WOmWAm FEMMEnomena

00-00-196

"The Impractical Joker"

Kathy Kersh as the impossibly vain "Cornelia..."

All she does is look at herself in the mirror...

Can you blame her?

Dick Ward mesmerized by his real-life wife-to-be...

She leads B&R to a trap...

And down the chute they go...

Turning on the charm to coax Alfred...

Thanks to Starman* for the vidcaps...

High C writes: "The best henchgals of the series displayed an almost slavish devotion to their villains. Not so with Cornelia, who technically is a henchgal, not a moll, because she does lure Batman and Robin into a trap door. Not only does she spend all of her time looking at herself in the mirror (lucky mirror!), but she runs out on Joker when the Batfight is barely underway. Unlike some other henchgals/molls, who only try to escape when their villain has been or is about to be defeated, Cornelia leaves when the fight is in its early stages, and is able to escape out the door. Interestingly, no mention ever was made of whether she was captured by Gotham City’s Finest."

High C highlights the distinction between a HenchGirl & a Moll archetype, which has lead to some confusion by some WOmWAm visitors... The strict archetypical definition is that a Moll doesn't do anything, hanging around, looking good, implicitly having a sexual relation with the Villain / Criminal to benefit materially from his crimes. A HenchGirl is an active member of a criminal gang, playing a key role in the execution of a crime. Her sexual relation to the Villain or or Master Criminal is not the prime function of her presence, but rather her abilities to attack or overwhelm men.

Most Moll-HenchGirl BatFemmes blur the distinction and exhibit traits of both, with Cornelia being a prime example. She is the epitome of a Moll "kept WOman" in that she is clearly with the Joker only to gain material wealth to enhance her beauty, but she does actively set-up B&R to go down the chute, with Cornelia's deliciousness being the act is almost an after-thought for her, that while she is so self-absorbed admiring herself she just happens to remember that she's supposed to lead B&R into a trap.