Fine Feathered Finks

A strange, but seemingly harmless, giveaway of umbrellas heralds the release from prison of another of Batman’s most fiendish foes, the Penguin. But rather than robbing the store where this event takes place, the Penguin is a no-show, confounding the Caped Crusaders. Batman discovers that three new umbrella factories have opened in Gotham City since the Penguin’s release, one of those factories owned by a Mr. K.G. Bird. Batman decides to plant a bug in the factory, but he does so in plain clothes as Bruce Wayne…and is promptly captured.

written by Lorenzo Semple, Jr.
directed by Robert Butler
music by Nelson Riddle / Batman theme by Neal Hefti

Cast: Adam West (Batman), Burt Ward (Robin), Alan Napier (Alfred), Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon), Stafford Repp (Chief O’Hara), Madge Blake (Mrs. Cooper), Burgess Meredith (The Penguin), David Lewis (Warden Crichton), Walter Burke (Sparrow), Lewis Charles (Hawkeye), Alex D’Arcy (Shop Owner), Robert Phillips (Cellmate), Johnny Jacobs (Asst. Shop Owner)

Notes: If the Penguin’s furnace is burning at 10,000 degrees or hotter, it’s actually burning hotter than the average temperature of the surface of the sun – but the temperature does match up with what the most recent scientific studies estimate for the temperature of the Earth’s core, meaning that the Penguin’s furnace may go a very long way down (!). This is the first of many appearances by Burgess Meredith as the Penguin.