# Pop-Culture Alert No. II: Tallulah Bankhead on "Batman" June 19, dahlings! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2002, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-alert-no-ii-tallulah-bankhead-on-batman-june-19-dahlings/114534 "2002-06-17T15:18:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-alert-no-ii-tallulah-bankhead-on-batman-june-19-dahlings/114534/1 "2002-06-17T15:18:40Z")
Tallu plays The Black Widow on two back-to-back _Batman_ episodes this Weds., June 19. Haven’t seen them since they were first run in '67, and you can bet I will be there, bourbon in one hand and unfiltered cigarette in the other, an underaged Eton boy on my lap (just like I was when I was ten). ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-alert-no-ii-tallulah-bankhead-on-batman-june-19-dahlings/114534/2 "2002-06-17T16:15:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*Tallu plays The Black Widow on two back-to-back _Batman_ episodes this Weds., June 19. Haven’t seen them since they were first run in '67, and you can bet I will be there, bourbon in one hand and unfiltered cigarette in the other, an underaged Eton boy on my lap (just like I was when I was ten). \*\* The bourbon-and-cigarette wielder, or the Eton boy? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-alert-no-ii-tallulah-bankhead-on-batman-june-19-dahlings/114534/3 "2002-06-17T19:42:29Z")
On what channel, Eve? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-alert-no-ii-tallulah-bankhead-on-batman-june-19-dahlings/114534/4 "2002-06-19T20:34:18Z")
Just bumping this up, in case any Tallu fans missed it. It’s on TVLand, Harpo dahling. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-alert-no-ii-tallulah-bankhead-on-batman-june-19-dahlings/114534/5 "2002-06-19T21:37:46Z")
We were all friends in the good old days. Thanks, Eve. And I hope you’re familiar with George Baxt’s _The Tallulah Bankhead Murder Case_ and the rest of his Hollywood series. (Various brothers of the Marx persuasion show up from time to time as well.) ---
**Author:** ![Redboss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8baadc/32.png) [@Redboss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redboss)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2002, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-alert-no-ii-tallulah-bankhead-on-batman-june-19-dahlings/114534/6 "2002-06-20T07:30:27Z")
I recently had contact with an attractive and very stylish young lady called Tallulah. I assumed she had taken the name herself, but in passing she told me her mother had named her that after **the** Tallulah. And her surname, as a child was - Whitehead. Now that seems a little wrong somehow. On the other hand this Tallu is a smart, self-possessed and delightful woman, so it can’t have hurt her all that much, can it? Redhead ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2002, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-alert-no-ii-tallulah-bankhead-on-batman-june-19-dahlings/114534/7 "2002-06-20T13:15:54Z")
Well, it was mahhhhvelous, dahlings. High camp at its best. George Raft even had a cameo apperance. And I noticed that Chief O’Hara, with his vaudeville Irish accent, referred to Robin as “the Bi Wonder” . . . ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2002, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-alert-no-ii-tallulah-bankhead-on-batman-june-19-dahlings/114534/8 "2002-06-20T13:29:20Z")
Now seems like the perfect opportunity to repeat Dick Cavett’s story about Tallulah Bankhead and Chico Marx. Marx was a rather notorious womanizer and was quite proud of his successes with the ladies. Upon their first meeting, Chico is reported to have said, very brazenly, “Lady, I’m gonna give you the best fucking of your life.” Ms. Bankhead, without missing a best, is reported to responded “So you shall, you charming young man.” The story also goes that Eleanor Roosevelt visited Hollywood and, for whatever reason, was going to visit Ms. Bankhead. Ms. Roosevelt is escorted into Ms. Bankhead’s dressing room only to find it empty. She then hears, “I’m in here.” Ms. Roosevelt follows the voice only to open the door and find Tallulah Bankead sitting on the toilet. Said Ms. Bankhead, “How do you do? So very glad that you could come visit.” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2002, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-alert-no-ii-tallulah-bankhead-on-batman-june-19-dahlings/114534/9 "2002-06-20T13:58:55Z")
My favorite (legitimate) Tallulah quote: “My father warned me about men and liquor, but he never said a _word_ about women or cocaine!” My favorite (apocryphal) Tallulah story: she was in church (!) when a priest walked by in his vestments, swinging the censer full of insence. She tugged on his sleeve and urgently whispered, “_love_ the drag, dahling, but your purse is on fire.”