In the Center Ring (Part 29)

Alongside the Disney Afternoon, the classic advancing shield of Warner Brothers loomed large in 1990’s television, beginning with the production efforts of Steven Spielberg on such programming as Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs. Oddly, Spielberg’s efforts do not appear to have yielded any circus-related episodes. However, other Warner ventures which followed provide ample material for today’s article, varying from the comic to the dramatic, including some appearances by old Looney Tunes favorites.

One Ring Taz (Taz-Mania, 11/22/94) – Building a series around the Tasmanian Devil was something of a challenge. Warner attempted it by surrounding Taz with a large cast of supporting characters of various species and natures for him to play his primitive “intellect” afainst. Of course, the larger your cast, the more likelihood that some characters will come off less than memorable compared to others. One of the least remembered anf less-defined personalities of Taz’s entourage was Mr. Thickly (I believe, a wallaby), who can be summed up as minorly boastful, but little else. This episode is a rare pair-up between Taz and him alone, in a script that frankly might have worked as well or better had Digeri Dingo been his episode partner.

Circus posters dot the Tasmanian landscape, and Taz is excited. His companion Mr. Thickly jabbers away about the allure of the circus, and the dreams everyone has of joining the show. Thickly boasts that he was a ringmaster once, rattling off a list of acts he cultivated, none of which Taz (or anyone else) has ever heard of. Thickly claims that with his knowledge and experience, he could develop Taz into a circus performer (for a 30% cut of Taz’s salary as his agent). The question is, what astounding feat is Taz capable of? The first thing that comes to our hero’s small mind is “Taz spin!”, as Taz demonstrates his classic trademark boring through tree trunks, ground, and boulders from the old Looney Tunes days. Thickly remarks that such skill may be great for devouring small animals, “but it’s not entertainment.’ (He asides to the audience: “The kids at home already know that.”) Thickly thus embarks on a training program to try Taz out on various classic circus acts. First, trapeze. Having Taz hold onto a trapeze swing, Thickly pushes him off a cliff ledge – resulting in Taz taking in a large mouthful of dirt, seeing as the ledge is only a few feet above the ground below. That having failed, juggling is next. Taz surprisingly takes well to juggling three, then five Indian clubs. But Thickly keeps upping the ante, opening a trunk to toss into Taz’s rapidly-moving paws assorted props such as chainsaw, sofa, sewing machine, and bathtub. Soon the circle of items being flung about by Taz grows to huge proportions. Thickly claims he’s never seen anything like it, but just to increase the danger quotient, tosses into the mix a fuse-lit bomb. Taz grunts an indecipherable inquiry, and Thickly responds. “How do you stop? How should I know. I told you I’d never seen anything like it.” BLAM!

What better attraction than having a wild animal tame another wild animal? “That woulf be wild”, remarks Thickly, as Taz finds himself inside a lion’s cage, with the ferocious feline released. Taz’s first reaction is to head for the exit, but Thickly has securely locked the door to see that Taz does not back out. In a rare moment of ability to clearly communicate, Taz grumbles in response “I’m consumed with gratitude.” The lion drags Taz from the cage bars (which Taz clings to so hard that they snap away), and the action moves out of camera range, as a battle ensues inside the cage. Thickly remarks that he’s disappointed, as it is all the kind of thing he’s seen many times before, until there is a pause in the sounds within the cage. Thickly changes disposition, now impressed with what he sees. “But do you think you can do that again more than once? Taz? Taz?…” (An obvious hark-back to Friz Freleng’s explosive-gag ending from “Curtain Razor” and “Show Biz Bugs”.)

