Neil Hamilton

            On Sunday morning I worked out the chords for all but the final two lines of “A Cannes cet été” (To Cannes This Summer) by Boris Vian. 

            I worked out the chords for the first four verses of “Amour jamais” (“No More Romance”) by Serge Gainsbourg and established the first two for the chorus. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the second of two sessions. It continues to go out of tune pretty much as soon as I start playing after tuning it. The action is very low. It seems that it stays in tune better when the action is too high than when too low. It’s too late to take it back the Twelfth Fret before Christmas but I think I’ll take it back on December 31 to see if the action can be raised again. 

            I weighed 85.55 kilos before breakfast. 

            I washed the bathroom wall tiles above the sink and toilet and also cleaned the top of the back of the toilet. I would have gotten more cleaned but I decided to fix a shelving problem. On the top of the back of the toilet I keep a rack that holds three containers in which I keep three kinds of brushes. The rack is meant to be attached to the wall but I don’t want to mount it until after I’ve painted. Meanwhile it sits on top of the back of the toilet but as it is made of wire it doesn’t sit well on that curved surface. I needed to find something to set it on so it doesn’t slip off. I tried various pieces of wood but they just made it teeter and sometimes fall. So I spent some time today finding the right item and discovered that a boomerang works quite well, plus it is decorative. 

            I weighed 86.3 kilos before lunch. I had a toasted Montreal style bagel with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of low sugar iced tea.

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. I wore an extra sweater so I had my undershirt, a sweatshirt, the sweater, a button shirt and my hoody on. It was very cold. It used to take me an hour to go downtown and back but now, at least in the winter, it takes an hour and a half. 

            I weighed 85.45 kilos at 18:23. 

            I didn’t have time to work on any projects this evening because I spent the time making screen shots of Julie Newmar’s Catwoman from her first appearance in the middle of the first season of Batman. 

            I made pizza on two halves of a Montreal style bagel with two slices of salami to cover each hole, Italian sausage pasta sauce, and five-year-old cheddar. I had them with a beer while watching season 1, episodes 21 and 22 of Batman. 

            In episode 21, The Penguin is just leaving a show with Mrs. Van Climber when a masked robber with a machine gun fires at the chandelier and then demands that wealthy socialite Sophia Starr hand over her ruby pendant. Penguin steps forward to stop the thief but he opens fire. The Penguin however opens his bulletproof umbrella as a shield, then grabs the thief and knocks him out. Penguin returns the pendant to Starr. Commissioner Gordon is in shock when he learns that Penguin prevented a crime. He figures only Batman can cut through the confusion so he calls him. Meanwhile Gordon and Chief O’Hara are grilling the thief under a hot light and trying to force him to admit he’s in cahoots with The Penguin. The crook tells them, “You guys must read too many comic books”. The chief angrily raises a fist to hit him but Gordon stops him. Then the batman appears flapping his cape in silhouette and the robber faints. Batman calls him a “miserable weakling”. They learn that Penguin has just entered The Millionaire’s Club and they rush over there. In the steam room two men are trying to kidnap a rich man named Reggie but Penguin stops them. Batman and Robin arrive thinking they have just stopped Penguin from committing a crime but Reggie Rich explains that Penguin saved him. Reggie gives Penguin a cheque for $10,000 but Penguin tears it up in his face. Penguin gives Batman his card that reads “Penguin Protective Agency”. He says he is taking over the guarding of Sophia Starr’s jewels. Batman decides to pre-emptively protect Starr’s jewels from the Penguin by substituting them with radioactive fake ones that can be tracked with a transmitter. He has Alfred pose as an agent from Floyd’s Insurance who comes to Sophia’s home to photograph her jewels. That way Batman will be able to copy them. While there Alfred switches Penguin’s cigarette holder with one that hides a transmitter. But the handle on Penguin’s umbrella lights up when it detects bugging devices and so Alfred is caught. But Alfred grabs the carpet and pulls it out from under Penguin, causing him to fall as Alfred makes his getaway. Batman makes the copies of Sophia’s jewellery. Batman says that protection of private property is the keystone of all law and order. That would mean that those who have no property are not protected by the law. Batman and Robin sneak into Sophia’s apartment and Batman cracks her safe to replace her jewels. But Penguin and his men catch the dynamic duo committing a crime. There is a fight accompanied by the usual written sound effects. Batman and Robin win but Sophia steps into the room and the heroes run away. Penguin tells her to call the police while he calls the newspapers. Gordon learns that Penguin is throwing a party at the Gotham Amusement Park and he calls to tell Batman that he shouldn’t come because he’ll have to arrest him. But Batman and Robin go there anyway and while spying on Penguin they are knocked out by his men. They are bound and gagged and suspended by their writs behind a shooting gallery. Penguin has replaced the pellets the guns shoot with real bullets and he persuades Gordon and O’Hara to try to hit the targets. They are about to fire and that is the cliffhanger. 

