Rest In Peace, Adam West
It was 1966, and all of the television networks were switching from black and white to color.
It was a year that gave us several shows that have become cult classics: Star Trek. The Monkees. Dark Shadows. Batman.
We had a color tv. A huge console that sat in the den, purchased with some of the money my aunt got when she settled her lawsuit against the City of New York. (She had survived polio as a child, and had to walk with a cane because of weak ankles. She stepped into a pothole, fell, and broke her ankle. She never fully recovered from that, and had to use a walker for the rest of her life.)
So of course my best friend and her older brother would come to my house to watch Batman.
It was campy and comedic, but we didn't realize that at the time. Batman and Robin were our heroes. And the villains -- played by the likes of Burgess Meredith, Caesar Romero, Julie Newmar-- were the epitome of evil.
Later years would bring us a darker, more serious version of Batman. But for those of us who grew up in the 1960's Batman will always be the Caped Crusader played by Adam West.
West died yesterday, at the age of 88.
Another piece of my childhood is gone.
Although I am of your generation (or close to it) and well remember Batman, I also fondly remember Adam West for another cartoon of my son's growing up - The Fairly Odd Parents, where he played a superhero called Catman. (There was another superhero on the cartoon called the Crimson Chin, who I vaguely remember may have been voiced by Jay Leno.) Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI was so sad to hear of this. I saw Batman in reruns. Fitting for the time.
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