The Wombat File Is Yours to Keep

Theda Bara? (The IT girl; not that I.T., James)

Now if I only could remember more from my copy of Hollywood Bablyon than the story of Fatty Arbuckle...

When I think of Romulus and Remus, all I can think of is Star Trek...

The show is Batman.
Which means that the castmember could be Eartha Kitt.

Or possibly Julie Newmar.

(But here the walking-the-cat-backwards strategy ends--I don't know enough about their resumes to logic out what the film is.)

(Yes, it could also be Lee Meriweather.)

(Or even Yvonne Craig, I suppose. I'm guessing it's not going to be whoever the actress was who played Aunt Harriet, just because I can't imagine her in gold paint.)

Where are you Gavin? Or what are you doing awake at 3:30 PM on a school nite? And for that matter, why have you memorized the TV Guide?

Perhaps the film is 7 Brides for 7 Brothers (transposed from the 7 Hills)?

that should say 3 AM, of course -- even I can't keep these time zones straight (esp. if you try moving your daylight savings around without telling anyone)

OK, assuming that Slaves of Babylon is a 1920s or 1930s film, I guessing that we will have to be talking about Eartha Kitt and not Julie Newmar (too young). Yvonne Craig played which character? Eartha Kitt is/was Black. I'm not sure what kinds of roles were available for Eartha pre-Batman. There was an all-Black movie called Greener Pastures, I think. (Porgy and Bess has got to be Gershwin not SVB). But this is really stretching things.

I would have placed Peyton Place earlier than the late 60s, but what do I know? (Not much, including who was in that show). Speaking of Greener Pastures, maybe we should be talking about Green Acres and Zsa Zsa Gabor?

I think you guys have nailed it. Seven Brides is from the Benet story "The Sobbin' Women", and Julie Newmar played Dorcas.

Velma adds: "And does he even mention that it's Julie Newmar in white scanties and a corset?? Hmph."

If we're right, all credit due to Gavin (and I guess my flailing managed to hit the film). Time for bed.

Wow -- Scraps, your Benet-knowledge is truly exceptional. I didn't include the hilarious Benet title -- which is a play on the Roman legend of The Rape of the Sabine Women. Because I thought someone might know Seven Brides well enough to connect "The Sobbin' Women" to the musical.

(I should go on record as saying that I basically know Seven Brides for Seven Brothers through the Python sketch involving a public school "performance" of the play.)

Slaves of Babylon and The Gilded Girl were not (despite the throwback titles) remnants of the 20s, but were in 1953. Newmar was actually billed as "Julie Newmeyer" in 7 Brides. I appreciate Ms. Bowen's reminder of the electrifying lubricity of Ms. Newmeyer's scanties/corset performance. Rest assured that if I stumble across a video of Serpent of the Nile I'll set it aside for comparison.

Since it's early yet: Ms. Newmar went on in 1956 to make a strong impression with a role in a Broadway musical that put her onstage for just 90 seconds. Also in the cast was another actress making her Broadway debut in a supporting role. One year younger than Newmar, she went on to become an even more iconic figure of 1960s TV. Who was she? What was the musical?

Hazel (Shirley Booth).

"Of Thee I Sing"

Nope.

(I'm in a hotel room in Los Angeles, Art.)

I would indeed have remembered the Sobbin' Women--Scraps, of course, needs no aid.

Was it Sally Field?

No -- both Newmar and our mystery actress are more than a decade older than Field, who was quite young when she played Sister Bertrille.

(Yvonne Craig played Batgirl, by the way, Art.)

Barbara Eden?

Or Nichelle Nichols?

Or even Barbara Feldon?

I have no idea what y'all are talking about sometimes, and this time I'm not even high. Elizabeth Montgomery?

Mary Tyler Moore.

O, Calcutta!

O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A, Oklahoma.

Doris Day, maybe?

BTW, when we were looking for a name for the girl I briefly considered Sabine... until I read about the whole rape thing.

(While my knowledge of Benet is pretty decent -- I was initially thinking "By the Waters of Babylon" but thought that if it were part of the answer the Wombat would not have made reference to Babylon -- the truth is that Velma is obsessed with Seven Brides [mostly for the dancing], so I have seen it several times and it prominently mentions the story title in the opening credits. If she'd been up early enough, she would have had the answers bing-bing-bing [as she did when I read her the question].)

Carol Burnett, Once Upon a Mattress?

Unlikely--that's a lead role.

Angie Dickinson? (Don't ask me the musical, all I can think of is Elvis)

I have to say, I thought that after the quick tackling of the main answer, this one would be dispensed with quickly as well.

One clue which might help with both halves: the role our mystery actress played in her Broadway debut was "Appassionata von Climax."

Yvonne de Carlo.

It sounds like a lovely musical - I would guess "Springtime for Hitler" if that were real.

Forty-Second Street?

Nope. In the same musical, Newmar played "Stupefyin' Jones."

The musical is Li'l Abner.

No idea who the actress is. Tina Louise?

A stupefyin' shot in the dark, Scraps! Well done. The musical is indeed Lil' Abner (no surprise that Gene De Paul did music and Johnny Mercer the lyrics for both LA and SBfSB).

Interestingly, Tina Louise made her Hollywood debut in a big, serious role -- as the adulterous love interest of Will Walker in the film ofErskine Caldwell's rather controversial God's Little Acre.