The pink cowl lives!!!

[Chuck Williams]

Hi All,
So my friend and Bat photo archivist John Brown sent a picture like the one below showing a spot of pink and said, "Call me".

He met a collector with tons of original pieces and this one of course REALLY caught my attention.I wasted little time getting out there with Lynne.

So the original pink cowl from the TV show is alive and well and was hiding in plain sight beneath the paint job we saw in the Batgirl PSA and the Saturday Morning cartoon preview show!!! The interior is first season and does NOT have the hard hat rig!
It is similar to one of mine with the foam but the entire inside of the shell is lined in chamois leather.
Must have been amazingly hot!!

The BEST part about the painting is that it kept the fabric from stretching out and coming off the shell. It's like in a time warp and just the way it was when painted.

This is only the first of many amazing piece this collector has shared with me and in turn the community. As I get the okay, I'll post more...

[chrisbcritter]

That's amazing! So is this cowl blue/black underneath the pink, or did it start out that way? Looking forward to seeing what else the owner has.

[Chuck Williams]

It was a standard first season cowl from the show that was painted pink for that one episode and then made it's way to Western Costume where it was repainted blue and black and rented to various productions like the PSA and the Saturday Preview....

[Batman65]

OH WOW! Now that is stunning. What an amazing discovery!

[Ben Bentley]

Such an exciting discovery! You and Lynne continue to fight the Bat-Fight! Beyond pleased that the collector has granted you guys access, it's not a given as we all know, so kudos to them too.

Holy PSA!

[svl]

Incredible. Looking forward to seeing what else this collector has to unveil. Thanks, Chuck!

[Dan E Kool]

I can only imagine what else still exists out there, hidden in a private collection. Cool to know that these things have been looked after.

[AndyFish]

Great stuff Chuck! Thanks for sharing!

[Meule]

I am amazed this cowl has survived for so long, cool to see it...
And I am eager to see what else has survived from the show... there were so many props, it pains me to think how many were destroyed...

[TP-6597]

Definitely looking forward to the rest of the collection. It’s sad sometimes, what may have been lost, but nice that there are still some things we still get to discover. I sometimes have to remind myself that this was a TV show from fifty years ago that, at the time, was being cancelled.

Television was a business with a ton of moving parts. We see the Batman TV show through a hyper-focused lens. At the time of its cancelation, the industry had to go back to work the next day. We’re lucky a great deal of the props and costumes survived without being repurposed. Fantastic that there are a few collectors out there with pieces like this one. I like to think of the bits of pink showing through are just reminders of the journey.

[Chuck Williams]

Comparing the two wrinkles on this side.
Still there after all these years!

[Ben Bentley]

Comparing the two wrinkles on this side.
Still there after all these years!

Even a few days later, each time I see your images of this cowl I can't help but dwell on how squarely you hit the nail on the head when you remarked that the paint has "frozen" this cowl in time. The mind boggles as to how fortuitous is that A) This cowl was painted in the first place and B) Given the very private nature of a lot of collectors that you found your way to it.

[Jimmy L. 66]

But wait, there's more?

[88customs]

Tons

[Jimmy L. 66]

It occurs to me...
Maybe there used to be a " hardhat" right, and it was removed and replaced with foam and leather. Easier to rent?
Any chance you looked order the padding?