By the next sequence, Taz does in fact reappear, wearing the false dentures of the lion, and dented from the jagged teeth into an accordion-pleated zig-zag. Thickly has a new act in mind – the old stand-by high dive. Thickly has constructed a ladder to a platform so high, it passes through several layers of cloudbanks, rises above the flight path of commercial aircraft, and is observed at its mid-range by passing balloonists. Taz continually mitters his own preference for an act, “Taz spin”, as he slowly climbs the structure to its dizzying height. For a target below, Thickly provides a single handkerchief, dampened with a small cup of water. Taz finally reaches the top, and cautiously places a foot onto the wooden platform. As an unexpected surprise, the platform is shoddily constructed, and utterly beaks away like a trap door under Taz’s weight, hurling him without further ado into his dive. The fall seems nearly as prolonged as Bugs Bunny’s in “The Heckling Hare”, and by the time Taz is approaching the ground, the sun has completely dried out the handkerchief below. Before Thickly can even lift another glass of water to re-moisten it, Taz smacks face-first into the dry cloth and solid ground below it. Thickly enthusiastically shakes Taz’s limp hand at performing such a unique feat. “No one’s ever dived into a dry hankie before – at least not on purpose.” Taz is declared ready for the big time. Thickly marches Taz down to the circus grounds, where a manly recruiter stands ready to sugn up new acts (lampooning Army recruiting campaigns of the day, repeating the Army’s own recruiting slogan, “Be all you can be”.) When asked what feats he can do, Taz still attempts to blurt out “Taz spin”, but is muffled by Thickly, who describes the dry hankie dive. “Interesting”, says the recruiter, “…about the first hundred times you’ve seen it!” He remarks that you see everything in this business. About the only thing you don’t see is someone spin his way clean through a boulder and come out in one piece. And even that remarkable feat has been accomplished, as he has just signed up another Tasmanian devil. Taz gives Thickly a look that says in one glance, “I told you so”, and turns on his friend. The ending again recalls a classic Looney Tune ending from “Tom Turk and Daffy”, as Taz rapidly runs Thickly through the same gamut of stunts that Thickly put him through, climaxed by the addition of a teeter-totter, which Taz uses to launch Thickly up to the underside of an overhanging cliff (causing Thickly to smack his head a la Wile E. Coyote after being spooked by Road Runner’s beep), and back down again, where Taz rolls in the lion’s cage with roof open, allowing Thickly to fall straight into the lion’s open jaws. Taz closes the episode with a close-up aside to the audience, saying “Taz like circus.”

“One Ring Taz” does not appear to be available online. (Dailymotion’s post erroneously lists it, but fails to include it, posting only the cartoon preceding it.)

The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries receives two honorable mentions. Happy Pranksgiving (9/13/97) involves the disappearance from an ersatz Macy’s parade of the famous Squeegee the Clown balloon. The department store owner is a cameo appearance for the floorwalker who previously appeared opposite Bugs Bunny in “Hare Conditioned”, though no attempt is made to duplicate his original “Great Gildersleeve” voice. No one can figure what anyone would want the balloon for. Cut it up into a line of raincoats? The angry Squeegee and his clown attorney appear in the flesh and threaten to sue. Who can solve such a dilemma? In a clever nod to a former famous series set in New York, the manager spots Granny and her pets on the street, and remarks, as the action freezes in its tracks, “Get me…THAT GRANNY.” (Reference to Marlo Thomas’s “That Girl”.) The premise is largely an excuse for a new romp of Granny’s cat, bird, and dog through the various departments of the store, highly reminiscent of the classic Warner days, including a clever pursuit of Tweety through what seems an endless maze of escalators, with the cat and bird always seeming to go in opposite directions, climaxed by Sylvester’s tail getting caught in the descending steps of one escalator, yanking off his fur coat. As Sylvester blushingly descends out of frame to follow his coat, Tweety remarks that he had no idea the putty tat was anti-fur. As Squeegee and the manager argue over the threatened lawsuit in the manager’s office, Granny looks out from the window high above the ground, and observes people in the rainy street below opening umbrellas – from which peer the giant eyes of Squeegee. The manager’s assistant confesses that in the latest wave of rainstorms, the umbrella department ran low on material, forcing him to cut up the balloon, as the customer is always first. The manager talks peace terms with Squeegee, cutting him in for a percentage of the umbrella profits. The cast settles down to a Thanksgiving dinner in the manager’s office, as the parade passes outside – to everyone’s surprise, with another Squeegee balloon. Squeegee obtained it from use at the Mardi Gras, calling in a favor from Larry Byrd. Tweety remarks at the bad joke: “Someone stick a fork in that turkey. I think he’s done.”

