True or False Face

True or False Face / Holy Rat Race – Batman season 1

True or False Face – March 8 1966

False Face traps Batman and Robin, and binding them to a subway track just minutes before a train is scheduled to come by.

False Face (credited as ‘?’) is played by Malachi Throne. Because of budgetary concerns, Throne played the role in a plastic mask …. And other actors playing the disguised False-Face throughout. Because he felt that there was no real acting on his part, he asked that his name be removed from the credits. Hence, ‘?’.

Batman: Blaze. She’s as elusive as a flickering flame.
Robin: I’ll bet that’s how she earned her nickname.
Batman: I warrant you, we’ll snuff out her fiery criminal career.

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Holy Rat Race – March 9 1966

Alfred contacts Batman by radio from the Batcave. Batman instructs the butler to short circuit a communications device the hero has on his wrist. And so, escapes False Face’s death trap.

Leo Gore: I say, there was one little thing you might call peculiar.
Robin: What is it?
Leo Gore: The young lady who paid for the announcement. She was not only staggeringly beautiful, she had green hair.
Robin: Green hair… holy wigs!
Batman: Blaze.
Leo Gore: Does that mean anything to you?
Batman: Indeed it does. Good observation, Gore. Darn good observation!

Cast of characters

• Adam West (The Outlaws is Coming) … Batman
• Burt Ward (Batman the Movie) … Robin
• Alan Napier (The Mole People, House of Horrors) … Alfred
• Neil Hamilton (Tarzan the Ape Man, What Price Hollywood) … Commissioner Gordon
• Stafford Repp … Chief O’Hara
• Madge Blake … Mrs. Cooper
• Malachi Throne (Catch Me If You Can) … False Face (as ?)
• Myrna Fahey (House of Usher) … Blaze
• Billy Curtis (The Wizard of Oz) … Midget Burns
• Joe Brooks … Fat Man Brinks
• Chuck Fox … Thin Man Pinkerton
• S. John Launer (I Was a Teenage Werewolf) … Mr. Ladd
• Patrick Whyte … Curator
• Gary Owens (Laugh-In) … T.V. Announcer
• Mike Ragan … Cowboy

Trivia

• False-Face is often assumed to be a villain created for the TV series. He actually first appeared in issue #113 of the Batman comic book (1958). It was his only comic book appearance.
• Although credited as “Midget”, “Fat Man” and “Thin Man”, False Face addresses these characters by name during the bank vault break in. The Midget is Burns, Fat Man is Brinks and Thin Man is Pinkerton. At the time, these names were associated with Security and Detective agencies.
• Portions of the second episode…particularly the “Abandoned Bioscope Studios” scenes are filmed on the Desilu backlot. The set for Gomer Pyle USMC and downtown Mayberry can clearly be seen.