            In episode 22, just before Gordon and O’Hara shoot the guns, Batman and Robin prop their feet against the backs of the targets and raise their bodies above the line of fire. Batman then cuts the ropes with his Batknife and they escape. Penguin goes to Commissioner Gordon’s office and accuses him of harbouring wanted criminals by protecting Batman and Robin and threatens to have him removed from office. Penguin grabs the Batphone to prove his point and Batman answers. Gordon tells Batman that he’d better come into custody. Batman says he’ll be at Penguin’s office in 25 minutes. Gordon tells O’Hara to stake out the area and arrest Batman. Batman and Robin arrive at Penguin’s agency and pretend that Penguin has driven them mad. They are even twitching uncontrollably. There is another fight. At the sound of sirens the dynamic duo escape. The police cut them off and they run from the Batmobile. The cops are shooting at them on a crowded street. They run down a blind alley and the police gun them down. Penguin confiscates the Batmobile and begins calling it the Birdmobile. Later O’Hara shows Gordon the bill for the ammunition they used and comments that blanks cost more than real bullets. Meanwhile Batman and Robin are alive and well and watching the Penguin’s actions through TV transmitter they’d concealed in the Batmobile. Penguin proposes to Sophia and she enthusiastically accepts. The expensive wedding gifts start rolling in from all of Sophia’s rich friends and relatives, including a diamond studded electric can opener. At Penguin and Sophia’s wedding shower Penguin sabotages the sprinklers in her apartment to cause a real shower and he hands out umbrellas to all the guests. Penguin presses a button on his umbrella that causes the gift table to flip the gifts through a secret hole in the wall and then it comes back empty. Penguin and his men pretend to go after the criminals and leave the party. In the garage all the gifts are loaded into the trunk of the Batmobile and they make their escape. They are on their way to their secret hideout but Batman and Robin are following them with the Batcycle. Batman pushes the remote control ejector button and Penguin’s thugs Eagle Eye and Dove are catapulted out of the Batmobile. Batman then takes over the steering of the Batmobile by remote control. Penguin and his men are caught and tied to the hood of the Batmobile. Later Sophia Starr says she still wants to marry Penguin because she is sure her love can change him. When Penguin hears of this he demands to be taken to prison. 

            Commissioner Gordon was played by Neil Hamilton, who started as an Arrow shirt model for magazine ads and received more fan mail than Rudolph Valentino. He also worked as a model for Norman Rockwell. He became interested in acting and graduated from the Pasadena Playhouse. He worked for several stock companies. He made his film debut in The beloved Impostor in 1918 but his first credited movie role was in D.W. Griffith’s The White Rose in 1923. In the late 1920s he signed with paramount and became a popular leading man. He co-starred in America, By Your Leave, The Great Gatsby, The Dawn Patrol, Tarzan the Ape Man, King of the Texas Rangers, When Strangers Marry, He starred in Three Weekends, Isn’t Life Wonderful, In early television he became the host of Hollywood Screen Test. He co-starred in the short lived sitcom That Wonderful Guy.