See it on B98 CLICK HERE.

Not quite as well plotted is Fleas Release Me (2/7/98). A flea circus’s performers go missing in Pasadena, and Granny just happens to be attending the Rose Bowl flea market on her day off. When the circus ringmaster offers Granny as payment the very Abe Lincoln teacups she is seeking, Granny accepts the case. Sylvester and Tweety meanwhile engage in a pursuit among a booth selling old lamps, one of which is in Arabian Nights style. It topples, and gets accidentally rubbed by Sylvester. Cameo guest of the day is the Jim Backus genie from Bugs Bunny’s “A Lad in His Lamp”. Sylvester wishes to dine on Tweety. He is suddenly transported to a long dinner table, with a silver-covered plate prominent before him. Sylvester lifts the lid to reveal a sandwich, and chomps down a large bite from it. But the sandwich is not canary, but peanut butter. As Sylvester ponders what is wrong with this picture, the buzz of a fly is heard. But there is a problem of scale, as the fly appears monstrously huge. Sylvester finds he is indeed dining on Tweety – having been shrunk to miniature size, and taking his meal at a miniscule table placed atop the feathers of Tweety’s head. Once Sylvester gets back to the genie and is restored to normal size, Sylvester remarks with disdain that he could be a better genie any day. “Your wish is my command”, responds the genie, as Sylvester is zapped inside the lamp. He appears in turban on velvet pillows, with several slave girl-cats waiting upon him, and remarks this isn’t half-bad, until a rub of the lamp summons him from his comforts. Tweety too has stumbled upon the lamp, and now Sylvester faces having to do his bidding. Sylvester fast-talks Tweety into obtaining the powers of a genie too, and pulls the same fast one as the genie pilled on Sylvester, zapping Tweety into the lamp. Tweety too picks up a turban, velvet cushion, and slave girls, but only momentarily, as the original genie announces to both he and Sylvester that rest period is over. They are placed with a host of other genies into driving a machine that produces the smoke from which the original genie is composed, with next rest break not scheduled for a millennium, until Granny also rubs the lamp, releasing her pets. Somehow, Sylvester emerges carrying passengers, having picked up the missing fleas from within, now performing amidst his fur. Tweety remarks that Sylvester has achieved his dream – finally having broken into show business.

See it on B98 CLICK HERE.

The Warner tradition continues, almost up to the present, with Ringmaster Disaster (Looney Tunes Cartoons, 1/20/22), a fully-animated, well-timed goodie. Bugs Bunny is spending a quiet afternoon in his rabbit hole, building a pyramid of playing cards, when his structure and his home are upset by a huge circus pole driven right through the center of the hole above. On the surface, in imitation of Magilla Gorilla, the big top assembles itself with a pop open, in the manner of a giant umbrella. Yosemite Sam is ringmaster and lion tamer, and commands a large jungle king to stand on his hind legs at the crack of a whip. Bugs squeezes his way past the tent pole, emerging in the arena to disturb Sam’s act. As it is too late to move the tent with the show under way, Bugs suggests Sam offer him a free seat to the show. Sam invites Bugs to the best front-row seat in the house – on the end of a teeter-totter, from which Sam launches the interfering rabbit through the tent roof. Sam calmly resumes his act, giving verbal buildup to his feat of putting his head in the lion’s mouth. Upon opening the lion’s jaws, a surprise awaits him. Bugs is already inside, seated on the lion’s tongue, calmly reading a book and remarking, “Hey, Mac, don’t mind me.” Sam’s thunder is completely stolen away, as Bugs upstages him, and takes a bow to the applause of the crowd. Sam insists he can do the trick even more dangerously, but ponders how. “You’ll do it blindfolded?”, Bugs suggests, and Sam agrees, as if it were his own idea. Bugs provides the blindfold as Sam closes his eyes. However, the blindfold is comprised of a long link of wieners, freshly cooked and aromatic. The lion gets one whiff, and starts chomping on Sam. Bugs observes from one side of the ring, gobbling down popcorn from a sack, and remarking, “This is the greatest show on Earth.”

