The Adam West Song!

I finally found a version of "The Adam West Song" on YouTube.Com that won't get the producers of "Family Guy" all litigious.

But if Seth McFarland wants a piece of me, anyway, he can look me up... Bring it on, McFarland!

In a couple of days, I will get to hang out a bit with the guy who really was a big part of my early (and ongoing) childhood. The "Batman" television show was the first TV program that I remember having a big influence on Mark's World (along with the venerable Bozo's Circus). I was 6 years old in 1966 when the series launched and soon all the guys in the neighborhood were captivated. Moms pinned towel capes to our backs so we could run around like mini-superheroes before, during and after the show.

Batman posters covered the closets in my Kankakee, Ill. bedroom. I remember a fit in a store and crying that my Dad was a "cheapo" because he didn't buy me a GIANT Batman fan club button that I just HAD to have (of course, he HAD purchased it secretly and I feel like a heel for my fit to this day). I remember, too, a model of the Batmobile that my Dad and I built "together" (though I am guessing that he did the most work). I remember getting a set of Topps Batman cards when we were shopping at the grocery store. I was feeling the effects of the flu but I hung on without throwing up until we made the toy aisle and the cards were secured. Dad then had to clamp his large hand around my up-chucking mouth and carry me out of the store. I was sick the next day and home from school and my wonderful Mom served me 7-Up, saltines and let me spend the day enjoying those wonderful cards...

I still remember my first Batman comic book (Batman No. 194 from 1967, "The Blockbuster Goes Bat-Mad"). I remember the night Dad came home from work and presented me a Signet paperback featuring black-and-white reprints of the very first Batman comic book adventures from the 1940s. I read that book over and over even though my first- or second-grade brain could not process all of the words.

Now, the show was mostly fun for the fights and the improbable cliffhangers which forced us to wait one whole day to discover Batman and/or Robin would escape certain doom. Moms and Dads everywhere were kept mildly amused by the silliness, famous star villains and double-entendres. I am sure they also dreaded the marketing onslaught that carried over in every visit to nearly every store.

Batman was not just a TV show or a pop culture event or a marketing ploy, however. He epitomized goodness, valor, serving a purpose bigger than just mere existence. Bruce Wayne was a millionaire. He could do whatever he chose (or chose not) to do. He chose to try to make things better; to take a stand against very bad things.

I am sure that parents, the church, schools, Cub Scouts, etc., all wanted to impart that very lesson to me and my impressionable peers back in the mid/late-1960s. The problem is that the world was filled with other images of that era, like the Vietnam War, political assassinations, racial prejudice, etc.

Batman called out to our better natures. Sure, he'd throw a punch or two if provoked (especially in the seventh or eighth minute of the show or the 23rd or 24th minute) but he was also as inclined to solve mysteries with his mind or an innovative gadget.

He could out-smart you or out-fight you. But, he'd rarely raise his voice.

Speaking for Batman was Adam West who always was the image of calm resolve and effortless dignity, no matter the situation, even to the point of self-parody. Amazingly, that did not seem to bother him in the least. He appeared unflappable when called upon to involve himself in all kinds of silliness. Imagine that: A man in his 40's having all sorts of weird fun and taking it in stride...

I am sure the show was as much of an albatross as it was a blessing in terms of his acting career. But he, like Dad and Dick Butkus, was an early hero of mine and something compels me to meet him.

Maybe he enjoys appearing in places like Niles, Ohio or maybe he'll lash out at all the geeks and tell them (but, curiously, not me) to get lives a la William Shatner in that terrific Saturday Nigh Live parody. I have a feeling he has a terrific sense of humor and of himself, otherwise Seth McFarland would never have convinced him to take over as the mayor of Quahog.

And "The Adam West Song" would never have been sung...

More later,


Mark