Shapely Julie Gregg’s Finella was one of Batman’s most narcissistic molls right up there with the more remembered Leslie Parrish as Glacia Glaze and Kathy Kersh as Cornelia. Though Finella was vain to the max, by episode’s end she proved there was a heart under all that makeup and mascara and helps the Dynamic Duo nab the Penguin.
“Fine Finny Fiends” and “Batman Makes the Scenes” originally aired on May 4 and May 5, 1966. The Penguin is back in Gotham City and plans to steal money from the Multimillionaires Annual Award Dinner where a number of beauty contestants represent different worthy causes with the winning beauty’s cause getting the money. The meeting place is kept secret to the public so Penguin kidnaps Alfred who arranges the event and brainwashes him to reveal the location once it is known to him. The treacherous bird’s self-absorbed moll Finella could care less about the money and only dreams of winning a bathing beauty contest as she models different swim suits for him. How self-centered is she? When the Dynamic Duo invades the Penguin’s lair and punch out the Penguin, she helps him up and whines, “Penggy baby, I’m not sure this is the right bathing suit.” After Penguin’s fiends subdue the Dynamic Duo and lock them in a balloon-filled tank slowly sucking out all the air, a worried Finella frets as it looks like the Dynamic Duo are dead.
Of course, Batman and Robin survive due to something Batman was hiding in his utility belt. Penguin meanwhile gasses Miss Natural Resources and has Finella take her place. Batman escorts the fur clad bathing beauty to the dinner where the cooing Finella jumps out of a huge cake. As the ogling millionaires throw $100 dollar bills at her, she picks up her umbrella and sprays the guests with knockout gas. The fishy fowl and his felonious fiends head back to his wharf hideaway where Finella breaks down in tears rejecting her cut of the loot. “I can’t take it,” she wails. “It’s not mine—not the coat, not the money, not anything. Just because I wanted to win a beauty contest. Who’s going to save our natural resources now?” Batman and Robin then pop out of Penguin’s wall safe and as Penguin goes to gas them again, Finella blocks him only to take the brunt of the gas knocking her out. Due to her bravery, Finella gets a day pass from the big doll house and stunningly clad in a low-cut tight emerald evening gown is allowed to attend the real Millionaires Dinner.
Julie Gregg’s character was a bit on the whiny side making her one of the less memorable molls despite her beauty. Gregg was actually a brunette hidden under a blonde wig when playing Finella. She went on to appear in many TV shows during the sixties including I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, The Flying Nun, The Mod Squad, The Virginian, Mission: Impossible, etc. During the seventies she was a regular on two short-lived TV series Banyon (1972-73) a thirties set detective series starring Robert Forster and Mobile One (1975) with Jackie Cooper. As for the big screen, Gregg made few movies but did essay the roles of Sandra Corleone in The Godfather (1972) and Antonia in Man of La Mancha (1972). Her last credit is the erotic thriller Dead On (1994) with Tracey Scoggins.
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