Anyone here old enough to remember the original run?

General goings on in the 1966 Batman World

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redbird
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Re: Anyone here old enough to remember the original run?

Post by redbird »

Total member of the original run in 1966, I was 12, and the ABC Network buildup to the debut of Batman was intense. I remember the commercials saying "Who was Batman as they showed very small clips from the pilot episode. Pickup the Aurora plastic model batmobile for $.99 cents and painted it played with it for 3 years, along with my Captain Action Batman and Action Boy Robin, The bubble gum cards, shampoo, colorform play set. You just couldn't wait for 7:30pm EST Wednesday and Thursday night...especially during that first season. Batman was everywhere...my parents did not care for the show at all. I believe Captain Nice and Mr Terriffic were CBS and NBC Answer to the Batman Craze...but no such luck.
PS...still have all my childhood bat-stuff today at age 61.
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dodgr31
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Re: Anyone here old enough to remember the original run?

Post by dodgr31 »

I remember it very well, I was 6 years old and Batman was my life. I mean I knew the exact time every week it was on and I planted myself in front of the TV. I didn't get the humor then, as I do now, I was full blown serious. My mother punished me once for getting into a fight and wouldn't allow me to watch the two episodes that week, I thought my life was over.. lol. In some way I think it started me thinking about my eventual 30 year career as a Police Officer.

Watching it today brings back memories, but also gives me a new perspective on the show, I laugh a whole lot while watching. I also watched Lost In Space with the same enthusiasm.
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TP-6597
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Re: Anyone here old enough to remember the original run?

Post by TP-6597 »

Absolutely remember it. Never missed an episode - same Bat time, same Bat channel - with my cape on in front of the TV. My cape, by the way, was a bath towel with a big safety pin holding it around my neck. Went every Halloween as Batman for as long as I can remember. Been a fan ever since. No doubt, my roll model and alter ego since I was 5 years old.
“What's important is that the world know that all visitors to these teeming shores are safe, be they peasant or king.”
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I act the riddler
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Re: Anyone here old enough to remember the original run?

Post by I act the riddler »

I remember the original run, but not everything.My brother and me getting excited when they say "Next week batman meets the riddler." Those original batman Halloween ben cooper costumes, hold on to them they are worth $$$$$$.
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60s TV Fan
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Re: Anyone here old enough to remember the original run?

Post by 60s TV Fan »

I was born in 1971, so I missed out on the original airings. My question is, who sponsored the show? Does anyone know if there were commercials for the sponsor(s) made by the cast as there was for other shows during the 1960s?
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kennetzel
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Re: Anyone here old enough to remember the original run?

Post by kennetzel »

I'm 57 and remember the original run of Batman quite well. In fact, I only caught the second episodes back then because I was a huge Lost in Space fan, and being on opposite the first episodes, I missed them. I remember my dad walking into the living room and we were in the middle of Lost in Space and he said "Why aren't you watching Batman?" We told him we were in the middle of Lost in Space and didn't want to miss the second half. This was for the first episode. But then he caught the second episode with us and decided he HATED the show. I guess he expected something more serious and didn't get the humor. But as a kid, I found it to be quite serious and was hooked. But the biggest thing I remember back in the day was going shopping to a department store with my parents and seeing the HUGE Batman displays selling everything from Kites, puppets and the infamous Bat-Hat...a black baseball cap with ears and holes in the brim for your eyes, and a huge bat logo on the front. Every store we went to had a similar display and as kids, my brother and I went nuts just oogling all the great stuff my parents wouldn't buy for us...but they did end up buying my sister and me the hand puppets eventually.
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Larry A.
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Re: Anyone here old enough to remember the original run?

Post by Larry A. »

Heavens Above, do I remember!!!!!! I was 15 when the show appeared. I didn't understand at first some of the double entendres that Dad laughed at and Mom would get irritated at Dad for. I do NOOOOOWWWW!!! :-)
Dad really liked, as I did, when Batgirl appeared. It was the first time He and I actually talked mano-e mano about her.....Mom wasn't listening, ThanK Heavens.

Cheers,
Larry
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Batfan Mike 4260
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Re: Anyone here old enough to remember the original run?

Post by Batfan Mike 4260 »

I remember sitting in front of the TV (you know, ruining my eyes) with my Batman cards in hand. I was 6 when it first came out. I don't remember the "Batman is Coming" promo stuff, but I remember how much I loved the show.
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Lurky Mclurkson
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Re: Anyone here old enough to remember the original run?

Post by Lurky Mclurkson »

I have very vague memories of the original run (I was 5), but I must of been onboard with it, as I have the standard polaroid of me in the backyard, sporting a great bat-shirt & cape.
I better remember, a few years later, seeing one of the replica batmobiles and being beside myself.
Quarhog
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Re: Anyone here old enough to remember the original run?

Post by Quarhog »

I was born in 1959, and Julie Newmar as Catwoman - and Francine York as Lydia Limpet - made an impression on me that has lasted to this day. Living in Britain in those pre-internet days, without access to syndicated TV, the only momentos of Catwoman that I possessed throughout my early teens were a few chewing gum cards depicting Lee Meriwether in the movie. (I thought that Catwoman in the cards looked somehow different from how I remembered her in the TV series; but it was only in the seventies that I learned there had also been a movie version with a different actress in the part).