When the action fades back in, Sam has the lion jumping through a hoop. Bugs appears in the next ring, commanding the lion to jump through a hoop he holds even higher. Sam holds a hoop from a higher platform for the nest jump. Bugs holds one from a trapeze bar. Sam doubles it to two hoops, followed by Bugs holding three. Sam lights a hoop on fire. Things start to get more rapid and confusing, as suddenly, Sam is performing jumps instead of the lion. Bugs holds a hoop directly around the lion’s open jaws, and commands Sam to jump through this. Sam jumps – straight into the lion’s gullet, as Bugs steals the bows again.

Sam somehow survives being swallowed a second time, and commands the lion to balance atop a ball. Bugs ups the complexity of the act one better, by standing atop the lion’s head and juggling bowling pins. “You’re not upstaging me”, declares Sam, knocking Bugs off the lion’s head with the sound effect of a strike, and performing the same juggling with flaming bowling pins. Bigs switches place with Sam, now juggling swords. Sam responds with “flaming swords.” Bugs returns again, juggling “Dynamite?” Sam counters with “Flaming dyna – – “ BOOM!!! “- – mite”, finishes the finished Sam.

Sam admits Bugs is the better man when it comes to lion taming, and turns over control of the show to Bugs. Sam disappears around a corner, but puts on a fake lion suit, intent on humiliating Bugs with a disobedient lion. Sam grabs the real lion by the tail when Bugs isn’t looking, and stuffs the king of beasts into a cage, giving the animal a kick in the rear, and stating “I’ll deal with you later.” Sam then takes the place of the real lion in the ring with Bugs. Bugs commands the fake feline to perform an aerobics routine, or a musical number, but all he gets is Sam’s tongue sticking out, giving him the raspberry. The crowd boos, and Bugs realizes he may not be the lion tamer he thought he was cracked up to be. Sam grins happily, until Bugs decides to teach his subject some manners, with a time out until he changes mood, stuffed into the cage with the real lion. Sam perspires profusely as the lion approaches him nose to nose, suggesting they put the past behind them – but the lion is in no forgiving mood. As the sounds of mauling are heard from the cage, Bugs points back at Sam, and suggests that Sam may turn out to be the “mane” attraction after all.

“Ringmaster Disaster” is available on Tiktok Here.

Returning to an earlier chronological date, we’ll begin (as there are more than will fit this article) an overview of circus encounters in the Warner/DC universe. A classic episode is Be a Clown (Batman the Animated Series, 9/16/92) – The Mayor of Gotham City is campaigning for re-election, with an existing administration rampant with crime. He makes a public statement about ridding Gotham of these costumed freaks that give the “otherwise peaceful community” a bad name. When asked if he includes Batman among such freaks, the mayor replies “Absolutely. He and criminals like the Joker are cut from the same cloth.” The broadcast is heard by the latter-named personality, who is aghast at being compared to Batman in the same sentence – after all, he has more style, more brains, and is “certainly a better dresser.” The mayor vows to make the entire city as safe as his own mansion – so the Joker sets out to raise question as to just how safe such mansion is. A birthday party is planned for the Mayor’s son Jordan, but none of the boy’s friends are invited. Instead, the Mayor fills his residence with men and women of prestige and power to help his campaign, with a few stray children of theirs whom Jordan does not even know. The boy is downcast about the whole affair, and prefers to hide away in a room of the mansion, practicing his favorite hobby of performing magic tricks. The Mayor won’t sit for him giving the appearance of having a bad time, and drags him out among the invitees. Among those invited is also Bruce Wayne. However, the surprise of the party is the appearance of one Jekko the birthday clown, who arrives in his own personalized truck, and proceeds to dazzle the youths (Jordan) included), with magic tricks and juggling surprises. Jordan is totally impressed, and asks if Jekko can teach him some of his tricks. The budding friendship is interrupted by the Mayor, who wants Jordan to mingle with the guests. Jekko confides with Jordan: “Don’t worry, kid. I’ve been saving the best trick for last.” He lights and places atop the birthday cake a large oversized “candle” with a bright sparkling wick – make that, fuse. The base of the candle bears the signature image of a card deck joker face. Jekko then makes his departure out the front door, past Bruce, and utters a bizarre laugh as he crosses the mansion grounds. “That laugh”, mutters Bruce under his breath, recognizing immediately the possibility of his old adversary under the clown makeup. Bruce spies the sparkling candle and its Joker face, and knows what will happen when the wick burns down. Having no time to costume himself as Batman, Bruce feigns a stumbling walk with a large birthday package through the crowd, and deliberately collides with the serving table on which the cake is set, knocking the whole table into the swimming pool. Seconds later, the water erupts in a violent dynamite explosion.

