#Batman and Keystone Kops

[esonetwork]

BatChums Episode 31 – Death in Slow Motion

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BatChums Episode 31 – Death in Slow Motion

Batman ’66 S1 Ep31 – Death in Slow Motion

The Riddler is back, and is pursuing a silent movie theme with his latest scheme.

Episode aired Wednesday April 27, 1966

Director: Charles R. Rondeau

Writer: Richard Carr

Cast:

Adam West – Batman

Burt Ward – Robin

Alan Napier – Alfred

Neil Hamilton – Commissioner Gordon

Stafford Repp – Chief O’Hara

Madge Blake – Mrs. Cooper (credit only)

Frank Gorshin – The Riddler

Sherry Jackson – Pauline

Francis X. Bushman – Mr. Van Jones

Richard Bakalyan – C. B.

Theodore Marcuse – Von Bloheim

Burt Brandon – Wolf

Walter Woolf King – Theater Manager

Judy Pace – Theater Cashier

Links:

Mike’s Shout Out:

Earth Station Who

Drew’s Shout Out:

The Acolyte

BatChums Website

BatChums logo by Peter Cutler. https://www.instagram.com/cutler7666 Theme music by Ricky Zero. RadioCult.com https://youtube.com/@wehadthat

If you would like to leave feedback, comment on the show, or would like us to give you a shout out, please call the Bat-Chums feedback line at (317) 455-8411 leave us a message, text us, or feel free to email us @ batchumspodcast@gmail.com

[jbk405]

Getting further into my re-read of Gotham Central, I’m reminded that this was one of the first comics that really got me to understand just how it is that Batman has such a strained relationship with the city and GCPD.

In the “Keystone Kops” arc, when the GCPD is desperate to save one of their own who was caught in a booby trap left by Flash villain Dr. Alchemy, Batman approaches Renee Montoya and tells her not to try and make a deal with Alchemy.  However he doesn’t ask her not to make a deal, he doesn’t persuade her not to make a deal, he tells her.  As though he’s giving her an order and expects it to be followed.  As if he’s got the legal and moral authority to just make this decision for her and everybody else involved.

As if the GCPD really are just soldiers in his personal army, exactly as he had tried to act during the “War Games” event.

And as an outside observer I of course know that he’s right and they never should have tried to deal with Alchemy -- I know this because I’ve literally already read the story so I know how it ends and I’m also familiar with the genre conventions and writing style -- but internally he gives Renee nothing.  He doesn’t approach her as a mentor or ally, and he doesn’t give her any information that she can use to justify not approaching Alchemy.  He doesn’t bring up Alchemy’s psych profile, or the way his powers are only temporary in some situations and thus he can’t cure Officer Kelly.  He just barks an order and leaves.

If we’d been following Batman throughout this story, if it had been from his point of view, we would have seen him at the Bat Computer running his analyses and talking to Alfred, and this information would have been presented to us then. We-the-audience would therefor know why the GCPD shouldn’t try to talk to Alchemy, and so when Batman tells Renee not to do it we would nod our heads and say “She should listen”.  Then when they don’t listen we would say “See, this is why the city needs Batman”.  But since it hasn’t been laid out for us, since we get only the information that Renee herself gets, all we see is a guy in a mask giving cryptic orders from the shadows.

And there’s no trust there.

Seeing things form Batman’s perspective makes a lot of what happens in Gotham make sense, but the people living there don’t see if from Batman’s perspective.  They’re on the ground while it all happens around them, and all they have is the trust that Batman isn’t part of the problem.  And when he doesn’t support that trust...

[papermoonloveslucy]

GEORGE BARROWS

February 7, 1914

George Barrows was born on February 7, 1914 in New York City. He was one of Hollywood's leading "gorilla performers." Unlike other "gorilla performers," he also did a lot of performances without the gorilla suit doing stunt work and bit parts in numerous feature films and television episodes.

Barrows made his screen debut as one of two gorillas in MGM’s Tarzan and His Mate (1934) starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan. 

