Remembering Batman - Adam West (1928-2017)

It is a sad day in Gotham, as Adam West, star of the classic sixties tv show Batman has passed away. For me as a child, it was Batman, my favorite super hero. Yes the comic books but mostly the campy tv show that aired daily & was a part of my childhood as much as anything else I enjoyed.

I was Batman on Halloween, I played Batman with my friends, I made believe my bicycle was the Bat Mobile. I collected memorabilia, Batmobiles, comic books, action figures, trading cards, clothing, everything was Batman. Batman was my hero but years later I realized why I loved those episodes featuring Batgirl so much!

Some of my best memories of childhood were running to the tv set to catch Batman's cliff hangers at my grandmothers house. Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel. Unfortunately I can remember running for my Batmobile, having to get back before the commercials ended, but I didn't make it. I fell flat into the door, splitting my head on the bottom bock, getting rushed to Jacobi Hospital, maybe I was six.

As the years went on, Batman became less serious than when I was a kid. Now it was party time as teen & we saw Batman for the campy, funny dry humor it was originally intended. It was what swept the nation on the college campuses of the mid sixties, making it so popular. Batman revived.

The resurgence came again, a few years later as a new generation of reruns began & the Official Batbook & Adam West's Back to the Batcave came out. Batman reborn again. The cycle continued, as conventions started to happen, the internet Bat sites & finally the box set just a few years ago. Not many special features but Batman in its best clarity & in color at it's best as well.

Of all the superheroes Batman is the best & Adam West was the best Batman. He did it all, had everything in his utility belt. Had a car phone, Bat computer & nuclear reactor in his Batcave, in the sixties, way ahead of technology in his time. He got out of every trap he was thrown into, never fell to temptation & always saved the day.

One day I will start a new blog that I have began research on, featuring all those beautiful sixties chicks who played molls on Batman. What a fun series it was. Today, even the Joker, the Riddler, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Egg Head, King Tut, the Archer, the Bookworm, Shame, Minstrel, Chandell, False Face, Puzzler, Colonel Gumm, Mad Hatter, Sandman, Olga, Marsha Queen of Diamonds, Minerva, Nora Clavicle, Ma Barker, Black Widow, Siren, Lola Lasagna, Calamity Jane, Zelda, Dr. Cassandra & Catwoman are taking a break from crime, bowing their heads in a moment of silence for Batman.

Batgirl (Yvonne Craig), Alfred (Alan Napier), Commissioner Gordon (Neil Hamilton), Chief O'Hara (Stafford Repp) &  Aunt Harriet (Madge Blake) are all gone as is most of the villains, leaving Robin (Burt Ward) & Catwomen (Julie Newmar & Lee Merriweather) as the last leading character survivors of the show. (Joan Collins (Siren)  Barbara Rush (Nora Clavicle) & John Austin (Riddler #2 aka. Gomez Adams) are also still living.

Batman climbs the final building high above Gotham tonight................Holy Adam West RIP Batman!