#william dozier

[nerds-yearbook]

Julie Newmar was the first actress to protray Catwoman on the Adam West Batman TV show. She made her debute on March 16, 1966. It is said that she designed and made her own costume. ("The Purr-fect Crime", Batman, TV, Event).

[literarysiren]

We Carry Their Bones is some of the most achingly good true crime coverage I've read in long time, and shows the kind of approach--centering the victims and their families without shying away from the horror of the experience you seek to shed light on--that should be the norm for true crime journalism in all media forms.

[zartharn]

damn bitches were really obsessed with knockout gas huh

[vintagegeekculture]

Before the original 1967 Planet of the Apes went into production, a test reel was made to prove to the studio the makeup intensive story could be told in a visually believable way. The original makeup test reel featured the original actor cast to be Dr. Zaius: Hollywood legend Edward G. Robinson, who ended up not appearing in the finished film.

The chimpanzee makeup was tested by James Brolin (who's son with Barbara Streisand, Josh, is best known for his role in the Goonies) with Zira, Linda Harrison. Brolin, already an up and coming star, did not appear in the film, and Linda Harrison did not play Zira, but instead received the non-speaking role of the cave girl Nova. Angelique Pettyjohn, the green-haired warrior woman from the Star Trek episode, the "Gamesters of Triskelion," was runner up for the non-speaking role of Nova, as Linda Harrison was originally slated to play Zira.

Fun fact: Linda Harrison is the first ever actress to ever play Wonder Woman in live action, as she appeared in the 1960s "Who's Afraid of Diana Prince" proof of concept short by producer WIlliam Dozier (creator of the original Batman series). Harrison was well known to Dozier as she appeared in a couple episodes of the 60s Batman series. The short did not end up going to series.

[cantsayidont]

October 1966. You can't keep a dead butler down. About two years after killing off Alfred the butler in 1964, editor Julius Schwartz was faced with a problem: William Dozier, the producer of the forthcoming Batman TV show, wanted to include Alfred in the show, and wanted him reintroduced into the comics as well! Schwartz and writer Gardner Fox struggled with this challenge and finally came up with the utterly preposterous story presented in the issue above.

Even for a Silver Age Gardner Fox comic book, this story is exceptionally convoluted, so it's best considered chronologically. We begin with a flashback sequence involving iconoclastic "all-around scientific genius" Brandon "Plot Device" Crawford:

This is already straining credulity a little because the story in DETECTIVE COMICS #328 in which Alfred died (helpfully recapped elsewhere in this issue) showed that he had been crushed to death by a giant boulder. That did not seem survivable at all, and even if it were, this would imply that neither Batman and Robin nor whatever doctor who filled out Alfred's death certificate nor the mortician noticed that he wasn't actually dead! Anyway …

So, Alfred wasn't actually dead, he wasn't embalmed, and he was buried in a refrigerated coffin (that's what the purple cylinders in the last panel previous page were for). A stretch, but we'll allow it. However, upon discovering this, Crawford, instead of calling an ambulance like a normal person, seizes on the opportunity to do some Frankenstein shit with Alfred's maimed, broken, mostly dead body, as one does (if one is a reclusive "radical individualist" who dropped out of college to pursue unorthodox, dubiously ethical scientific experiments, I guess).

One of the initial objects of Schwartz's tenure had been to rid the Batman books of the fantastical aliens, monsters, and bizarre transformations of the 1957–1963 period in favor of something a little more grounded. All that goes out the window here, despite the rather defensive editorial footnote, which says:

EDITOR'S NOTE: Physics professor Robert Ettinger, author of "The Prospect of Immortality," has said that death can only be defined in relative terms. He points to the hundreds of persons revived after drowning, asphyxiation, electrocution, and heart attack. "Biological death depends not only on the state of the body," Ettinger says, "but also on the state of medical art!"

Okay, then. On to the Frankenstein shit:

So, Crawford's experimental cell regeneration machine has restored Alfred's broken body, but in the process transformed him into an unrecognizable, rather hideous-looking being who is also evil. Check! The regeneration effect we see Crawford panicking about then transforms him so that he looks like Alfred, while leaving him in "a catatonic trance." The Outsider, rather ungratefully, puts Crawford's unconscious body back in Alfred's coffin to cover his tracks, and uses Crawford's various machines and his own "increased mental power" in his new quest to destroy Batman and Robin.