Although he continued acting and doing stunt work, he didn’t wear the gorilla suit again until 1953, in an episode of “The Abbott and Costello Show”.  As a human, he made his TV debut as a Guard in an episode of “Magnavox Theatre” based on “The Three Musketeers”. 

He donned the gorilla suit 18 more times from 1954 to 1978 including three times on “The Lucy Show,” but he also played two human characters on the series.

His first appearance was in “Lucy and the Monsters” (TLS S3;E18) on January 25, 1965. Barrows played Loretta, the maid, in the haunted house dream sequence. 

In “Lucy at Marineland” (TLS S4;E1) on September 13, 1965, Barrows was a (human) extra in the location sequence at the dolphin show.  Although not addressed by name in the dialogue, he is credited as Bruiser. His blonde companion is unbilled and unidentified. 

“Lucy and Art Linkletter” (TLS S4;E16) on January 10, 1966, found Barrows playing Hilda, a gorilla escaped from the Los Angeles Zoo. The gorilla has actually been sent by Art Linkletter, to tempt Lucy into speaking while she’s competing for a prize by staying silent for 24 hours. 

When “Lucy Meets Mickey Rooney” (TLS S4;E18) on January 24, 1966, Barrows is involved in the silent movie sketch in which Lucy plays Charlie Chaplin and Rooney the Kid. Barrows plays an escaped Prisoner, toting a ball and chain as he runs from the Keystone Kops. 

In “Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” (TLS S4;E20)  on February 7, 1966, Barrows plays Coconuts Mulligan, star of the film “Love in the Jungle”. She (Coconuts is a female, like all of Barrow’s other Lucy gorillas) is accompanied to the premiere by Miss Beverly Hills (Mimi Van Tysen). 

Also for Desilu, Barrows played a policeman and a fireman on two episodes of the helicopter drama “Whirlybirds” (1957). 

Barrows played a policeman on a Christmas Eve 1959 episode of “The Untouchables.” 

He even had a bit part on a 1962 episode of “My Three Sons” filmed on the Desilu lot. 

Like many of Lucy’s performers, Barrows was seen on “Batman”.  He played Charles, henchman to the Catwoman in two 1968 episodes. 

His final gorilla character was on an episode of “The Tim Conway Show�� in 1981. He retired the following year and died in 1994 at age 80. 

[thedcdunce]

Doctor Alchemy

“With this Philosopher's Stone I can transmute any element into any other. I bet your heart wouldn't work so good, if it was, oh say, coal!” - Doctor Alchemy

Real Name: Albert “Al” Desmond

Aliases:

Mister Element

Gender: Male

Height: 5′ 11″

Weight: 171 lbs (78 kg)

Eyes: Green

Hair: Red

Abilities:

Alchemy

Chemistry

Weaknesses:

Multiple Personalities

Equipment:

Philosopher’s Stone

Element Gun

Universe:

Earth-One

New Earth

Citizenship: American

Base of Operations: Central City

Parents: Peter Desmond; father

Marital Status: Divorced (Rita Desmond; wife)

Occupation: Professional Criminal

First Appearance: Showcase #13 (March, 1958)

Abilities

Alchemy

Chemistry

Weaknesses

Multiple Personalities

Equipment

Philosopher's Stone

Element Gun

Origin

Albert Desmond suffered from multiple personality disorder where, like Two-Face, one side was a harmless citizen, the other personality was a dark criminal. Utilizing his knowledge of chemistry, Desmond began his criminal debut under the guise of Mister Element.

Rogues

After being sent to jail by Flash, Desmond somehow found the Philosopher's Stone, which had the ability to transmute one element to another. After using the Stone to escape, Desmond restarted his criminal career under the new moniker of Doctor Alchemy and clashed with Flash many times, but was defeated every time.

Eventually, Desmond's good personality resurfaced and he quit crime and hid the Stone. However, a new Doctor Alchemy appeared, who turned out to be Alvin Desmond, Albert's identical twin whom he shares a psychic link with. It was later revealed that the "twin" was a construct of Albert's evil by the Stone itself. The construct was eliminated, though Albert became Doctor Alchemy again and joined the Rogues.

