URBAN MYTHS

Did Orson Welles start work on a Batman movie?

An Orson Welles biographer called Lionel Hutton recently made a discovery that thrilled comic-book fans and Citizen Kane aficionados alike. In the 1940s, not long after Batman first appeared in comics, Welles apparently embarked on his own project to bring the Caped Crusader to the big screen. A script was written and the baddies were cast: James Cagney was the Riddler, Basil Rathbone was the Joker, and Marlene Dietrich (right) would put on the Catwoman suit (above). Humphrey Bogart turned down the role of Two-Face, which went to George Raft. Welles insisted that he play Batman himself, but the studio wanted Gregory Peck, and the project foundered. Sadly, there is no Welles biographer called Lionel Hutton, and the story can be traced to Mark Millar, a Scottish comic-book writer, who put it on a comics website in 2003. If you want a tale to run and run, give it to a gaggle of comic geeks.

UNSUNG HERO

The woman who succeeded where Amelia Earhart failed

Amelia Earhart vanished while trying to fly round the world in 1937. The woman who succeeded, 27 years later, was Geraldine Mock, a 38-year-old American mother of three. She left Ohio on March 19, 1964, and returned after a global circumnavigation 29Å days later. Jerrie flew a Cessna 180 single-engine monoplane, nicknamed Charlie, and stopped in various places on the way, including Calcutta, Bangkok and Hawaii. She battled storms, sand in the engine and ice on the wings, and while trying to land in Cairo she accidentally touched down at a secret military base. Now 83, Jerrie Mock enjoys terra firma in Florida.

UNDER COVER

The multiple meanings behind the lyrics of American Pie

The fact that Don McLean has never fully explained his 1971 smash, American Pie, means that writers and bloggers are still analysing and debating its lyrics today. What is undisputed is that “the day the music died” is February 3, 1959, when the plane carrying his hero Buddy Holly crashed in Iowa. McLean worked as a paperboy — hence “February made me shiver with every paper I’d deliver”. “The Jester”, who sings “for the King and Queen in a coat he borrowed from James Dean”, is almost certainly Bob Dylan, though pundits disagree on whether the coat is a black leather jacket or a red windcheater — both of them worn by Dean and Dylan. JFK and his first lady, Jackie, may be the King and Queen — but Dylan did play at the King & Queen pub in London in December 1962. However, the “King” who has his crown stolen a few lines later may be Elvis Presley. Dylan pops up later “in a cast”, presumably after his 1966 motorcycle accident. “The Sergeants” playing “a marching tune” are likely to be the Beatles playing Sgt Pepper, an album that was a big influence on McLean, and the “sweet perfume” may be marijuana. “Jack, be nimble, Jack, be quick” could be about JFK acting swiftly in the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, though the “Jack Flash” section clearly refers to the murder at the Rolling Stones’ 1969 Altamont concert. The “girl who sang the blues” is widely identified as Janis Joplin. As to the chorus, it seems there was once a music bar near McLean’s home called “the Levee”, and there is a town nearby called Rye. McLean, now 63, has said that the song is “part reality and part fantasy”, so maybe it’s time for obsessive American Pie-slicers to get a life.

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