Cowl Question for Chuck Williams

[wally wingert]

To me, it always looked like the "blended ear" cowl had the ears actually sitting in a slit in the cowl's fabric. There's a little wrinkle and distortion in the fabric where this might have been inserted, and of course you see the horizontal line across the bottom of the ear that looks like it's a slit in the cowl fabric showing through.

The front of the ear looks like it's been glued on the outside (you can see the jagged edge on the bottom of the arch that looks like frayed fabric) and possibly the back part of the ear went inside the fabric of the cowl. It's a strange look though, and I'm glad they settled on the look they stuck with later.

It's amazing to me how the ears started out really blue, but went noticeably darker as it went on, which made it look much cooler. It probably read better on camera too. I love looking at the little staple in the ear to keep the fiberglass discs secured to the shell.

Chuck, have you ever considered making one of each type of cowl just for your own personal collection? Replicas of the pilot cowl all the way to the Hardeman cowl? (and everything in between?) It would be fun to see an actual display of the metamorphosis of the '66 cowl from start to finish.

[Chuck Williams]

Hey Rick,
Yes, the shapes changed over time according to an interview with Jan Kemp.
It took a few tries to get a cowl that looked and fit well that also wasn't claustrophobic for Adam West to work in.
I also think they shoved his face forward in the first one because they didn't know how he was going to photograph and be seen acting through it. Live and learn!!!

Some of the later changes didn't look that great to me. There is a second season cowl that they blew the sides out on to cover Adams ears and it looks like a balloon!

Hey Wally,
I thought of doing something like that but there are so many paint jobs I hate that I wouldn't want to waste the fabric on them!!
I did do a nod to the Hardeman cowl complete with the same hard hat rig inside. I used the tracing I did of the paint and trim shape but I just couldn't bring myself to botch up the ear on that side.


And I also did a pretty close match to my favorite cowl...


I am still amazed at the design of the cowl and what they achieved in such a short amount of time. There are angles hide some things and show off others. Just amazing work they did.

Chuck...

[Chuck Williams]

So about the ear "paint".
The texture and finish say latex to me so I did a quick test of latex on the original fabric...


I think they used this or something like it with a fine silk organza to help blend in the bottom edge of the ear on one or two of the first season cowls before it was abandoned for straight paint..

[Batfanman]

Kinda makes you wonder if they went to all that effort to paint an ear extension, why didn't they just make a larger ear?

[Chuck Williams]

I think it was a matter of making the bottom edge of the separate attached ear disappear so you get a smooth look from the front like the comics.

At least that is what I think they were going through the process for.

[Batfanman]

I think it was a matter of making the bottom edge of the separate attached ear disappear so you get a smooth look from the front like the comics.

At least that is what I think they were going through the process for.

Holy attention to detail! A true fan of the comics was undoubtedly at the helm of this then.

[Batfanman]

I just noticed that Mattel did it's own blending of the ears on their cowl.

[Chuck Williams]

Adding seams so they can be sewn with a machine is not exactly what I would call "blending".

[Batfanman]

True, but at least they had the decency to separate the colors - they could have made it all black and that would have looked horrible!

[Chuck Williams]

The more I think about it, the cowl I make would fit in at a spot in late first season... not a hybrid.

[Batfanman]

Chuck,

What are your thoughts on the screen test cowl and more specifically, the ears? In addition to being placed higher, they look a little shorter.

[Joel Ross]

Looks like episode 31, Death in Slow Motion, was the first episode featuring painted ears only and no continuation of paint on cowl. This carried through to episodes 32, 33 and finally 34. Took them long enough to get that right. By the way Chuck, I enjoyed watching Adam try on your cowl in one of the segments of the bonus material DVD. Cudos to you.

[Joel Ross]

Interesting. I am watching episode 31 right now and noticed they are using two different cowls. One with painted ears only and one with paint extending below ears. Also notice how the cowl with the painted ears only seems to be much smaller on Adam than the cowl with the paint extension. The later cowl does not seem to be as good a fit as the earlier model. Also the eyebrows are a bit funky.

[Chuck Williams]

Hey Joel,

Yes, the style with no paint below the ears is the style they took into the film which shows up towards the end of the first season.

Every cowl up to that point had some sort of blend into the side.

I haven't had the time to put it all together yet in a logical order but that movie styled cowl is used in the Bookworm episode #29 or #30 too.

[Chuck Williams]

As to the screen test cowl, I have little doubt that they were trying to get a sense of what worked on the paint job of the brows. Trying different shapes.

The ears in the comics in 64 were pretty high on the cowl in front views so there's that.
The story of dropping them down to keep them in frame is also a valid point and it does work for the earlier cowls in the comics.

I just feel bad for the actors trying to get this on their head with no ear cut outs in the shell! Talk about having your head in a bucket!! OUCH!