Batusi, anyone? In his own words, the actor who first immortalized the superhero onscreen recalls the pleasure and pop sensibility behind his character.
Please, I would like you to know that I do not spend my days and nights running around in a cape and cowl fighting crime. But I used to. And even before that, it was a blue bath towel. As a kid on a farm near Walla Walla, Wash., I played Batman. You may have done the same. Little did I know that, 30 years later, I would be labeled the “Billion Dollar Batman” — the one who kicked off the entire modern franchise. And that, in the ’60s, there would be the three Bs: Bond, Batman and The Beatles. Stuff happens. Our Batman became an immense force in popular culture. Wherever I happen to be, I see Batman tattoos, T-shirts and all possible Batman regalia happily worn. Do the kids ever get out of those worn Batman duds?
All of us worked with dedication and clear intent to produce this phenomenon with an unusual new kind of comedy. Batman was in vivid comic-book colors and aired twice a week. It was a first. And it was an homage to the comic books with a tongue-in-cheek take.
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