The Joker, alias Jekko, drives away in a gleeful fit of laughter in the truck, while police eventually locate the real Jekko, jumped by the Joker and left tied up alongside the road. But the truck has a stowaway – Jordan, who wants to train to be like Jekko. Upon discovering Jordan once Joker reaches his secret lair at an out-of-business amusement park, the Joker decides to keep Jordan there and train him as his protege. Meanwhile, Bruce spots, on surveillance tape during the police investigation at the mansion, Jekko showing Jordan a remnant of an old carnival poster, with an image of a magician Jekko claimed was his mentor. Bruce puts two and two together, and investigates as Batman the carnival grounds for signs of Joker and the missing Jordan. The Joker’s security system picks up Batman on a camera monitor, and he has Jordan play he is a barker to lure Batman into one of the tents. There, Joker begins pitching cards at Batman that are really razor-sharp knives, planting themselves in the wall behind Batman as they narrowly miss their target. Joker keeps an ace up his sleeve for a final toss – and this one emits a knock-out gas as it strikes the wall near Batman. The caped crusader awakens, upside down and tied in a straight-jacket, dangling from his feet in a locked glass tank. The tank begins to fill with water from below. It is a duplication of Houdini’s water-torture escape chamber, with Jekko/Joker inviting Jordan to sit down to enjoy the show as a “free ticket”. Though Batman wriggles free of the straight jacket (prompting Joker to observe. “They don’t make straight jackets like they used to. I should know”), and releases himself from the foot manacles, the lid of the chamber is firmly nailed shut, providing no escape. Realizing Batman will drown, Jordan locates a fire axe near the stage, and lands a single blow upon the glass casing, resulting in only a small fracture of the thick glass. The Joker grabs the axe away, and flings off his Jekko disguise, determined to stop Jordan’s interference. Jordan runs out into the midst of the carnival grounds, pursued by Joker, while Batman positions himself inside the tank to kick as hard as he can against the one pane of fractured glass – ultimately bursting it open, and releasing himself to gasp for air.

A pursuit ensues, as Joker discovers Jordan hiding in one of the cars of a twin-track roller coaster, just as Batman throws the master switch from the park’s power house to set the darkened carnival ablaze with light. The Joker makes use of the coaster ride an an escape vehicle, throwing the switch to release the cars. One car lags at a distance behind the other in the upward ascent, and Batman leaps to take a seat within. The Joker attacks, tossing to Batman one-by-one a series of exploding kewpie dolls. The first overshoots Batman’s car, blasting a hole in the track. The second lands in the rear seat of Batman’s car, and sets it afire. ‘You just don’t like to play with dolls, do you”, shouts Joker, tossing a third doll that forces Batman to jump, abandoning the car as it explodes and plummets from the track. “Must’ve been his stop”, cackles Joker. But Batman lands in the rear seat of Joker’s car. “On the contrary, this is where you get off.” A battle of fisticuffs occurs between the combatants, but with no seat belts, a track loop sends the Joker flying without the aid of wings, landing him in the ocean bay, as Batman observes he always knew how to make an exit. The car, however, heads for its second lap around the track, straight for the hole created by the first kewpie bomb. Batman extends his hand to Jordan, imploring that the boy trust him, and once he has hold of Jordan’s hand, Batman fires a shor from his grappling hook to a stretch of the track above, carrying the boy to safety, as the car below plummets through the track hole, landing atop a fun house below, and causing a chain-reaction collapse of half a dozen rides. “Can we go home now?” asks Jordan. The final scenes have Jordan and his Dad reunited, with father apologizing to the boy, and vowing that things will be different from now on. Batman, in the shadows, exchanges thumbs-up signs with Jordan, for the fade out.

