Batman (1966): The Greatest Mother of Them All
The Greatest Mother of Them All
- 43.
- Season: 2
- Episode: 9
- First Aired: 10/5/1966
Gangstress Ma Parker and her fiendish brood--sons Pretty Boy, Mad Dog, and Machine Gun and daughter Legs--have invaded Gotham City and begin their wave of crime by disrupting Gotham's Ladies Auxiliary's Mother of the Year Awards Ceremony and robbing the entire audience. Batman and Robin are called into action. They quickly locate the fiendish family at their home on Cherry Blossom Road, where, under the cover of a smoke bomb, they evade apprehension, save for Pretty Boy. Later, Machine Gun is also captured, after The Parkers pilfer money from a theater's box office. Then Mad Dog is foiled in his attempt to hold up a drugstore. They finally trace Ma and the last of her delinquent children, Legs, at an old ladies' home, where, after Ma's high-speed rocket-wheelchair race ends at a well-placed wall, they are arrested. The Caped Crusader and The Boy Wonder quickly take Ma and Legs to Gotham State Penitentiary to join the rest of their family.
As Batman and Robin leave the prison, they notice a trustee examining The Batmobile's Batengine. Writing off his rather suspicious behaviour as curiosity, they start on their way. Unfortunately, back in Warden Crichton's office, Ma reveals that she has been secreting sympathetic guards into the prison for some time, so it is easy for her gang to take over; she also brags that Batman was her unwitting pawn in capturing her and her crooked kids, for now she's in total control of The Gotham State Pen! Furthermore, unknown to The Dynamic Duo, that "curious" trustee planted a timebomb inside The Batmobile, thus it has been rigged to explode once it reaches 60mph! Add a recap »
- Writers:
- Henry Slesar
- Director:
- Oscar Rudolph
- Stars:
- Adam West (Bruce N. Wayne/Batman)
- Madge Blake (Aunt Harriet Cooper [ seasons 1-2 ])
- Burt Ward (Richard "Dick" Grayson/Robin The Boy Wonder)
- Alan Napier (Alfred Pennyworth)
- Stafford Repp (Chief O'Hara)
- William Dozier (the narrator)
- David Lewis (Warden Crichton)
- Byron Keith (Mayor Linseed)
- Neil Hamilton (I) (Commissioner James W. Gordon)
- Guest Star:
- Fran Ryan (Chairperson)
- James Griffith (Tiger)
- Milton Berle (Lefty)
- Michael Vandever (Mad Dog Parker)
- Tisha Sterling (Legs Parker)
- Peter Brooks (Machine Gun Parker)
- Robert Biheller (Prettty Boy Parker)
- Budd Perkins (Prison Guard)
- Shelley Winters (Ma Parker)
- Lyzanne LaDue (Nurse)
- Ma Parker and her felonious family is based loosely on for-real gangstress Kate "Ma" Barker and her sons Herman, Lloyd, Arthur and Fred. They teamed up with Alvin Karpis and several other criminals forming The Barker-Karpis Gang which rampaged across the Midwest from 1931 to 1935. edit »
- Oscar Rudolph directs for the first time. He directed a total of 36 episodes and 30 of the final 52 which was the most of any of the 19 directors credited on the series. edit »
- Instead of a deathtrap, Batman and Robin drive the Batmobile unaware of a bomb underneath the engine. edit »
- The actual Batmobile couldn't travel faster than 45 mph! edit »
- Milton Berle (seen here as Lefty) will be seen as Louie The Lilac in Season 3. edit »
- Batman: This criminal record is incredible. How, gentlemen, how has this Ma Parker remained at large?
Gordon: She's crafty. She's clever but most of all, she's motherly.
edit » - Batman: Ma Parker's girl is more dangerous than her three boys.
Robin: Her legs reminded me of Catwoman's.
Batman: You're growing up, Robin. But remember, in crimefighting always keep your sights raised.
edit »
- A visual allusion to famous gangster film Public Enemy is the scene in which Mad Dag pushes a grapefruit into the face of Legs.
In Public Enemy, James Cagney caused public outcry when his character pushed half a grapefruit into the face of Mae Clarke.
edit »
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