LIFE, 1966: The one true Batman

LIFE has posted rare photos from the classic Batman TV show and spreads from this March 11, 1966 issue. "Mad New World: of Batman, Superman, and the Marqus de Sade." What a headline. And the first two sentences in this paragraph from the story resonate with me for obvious reasons.

The boom in bedlam springs, of course, from man’s old love of the bizarre and the fantastic. But it also reflects today’s restless, volatile spirit. Pop art and the cut of camp have turned Superman and Batman into members of the intellectual community, and what the kids used to devour in comics books has become a staple in avant-garde art. Any way you slice it, the new super madness is breaking the laws both of gravity and logic ad providing a useful escape hatch from the booby hatch. In a world that often looms confused and loony, it helps clear the air to see it portrayed that way.

"Behind The Scenes on the 'Batman' TV Show"

• [gtrjnky]

  I so wish someone would make an Adam West type Batman movie. 

  • [dao_tao]

    Check out Batman: The Brave and the Bold.  It’s got a healthy dollop of that je ne sais quoi you’re looking for.

  • [Thorzdad]

     Um…You know they already did, right? Back in 1966.

    • [Christopher]

      And I’m not sure how well a remake would go over. A couple of weeks ago I was trying to explain to my niece why Shark Repellent, the Super Molecular Dust Separator, and “Some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb” was funny…then I realized that it’s one of those if-you-have-to-explain-it sort of things…

• [tristan eldritch]

  Well, I guess people getting tied up and manacled was a staple both of Batman and de Sade.

  • [Stooge]

    Have you not read ’120 Days of KAPOW!’ yet?

    • [tristan eldritch]

      No, but I’ve read “Venus in Catsuits” by the other guy.

• [William Joseph Dunn]

   @dao_tao:disqus  – yup, the Adam West Batman show was a huge influence for us on B:TB&tB. We mad seveveral references to it throughout the series. Some more subtle than others. Our Batcave even had a reactor like the Adam West version:

   http://braveandboldbackgroundpaint.blogspot.com/2011/03/btb-episode-12_27.html

  Here are a couple of other nods we did in the backgrounds:

  http://braveandboldbackgroundpaint.blogspot.com/2011/05/btb-episode-18.html

  http://braveandboldbackgroundpaint.blogspot.com/2011/04/btb-episode-13.html

  http://braveandboldbackgroundpaint.blogspot.com/2011/11/btb-season-2-episode-16_02.html

  • [dao_tao]

    I recognized the reactor during the episode with the epic Batman vs Owlman fight.  Clicked on some, but not all, of the others. 

    I had my doubts like many others when I first heard about B&B, but damned if I didn’t find myself misting up during Mitefall (bought all the box sets).

• [Nadreck]

  A milestone in TV!  It’s too bad that the only way to ever see it is through piracy (and even then I’ve never seen uncut episodes) because of the legal difficulties in getting sign-offs from the estates of every guest star: in effect everyone who was anyone in the 60s.