This was not the first appearance of the Outsider, who had actually been hounding the Dynamic Duo on and off since DETECTIVE COMICS #334 two years earlier, although he had never appeared on-panel, and his identity had been a mystery. Where Schwartz originally intended to take that plotline is not clear (Schwartz's own account doesn't say, and Gardner Fox said later that he didn't think Schwartz had a solution in mind at the outset), but it doesn't seem likely that revealing the Outsider as Alfred was the plan, particularly since subsequent Outsider stories had shown that the villain had superhuman powers, including the ability to bring inanimate objects to life! In this story, the Outsider really does transform Robin into a wooden coffin, as the cover indicates — it's not a hypnotic illusion or some other such dodge. Fortunately, the effect is reversed after the villain is defeated:

Batman's determination to keep these events secret from Alfred is bizarre, since Alfred's death is a matter of public record: As seen in DETECTIVE COMICS #328, Bruce Wayne started a charitable foundation in Alfred's name, with its own building in Gotham City! Batman suggests that they can rename the charity the Wayne Foundation (as of course they subsequently did), but how he expects to resolve the various problems created by Alfred having been legally dead for months without his finding out is unclear. They do take the time to retrieve Crawford (who has miraculously not suffocated or starved to death in Alfred's coffin) and use his machine to return him to normal, after which Batman suggests that Bruce Wayne will give Crawford a job at the renamed foundation.

If you're wondering, "Wait, does this mean Alfred now had super-powers?" the answer is yes! Since he didn't retain any conscious memory of his death and resurrection, he was normally unaware of this, but Alfred's evil Outsider personality resurfaced several times, and he sometimes spontaneously reverted to the Outsider's form, in which he once again had supernatural abilities:

Notice the background, with the buildings burning like candles? The Outsider did that with his mental powers, along with a bunch of less grandiose but equally impossible feats. Fortunately, they reverted to normal after he split into separate good (Alfred) and evil (Outsider) selves and defeated himself. The Outsider resurfaced once more in 1985, battling the Outsiders and nearly killing Superman by transforming the Batcave's giant penny into Green Kryptonite.

I guess this whole saga did resolve the problem of resurrecting Alfred for the TV show, but in what I think can fairly be called the most ludicrous way possible. (And you thought the PENNYWORTH show spun out of GOTHAM was silly …)

[chernobog13]

Elle Wood Walker as Wonder Woman (1967) in the (thankfully) failed series pilot from William Dozier, the producer of the Batman TV series.

Awful is not a strong enough word to describe the five minutes of the pilot that I've seen.

[the-imaginative-hobbyist]

"Batman Meets Godzilla" is an audio drama adapted from a treatment written by William Dozier in the 1960's for a proposed big screen crossover where the Batman of his television production starring Adam West as The Caped Crusader would go against the King of the Monsters himself, Godzilla.

Written by Max Z S

Narrated by Ian Andrysiak

Music/FX - Freeplaymusic.com, Pixabay.com

Inspired by @NEUVERSECREATIVE

Enjoy!

Don't forget to comment, rate, and subscribe to The Imaginative Hobbyist. You can also find The Imaginative Hobbyist on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

[odk-2]

Martha and the Vandellas - Heat Wave (1963)

Martha and the Vandellas - Heat Wave (1963) Holland–Dozier–Holland (Brian Holland | Lamont Dozier | Edward Holland) from: "Heat Wave" / "A Love Like Yours (Don't Come Knocking Everyday)" (Single) "Heat Wave" (LP)

Soul | Motown | R&B | Pop

Stereo: JukeHostUK (left click = play) (320kbps)

Mono: Tumblr (left click = play) (320kbps)

Personnel: Martha Reeves: Lead Vocals Rosalind Ashford: Backing Vocals Annette Beard: Backing Vocals

Studio Musicians: The Funk Brothers: Joe Hunter: Piano Robert White: Guitar Eddie Willis: Guitar Andrew “Mike” Terry: Saxophone Solo James Jamerson: Double Bass Richard “Pistol” Allen: Drums

Produced by Brian Holland / Lamont Dozier / William "Mickey" Stevenson

Recorded: @ Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A) in Detroit, Michigan USA on June 20, 1963

Single Released: on July 9, 1963

Album Released: on  September 30, 1963

Gordy Records

[jedivoodoochile]

El actor y director de cine, Otto Preminger, nació el 5 de Diciembre de 1906 en Austria. En los años 30 emigró a Estados Unidos, donde obtuvo el éxito de taquilla por sus notables películas.

