Useless but essential pop culture tidbits and trivia from the worlds of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror that will not serve as a good ice-breaker at a party or the bar.
Most Science Fiction and Fantasy fans, as well as comic book aficionados, know the iconic 1960’s Batman television series starring Adam West and Burt Ward as the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder. And some love it for its sense of camp fun while others revile it for giving the Dark Knight Detective a lightweight, cartoonish image for years after the show aired. But whether you loved the show or hated it, did you know that in its heyday well known Hollywood actors were lining up to make a splash as villains in the series? Sure, anybody with even a passing familiarity with the show will recognize the usual lineup of bad guys such as Cesar Romero playing the Joker, Burgess Meredith playing the Penguin, and Frank Gorshin playing the Riddler. But a lot of other well-known names leaped at the chance to ham their way into choice character roles during its three year run. The series became an instant pop-art phenomena and plenty of actors wanted to increase their exposure with a guest spot. This included such names as Roddy McDowell (The Bookworm), Art Carney (The Archer), Vincent Price (Egghead), Liberace (Chandell), Joan Collins (The Siren), and Milton Berle (Louie the Lilac) among others making one or two appearances on the show to supplement Batman’s rogues gallery. Also, the “Batclimb Cameo”, the scenes when someone would open a window and talk to Batman and Robin as they scaled a building, was a sought-after gig as well. Such familiar faces as Sammie Davis Jr., Dick Clark, Don Ho, and Jerry Lewis finagled their way into bit parts bending the ears of the Dynamic Duo scaling the skyscrapers.
And while we are on the subject of that show, do you know how it came into existence as a pop-art, camp classic? According to the Wikipedia entry on Batman, the original concept would have brought the character to the small screen as a more standard adventure hero geared at a younger audience along the lines of The Adventures of Superman and The Lone Ranger. But apparently the Batman movie serials from the 40’s had become quite a popular attraction at parties at the Playboy Club (yep, Hef’s house) where party-goers would hoot and holler along with the heroes. An ABC executive who attended some of these parties (purely for demographic research purposes I’m sure) took note of this and decided the camp angle would better fit this new property that ABC had acquired. So if it weren’t for Hugh Hefner, Playboy Bunnies, and all their guests, no telling how the show would have turned out and how our culture might have been different because of it! Holy Bunny Ears, Batman!!
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