Pages

Monday 12 June 2017

Farewell Bright Knight - The Death of Batman


Farwell Bright Knight - The Death of Batman

late last week we lost one of my childhood heroes, Adam West, the actor who played Batman in the classic 1960's TV show.
West was 88 years old and died from luekemia. Batman the tv show seemed almost like a constant, no matter what time of day or when you turned on the tv you could literally stumble across it somewhere in the tv schedules.

As flawed at it was funny, the tongue in cheek comedy delivered with such serious command from West made it all the more beautiful. I still own the toy Batmobile from Corgi, albeit a little worse for wear it was one of my favorite toys as a kid. Batman was the first real superhero for me, growing up in the 70's the tv was peppered with childhood heroes we could all lose ourselves in for a while, shows like The Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon, Batman or The Six Million Dollar Man. The Amazing Spiderman movie didn't come along until 1977 so it was Batman that had established my love for the character.

West lived in Sun Valley, and if you saw Rusty Blazenhoffs post on Boing Boing recently which was originally posted back in 2014 you'll have learnt that West was quite the joker ( pun intended) - a flip through the Sun Valley, Idaho Phone Book saw several entries that West had engineered into the listings.
At Comicon events and entertainment trade shows and panels he was the down to earth, kind and warm guy everyone had time for by the truck load. Held in such high regard for decades despite Batmans relatively short run he will always be remembered a true class act.




 Batman the tv show never took itself too seriously, the incredible coloured sets and costumes provided a visual splendour unlike anything on tv at the time. The choreographed fight scenes were the stuff of Wild West saloon fights more than crippling rib breaking affairs but anyone I talk to always remembers it so fondly, in a warm slow head nod kind of way. Adam West, Batman - you will be fondly missed sir but never forgotten.



No comments:

Post a Comment