Zelda The Great
| "Zelda the Great" | |
|---|---|
| Batman episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 9 |
| Directed by | Norman Foster |
| Written by | Lorenzo Semple, Jr. |
| Production code | 8705-Pt. 1 |
| Original air date | February 9, 1966 (ABC) |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
|
Stephen Tompkins as Bank Guard |
|
Stephen Tompkins as Bank Guard
Jack Kruschen as Eivol Ekdol
Barbara Heller as Hillary Stonewin
Jim Drum as Officer Clancy
Special Guest Villain:
Anne Baxter as Zelda the Great
"Zelda the Great" is the ninth episode of the Batman television series in its first season, first airing February 9, 1966 and rerun June 22, 1966. It begins the story of Zelda the Great, a magician whose fading career has led her to crime. The story concludes in "A Death Worse Than Fate."
For the third consecutive April Fools' Day, someone has robbed the Gotham City National Bank of exactly $100,000, passing up the chance to take other money worth nearly a half million dollars from the same vault. In two years, the Gotham Police Department has gotten nowhere with the case, leading Chief Miles O'Hara and Commissioner Gordon to call in the one man who can solve the mystery: Batman.
Batman and Robin have no leads, so he determines the right course of action is to manufacture a lead. He phones the Gotham paper and plants a story that the cash taken from the Gotham City National Bank was counterfeit, held there until authorities could destroy it. He hopes to force the criminal to strike again. Meanwhile, he analyzes a bullet found at the scene and discovers from it that the thief was wearing orange wool and dozens of colorful silk scarves. From a smear of ambergris he concludes that the criminal was a woman.
Meanwhile, in the secret workshop of Eivol Ekdol, behind the Gnome Bookstore, Eivol's client Zelda the Great meets with him. Each year she purchases, for $100,000, a new trick to re-invigorate her fading act. ("Oh, I hate robbing banks." she complains "All I ever wanted to be was poor, but honest magician.") This year, Ekdol has prepared a clever escape proof cabinet, but when Zelda asks how to escape it, he informs her that she won't even get into it unless she can produce $100,000 in real money. He shows her a newspaper article reporting that the Star of Sammarkand, a rare emerald, will be displayed. It is a tempting target and Zelda realizes this is a "Batman trap".
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Wikipedia