The show was Batman, starring Adam West as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Burt Ward as Dick Grayson/Robin.
I can remember to this day the night my grandfather was over for dinner, which was only a few weeks before his death on February 12, 1966, and seeing Batman for the first time. As soon as the cartoon opening began with Batman and Robin running towards the camera with Neal Hefti's catchy theme (I have the original soundtrack album that I played to death), my grandfather started laughing like crazy. He was a fan of the Adventures of Superman that starred George Reeves, so this campy show must've taken him by surprise.
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| Above, Adam "Batman" West at the 2012 Comikaze Expo. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
Later that summer, a feature-length motion picture of the show was released. We saw it at the Centinela Drive-In Theater. The second feature was Our Man Flint with James Coburn.
The last season of Batman saw the introduction of Batgirl (Yvonne Craig) and the show was cut to one night per week. It was cancelled due to sagging ratings by ABC, but another network was interested in renewing it. That didn't happen as the sets at 20th Century-Fox were already demolished. Too bad.
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| Above, Yvonne "Batgirl" Craig and Armand in 2005. |
Word has gotten out that the Batman television show will finally be released on DVD (the movie version has been out on DVD for quite a while). It's about time.
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