My house, when I was a ten year old, was a “Stop laughing, Daddy, this is serious!” house. The program in question was “Batman,” and I took it VERY seriously. Every Thursday morning at school we would debate how in the world the dynamic duo was going to get out of the situation they were trapped in the previous night. I remember getting it right exactly one time: when the Joker had Batman and Robin strapped into electric chairs, and I properly guessed that they’d be saved by a blackout, just like the one in New York.
Many, many years later I stumbled over Batman repeats on Nickelodeon. Batman and Robin had just walked into Gotham Library, searching for the Riddler. The startled librarian said, “Batman and Robin! What are you doing here?” Batman said, “We’re wondering if you’ve seen any strange looking people here today.” Rather than provide the obvious response–“You mean besides you?”–the librarian said, “Whatever do you mean?” Robin said, “We’re looking for a man wearing a green leotard with big black question marks.” The librarian thought about this a moment and said, “I don’t recall seeing anyone like that. But you know, so many people come and go here during the day.” And I burst out laughing and realized that, Oh my God, it was a comedy. I immediately felt terrible for all the times I’d shushed my dad.
And the great comedian who led it all was Adam West. Developing a pitch-perfect deadpan years before Leslie Neilsen perfected it in Airplane!, West was my generation’s Batman. He didn’t speak in a gravelly, threatening voice, and every cop loved him. He wasn’t “The Batman.” He was just Batman. More serious comics fans may have despised him since he effectively kiddified the character, but I was a kiddie, so I loved it. West effectively disappeared from the scene and fans did their best to forget him, but in more recent years nostalgia (and a handful of bad Batman films) spurred retrospective adoration for the original series, which finally spawned DVD releases, memorial books and TV movies, and even a recent animated special.
I had the honor to speak with West at various conventions and always found him to be quite patient and charming. I’d loved to have been able to spend more time with him, to tell him how much his TV series meant to me. But I doubt I needed to because he probably heard it a million times.
Rest well, Caped Crusader.
PAD
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When I was a kid Batman was serious business.
When I was a young teen Batmen was the stupidest thing I ever saw.
When I was an older teen Batman was the funniest thing ever.
When I became a parent I enjoyed watching my kids go through the Batman experience Batman.
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I can’t thing of any other program that is so different at different times, and enjoyable in a different way for all of them.
My experience is very close to your own (though we don’t have kids). I was still five years old when the Batman tv show debuted in 1966, and I also experienced a love/hate/love relationship with the series.
I’m glad that Adam West’s career recovered in his final years and he was able to embrace the role that must have cost him many other parts for very long. But I think that I might have liked Adam West best as Mayor Adam West of Quahog, Rhode Island.
The Rocky and Bullwinkle show. I never understood why my parents laughed at the parts they did until much later.
Animaniacs worked on so many different age levels, too,.
“The Rocky and Bullwinkle show”
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Yeah… sigh
I took the show seriously as well, when I was a kid. Or rather, the movie, which a station in my area would show periodically on Saturday afternoons in a block they called “Super-Hero Saturdays” (the block usually consisted of re-runs of Gil Gerard’s Buck Rogers series, but every so often they’d mix it up with the Adam West/Burt Ward Batman film, the 70’s motorcycle helmet Captain America, or reruns of the Nicholas Hammond Spider-Man show). Later, a local station would show the tv show on weekday afternoons, in an hour block (which was convenient). I think I was around 9 when I finally got the joke.
I’ve heard West’s series called the most accurate screen adaptation of a comic book, ever and while I can understand where that judgement is coming from, I don’t agree. The series winked at the audience in a way that the comics didn’t. Even in the 50’s, you never had Batman delivering a lecture to Robin on the importance of oral hygiene, or encounter the likes of Sammy Davis Jr. as he scaled a building. The comics were straight adventure stories aimed at kids, whereas the tv show was intended as a parody of such stories, or serialized adventure stories in general, and was aimed at adults. Still, I don’t think anyone minded if little kids took them seriously.
I think comics fans’ antipathy towards West’s Batman had less to do with the show itself than with the greater public and the media’s continuous focus on it; there was a long time there where you couldn’t get a news story about comics that didn’t include a “biff” or a “wham” in the title. I’ve noticed that the antipathy for the show has waned considerably since Nolan’s trilogy, as if fans feel they can admit to the merits of the TV series now that there’s a darker, more serious rendition out there.
As for me, the show was fun and charming, and West did an excellent job, as did Burt Ward, and everyone involved in it. Rest in Peace, old chum.
Also the fact that when they tried to take it back from Burton’s darker take and go back to campy with Joel Schumacher it was terrible. The jokes were bad and Kilmer and Clooney’s performances were stiff. It made you appreciate the brilliant writing of Batman ’66 and Adam West’s performance which was straight faced but still incredibly funny.
Another good one gone, yes. Pity. Very much appreciated the way he was always ready to give back to fans.
