Before Affleck, Bale, Clooney, Kilmer and Keaton, there was the great Adam West.
Friday, June 09, 2017 marks the passing of Adam West. He was known for his portrayal of Batman from 1966-1968 and had been struggling with leukemia at the age of 88.
West scored the role of Batman thanks to his performance on a short ad for Nestle’s Quik, available below. In the commercial, he played a James Bond-ish character with a preference for chocolate Nesquik, though it was called Quik at the time (I could’ve sworn it was called Quik and not Nesquik when I was a kid, now I know I wasn’t imagining it).
We can tell by this ad that Adam West was always meant to be Batman. Batman is described as being 6’2 in the comics, which makes Adam West the only accurately-sized Batman in the history of Batmania. He was offered the role of James Bond for the film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service but he turned it down, feeling that it should belong to a British actor.
Batman 1966’s popularity was enough to revitalize interest in comic book sales, which faced cancellation at the time. Many fans of the comics hated the campy tone of the show, feeling that it reduced superhero comics to childish slapstick humor.
Actors of the era clamored to appear on the show, as it was extremely popular to do so. Frank Sinatra wished to star as The Joker, while Otto Preminger was locked out of his house by his grandkids until he agreed to play Mr. Freeze (no puns here, folks…I couldn’t find any info on whether this happened during the winter time or not…so we can only imagine).
The producers devised ways to cram as many celebrity cameos on the show as possible, and among the most memorable were the scenes in which Batman and Robin were climbing up/down a building, discussing their villain of the day’s shenanigans. A famous actor or pop-culture character would pop his or her head out and engage in a strange conversation with the duo. Adam West preferred not to be told who the cameo was from, wanting to react with genuine surprise on screen.
Among the familiar faces were Jerry Lewis, The Green Hornet with his sidekick Kato (one of Bruce Lee’s earliest appearances), Lurch from The Adam’s Family (keep an ear out for the Adam’s Family theme song here), western hero Andy Devine as a hilarious (and perhaps drunk?) Santa Claus prying the whereabouts of the Batcave from the duo, and a few others.
Things take a bizarre(er?) turn when Werner Klemperer’s Colonel Klink from Hogan’s Heroes stops by. Hogan’s Heroes was a show that was big around the same time, though it took place during WWII. I can’t decide which is more bat-shit crazy…the fact that Klink is in the wrong time period, or that Batman and Robin stop to carry a casual conversation with a villainous Luftwaffe officer who served as Commandant of a P.O.W camp as if it happens every day. 1960’s television was an interesting time…
Most of the window cameos are unknown to younger audiences, who rely on our pal Google to spill the beans. But the weirdness of the conversations combined with the seriousness of the actors still makes them a joy to watch. All 14 window cameos are present in the YouTube video above.
Adam West struggled in his career after Batman was canceled due to typecasting. He later learned to embrace his legacy and its impact on pop-culture, and lent his voice on an episode of Batman the Animated Series playing a washed up actor struggling with typecasting, referencing himself. He found success voicing Mayor Adam West on Family Guy late in his life.
Rest in peace, Adam West. And may the bat signal light your way.
Written by Michael Gonzalez.
If you enjoyed the display artwork, shared again below, it was provided by artist Saifali Saiyed. Check out his work at https://saifalisaiyed.weebly.com/
“an unmistakenly drunk Santa Clause” is ridiculously lame of this writer. There is no “e” in Santa Claus first off, and secondly, Andy Devine, the actor in question here always sounded like that- in every part he ever played… most of which were sober.
Doom, thank you for showing this noob writer the error of his ways. I’ve made the necessary changes to that part of the article. My attempts at getting a laugh out of you have failed this time, but I hope to do better next time! Have a nice day. 🙂