Keystone Kops

Albert Desmond setup a lab in Gotham City that was discovered by officers Andrew Kelly and Donald Peak during a regular check-up on two children reported for suspicious behavior. When the chemicals spilled and mixed when attempting to remove the children from the hidden lab, a chemical fire set Andrew Kelly on fire. Donald Peak reported the flames emitted no heat. It was discovered the trap was set as an experiment by Albert Desmond to transform someone into a grotesque and powerful creature. The creature was eventually stopped by the GCPD and Batman.

Fun Facts

Al's father Professor Peter Desmond was an astronomer investigating a star known as the Dragon's Eye. Al Desmond's wife Rita believed the star's instability affected her husband's sanity.

A fake Dr. Alchemy claimed Al's father's name was Herman Desmond.

[instadailyukw]

Stock Market Analysis: 06/07/10

As for loss of business, my experience in valuation is that rather than being punished for doing bad valuations, bankers are rewarded for their deal-making prowess. The courts have tended to give too much respect for precedence and expert witnesses, even when the precedent or expert testimony fails common sense tests and it is possible that these valuations, while abysmal, will pass the legally defensible test. The first is that they give me extended stretches of time when I can work without interruption, no knocks on the door or email or phone calls. That said, the banking work done on deals like the this one vindicate everyone's worst perceptions of bankers as a hired guns who cannot shoot straight, more Keystone Kops than Wyatt Earps! His work with Karl Case in developing a real estate index that is now widely followed has introduced discipline and accountability into real estate investing and his historical data series on boutiques s, which he so generously shares with us, is invaluable.

For those who don’t quite grasp what the CAPE is, it is the conventional PE ratio for stocks, with two adjustments to the earnings. I did tell you that I have a wandering mind and so, if you don't like Superman or stocks, consider yourself forewarned! Finally, I started thinking about Kryptonite, the substance that renders Superman helpless, and what would be analogous to it in the stock market. I pondered whether Superman needed his suit or more importantly, his cape, to fly. These deep thoughts about Superman's cape then led me to thinking about CAPE, the variant on PE ratios that Robert Shiller developed, and how many articles I have read over the last decade that have used this measure as the basis for warning me that stocks are headed for a fall. One of the primary weapons that rational bubblers use to back up their case is the Cyclically Adjusted Price Earnings (CAPE), a measure developed and popularized by Robert Shiller, Nobel prize winner whose soothsaying credentials were amplified by his calls on the dot com and housing bubbles.

In a post from a couple of years ago, I titled these people as bubblers and classified them into doomsday, knee jerk, conspiratorial, righteous and rational bubblers. The last group (rational bubblers) are generally sensible people, who having fallen in love with a market metric, are unable to distance themselves from it. Relative to the fully history, the CAPE looks high today, but relative to the last 20 years, the story is much weaker. Some of this worrying is natural, given the market's rise over the last few years, but there are a few who seem to have surrendered entirely to the notion that stocks are in a bubble and that there is no rational explanation for why investors would invest in them. The current CAPE of 27.27 is well above the historic average of 16.06 and if you buy into the notion of mean reversion, the case makes itself, right? This makes $1.37 an ever greater resistance level but I know exactly where to buy now. This is the easiest way to buy Bitcoin without having to have an actual Bitcoin account.

On this trip, however, I made the bad decision of watching Batman versus Superman, Dawn of Justice, a movie so bad that the only way that I was able to get through it was by letting my mind wander, a practice that I indulge in frequently and without apologies or guilt. Slowing growth can only be addressed in a meaningful way by changing policies to promote employment and the expansion of particular sectors. These renovations will fuel growth and position older restaurants for future growth. In fact, what the stock split signals (to me) is that Google is planning more controversial (and debatable) big decisions in the future and they do not want to either explain these decisions or put them up for a fair vote. This aptly named free Android weather app, developed by Michael Bachman, is one I would recommend to those who just want a plain and simple, easy-to-use app.