robertson looked like he had a hell of a good time playing that role.

:toast:

[mitchum]

11. Tallulah Bankhead as "Black Widow"...

just because it was sad to see her reduced to appearing in that campfest. Miss Tallulah deserved a higher quality campfest