Saturday, November 10, 2007

The Saturday Seven: Favorite Villains Foiled by Batman and Robin

It occurred to me the other day that the world's problems seemed so much more simple back in the 60's when Batman was on TV fighting crime. Imagine how much easier things would be today if we still had Batman and Robin....as soon as a problem is detected, the President would simply pick up the Batphone to request help to fight the baddies. Batman and Robin were experienced and capable of foiling plots of some of the most fiendish, evil villains and criminals ever known. I'm sure they could have stopped terrorism too. Upon receipt of the call, and with a cry of "To the Bat Cave", the Dynamic Duo would slide down their pole and jump into the Batmobile to fight crime and save the country. Ah yes, I would rest so much easier at night if they were still around. This brings me to another scintillating edition of:
The Saturday Seven: Favorite Villains Foiled by Batman and Robin
The classic TV series of the 1960's had a cast of villains played by well known actors who were among the biggest names in Hollywood at that time. Here are my favorites:
#1 The Penguin- Burgess Meredith scared me as a kid. He was so evil that I would avert my eyes for a brief moment when he first appeared on the scene. And that evil cackle...
#2 The Joker- Cesar Romero was so good in this role as a demented baddie. His laugh was maniacal and menacing.

#3 The Riddler- Frank Gorshin was nimble and seemed to creep and crawl around, leaving cleverly written mysteries for The Dynamic Duo to solve. I secretly admired him for his brains.

#4 Cat Woman- Julie Newmar (also Eartha Kitt and Lee Meriweather too). She was a skilled high-stakes burglar who could stop Batman with her whip and sex-appeal.

#5 Egghead- Vincent Price masterfully played the "world's smartest criminal". I was always fascinated by how his crimes would have an egg-motif to them. He peppered his language with ridiculous puns like "egg-zactly" and "egg-cellent." The best part was the egg-shaped weapons, such as laughing gas eggs and tear gas eggs, which were laid by chickens that he fed onions to!

#6 Mr Freeze- Otto Preminger was the frigid mad scientist doing bad things with an ice and cold theme. He couldn't help it...he had a medical condition where body temperature was always cold, requiring him to wear a refrigerated “ice suit” to survive. I was hokey but it worked.
#7 Tied: Louie the Lilac (Milton Berle) and Chandel "Fingers" (Liberace)- both were difficult to take seriously, but I liked them when they were on the show.
Above: the criminals scheme and plot...
Who were YOUR favorite Batman TV villains of the 60's? Go ahead, leave a comment, I'm running a special, its FREE ALL DAY TODAY!
-Rick Rockhill
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11 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 10, 2007 at 5:11 AM

    well since you are running a special today and the comments are free, I just HAD to leave one! You forgot all about the Clock King...walter Slezak was awesome in that part!!!

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  2. Southern (in)SanityNovember 10, 2007 at 8:06 AM

    It is difficult to choose from any of the top four on your list. They each had their unique characteristics that stood out.

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  3. snowelfNovember 10, 2007 at 8:19 AM

    Happy Saturday Pss!! :)

    I dig Batman-in all forms, old, new, animated,with dorky Robin, with cutie Robin, beyond...

    --snow

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  4. Desert SongbirdNovember 10, 2007 at 8:42 AM

    I don't know about favorite, but the most memorable for me were The Penguin and The Joker. As you said, the villainous laughs did it for me.

    Thanks for the walk down memory lane!

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  5. BurficaNovember 10, 2007 at 2:45 PM

    the joker was always spooky for me. But I don't like clowns. hehehee

    Hey I don't live in the east coast, I live in Arizona. We are pretty dam warm, so I couldn't tell you how I live with the cold. lol

    ReplyDelete
  6. fiwaNovember 10, 2007 at 5:17 PM

    Hi - thanks for stopping by and visiting my blog. My one requirement for linking is that you have a psychic fish, so you are in like Flynn! Please thank Dr. Wang for the very wise advice he gave me.

    Oh, and The Joker was the scariest villian (till Bush, of course) because he had that awful painted on smile that looked vampireish.

    Have a wonderful weekend -
    fiwa

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  7. WATNovember 10, 2007 at 7:44 PM

    They really did have some great acting talent playing these villains didn't they? As corny and cheesy as that show was, the villains were first rate.

    How ironic.

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  8. CRUSTY MOM-ENovember 11, 2007 at 5:07 AM

    Because I'm a girl at heart:
    1. Catwoman the body I wanted to have and she was beautiful
    2. Riddler (cause there was something unknowingly sexy about him)

    3. Joker (because when I smile, I look just like his mouth.)

    Have a great day..
    Great post!! At first I do have to say that I thought you were comparing Batman the good to Bush the villian, you had me guessing for a sentence or two!!)
    Always,
    Crusty~

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  9. Stephen R.November 11, 2007 at 5:25 PM

    Those are great, but I loved Tallulah Bankhead as The Black Widow and the hundreds of times she said, "Batman, DAH-ling!" with that raspy voice of hers!!!!

    P.S. Caesar Romero refused to shave his mustache to play The Joker, so that applied make-up OVER it. You can see it plain as day in most of the shots. Hy-sterical!

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  10. Jake MabeNovember 11, 2007 at 9:39 PM

    Two words: Julie Newmar. Her Catwoman defined the word babe.

    And Caesar Romero is a close second as the Joker. That guy was fantastic.

    Remember the one where they ran out of money and had to film the fight scene in the dark?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Canadian flakeNovember 15, 2007 at 6:58 PM

    hmmmmm I never heard of egghead...not sure how I missed that one...

    of course my fav was catwoman...lol

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Thank you kindly.