BATMAN ep 61: THE PENGUIN'S NEST

 
















BATMAN-The Penguin’s Nest

 

The opening with Gordon calling Batman while Bruce is in the telephone booth next to Gordon is hilarious.

 Dick drinks milk in the restaurant. 

Burt is a very lucky man. While his problem persists, some of the stuffing is coming out the side of his right leg. Chickadee, Penguin’s coat or hat chick girl, has her own theme song, briefly as she ascends the pool ladder, ready to drop the suitcase containing Chief O’Hara into a pool that will soon be electrified after the bullet riddled bodies of Batman and Robin fall into it in the cliffhanger. She also seems to talk in a sort of bird song and like many of the gun molls of the villains, she’s useful to the villain, taking O’Hara prisoner by gun point even if she can’t shoot straight. BTW the abandoned Navy Rec Pool Area looks like it might be from an old ABBOTT AND COSTELLO movie, IN SOCIETY perhaps?

 

The plot is a good one and comes out of the August 1946 comic book. One thing however: Penguin seems to be making a lot of money with his restaurant for rich people. Why bother with the idea of using forged checks made from the signatures obtained at the restaurant, get himself arrested and have a forger in prison Ballpoint Baxter make phony checks? Indeed, Batman’s acceptance/non-acceptance of Warden Crichton’s “ahead of its time” prison reforms allowing prisoners access to blank checks is hilarious. The humor doesn’t go that far overboard as in the Shame story and the guard, Hoffman (played by James O’Hara!) is stunned by a high voltage shock when he scans the henchmen’s meal for prisoner Penguin. Is he dead? Batman and Robin jump over his body and no one checks on him!

 

Lurch appears as a window cameo. He’s even playing the harpsichord.

Crichton takes afternoon naps in the prison in a bed in his night attire!

Some of Penguin’s cigarette ashes fall of in at least two scenes.

 

The fight scene is once again, very well done, but the Robin stand in is still VERY noticeable. Love Robin tweaking Penguin’s nose as Penguin wants the red breasted road runner to stand still so he can run him through with his umbrella.

 

As a kid or even a teen, whenever I saw the Penguin, I almost tuned out and maybe did tune out mentally because he was nothing new but now…seeing Burgess do his thing is just fascinating and I love his eps.

 

A really good episode.

 

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