Zelda the Great (Anne Baxter) was a villain in the 1966 two-episodes "Zelda The Great" and "A Death Worse Than Fate" in the TV series "Batman".
Zelda the Great is the ally of Eivol Ekdol (Jack Kruschen), the owner of an occult bookstore that specializes in stage illusions. Every year on April's Fools' Day, Zelda robs a bank of exactly $100,000. She is using the money to pay Eivol for a new trick to re-invigorate her fading magic act. This year, Ekdol has prepared a clever escape proof cabinet. After two years on the case, Commissioner Gordon (Neil Hamilton) called Batman (Burt Ward) and Robin to solve the case.
Batman plants a pair of phony stories. The first one is that the money the Bank Bandit had stolen was counterfeit. The other was that the rare Star of Samarkind emerald, that was announced to be on display at Stonewall's Jewelry for one day only, whose value was $100,000. While Zelda and Eivol believed the story about the counterfeit money, Zelda saw through the other one saying that it was too convenient a target.
A quick scouting trip confirmed her suspicions, and at the jewelry salon, Zelda appears as an elderly woman. She taps her cane, releasing a cloud of gas which allows her to escape as she stole the emerald. The emerald was a fake, and there was a homing device inside. Zelda knew this and threw the stone in the gutter to throw off Batman and Robin.
Before stealing the emerald, she arranged to kidnap Aunt Harriet Cooper (Madge Blake) to ransom for the money. In doing so, Aunt Harriet was lured outside to meet a taxi, and was joined in the taxi by Zelda's henchmen. The two henchmen render Aunt Harriet unconscious with a chloroform rag. Harriet was then encased in a black nylon straitjacket, gagged with a thick terrycloth, and cover her face with a green silk scarf.
Back at the hideout, Harriet was attached to a cable hoisted in the air dangling over a vat of boiling oil. Harriet is left kicking her feet in a frenzy from the overwhelming heat, while Zelda sat in a chair knitting and watching television.
In a television broadcast with Batman, Robin, and Commissioner Gordon, Zelda learns that the money that she stole was in turn not conterfeit, and they convince Zelda to release Harriet.
Zelda ends up falling in love with Batman and saves him and Robin from Ekdal's trap. Ekdal had two of his henchmen hiding in wooden caskets with machine guns preparing to kill Batman and Robin. Zelda warned them which in turn saved the Dynamic Duo.
A tearful Zelda surrenders and is handcuffed, truly remorseful. Ekdol is taken into custody and Zelda is granted her reprieve.
Later Bruce Wayne is shown visiting Zelda in prison. She tells her that the Wayne Foundation maintains a number of children's hospitals. When she gets out of prison, he will arrange for Zelda to get a position in one of those hospitals as Lady Magician. Zelda is truly grateful for this.
Trivia[]
- Anne Baxter appeared as Eve Harrington in the 1950 film "All About Eve".
- Anne Baxter appeared as the villain Olga, Queen of the Cossacks in three 1967 episodes "The Ogg and I", "How To Hatch A Dinosaur", and "The Ogg Couple" for the TV series "Batman".
Gallery[]