As usual, however, I’m ‘different’. My favourite memory of West was as Captain Rick Wright in the sadly short-lived tv goofball comedy series THE LAST PRECINCT. I do recall his work in the BATMAN series, of course, but what stood out for me there were the villains. For me, Ceasar Romero IS The Joker. Just as Burgess Meredith was The Penguin, George Sanders was Freeze, Vincent Price The Egghead, and so on. Robin Lord Taylor may steal the show as GOTHAM’s Penguin, but the way the originals chewed the scenery still define the characters for me.
Adam West appears (as himself) as the star of the film “The Spy Who Laughed at Danger”, the film-within-a-film in the Burt Reynolds film “Hooper”.
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He’s only on the screen for a few seconds, but he’s there.
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Personally, i hated the “Batman” TV show… It almost seemed to me that the creative people involved were ashamed to be doing a “comic book” show, and they expressed their contempt for the material in the prpgram.
Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel old friend, Adam you are gone but will always remain in my memory.
PAD, thanks for introducing so many of us to Adam West’s second-greatest role: Cleander in Alexander The Great.
Even though Mr. West disavowed the film, it was pretty good, and great fun to see him and William Shatner before they got their defining roles.
Like several of the of the folks above, I went through ups and downs in my regard for the Batman tv show and for Mr. West’s performance. With maturity came respect. I think mention should be made of his contribution to the greatest dramatic adaptation of Batman: Batman, The Animated Series, in which he appeared as the Grey Ghost, the hero whose adventures inspired Bruce Wayne. /Fitting, I thought at the time, and still do.
I’d forgotten that he voiced the Ghost.
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Fitting, indeed.
I always liked the fact that Adam West embraced his campy reputation, whether returning to the Batman role, spoofing himself as the mayor of Quohag on FAMILY GUY (“Nobody messes with Adam We!”), or hosting a MST3K Thanksgiving Day marathon that featured ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE — starring Adam West!
The BATMAN show was pretty silly (and ruined the character in the eyes of many folks), but Adam West will surely be missed. Farewell, old chum.
He will always be the first Batman, However, I’m at least glad he got to be the Mayor of Family Guy and finally got the Blu Rays of the show too. In a weird way, Batman made him famous and Family Guy gave him a happy ending. Though I’m hoping that West/Shatner cartoon was finished too. RIP Adam West.
Well, I’m sure that someone’s first Batman was either Lewis Wilson in 1943 or Robert Lowery in 1949. Or they might have encountered the Dark Knight for the first time as a guest star on the Adventures of Superman radio series.
Certainly, Adam West was my first Batman even before I knew that there were comic books.
Sigh. I remember one night back in the mid-90’s, laughing with my friends, saying that one day I hoped to read a Batman comic where he’s captured and thrown at the villain’s feet… which are revealed to be attached to an uncharacteristcally badass-looking King Tut. Followed by a stinger panel of Batman looking through the fourth wall and screaming “PETER!!! NO! WE’RE NOT DOING THIS!”
“Stop laughing, Daddy, this is serious!” – The first season had some genuinely thrilling cliffhangers (including a largely literal one, with Bruce Wayne strapped to a runaway hospital gurney racing to a cliff’s edge), but by the second season, I was becoming increasingly aware of the silliness of it all.
I hope Adam concluded the vocal tracks for the second animated Batman ’66 DTV movie. I really want to hear his Batman vs. Shatner’s Two-Face.
I have since confirmed that Adam did indeed finish recording his entire vocal track. There is still no confirmed date of release for the video, but there will be at least one more Adam West Batman performance in the next year or so.
Where did you confirm that, because my sources told me the exact opposite.
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PAD
I read it here last night:
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http://io9.gizmodo.com/adam-wests-dark-knight-will-rise-once-more-in-batman-vs-1796104408
Right now the main source seems to be this.
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http://comicbook.com/2017/06/14/batman-adam-west-two-face/
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They cite another site, 13th Dimension, where columnist Dan Greenfield states that he contacted Warner Brothers and they confirmed he had finished the work.
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Right now I’m not putting any stock in any reports.
I will confess that by ‘confirmation’ I merely meant I read some of the same articles as mentioned above. I did not personally ask anyone in-the-know directly. It was good enough to appease me, but was not true first hand information. Apologies for perhaps being a bit too enthusiastic.
The best thing about Adam West was how seriously he didn’t take himself. I have no idea if it was genuine, or he just needed money badly enough to be willing to bite his tongue, but I”d like to believe it was the former. I suspect, if given the opportunity, he would’ve been DC’s version of Stan Lee, showing up in every movie as a silly cameo for 10 seconds of comic relief.
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One of my favorite roles of his was on “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” where Batman goes back in time and meets his parents, played by West & Julie Newmar. At a masquerade party. Where they’re dressed as… a bat and a cat. So very awesome.