Años después, participó como Mr Freeze, el supervillano qué reta a Batman, en el exitoso programa de televisión de 1966.

William Dozier, el creador del programa de televisión, Batman, basado en el cómic de DC, explicó la contratación del afamado director de cine :

“Conocía a Otto desde hacía mucho tiempo y me llamó desde Nueva York y me dijo: 'Bill, debo hacer un programa de Batman'. Si no hago un capitulo de “Batman”, mis hijos no me dejarán volver a casa'”.

Otto tenía un gran talento en el cine y la televisión, sin embargo, era una mala persona con quien trabajar. Muchos miembros del elenco de Batman han hablado sobre este asunto sobre lo grosero y difícil que fue trabajar con Otto.

Alan Napier, quien interpretó a Alfred, había informado en varias entrevistas y documentales que Otto realmente lo enojaba, no solo cuando filmaron sus episodios de Mr. Freeze sino cuando Alan trabajó con él en otra producción anterior a Batman. Aparentemente, Otto le diría groseramente "Concéntrate" , estropearas tu línea, etc.

La impopularidad de Otto se vio claramente , cuando no le pidieron que regresara como Mr. Freeze en el programa de Batman, sino que el actor Eli Wallach interpretó al Sr. Freeze en la siguiente aparición del diabólico villano de nieve.

Otto Preminger es el segundo de tres actores que interpretaron al Sr. Freeze en el programa de televisión de Batman.

[fancoloredglasses]

[RERUN] Holy nostalgia!

(Thanks to Dark Detective)

[All images are owned by DC Comics and 20th Century Fox Disney. Please don’t sue me]

Ah, Batman...campy, goofy, 1966 Batman...

A confession: I am not old enough to have seen Batman in its original run, but I grew up watching it in reruns. I fondly remember it feeling like a comic book with all the BAMs, POWs, CRASHes, and of course ZOWIEs during the fight scenes. Then I hit my teens and early 20s and realized how stupid it was.

Maybe it’s due to hitting my X0s that I can start seeing what they writers and actors were going for. Series creator William Dozier (who also was the narrator for the series) said he never read the comic before being assigned by 20th Century Fox to make a Batman series (something that a lot of the creative staff for DC movies have in common. I’m looking at you Burton, you Donner, and especially YOU, Schumacher!), but he realized that if he wanted to make a series that would appeal to kids as well as parents, he needed to go completely over-the-top!

And over-the-top it was! The problem was that within a few years the comic started steering away from the goofy tone and toward a tone that was more...if not grim then at least more serious. Unfortunately, the series set the tone for what Batman would look like on screen until 1989 (including Casey Casem’s Robin parroting Burt Ward’s “holy” addiction in Superfriends), and the characters were what people thought of when thinking of Batman, the Joker, and the rest until Bruce Timm and Paul Dini redefined Batman’s entire feel in 1992 (only to have Joel Schumacher nearly kill it in 1997)

(Thanks to tenor)

But this isn’t about what Batman became, but what Batman was.

For all the jokes about Adam West’s “square Batman”, the fact that West was the only Batman with a beer-gut, the endless “Holy” exclamations...

...the fact that Cesar Romero would do anything to be the Joker except shave, I do still enjoy the charm of the show, although there are a few glaring issues I have (and most involve the women of the show)

Let’s start with “Aunt” Harriet Cooper. First off, both Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson are orphans. Neither have any family that could have taken them in (hence why Alfred raised Bruce and Bruce raised Dick after their respective parents’ deaths), so whose aunt is she supposed to be? Plus, she has free reign of the manor (though apparently she doesn’t enter Bruce’s study) Do you mean to tell me she has never heard the Bat-phone going off and wondered why Bruce had a special phone that beeps?

Then we have Barbara Gordon.

AKA Batgirl.

Now, I get that Commissioner Gordon doesn’t know his daughter wears purple tights and fights crime, but Bruce Wayne is supposed to be the “World’s Greatest Detective” and even he doesn’t know who Batgirl is?!

Finally we have Catwoman, who (if you count the movie) was played by three different actresses and no explanation was given.

