"Holy Doppleganger!"
It's pretty typical for an actor or actress to play a dual role. Ask any actor, and the answer is usually that there is more fun and depth in playing a rogue than in playing a hero. Heroes do the right thing, while villains have all the fun. Barbara Eden and Elizabeth Montgomery played straight-laced characters on I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched respectively; then, turned right around and cut loose in dual identities opposite themselves on those sitcoms. It's an opportunity to play against type. Anne Baxter, star of such films as The Razor's Edge, All About Eve and The Ten Commandments and a guest star on a host of classic television series, was a unique guest starring Bat-villain who played two very different characters. She made a single first season appearance as Zelda The Great. She returned later, in the third season, as Olga, Queen of the Cossacks. Her Olga character returned to Batman '66 in issue six.
Zelda The Great was a unique character, and not just for her single appearance. Zelda was perhaps the first female stage magician and escape artist. Zelda says a lot about gender equality and the battle of the sexes, not just the battle between good and evil. There might be other figures in the Batman rogues gallery that embody "feminist" themes. Catwoman may very well be the most prominent figure in the battle of the sexes. Zelda appears as a female Houdini. Obsessed with fame and grandeur, Zelda commits crime to fund her illusions.
Jeff Parker, Craig Rousseau, colorist Tony Avina and Wes Abbott bring her back in "Zelda's Great Escape". Bruce Wayne and his date, Kathy Kane, chaperone Dick Grayson and his date with a young lady named Haley, to a performance by The Great Griselda. Bruce and Dick recognize Griselda as Zelda. Griselda selects Haley to assist her in escaping her next deathtrap. After escaping the illusion, Batman and Robin show up and reveal Griselda's true identity! After battling her stage hand henchmen, Zelda captures the Dynamic Duo and entices Haley to become a thrill-seeker. Kathy Kane is left behind with the rest of the audience! Zelda places the Dynamic Duo in a couple of deathtraps to make notes on how they escape, in order to improve as an illusionist. The story moves along smoothly, with Zelda taking Haley on in the role of sidekick. Most male Bat-villains had molls, Catwoman had a young sidekick, Pussycat, played by singer Leslie Gore.
Alan Napier, who starred as Alfred Pennyworth, played a dual role as his look-alike cousin Egbert. Egbert is the star of the back-up story, The Butler Did It by Tom Peyer, penciller Chris Sprouse and inker Karl Story. Egbert is released from jail through The Wayne Foundation Halfway House for the Halfway Corrupt. Bruce Wayne sends him on his way, which includes a ride from cousin Alfred. Egbert overpowers Alfred and takes his identity as Wayne's dutiful butler. When Bruce and Dick discover the ruse, they turn the tables on Egbert with outrageous results. Peyer brings the same wit and humor that was in his Bookworm story from issue six.
The Batman television series was more a show that happened to have colorful costumes and characters and less a show based on a comic book super-hero. It was more a sitcom in the same vein as Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie and Gilligan's Island. Wonder Woman, The Man From Atlantis, The Incredible Hulk and The Amazing Spider-Man were similar shows to Batman years later in the '70's. What's fun is to see the concepts developed for the television series brought into the comics. Batman '66 fits in the all-ages genre along with The Batman Adventures, The Batman Strikes! and Batman: The Brave and the Bold comics. Comics that are fun.