BETTY JONES: IN THE VENEER OF THE CAT

By the way.....

The "Betty" mentioned in that previous summary is Betty Jones, the daughter-in-law of the show's title character. At the time of the series, she was a widow, as her husband Hal died before the show aired. Betty and Barnaby's son met "on the job", so to speak - he arrested her as a fugitive in L.A. after her escape from Gotham Prison back in the late 1960s.

She had been serving time for her crimes as the second Catwoman.

Betty had appropriated the identity of the feline felon for herself after the death of the original, Selina Kyle, in the caves beneath Gotham City. She wasn't the last to do so, either. A cat burgler by the name of Tia Mara also took on the identity after she was jilted out of what she felt she was rightfully due from her association with a covert government agency known as the IMF. And then there was the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet, whose spirit reanimated the body of Ms. Kyle so that she once again purr-sued her former life as the Catwoman in Gotham City. (And she still does to this day!)

While escorting his prisoner back to Gotham City after her extradition hearing, Hal Jones and Betty fell in love. They were married after she served her full sentence, but the union didn't last long - the son of Barnaby Jones was killed in the line of duty. To take her mind off her troubles, Betty went to work for her father-in-law as a secretary and general gal Friday. And that's why Peter Kirkland decided to involve her in his plans.

(I never saw the episode - at least I don't remember doing so, - but come on! That plotline screams out as a case of misdirection!)

SHOWS & MOVIES CITED:
'Barnaby Jones'
'Batman'
'Mission: Impossible'
"Batman" (the 1966 movie)
"Whiskers"

BCnU!
Toby OB