EPISODE NUMBERS: 39-40, Production Code N/A

PLOT SUMMARIES:

The Minstrel's Shakedown :
The Minstrel, a medieval lute-playing electronics genius, sends the stock market into an uproar when he alters the computerized stock quotations; he later airs a televised ultimatum, demanding $1000 a week from each exchange member, or else stock quotations wil be further disrupted, causing the market to crash! The Caped Crusader and The Boy Wonder try to capture the musical maniac later that night when he tries to realter his crooked circuitry, but Minstrel blinds The Dynamic Duo with one of his devilish devices and beats a rhythmic retreat.

The Batman tries to track The Minstrel to his hideout by using The Batdrone Plane to trace the TV signal The Minstrel used to televise his ultimatums. But he predicts The Duo will attempt just that and decides to broadcast from his criminal studio at The Willow Street Warehouse rather than from his normal hideout. Batman and Robin later locate the warehouse by Batmobile and sneak in, but not before The Batman sprinkes a few precautions along the corridor: Adhesive Batbombs. The Dynamic Duo attempt to surprise The Minstrel but are caught and tied to a giant eletronic spit which will slowly roast them over an electric radar grill!

Barbecued Batman? :
Just as it looks like The Dynamic Duo's geese are cooked (literally!), the Adhesive Batbombs Batman planted in the hallway earlier go off, enticing Minstrel and his minions, Amanda, Bass and Treble, and giving The Duo the distraction they need to shake loose the spit from its supports and free themselves. When The Minstrel realizes The Batman has escaped, he and Bass and Treble retreat to their other hideout, leaving behind their moll, Amanda. The Batman places a bugging device into her purse before he releases her, hoping that she will lead them to The Minstrel's second hideout. Surpised by Amanda's return, The Minstrel immediately spots the bug in her purse and informs the eavesdropping Dynamic Duo that he will now commence "Plan High-C," and that The Batman should gather the members of the stock exchange at the exchange building within half an hour for a demonstration of his monstrous scheme!

The Minstrel makes devilishly good on his evil threat, using a broadcast signal that corresponds to the building's resonace to cause the entire building to shake, and blackmailing the stock exchange members into giving into his demands within one hour or he will send the whole building crumbling down! Batman figures Minstrel can't broadcast his signal without power, so he severs all the power in the building. Minstrel nevertheless broadcasts his ultimatums with his own power, but The Caped Crusader realises the broadcast was prerecorded and he sees through The Minstrel's disguise as one of the members of the stock exchange! Minstrel and his men, Bass and Treble, who were disguised as caterers, are brought to justice by The Dynamic Duo! Later that night, Bruce Wayne and his brood watch The Minstrel on a newscast, prior to being transferred to Gotham State Pen, singing a promise of a jailbreak and revenge upon Batman and Robin.

WRITTEN BY: Francis Cockrell, Marian Cockrell

DIRECTED BY: Murray Golden

CAST:
Madge Blake (Aunt Harriet Cooper)
William Dozier (Narrator)
Adam West (Bruce N. Wayne/Batman)
Burt Ward (Richard "Dick" Grayson/Robin: The Boy Wonder)
Alan Napier (Alfred Pennyworth)
Stafford Repp (Chief O'Hara)
Neil Hamilton (I) (Commissioner James W. Gordon)
James O'Hara (Police In Basement)
Stu Wilson (Broker 3)
Herbert Moss (Broker 2)
Eddie Garrett (Broker 1)
Vince Dedrick (Waiter 2)
Tom Anthony (Waiter 1)
Remo Pisani (Bass)
Leslie Perkins (Amanda)
Norman Grabowski (Treble)
John Gallaudet (Courtland)
Amy Archerd (Putnam)
Phyllis Diller (scrubwoman)
Van Johnson (The Minstrel)
Del Moore (TV Newsman)

INTERESTING NOTES:
- The Minstrel does not take part in the Bat-fight because he is opposed to violence.

- This is the first set of Bat-episodes where the titles don't rhyme with each other.

SCREEN GRABS FROM EPISODE 1

SCREEN GRABS FROM EPISODE 2

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