Not quite. Thomas was indeed dressed as a bat. In fact, he was wearing Bob Kane’s earliest design of the costume. But Martha was dressed as a butterfly because the theme of the masquerade was “Creatures With Wings.”
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PAD
Isn’t that referencing a Silver Age Batman story, “The First Batman” or some such?
Oh, I would’ve sworn she was a cat. Faulty memory, I guess *g* But it was still awesome having Wayne & Newmar as his parents!
Well, Kevin, he did kinda sorta fill the Stan Lee role in one way:
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While the Lego Marvel video games feature “Stan Lee In Peril” side-goals, Lego Batman 3 had “Adam West In Peril” (and, a post-game bonus level patterned after the ’66 series, and the credits ran across the Lego West Batman and Lego Ward Robin scaling the wall of a building.
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–Daryl
OK, that makes me want to play the game now lol
Yes, there are many incarnations of the character of Batman, and to get the Adam West version, just lighten up and take it for what it was. He was great.
On a different note, your remark: “More serious comics fans may have despised him since he effectively kiddified the character, but I was a kiddie, so I loved it.” reminds me of when I saw “Return of the Jedi” as a kid when it first came out. I loved the Ewoks, and the happy, predictable ending then. Of course, as an adult, I grew to see things differently. It is what it is.
I always wanted you to write an epic Batman yarn for DC one day.
I’d seen him speaking at Dragon Con a few times. He seemed to be a genuinely nice guy.
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He is, of course, my Batman no matter what others come along. Well, maybe Kevin Conroy if you split the idea of live action and animation.
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Heartbreaking news. He will be missed.
The Sadness is almost unbearable. For those of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s, although the cinema has given others, very good in theirs, it was he who gave us many joys in childhood and we waited week after week the outcome of situations that astonished those who were children, Rest in peace, Batman.
10 year old me also took it very seriously. I bought into the premise that a millionaire would put on a costume and fight crime completely. I agree that Adam West’s straight delivery of the corny dialogue was what made the show work as long as it did. Yeah, I used to rage against the show as only an irate fanboy can, but age gives us perspective. We will miss Adam West.
It would have been nice if comics were as recognized as an art form in 1966 as they are now, and that Batman had been a loving satire, but to whatever degree the “suits” sought to make fun of comics (and the superhero genre in particular), it seems clear that Adam West respected both the art form and the fans.
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I met him three times; at an auto show in 1976, a small convention in 1986 or 87 and the Motor City Comic Con a few years ago. At the 86 or 87 convention, he surprised me by asking if we’d met at an auto show, since that’s the last time I had seen him. Of course, he was probably thinking of someone he’d met in recent months, not a decade earlier, but I was a bit bemused that he’d said that.
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At the Motor City Comic Con, there was a very long line for him, but I got in it, even though I had an autographed picture from 1976. After all, it was Adam West.
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Like others, I’ve had varying opinions about Batman over the years, but whatever its shortcomings, it was, at its best, a great comedy. And the episode where Batman and Penguin campaign for mayor of Gotham City (one of my favorites) was brilliant political satire. A lot of that goes to the writers, but an equal amount goes to Adam West’s pitch perfect deadpan performance.
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And yes, he was great as the Grey Ghost, a role that was as much a “thank you” to Adam West as it was an in-universe inspiration for Bruce Wayne.
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Rick
I don’t think that the producers realized that they
were doing a comedy until about the 3rd week of the
show. I think the first Riddler sequence and the first Penguin story were about as close to the comic
as they ever got. But when the laughter started, they just rolled with it. Bat-time, bat-channel and all.
Peter, just for fun, could you post (or do you even
remember) any of the escapes you figured out for the
caped crusaders on Thursday morning at the schoolyard?
Yesterday, I watched Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, which I got from the library. I had no idea what the plot was about; I didn’t even look at the back of the DVD box; I just put my disc in the DVD player and watched the movie.
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It was an enjoyable film, and because I didn’t know anything about the storyline going in, I got to be surprised by certain plot developments, a number of which gave Adam West some great lines.
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There were a number of “Easter eggs”, including, at one point, a stunned Batman seeing three Catwomen– who just happen to look like Lee Meriwether, Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt.
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There’s also a scene where Batman implores Catwoman (Julie Newmar) to give up her life of crime. She says she’ll do so on one condition:
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“We run away to Europe together, sip tea in a cafe and live happily ever after.”
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“Holy unsatisfying ending,” Robin (Burt Ward) says.
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“And, of course, we kill Robin.”
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There’s also this exchange between Robin and Catwoman, earlier in the film:
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“I’ll be watching your every move, Catwoman.”
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“Kid, I always suspected you did.”
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Without giving too much away about the plot for those who want to watch the film “cold”, like I did, I’ll just say that certain developments give the characters an opportunity to say things, especially regarding the efficiency of the Gotham Police Department, that the viewers have no doubt been thinking over the years.
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If you’re a fan of Adam West’s Batman, I think you’ll enjoy Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders.
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Rick