MONTREAL – Holy Flying Time, Batman! Has it really been 45 years since you became a pop culture phenomenon on TV?
“It’s hard to believe because people think I still do it,” says 82-year-old Adam West in mock astonishment. He played the Caped Crusader alongside Burt Ward’s Robin, with both becoming pop culture icons in the process.
“Batman” exploded onto TV screens in 1966 with outlandish villains played by screen legends like Cesar Romero (the Joker) and bombshells like Julie Newmar (Catwoman) – a vibrant palette credited by some with helping to sell then-innovative colour TV, and with enough superheroics to thrill any kid.
But there was also a hefty dose of tongue-in-cheek humour mixed in with the BIFF!, BAM!, POW! of the on-screen slugfests that tickled teens and adults alike.
“We used to say we put on our tights to put on the world,” Ward laughed in a telephone interview from the animal rescue business he operates in California.
Ward and West, who now lives in Idaho, will be in Montreal on Sept. 17-18 for the Montreal ComicCon, which will be celebrating pop culture with a slew of actors from hits such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” as well as comic giants like Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee.
The cult-hit “Batman” TV show, which would eventually be seen in 106 countries and lives on even today in reruns, was so popular it spawned “Batmania,” which was likened to the Beatlemania hysteria that followed the legendary British pop band.
Robin’s enthusiastic catchphrases – for example, “Holy strawberries, Batman! Are we ever in a jam!” – were even routinely quoted by people with glee. Ward says he mouthed 378 variations in the show’s 120 episodes.
West had a feeling “Batman” would do well because it gave viewers something different from the usual cop or doctor show.
“I sensed it was going to be huge because it became No. 1 in the ratings,” West recalled in a recent interview with The Canadian Press.
“Everybody seemed to want to talk about it and laugh about it and with it.”
It was a kinder, gentler Batman than any other seen in the comics or movies before or since.
The character was a grim avenger when he debuted in the comics in 1939, veering later into weird, science-fiction adventures after critics blamed Batman and other comics for contributing to juvenile delinquency in the 1950s. Batman and Robin’s sexual orientation was even questioned.
The comic verged on cancellation at one point in the 1960s until publisher DC Comics revamped it in 1964 to give it a more contemporary edge. Another new version retooled for the 21st century debuts this month.
Helping save Batman the comic from getting axed is one area where West says the TV show doesn’t get much notice.
“Comic book sales in general were down and Batman was way down,” West said. “When our show broke loose from the chute, it really increased the sales of the comic books. They (DC Comics) were very pleased but I don’t think they ever gave us much credit for that.”
Movies ranged from low-budget serials in the 1940s to grim and gritty interpretations beginning with Tim Burton’s “Batman” in 1989 up to “The Dark Knight Rises,” the latest instalment in the current franchise which is filming now.
Both stars had praise for the current crop of Batman films, with West saying he’d love to have a cameo in one as Batman’s dad.
“They’re not really suitable for young children because there’s a little too much violence, at least in my opinion,” said Ward. “But they’re fabulous and they’re wonderfully entertaining.”
In comparison to the other incarnations, West and Ward’s Batman and Robin were so wholesome that they’d make the Boy Scouts look like the Hells Angels.
West jokes that while current Batman Christian Bale may be the Dark Knight, he was “the Bright Knight or the Neon Knight.”
Ward points out, “Our show was a family show. It was for everybody.
“There were all these fight scenes with the pows and the zaps but nobody ever got really hurt. It was really healthy entertainment.”
Except for maybe Ward himself, who says he did a lot of his own stunts, mainly because the director didn’t think the stuntman hired to do Robin’s dangerous bits looked like Ward.
“It was a very dangerous show and I was in the emergency hospital four of the first five days of shooting,” he said.
“You really had to be careful because there were lots of explosions,” he said, noting that his fondest memory of doing the show is ”surviving.”
Ward can at least claim to be one of the few people who ever fought martial arts legend Bruce Lee to a draw when “The Green Hornet” TV show crossed over with “Batman.”
Lee, who played Hornet sidekick Kato, was actually good friends with Ward and lived in the same apartment complex. Ward, a black belt in karate, remembers sparring with him when they hung out.
“What we did on TV was nothing compared to what we did when we were practising together,” Ward said. “It was a lot of fun. He was a great guy.”
West remembers a daunting workload cranking out the twice-weekly show that spawned everything from toys to dance crazes like the “Bat-tussi,” magazine articles and “Batman: The Movie” in 1966.
But the show’s popularity waned and it was cancelled in 1968. West said he was so typecast as Batman it was hard to find work for several years.
“I did all kinds of theatre, dinner theatre, regional theatre,” he recalled. “I did all kinds of crummy pictures.”
But things eventually turned around and he was even suggested for the role of James Bond at one point, although he says he turned it down because he believed it should be played by a British actor.
These days he’s busy with a number of projects including penning his own comic book – “The Mis-Adventures of Adam West” and voicing the befuddled Mayor West on “Family Guy.”
West clearly loves that job, calling show show “outrageous, raunchy, cutting-edge” and is effusive in his praise of creator Seth McFarlane, with whom he says he shares “the same comic sensibilities – that is an appreciation for the absurdities in life.”
West sighs when asked about a DVD release of “Batman,” which is one of the most demanded TV titles, but says it’s still tied up in legal wrangling over rights and licensing.
“I don’t know if that’s going to come out,” he says, although he’s put out his own behind-the-scenes DVD on the series entitled, “Adam West Naked.”
He and Ward remain fast friends but mainly see each other at conventions, where they love meeting the fans.
West laughs when it’s suggested he’s seen a lot of guys in Batman outfits over the years.
“Yes, you do. Oh, God, get a life. I feel so sorry for these dweebs on one hand and on the other, I love them to death. They’re always fun.”
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