I never saw season three at the time - or even knew of its existence - so the presence of Batgirl and of Eartha Kitt playing Catwoman came as a complete surprise to me when in 1976 Yorkshire televison finally began rerunning them on Saturday mornings. The Kitt episode 'Catwoman's Dressed to Kill' was actually billed as featuring Julie Newmar in my local listings magazine, so when Eartha Kitt gatecrashes a fashion show in the pre-credits sequence, my immediate reaction was surprise that the assembled dignitaries didn't exclaim "Eartha Kitt!!! What are YOU doing dressed as Catwoman?".

Julie Newmar's costume will always to me remain the definitive Catwoman 'look'. If you look carefully, her original Catsuit can be seen - fleetingly alas - worn by Erica Gavin (without the gloves, belt and necklace) in a fancy-dress party sequence near the end of Russ Meyer's 'Beyond the Valley of the Dolls' (1970). Meyer's film was also made by Fox, which explains how she comes to be wearing the outfit; along with Robin's costume, which one of the other female guests is wearing. Does anyone out there have access to any production stills showing off Gavin in the outfit more clearly...?
Quarhog
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Re: Anyone here old enough to remember the original run?

Post by Quarhog »

Quarhog wrote:I was born in 1959, and as a seven year-old had no idea that any of it was meant to be funny! Julie Newmar, however, as Catwoman - and Francine York as Lydia Limpet - made an impression on me that has lasted to this day. Living in Britain in those pre-internet days, without access to syndicated TV, the only momentos of Catwoman that I possessed throughout my early teens were a few chewing gum cards depicting Lee Meriwether in the movie. (I thought that Catwoman in the cards looked somehow different from how I remembered her in the TV series; but it was only in the seventies that I learned there had also been a movie version with a different actress in the part).

I never saw season three at the time - or even knew of its existence - so the presence of Batgirl and of Eartha Kitt playing Catwoman came as a complete surprise to me when in 1976 Yorkshire televison finally began rerunning them on Saturday mornings. The Kitt episode 'Catwoman's Dressed to Kill' was actually billed as featuring Julie Newmar in my local listings magazine, so when Eartha Kitt gatecrashes a fashion show in the pre-credits sequence, my immediate reaction was surprise that the assembled dignitaries didn't exclaim "Eartha Kitt!!! What are YOU doing dressed as Catwoman?".

Julie Newmar's costume will always to me remain the definitive Catwoman 'look'. If you look carefully, her original Catsuit can be seen - fleetingly alas - worn by Erica Gavin (without the gloves, belt and necklace) in a fancy-dress party sequence near the end of Russ Meyer's 'Beyond the Valley of the Dolls' (1970). Meyer's film was also made by Fox, which explains how she comes to be wearing the outfit; along with Robin's costume, which one of the other female guests is wearing. Does anyone out there have access to any production stills showing off Gavin in the outfit more clearly...?
pittgradwayne
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Re: Anyone here old enough to remember the original run?

Post by pittgradwayne »

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was 5 years and 3 months old when the show first came on. I must've been aware of the promos and build-up to the show, because I was glued to the TV when the first episode came on. (The only drawback was that we only had a black and white TV, so I couldn't revel in the bright colors of the show until the movie came out.) I didn't know it was a cliffhanger ending, though, and was very upset that I would have to wait until the next episode to see Robin's fate at the hands of the Riddler. (24 hours is a lifetime for a 5-year-old!)
Quarhog
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Re: Anyone here old enough to remember the original run?

Post by Quarhog »

pittgradwayne wrote:I remember it like it was yesterday. I was 5 years and 3 months old when the show first came on. I must've been aware of the promos and build-up to the show, because I was glued to the TV when the first episode came on. (The only drawback was that we only had a black and white TV, so I couldn't revel in the bright colors of the show until the movie came out.) I didn't know it was a cliffhanger ending, though, and was very upset that I would have to wait until the next episode to see Robin's fate at the hands of the Riddler. (24 hours is a lifetime for a 5-year-old!)
My sister used to HATE it whenever an episode of 'The X-Files' ended with the words "To be continued..."!
gerryd54
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Re: Anyone here old enough to remember the original run?

Post by gerryd54 »

I just remembered something . I lived in New York at the time of Batman's debut . Wednesday nights at 7:30, WNEW channel 5 was running Disney's Zorro in syndication, so two things were happening; Guy Williams was competing with himself and Zorro, which influenced Batman, and was the Batman of the "50's in terms of popularity was now competing with Batman
Shieldsman912
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Re: Anyone here old enough to remember the original run?

Post by Shieldsman912 »

I'm from the UK and when Batman first came on TV over here in 1966 (we only had 2 channels, BBC & ITV) it was on ITV the channel which had commercials, which was regionalised and our local region Tyne Tees TV used to show it in four 15-minute episodes at about 6.15pm on a Monday through Thursday. I'm positive also that the first episode they showed was the King Tut one which was actually episode 27 in the original US running order. I also remember the short film they made for the UK because a kid (or a few kids) had been injured jumping out of the windows because they thought Batman could fly (which I was always totally puzzled about as Batman clearly DID NOT fly in any episodes). Adam West & Burt Ward in costume appeared before each episode of the 2nd season saying that Batman could not fly and no-one should try anything like that and Robin said 'Holy Broken Bones!' which became a catchphrase over here! Does anyone else remember that?
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