See it on B98 CLICK HERE.

The two-part Robin’s Reckoning (2/7 and 2/14/93) is a bit prolonged – a script that might have been better paced at about a 35-minute running length. Told in large part through recurring flashbacks, it is notable for its chronicle of the origins of Robin. The tale begins as Batman and Robin stake out a construction site, following up on a tip that a team of criminals will try to sabotage the high-rise structure. One of the criminals is left by Barman hanging helplessly from the end of a girder, and Batman demands the name of the ringleader before he will offer aid. A name is revealed that rings a startled bell with Batman, but no recognition from Robin. Batman abruptly dismisses Robin from the interrogation, ordering him to retrieve the Batmobile, while Batman alone dangles the criminal over a 30-story drop in search of answers as to the ringleader’s whereabouts. Back at the bat-cave, Batman orders Robin to stay behind on the follow-up mission, insisting he will handle it alone. Robin can’t understand why he is being shut out, and activates the bat-computer in search of information on the name of the ringleader. The computer discloses the name as merely an alias for one Tony Zucco – a name that instantly sets Robin’s heart pounding with anger. A flashback returns us to Robin’s boyhood, when he was the junior member of a family trapeze act in the circus, known as the Flying Graysons. After rehearsing aerial leaps with his Dad on trapeze without a net, young Dick witnesses an incident between the circus owner and a suited man claiming to offer “protection” insurance. The protection man – Tony Zucco – is kicked out by the owner, who refuses to deal with such element in his show. Tony says to remember his name, insisting that the owner will come crawling back to him when he realizes the need for his kind of protection. That night, as the ropes and rigging for the evening performance are checked, a strange roustabout saws partway through one of the trapeze ropes. As the Graysons make their entrance into the tent, the roustabout passes Dick – who recognizes him as Zucco. But the show must go on, and Dick’s parents prod him along into the tent to ascend the ladder. As the performance begins, Dick swings safely out to his Dad, no one yet noticing the strain being put upon the rope of the trapeze from which his Dad hangs by his feet. Dick swings back to the platform, and his Mom takes her place to swing out to Dad. Dick only catches sight of the fraying rope ends as Mom is midway through her leap. The combined weight of the two adults snaps the rope, and Dick’s parents fall to their doom.

In the audience is Bruce Wayne, benefactor of the circus’s performance for charity. Bruce stays behind after the show, as Commissioner Gordon questions the boy, getting the lead about Zucco. Dick is now an orphan with no one to turn to, and Gordon realizes he is also a material witness, such that, if merely left with the circus, Zucco might return to finish him. Bruce offers his mansion as a “safe house” to protect Dick. Dick is welcomed to the mansion, which is a bit lonely and foreboding to him in his traumatized state. Bruce repeatedly disappears at night, allegedly for business meetings, while secretly investigating the whereabouts of Zucco among the scum of the back alleys. Following a lead to the estate of Zucco’s uncle, Batman comes face-to-fender with Zucco as the murderer tries to run Batman down. But Zucco escapes, leaving Batman in the road. Batman returns to the bat-cave, proclaiming to Alfred that he was “this close” after all his efforts. Alfred suggests that right now, some of his efforts should be re-channeled toward Dick, who is desperately in need of a friend. In a heart-to-heart talk, Bruce discloses to Dick that he lost his own parents under similar circumstances, and a bond of friendship is formed. Bruce begins training Dick in fencing, wrestling – but play is interrupted by a visit from Gordon, who indicates that Bruce may not have to keep Dick much longer, as the Police think they have a lead on Zucco’s general whereabouts, and that he is seeking to leave town, spooked good by the Bat. The police intend to close in soon, for fear that if Zucco leaves the city limits, they might lose him for good. The conversation is overheard by Dick, who himself believes that the time is ripe to take matters into his own hands, and attempt to track down Zucco before he can escape.

