William Fawcett

            On Monday morning I published on my Christian’s Translations blog “Our Pretty Gestapo”, which is my translation of “Le petit Lauriston” by Boris Vian. Tomorrow I’ll probably post the lyrics on Facebook. 

            I searched for the next Serge Gainsbourg song that I’d put aside because I couldn’t find a transcript of the French text. I found in my 1964 Gainsbourg file the song “Al Cassel’s Air”. There is still no text for it posted online. I’ll give it another try to figure it out by ear but this one might be a write-off. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar for the first of four sessions and the B string continues to be out of tune. 

            I weighed 86.5 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning since March 25. 

            Around midday I edited some more of season 3, episode 4 of the 60s TV series Batman, cutting out every scene that doesn’t have Batgirl or Barbara Gordon. 

            I weighed 86.65 before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I weighed 86.15 when I was caught up on my journal at 19:12. 

            I downloaded the video of Captain Kirk fighting the Gorn and the other of him wrestling the Andorian. I converted them to WMV and imported the Gorn fight to Movie Maker. I copied it to the end of the timeline of my Seven Shades of Blues project and edited out everything but the parts where Kirk and the Gorn are wrestling. 

            I reviewed the song practice videos of my performances of “Laisse tomber les filles” and “Leave the Naïve Alone” from September 3 to 7. On September 3 and 5 I played “Laisse tomber les filles” on my Martin acoustic guitar. On September 3 the take at 27:45 was okay. On September 5 the take at 37:15 wasn’t bad. On September 7 I played it on my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar and the Gibson sounded rattly. On September 4 and 6 I played “Leave the Naïve Alone” on the Martin. September 4 was not horrible and September 6 was one of the best so far. 

            I had a salad with cucumber, scallion, avocado, tomato and the last of my lettuce with balsamic vinaigrette while watching episodes 8 and 9 of the 1949 Batman serial. 

            In part 8, Batman and President Harrison of the Railroad escape the bomb by taking shelter in the small cellar of the cabin just before the explosion. The Wizard’s men get away and Neil and another man go to headquarters through usual roundabout route of the cave under the bush to the submarine and then to the Wizard’s cave. Neil assures Wizard that Batman is dead. Meanwhile Batman, Robin and Harrison go to Commissioner Gordon’s office. Gordon tells them that Wizard wants $5 million or he’ll paralyze the railroad system. That would be $65.5 million now. Harrison refuses to cooperate but Batman has a plan to make the Wizard think they’ve given in. Later, Barry Brown announces that the railroads have surrendered to the Wizard and the money will be dropped from a train at a designated location. Bruce tells Dick that the money consists of old bills that the government was going to destroy anyway. The bills have been painted with a radioactive substance that Batman and Robin can track. When the package of cash is opened and exposed to the air, it will burst into flames. At the time of the drop, Batman and Robin are watching from above in the Bat Plane (which just looks like an ordinary plane). Below them Robin observes the Wizard’s plane and we see that it’s piloted by Jimmy Vale. Jimmy radios to the Wizard’s men below to tell them where the money was dropped. Batman tells Robin to land the plane near the Bruce Mobile while he parachutes to the drop off point. Batman lands near the Wizard’s car and hides in the trunk while Neil and the others locate the cash. They bring it back to the car and instead of logical choice of putting it in the trunk they put it in the back seat. They drive until they rendezvous with car 4, then transfer the money there. They send the first car over a cliff but Batman jumps out at the last second. The crooks drive away and just as Batman returns to the road, Robin arrives in the Bruce Mobile. They track the radioactive money with an indicator. The Wizard’s men go to a warehouse in an industrial area. Batman continues to follow the money’s radioactive trail while the crooks open up the crate. Batman and Robin arrive at the warehouse, and Batman tells Robin to wait by the car while he goes inside. Wizard arrives to get the money, sneaks up behind Robin and knocks him out. Inside the warehouse, one of the crooks is standing guard while the others unpack the money. Batman makes a noise to lure the guard away from his post, then attacks and knocks him out, but not before his gun goes off. When Wizard hears the gun he leaves without entering the warehouse. Inside the men are fighting with Batman and during the tussle some of the money is knocked over to become free of its packaging. On contact with the air it bursts into flames and the warehouse begins to burn. The fight continues but one of the men grabs a hammer and knocks Batman unconscious as the flames rise and the Wizard’s men escape. That’s the cliffhanger. 

            In part 9, Batman recovers before the flames reach him and makes his way out of the warehouse just as Robin is coming to consciousness after getting knocked out by the Wizard. Meanwhile the disabled Professor Hammil locks himself in his study again, one assumes to re-able himself in his electronic chair, although it doesn’t show it this time. As usual after a scene with Hammil alone the next person we see is the Wizard. He is mad about the double cross of the ransom money and now he plans to paralyze all vehicle traffic in Gotham. We see cars stalling everywhere. But the Wizard’s machine’s power is too strong for its working parts. The diamond bearings have burnt out and so traffic begins to move again. Wizard locates a new supply of synthetic diamonds that resists heat and friction better than real ones. Meanwhile Vicki Vale has just had lunch with Bruce Wayne and he escorts her back to her office. But as he leaves he overhears her receive a call from her brother Jimmy, who has been working for the Wizard. We see that Jimmy is tied up he and tells her he needs help. Bruce and Dick hide around the corner while Vicki leave, then they go in her office to see that she wrote “Harbour Club” on her notepad. As the Harbour Club is one of the hideouts of the Wizard’s men they decide to go there as Batman and Robin. Vicki sneaks into the Harbour Club awfully easily and unties Jimmy. He leaves with her but they are seen. The Wizard’s man is almost upon them when Batman and Robin arrive and capture the crook. Vicki and Jimmy head for police headquarters where he tells the story of how he got involved with the Wizard. He thought he was being hired as a pilot for a chartered flight. He says the Wizard plans to attack the Research Council tomorrow to steal the synthetic diamonds. Jimmy is released in Vicki’s custody and she takes him back to her office. She says she has to rush some negatives to the enlarging room and Jimmy says he’ll hang around her office. But as soon as she is gone he calls Neil to tell him the plan is working and that Gordon fell for his fake story and is moving the diamonds that afternoon. Meanwhile Bruce learns from Gordon that the man who was guarding Jimmy had blanks in his gun. He suspects that Jimmy’s escape and the telling of his story was part of a plan. Batman and Robin head for the Research Council. At the Research Council two of Wizard’s men are outside the gate pretending to be fixing their car when the car with the diamonds leaves the gate. They follow. Batman and Robin get there and learn the diamonds are headed for the research plant. The Wizard’s men drive the courier car off the road and steal the diamonds. Batman and Robin head after them and when the crooks see Batman’s car behind them they radio the Wizard, who remotely disables Batman’s car engine. Batman flags down a car and asks to borrow it. The driver is surprisingly obliging. But when the crooks see the other car gaining on them they again radio Wizard. Wizard looks through his video (although there is no logical indication as to where a camera might be) and sees Batman is behind the wheel. He takes control of the vehicle and sends it over a cliff. That’s literally the cliffhanger.

            Professor Hammil is played by William Faucette, who was known as “Doc T” because of his PHD in Theatre. He was a professor of Theatre at Michigan State University when he decided to stop teaching and start acting. He made his film debut at the age of 52 in Stars Over Texas. He co-starred as Merlin in the serials Adventures of Sir Galahad and also co-starred in Cody of the Pony Express. He co-starred as Pete Wilkey in all 116 episodes of the Saturday morning western series Fury from 1955 to 1960.