And now we have the biggest issue I have (that doesn’t involve the women in the show). Batman, Commissioner Gordon, and Chief O’Hara all refer to the GCPD as “the finest police force in the world” (yes, they may be a bit biased) However, Batman repeatedly tells Gordon and O’Hara to keep the cops out of his way. Moreover, when the police are involved, they come off as incompetent.

This level of idiocy wouldn’t be seen again until 2012 when Gordon leads the entire goddamn GCPD into the sewers in The Dark Knight! If the GCPD is the finest in the world, the rest of the world must be Keystone!

(Thanks to laughland)

...no offense to the hometown of the Golden Age Flash...

Once again, if anyone has a favorite episode, let me know!

[musickickztoo]

CONTRA2022 - 18  GOODBYE 2022 

(some of the many musicians we lost in 2022)

Playlist: https://www.mixcloud.com/Contraflow/contra2022-18-goodbye-2022-some-of-the-musicians-we-lost-in-2022/

1. Ronnie Spector 2. Terry Hall 3. Wilko Johnson  4. Jet Black 5. Chris Bailey 6. Jerry Lee Lewis  7. Loretta Lynn 8. Betty Davis 9. William "Poogie" Hart & Thom Bell  10. Mark Lanegan 11. Martin Duffy 12. Nik Turner  13. Christine McVie 14. Dino Danelli 15. Jerry Allison & Sonny West  16. R. Dean Taylor & Lamont Dozier 17. Vangelis 18. Gary Brooker  19. Anton Fier 20. Hamish Kilgour 21. Keith Levene  22. Donald "Tabby" Shaw & Fitzroy "Bunny" Simpson  23. Cecil "Skelly" Spence 24. Nicky Tesco 25. Mimi Parker  26. Dallas Good 27. Cathal Coughlan 28. Paul Ryder  29. Mike Bryson 30. Don Craine 31. Robert Gordon  32. Ronnie Hawkins 33. Rachel Nagy 34. Sam Henry  35. D.H. Peligro 36. Jimi Sohns 37. Tony Hill  38. Taylor Hawkins 39. Chris Koerts 40. Rudy Gomis  41. Pharoah Sanders

[nerds-yearbook]

King Tut made his first appearance in the Batman episode that aired on April 13, 1966. King Tut was the first villian completely created for the show. While Zelda the Great was technically a new character, her story completely mirrored a comic starring a different villian. ("The Curse of Tut", Batman, TV event)

[citizenscreen]

Joan Fontaine married Universal-International executive William Dozier on May 2, 1946. The union lasted until 1951.

[gregproops]

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, Hitmaker Lamont Dozier, Olympic Icon Allyson Felix and The Greatest Serena Williams. Plus President Biden invites the bad guys to do good. Voting.Jennifer in the House.

gregproops.com

[visionproductions2008]

"Imagine if the iconic Harley Quinn had swirled her way into the technicolor chaos of the 1966-68 Batman series! 🎭💥 Originally introduced in 1992 by Bruce W. Timm, Paul Dini, and Mitch Brian, Harley became a beloved villainess, but envision her bringing her unique blend of mayhem and charm to the classic William Dozier series. With her in the mix, Gotham's dynamic duo would have had an even more unpredictable foe to face. How do you think the Joker's right-hand gal would have fit into the groovy and campy world of the 60s Batman?

[cantsayidont]

October-November 1950. Loath as I am to admit it, I'm with the Joker here — a march in 1950 was pretty corny, although in compensation, this story from WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #48 has an imaginative plot (with some of Bill Finger's most over-the-top narration) and an ingenious death trap involving a gigantic carillon:

The use of the musical notes and sound effects is clever, and makes this story feel all the more like something from the 1966 BATMAN TV show (it's easy to imagine William Dozier reading the narration), but Lew Sayre Schwartz, ghosting for Bob Kane during this period, doesn't have Dick Sprang's flair for giant props or elaborate scenery; the photo references are distractingly obvious and don't fit stylistically with the figure work. It seems like the artist also struggled a little with the script's unusual storytelling demands, especially in panels 3 and 4, where what Batman is doing with the board and the window is none too clear.

If Sprang had penciled this story, it might have been a classic, but alas, comics writers and artists of this period didn't have much say over who drew which script, and direct dialogue between writer and artist was generally rare at National-DC well into the 1970s.