GORSHIN WORKING OVERTIME In the TV Guide listings for Thursday, March 31, 1966: 7:30 p.m. ABC Batman “Give ’Em the Axe” Guest-starring Frank Gorshin as the Riddler, threatening to entomb Batman and Robin in hot wax. 7:30 p.m. CBS The Munsters Guest-starring Frank Gorshin as Fair Deal Dan, a con man trying to sell half-wit Herman a lemon. Adam West enjoys telling the tale of how Dozier kept West’s ego in check during Batman’s heyday by reminding him that there had been thirteen Tarzans, or that “Tarzan No. 13” was waiting in the wings to replace him. There is another story linking Mike Henry to Batman. In the early 1960s, Ed Graham Productions had reportedly optioned Batman to develop as a liveaction adventure series, allegedly with Mike Henry starring in the role. This would have aired on CBS-TV on Saturday mornings, but plans for the series fizzled.
TM & © DC Comics.
It is widely assumed that one of the comics Dozier read on his legendary flight was Batman #171 (May 1965). Since that issue went on sale the first week of March in 1965, the same time ABC-TV was executing its Batman plans, this is indeed possible. Making it probable is its use of the comic book’s lead story, Gardner Fox’s “Remarkable Ruse of the Riddler!,” as the spine of what Lorenzo Semple, Jr. scripted as the Batman pilot, the two-part “Hi Diddle Diddle” and “Smack in the Middle.” Batman #171’s kitschy Carmine Infantino/Murphy Anderson cover shows the Riddler—previously one of writer Bill Finger’s more obscure Batman villains, with only two prior appearances, both in 1948—laughing insanely, spinning back and forth like a punching bag, unharmed, between Batman and Robin’s fists. “What lunacy!,” Dozier must have thought. He tapped impressionist Frank Gorshin (1933–2005) to portray the Riddler. Gorshin was a familiar face to TV viewers of the day, having meandered through guest-appearances galore (Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Have Gun—Will Travel, The Untouchables, Combat!). He also found no shortage of work as a character actor in a diverse range of films including Hot Rod Girl (1956), Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957), Studs Lonigan (1960), and That Darn Cat! (1965). After reading Semple’s wacked-out screenplay, Gorshin’s reaction was, as he told TV Guide in 2000, “This is never going to work. So I’ll do it!” After a number of script revisions, shooting for the two-part Batman pilot began on October 20, 1965, under the direction of Robert Butler; the shoot lasted 21 days, three days over the scheduled 18. As the Riddler, the lean and uncontrollably manic Gorshin cackled an infectious but chilling laugh he developed at Hollywood parties. Juxtaposed against Batman, delightfully played by West as the squarest of squares, Gorshin’s Riddler seemed all the more dangerous, like a powder keg just waiting to go BOOM! “I’d always felt that, of all the villains, Frank’s Riddler was the most ‘villainous,’” “Batman” himself revealed in the Winter 1997 publication Adam West Remembers Batman. “I always sensed in Frank’s characterization that, while the other bad guys were more interested in taunting Batman, Riddler was the only one who might actually get
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THE RIDDLER: LIBERATED FROM LIMBO
Publicity still of Frank Gorshin—in loafers! —as the Riddler.
violent—he was living dangerously close to the edge.” The pilot tested poorly to audiences, who were expecting a traditional adventure show and didn’t understand its humor. ABC added a laugh track and played Batman for a different test audience, with similar results. There was panic growing among ABC executives that this extremely costly show might flop, but those attached had faith in the program and persevered.
BRINGING THE COMICS TO LIFE From numerous Batman and Detective Comics issues, old and current, Greenway Productions lifted villains, several plots, and an element particular to the comic-book language: “hand-drawn” sound effects. Batman’s fight scenes glorified their sound effects with pop-art graphics flashing across the screen, tightly orchestrated POW!s, ZAP!s, and CRUNCH!es punctuated by the brass bleats of Nelson Riddle’s soundtrack. (Those sound effects were often plastered over Batman and Robin doubles Hubie Kerns and Victor Paul, the stars’ stand-ins during the action sequences. It should be noted that the thick-waisted Kerns gave birth to another fable attached to the show: that Adam West had a “spare tire.” West was fighting trim during Batman, but the Paunchy Powerhouse spotted by viewers was actually his double, Kerns.) Tilted or “dutch” angles, a throwback to the film work of Bride of Frankenstein director James Whale, were used for the villains’ scenes to convey, according to Adam West, that “criminals’ minds are ‘distorted.’” This technique also gave many shots a comics-like perspective. Neal Hefti composed the surf tune Batman theme, whose lyrics contained one word—“Batman”—repeated over and over. Dozier used to joke that he
THE BATCAVE COMPANION
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