Dick slips out of the mansion by night, taking a bus to the bad side of town, and showing off to whoever he can a picture from a wanted poster for Zucco. A waitress in an all-night restaurant finally directs him to an abandoned apartment house she has seen him come out of. Dick peers in a window, and spots Zucco packing a suitcase. He tries to reach a phone booth, but is spotted at the window by Zucco, who grabs him. Enter Batman, on the same trail. Batman wrestles Zucco to the ground, about to make the apprehension, when Dick leans against an unsecure railing, and falls over the edge into the Gotham aqueduct, carried by the current toward a vertical drop-off. As Batman and Bruce are one and the same, Batman, against his crime-fighting instincts, leaves Zucco with a final punch, and dives into the water to save Dick, rescuing him from a fall with the aid of his wrist grappling hook. Dick can’t understand why Batman let the murderer go, and, caring less for his own life than seeing justice done, vainly attempts to punch Batman in the chest. Batman finally offers the explanation silently, removing his cowl to reveal his true identity. They both return to the bat-cave, and Alfred realizes that Dick’s stay shall now be extended indefinitely.

Back in the present, Robin realizes that Batman has shut him out of the capture he has waited for most of his life, and hails Batman on a radio communicator from his own motorcycle, demanding an explanation. Batman remains cold and resolute that Dick is not to join the mission. Robin tries to follow Batman’s homing signal with the motorcycle, but Batman shuts off the signal in anticipation of Robin’s move. Robin vows to find Zucco on his own, as he did once so long ago. Batman tracks Zucco to another abandoned carnival near the waterfront, and finds him inside a small building with his mob. Zucco is nervous as a cat that the Bat will discover his trail, and, when a small sound is heard on the roof that the gang members presume to be rats, Zucco grabs a machine gun, and empties it entirely with shots through the ceiling, in a panicked effort to get the Bat. The shots fail to hit their mark, but are sufficient to collapse the ceiling, dropping Batman in on the party, and causing him to twist an ankle. Batman battles the hoods and Zucco, but is forced to hobble into the shadows of the carnival to escape the mobsters’ bullets (Zucco himself unable to join in the fire, having exhausted his bullet supply). Just as the villains zero in on Batman’s position, Robin arrives from nowhere, his cycle penetrating through some poster art above a sideshow booth.

Robin eventually corners Zucco at the pier edge, delivering blow after blow to Zucco’s jaw, and holding the thug precariously over the edge to drop him off the pier. But Batman, supported by a makeshift crutch, implores Robin not to lose it on Zucco, and to hand him over to the police. Robin accuses Batman of having a heart of stone, and states “You can’t know what it’s like”, but then pauses, remembering that Bruce does know from his own tragic experience. Robin backs down with a final sock to Zucco, and the murderer is handed over to Gordon to face trial. Robin apologizes for going out of control and disobeying Batman’s orders, stating that he understands why Batman thought he would lose his cool if he encountered Zucco personally. Batman confesses that Dick’s anticipated reactions to Zucco were not what prompted him to leave Dick out of the mission. Instead, it was Batman’s concern that Zucco had already caused Dick so much tragedy, he didn’t want to take the chance that Zucco might cause more by taking out Dick too. Surprised at this sign of unexpected affection from Bruce, Dick takes his arm to help him home, remarking, “Let’s go home, partner. We’ve had a long night.”

See it on B98 CLICK HERE.

NEXT TIME: More Batman, and more TV.