Holy Catastrophe Batman! Adam West passes away at 88

[vandermolen]

Adam West explains why he is the best Batman.

https://www.youtube.com/v/OCHnVjQrsRY

Brilliant! V funny. Thanks Sarge.

[vandermolen]

RIP Adam West.

Well said about the elegance of his Batman portrayal, Karl.  Totally agree.

And nice work on the thread title Jeffrey!

Thank you Dave!

[vandermolen]

 Great Bat Signal tribute to Adam West.
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/15/entertainment/adam-west-bat-signal/index.html

And nice to see the British press picking up this story too. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/16/bright-knight-bat-signal-lights-los-angeles-tribute-adam-west/

[Karl Henning]

Brilliant!

[vandermolen]

Brilliant!

[Karl Henning]

Check out someone's opinion on the top 5 Adam West /Batman scenes:

http://time.com/4813864/adam-west-top-5-moments-as-batman/


And one of my favorites: "Poor deluded girl!" 

https://www.youtube.com/v/rXKjaglw3oQ

". . . then get into your costume while I bait the Bat Trap."

[vandermolen]

". . . then get into your costume while I bait the Bat Trap."

Excellent! Thanks Karl.
What a terrible way to go - toppling into the nuclear source of the Batmobile! 

[Karl Henning]

Excellent! Thanks Karl.
What a terrible way to go - toppling into the nuclear source of the Batmobile! 

Well, and partly as a result of our Cato's posting that clip, I have at last seen the whole two-part inaugural episode ("Hi Diddle Riddle"/"Smack in the Middle").  Great fun, from Batman warning Robin not to drop the window grate ("Pedestrian safety, chum!") to the safety features of the Batmobile which foil the Riddler's attempt, first, to drive it off, and then, to destroy it by fire.

[vandermolen]

Thanks to Leo too.
I loved Frank Gorshin as The Riddler.
Those parts must have been fun to play.

[Karl Henning]

And Meredith Burgess & Cesar Romero . . . .

[Ken B]

And Meredith Burgess & Cesar Romero . . . .

Victor Buono was King Tut. George Sanders, Otto Preminger and Eli Wallach all played Mr Freeze.


All the villains! http://mentalfloss.com/article/60213/visual-guide-all-37-villains-batman-tv-series

[Cato]

Thanks to Leo too.
I loved Frank Gorshin as The Riddler.
Those parts must have been fun to play.

And Meredith Burgess & Cesar Romero . . . .

Frank Gorshin was brilliant as an impressionist/stand-up comedian.  His imitations of Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster were incredible!

Thanks to YouTube, here is Gorshin doing Burt Lancaster and Marlon Brando as Batman and Kirk Douglas and Rod Steiger as Robin.

https://www.youtube.com/v/2FYK4wTceAA

And...

https://www.youtube.com/v/CuiMPfMYqmk

The audience reaction is delightful!


And very few of the kids in the 1960's would have known that Cesar Romero had been a heartthrob in the 1930's and 1940's!  I always thought he was amazing as The Joker.   He was c. 60 years old at the time!

[Karl Henning]

I hope I have that much energy at 60!

[Karl Henning]

It's only in the third pair of episodes (with the Joker) that the narrator informs us, “Same bat time, same bat channel.”  And, there is opera ....

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Cato]

It's only in the third pair of episodes (with the Joker) that the narrator informs us, "Same bat time, same bat channel."  And, there is opera ....

Possibly because there was always doubt about the two-part pilot being green-lighted ? 

It became a national prefix for a while! 0:)

[Karl Henning]

Possibly because there was always doubt about the two-part pilot being green-lighted ? 

It became a national prefix for a while! 0:)

It may simply not have occurred to them at first?

The third diptych is classical-music-heavy, what with Dick Grayson's efforts to play Chopin (drawing Aunt Harriet's sharp musical censure) and a televised performance of Mascagni, on a stage which would have been far too small for an opera production.  And the performer who has sung "Ridi, pagliaccio!" has his mask ripped from his face by a disapproving crime-fighter.  This episode was written by the executive producer, Wm Dozier, who apparently did the voice-over narration.  "The worst is yet to come!"

I'm fairly sure I have never seen these first few episodes before.

[kishnevi]

It may simply not have occurred to them at first?

The third diptych is classical-music-heavy, what with Dick Grayson's efforts to play Chopin (drawing Aunt Harriet's sharp musical censure) and a televised performance of Mascagni, on a stage which would have been far too small for an opera production.  And the performer who has sung "Ridi, pagliaccio!" has his mask ripped from his face by a disapproving crime-fighter.  This episode was written by the executive producer, Wm Dozier, who apparently did the voice-over narration.  "The worst is yet to come!"

I'm fairly sure I have never seen these first few episodes before.

Quite right for that crime fighter to disapprove of singing Leoncavallo in the middle of Mascagni.

[vandermolen]

Frank Gorshin was brilliant as an impressionist/stand-up comedian.  His imitations of Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster were incredible!

Thanks to YouTube, here is Gorshin doing Burt Lancaster and Marlon Brando as Batman and Kirk Douglas and Rod Steiger as Robin.

https://www.youtube.com/v/2FYK4wTceAA

And...

https://www.youtube.com/v/CuiMPfMYqmk

The audience reaction is delightful!


And very few of the kids in the 1960's would have known that Cesar Romero had been a heartthrob in the 1930's and 1940's!  I always thought he was amazing as The Joker.   He was c. 60 years old at the time!

Brilliant - very funny. Gorshin was very talented and, oh yes, the Penguin and Joker were both great.

[Karl Henning]

Quite right for that crime fighter to disapprove of singing Leoncavallo in the middle of Mascagni.

Thanks for the corrigendum!  Which is my error, not theirs.

[snyprrr]

The missing key