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Apr 11 07 12:56 AM
Jan 1 09 4:13 PM
According to a new featurette on "Gotham Knight,'' an animated prequel to "The Dark Knight'' that Warners recently put out on DVD, Hugh Hefner showed the serials at the Playboy Mansion in the early 1960s. The audience included an ABC executive who persuaded his bosses to order up what became the ultra-campy Batman TV series with Adam West. Racist or not, Japanese-owned Sony put both of the "Batman'' serials out on DVD in 2005.
Jan 1 09 4:34 PM
In the early 1960s, Ed Graham Productions optioned the TV rights to the comic strip Batman, and planned a straightforward juvenile adventure show, much like Adventures of Superman and The Lone Ranger, for CBS on Saturday mornings. Mike Henry, who would later go on to star in the Tarzan franchise, and is best known for his portrayal of Jackie Gleason's not-too-bright son Buford T. Justice, Jr. in the Smokey and the Bandit movies, was set to star as Batman. Reportedly, DC Comics commissioned publicity photos of Henry in a Batman costume. Around this same time, the Playboy Club in Chicago was screening the Batman serials (1943's Batman and 1949's Batman and Robin) on Saturday nights. It became very popular, as the hip partygoers would cheer and applaud the Dynamic Duo, and boo and hiss at the villains. East coast ABC executive Yale Udoff, a Batman fan in childhood, attended one of these parties at the Playboy Club and was impressed with the reaction the serials were getting. He contacted West Coast ABC executives Harve Bennett and Edgar Scherick, who were already considering developing a TV series based on a comic strip action hero, to suggest a prime time Batman series in the hip and fun style of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. When negotiations between CBS and Graham stalled, DC quickly reobtained rights and made the deal with ABC. ABC farmed the rights out to 20th Century Fox to produce the series. Fox, in turn, handed the project to William Dozier and his Greenway Productions. Whereas ABC and Fox were expecting a hip and fun, yet still serious, adventure show, Dozier, who loathed comic books, concluded the only way to make the show work was to do it as a pop art camp comedy. Originally, espionage novelist Eric Ambler was to write the motion picture that would launch the TV series, but he dropped out after learning of Dozier's camp comedy approach.
In the early 1960s, Ed Graham Productions optioned the TV rights to the comic strip Batman, and planned a straightforward juvenile adventure show, much like Adventures of Superman and The Lone Ranger, for CBS on Saturday mornings. Mike Henry, who would later go on to star in the Tarzan franchise, and is best known for his portrayal of Jackie Gleason's not-too-bright son Buford T. Justice, Jr. in the Smokey and the Bandit movies, was set to star as Batman.
Reportedly, DC Comics commissioned publicity photos of Henry in a Batman costume. Around this same time, the Playboy Club in Chicago was screening the Batman serials (1943's Batman and 1949's Batman and Robin) on Saturday nights. It became very popular, as the hip partygoers would cheer and applaud the Dynamic Duo, and boo and hiss at the villains. East coast ABC executive Yale Udoff, a Batman fan in childhood, attended one of these parties at the Playboy Club and was impressed with the reaction the serials were getting. He contacted West Coast ABC executives Harve Bennett and Edgar Scherick, who were already considering developing a TV series based on a comic strip action hero, to suggest a prime time Batman series in the hip and fun style of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
When negotiations between CBS and Graham stalled, DC quickly reobtained rights and made the deal with ABC. ABC farmed the rights out to 20th Century Fox to produce the series. Fox, in turn, handed the project to William Dozier and his Greenway Productions. Whereas ABC and Fox were expecting a hip and fun, yet still serious, adventure show, Dozier, who loathed comic books, concluded the only way to make the show work was to do it as a pop art camp comedy. Originally, espionage novelist Eric Ambler was to write the motion picture that would launch the TV series, but he dropped out after learning of Dozier's camp comedy approach.
Jan 11 09 1:04 AM
Jan 19 09 9:18 PM
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Jan 21 09 12:17 AM
Jan 21 09 12:44 AM
Jan 21 09 11:17 AM
Jan 21 09 11:23 AM
Jan 21 09 1:15 PM
Jan 21 09 7:07 PM
Tom Powers wrote: That's a good dad! Here's the 60's re-release trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5fZIq3pufk
Jan 21 09 8:19 PM
Jan 22 09 4:17 PM
Laughing Gravy wrote: Are you kidding? Everything in the trailer -- music, narration, "Bam!" effects, titles, were added after the TV show.
Jan 22 09 6:15 PM
Jan 22 09 6:25 PM
Wich2 wrote: Thanks, Tom. Boy, that first shot really IS about the best one in the whole serial, isn't it?
Jan 27 09 5:44 PM
Here's the 1966 re-issue one sheet:
Jan 27 09 5:58 PM
Jan 27 09 7:37 PM
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