"Witness Mr. Henry Bemis, a charter member in the fraternity of dreamers. A bookish little man whose passion is the printed page, but who is conspired against by a bank president and a wife and a world full of tongue-cluckers and the unrelenting hands of a clock. But in just a moment, Mr. Bemis will enter a world without bank presidents or wives or clocks or anything else. He'll have a world all to himself... without anyone (in The Twilight Zone!)"

If my math is right, Burgess Meredith was 58 when he was cast as The Penguin.

He was a legendary entertainer. Not just an actor; but a producer, director and writer for stage and screen. His credits include appearances on The Twilight Zone - the classic episode that everybody remembers, as well as a role in the '80's film; the original Clash of the Titans, Foul Play with Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn, and as George in Steineck's Of Mice and Men. Not only was he The Penguin, but he was also Mickey, Rocky's trainer in the first three Rocky films.

According to legend, Meredith was a favorite of the Batman '66 producers. Word is that they always had a Penguin script ready for when he was available. He was one of the few guest-villains that returned time and again to wage his fowl villainy on Gotham!

He also made a cameo in an episode of The Monkees.

Liberace made a cameo on The Monkees. He was Chandell on Batman. Superman made a cameo, too. The Monkees were also The Monkeemen! If you look closely in Kingdom Come, you'll see they make a cameo there.

I've blogged before about how The Penguin was not one of my favorite comic rogues. On singer Paul Williams' birthday, I wrote that he was the one that made me a fan. Maybe it was how Dini and Timm wrote the character for Batman: The Animated Series. The theme of a social climber was much stronger than on the '66 series. It was there, with Meredith's "pompous Penguin" marrying a wealthy heiress; opening a restaurant; and running for mayor.

One of my favorite issues of Batman '66 was his partnership with Mister Freeze! It's the second issue. Written by Jeff Parker, with art by Ty Templeton. They created a floating nation of an iceberg!

He later teamed-up with Lord Death Man and Black Widow. There was a cool back-up story, by "Ty The Guy", that had Catwoman, Joker, Riddler and Penguin as '66 Mad Men. It was hilarious.

Had there been a Season Four, it would have been cool to see Penguin open his Iceberg nightclub, and become more of a Signor Ferrari of Gotham. What if... he booked The Monkees as one of the acts into his club and he and Poison Ivy used the band members to commit crimes? That would make a pretty cool Batman '66 Meets The Monkees.

Do you have a favorite Penguin story? Aside from the obvious, Mister Freeze, who would be perfect for a partnership with Penguin?