On my Christian’s Translations blog I posted “Adonis on the Roof”, which is my translation of “Ardoise” by Serge Gainsbourg. I also posted the lyrics on Facebook. There are four songs left in my project to translate all of Serge Gainsbourg’s songs from the beginning in 1958 until his death in 1991. Tomorrow I’ll start learning his “White and Black Blues”.
I played my Gibson les Paul Studio guitar during song practice and it stayed in tune pretty well through most of the session.
I weighed 85.9 kilos before breakfast.
I worked on getting caught up on my journal and was half a day behind by lunchtime.
I weighed 86.3 kilos before lunch.
In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back.
I weighed 85.4 kilos at 18:00.
I was caught up on my journal at 20:19.
I finished frame 22 of my second rainbow wave animation and started on frame 23.
I had a potato with gravy and the rest of my back bacon while watching season 2, episodes 21 and 22 of Batman.
In episode 21, Joker is in the Keyborn Book Store. He grabs The Keys of the Kingdom by A.J. Cronin then proceeds to tear it up while laughing. Then in the Keynote Music Shop he picks up the record album “You’re the Key to My Heart” by Harry Mortimer, then breaks it. He then burgles The Key Club and burns a membership file. Then Commissioner Gordon learns that someone has turned the sign of the Keystone Building upside down and now connects it with the previously reported vandalisms to conclude that the Joker must be behind them all. He calls Batman. When Batman and Robin arrive Gordon shows them that someone recently delivered a key, the shank and bow of which has the body of a skeleton. It came with a note to Batman that read, “Latched or mastered, skeletoned or passed, spot the Scot before you’re outclassed”. Batman thinks the Scot referred to is billionaire Angus Ferguson, who is a famous collector of keys and who is now visiting Gotham. Batman says Ferguson’s prize possession is the jeweled key of Kaincardine, which was handed down through the lineage of the Scottish royal family. Batman and Robin go to Ferguson’s hotel where he is showing his collection. Meanwhile Joker has just built an electronic box which he says will confound Batman and Robin. The heroes arrive at Ferguson’s showing and view the jeweled key of Kaincardine. Joker steps out from behind a curtain and tells them he’s going to steal it. He opens his box and it causes Batman and Robin to stand still until after he’s gone and they don’t remember what happened. That evening Bruce wants to watch The Green Hornet when suddenly the Joker appears on the screen via his high powered jamming system. He offers Batman and Robin a clue to his next crime: “Don’t give a hoot for the hobnailed, but look for a bow and a bobtail”. Batman says that when he was younger the Joker was a well known hypnotist. That’s never been mentioned in the comics. Batman says that the handle of a key is sometimes called a bow. The lynx is a bobtailed species of feline with a valuable fur. Robin concludes that Joker has the key to Franchin’s Fancy Fur Salon. That’s just where Batman and Robin find Joker and his current girl Cornelia. They confront Joker and he tries to use his box again but this time it has no effect. Robin explains they took their counter hypnosis Bat pellets. Joker calls for his men and the first fight occurs, during which Joker’s box is broken but Joker gets away. Alfred suggests Joker may be using an assumed name. Batman looks for metaphorical names in the telephone directory. One that comes up is Clavier Ankh. Batman says a clavier is the keyboard of an organ and an ankh is an Egyptian cross symbolizing the key of life. At the address of Clavier Ankh, Joker is with Cornelia and waiting for Batman and Robin to arrive. Batman and Robin climb the side of the building and there is a cameo from Howard Duff as Sam Stone from Felony Squad. Batman and Robin enter Cornelia’s boudoir while she preens in the mirror in her tight, shiny purple costume. They say they want to see Clavier Ankh. She says Uncle Clavier is in the library and the library is in the cellar. She pushes a button and they fall through a trap door, down two slides, each leading to a bin, which is then closed and locked. Batman is secured to a mechanism for duplicating keys, which will cut his body into the shape of a key. Joker says Robin will be wax sprayed like a car. When every pore in his body is filled with wax they’ll apply a heavier coating. Joker turns on both machines and that’s the cliffhanger.
In episode 22, the Joker doesn’t stay to watch Batman and Robin die but his two thugs are there. Batman manages to pull a key from his utility belt which he places between the cogs of the key duplicator machine. The machine is jammed and opens, allowing Batman to break free. Batman takes out Joker’s men and frees Robin, who now looks like a wax dummy. But Robin held his breath the whole time he was being encased in wax and now he is freed in the Batcave with a wax solvent. Joker has implausibly reworked his previously merely hypnotic box so that it can now either freeze time, turn it back or push it forward. He says the secret ingredients are a pellet and a pond, which must remain secret for the nonce (in other word the writers are too lazy to explain it). He says he will stop time throughout Gotham if the city doesn’t pay him $10 million and he demonstrates by affecting time in parts of the city. He also sends a message to Batman via Gordon’s office: “Thanks to the work of a single sphere you saw what happened to time right here. Now regard with care my final oho, I’ve a gargoyle’s key and away I go go”. They conclude “Oho” means H2O or water. A gargoyle’s key could be a key to a waterworks. A pill is a sphere. They conclude Joker plans to pollute the city’s waterworks. Alfred asks to be allowed to go to the waterworks to help foil Joker’s plan. His cousin Egbert is a night watchman there. Batman suggests Alfred take his cousin’s place while they stake out the reservoir. Alfred introduces his bicycle which he calls the Alfcycle. It is equipped with a two way radio. Alfred cycles to the reservoir and talks with Egbert. Egbert says he threw out some joker the other night who was trying to pollute the system. Alfred suggests he give Egbert a break and replace him for the night. Egbert is all for it and says he’ll go to see Bubbles LaRue at the Follies. He says “That chick swings like a king’s playground”. Alfred and Egbert are both played by Alan Napier so they look alike except that Eggy doesn’t wear glasses and has a working class British accent. They switch clothes and Alfred tells Eggy to say hello from him to Tassels Laverne at the Follies. Later Joker, his men and Cornelia sneak into the reservoir. By putting his pellets in the reservoir and using his magic box he can control time in Gotham. They try to sneak past Alfred but he wakes. Joker says he’ll give him another $5 and Alfred realizes his cousin is on the take. Joker puts the pills in some water and gives a cup to Alfred. Alfred pulls his gun and tells Joker everybody has to drink. They drink but Alfred throws his drink away, then he confiscates Joker’s box. Joker and his gang attack but Alfred uses the box to make them go backwards. At one point he takes Cordelia back to when she was a child. Alfred leaves them all frozen and leaves the room. He radios Batman who is on his way. But then Alfred accidentally removes the control switch from the box and Joker and his gang unfreeze. They confront Alfred but then Batman and Robin arrive. The final fight takes place and Joker is captured.
The idea that Joker could invent a type of time machine is way out of character for that particular villain. Granted some sort of hypnotic drug is required for it to work but how it works isn’t really explained properly. We see people who are not hypnotized being affected by Joker’s box. Alfred has not taken the drug and yet sees Cornelia physically transformed into a little girl. There are other Batman villains for whom the invention of a machine that messes with time would make more sense, like for instance Egghead or maybe even the Clock Master.
Joker’s thug Latch was played by Louis Quinn, who started out as a host for radio variety shows and as a comedy writer for Milton Berle, Don McNeill, and others on radio and early television. He hosted The Louis Quinn Show on WINS in New York from midnight until 1:00. His film debut was an uncredited part in 1954’s There’s No Business Like Show Business. His TV debut was a small part in a 1956 episode of the sitcom The People’s Choice. He played the racetrack tout Roscoe on "77 Sunset Strip".
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