Wednesday, August 19, 2015

YVONNE CRAIG - "BATGIRL" Dies at 78 - "Batman" musical montage

It was a pretty odd headline, echoed in obits all over the Internet. "BATGIRL" is dead.

Like she ever lived. Like Yvonne Craig wasn't actually an elderly actress with many other credits, whose breast cancer had metastasized into her liver.

Jeez.

Well, if you do want to get the facts on Yvonne, the obits have them, and it makes for better reading than what you'll find in the idiot forums or on Facebook. Let's face it, the average person is not very articulate OR sensitive.

What you'll find on Facebook is generally this kind of shit...fanboy dimwits posting photos of themselves with Craig (which anybody could do if they put down a twenty) and the "Batman" cultists muttering "Sad" or "RIP."

There's plenty more of that pathetic shit. Some anonymous asshole offers "my sincerest condolences." Yeah, that means a lot. Various bozos wrote, "I had such a crush on her!" That's the type that will be anxiously waiting for her burial so they can take a selfie rubbing up against her tombstone.

Ms. Craig was fairly pragmatic about it all. She was glad that she lived a pretty unique and varied life, traveled the world, had a good marriage, and was remembered for several minor things: movies with Elvis Presley, being a green ghoul-goddess on a "Star Trek" episode, and being just as snotty as Burt Ward's "Robin" on the third season of "Batman." She also was a businesswoman (she and her sister designed and sold phone cards, sold real estate, etc.) and worked with disadvantaged kids among other things.

Her website has the details, and if you want to know more, you can buy her self-published book. Up till a few months ago you could've gotten it personally autographed. For a good fee. All power to Yvonne, she lucked out on being associated with shows that attracted affluent memorabilia collectors. She wasn't sitting around trying to sell her photo for ten bucks a pop, that's for sure. She wouldn't have been invited if she had simply been an actress who turned up on a variety of 60's and 70's shows, trying to get people to pay for a signature on a still from her "Perry Mason" or "Gidget" episode. On eBay her autographed photos, like the other "Batman" people or "Star Trek" villains, rarely sell for under $50.

I met Yvonne socially a few times, and she was a very nice lady, easy to talk to and unpretentious. No, we didn't talk about ANY of the above subjects. I kind of think it's a "given," that you don't have to acknowledge a famous person for what they're famous for. A simple, "so very nice to meet you" is good enough, and you go from there, to small-talk, politics, whatever anyone normally talks about.

Her friends and family suggested "that no one waste a moment of their time in mourning for her loss in sadness but instead celebrate the awesome life she had been fortunate enough to live."

Since "Batman" fans are the hardest hit, below is the ILL FOLKS BAT-MEDLEY. Bearing in mind that a novelty tune can lose it's novelty even halfway through, this six minute montage samples: Adam West's overly bouncy "Miranda," a bit of Burgess "The Penguin" Meredith in a musical narration about his nemesis, and then Jan and Dean who washed up onto shore for "The Joker is Wild." It segues into the real Joker and then Cesar Romero seriously giving a "Thought for Today." Just a few oddities since most everyone has the "Batman" theme and you can easily see highlights from Yvonne's career on various uploads on YouTube...ones that are totally illegal but did not set off "That Bat Signal" and any copyright-enforcing caped crusaders

Adam West, Cesar Romero BATMAN MEDLEY

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