Why TV’s Batman Was Smarter Than You Think
A mix of action-adventure, campy humor, and metatextuality made Batman a hit on TV.
By BRIAN FAUCETTE
In 1965 ABC found itself third in overall ratings and desperately in need of a hit show for the upcoming fall schedule. The network turned to producer William Dozier, head of Greenway Productions, and asked him to create a prime-time comic book series based on the character Batman.
To prepare for the series, Dozier purchased a dozen vintage issues of the comic book, which he read on flights between Los Angeles and New York while working on other projects.
Dozier thought the comics were way over the top, but this was a quality he actually enjoyed. To wit: “it was all so juvenile and then a very simple idea came to me — and that was to overdo it.” This, he thought, would be funny for adults and stimulating for kids.
It is this mixture of action-adventure, campy humor, and metatextuality that made Batman (1966–68) a hit when it debuted in January of 1966.
The Uniqueness of TV’s Batman
ABC gave Batman a twice-a-week slot, replacing the musical variety program Shindig (1964–66). This schedule would allow Dozier and his writers not only to structure the series with cliffhangers similar to those in the comic books, but also to write a series built around the serial model rather than (the more common) stand-alone episode model.
In addition to its narrative structure Batman is unique because it was built around weekly guest villains and a visual palette with dutch angles, high-key lightning, and vibrant colors — all of which, again, would differentiate ABC from competitors.
The other major difference between Batman and its contemporaries was its tone: it embraced camp in order to develop a large audience.
Susan Sontag’s definition(s) of camp — “the love of artifice and exaggeration” and a sensibility that is “disengaged, depoliticized, or at least apolitical” — aptly applies to a reading of TV’s Batman. On its surface, Batman’s use of camp seems to follow Sontag’s argument (i.e., it’s definitely artificial and exaggerated). But beneath its campy action sequences, garish colors, and awkward performances, Batman was also a series about the connection between American popular culture and television.
The best proof of this relationship is the show’s use of “Bat-climb cameos.” These appeared in the first two seasons as the dynamic duo, Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward), scaled Gotham City’s high-rise buildings in pursuit of criminals.
Camp and the Bat-Climb Cameos
Batman’s window cameos featured a veritable who’s-who of 1960s American stars and television characters: Jerry Lewis, Dick Clark, Sammy Davis Jr., Don Ho, Santa Claus, Art Linkletter, The Addams Family’s Lurch, and Edward G. Robinson among others.
Though these window cameos only show up in fourteen episodes of the series, they illustrate Dozier’s creative sensibility towards pop art and camp. They also illustrate an early form of metatextuality — a form of parody that makes critical commentary on another text within a text. (More recently, think NBC’s series 30 Rock and/or Community.)
The first celebrity to appear in one of the “Bat-climb” cameos was comedian Jerry Lewis (“The Bookworm Turns,” April 20th, 1966). Lewis curiously asks the masked man before him, “Are you Batman?” In a serious and officious tone, Batman replies, “Yes, citizen, but don’t be alarmed; we are here on official business.” Lewis ends the exchange exclaiming Holy human fly! — a phrase that plays off the campy spirit of bad puns delivered by Robin and the series’ (intentionally) ridiculous dialogue.
In “The Clock King’s Crazy Crimes” (Oct. 12, 1966), Sammy Davis Jr. chats up the dynamic duo: “Hey, you guys come and catch my act sometimes; I dig yours.” Davis Jr’s response shows those hip to the music scene are aware of Batman and enjoy it.
Similarly, in his “Bat-climb” cameo, actor Edward G. Robinson plays up his connection to the art world when he admits he’s in Gotham City because “some of the paintings from my collection go on exhibit here” (“Batman’s Satisfaction,” March 2, 1967). This references Robinson’s art collection, one of the finest in America at the time. The artifice and exaggeration here are campy and allow the show to demonstrate its understanding of pop art as a major movement in American art circles.
The only woman to appear in Batman’s climbs was Suzy Knickerbocker, a gossip columnist (“King Tut’s Coup,” March 8, 1967). Knickerbocker’s appearance highlights the function of the gossip industry and calls attention to the series’ conceit — a world where a wealthy playboy can also be a crime fighter. Among her lines: “I go where the action is — the Caribbean, the Rivera, the Greek Islands — wherever there is glamor that is where I am.”
Last, in his appearance, Hawaiian singer Don Ho tells Batman and Robin he’s in Gotham City “to get some land we lost in Hawaii” (“The Bat’s Kow Tow,” Dec. 15, 1966). Ho’s statement is a pointed one that calls attention to the fact that the U.S. annexed and stole Hawaii from its citizens for American corporations like Dole.
Still, the camp spirit here tamps down the political rhetoric as Batman and Robin tell Ho, “I’d like to sit here on the beach [an ironic comment as they are standing on the side of a building] and chat with you all day, Don, but surf’s coming up and we’ve got to catch the big one.” The humor in this exchange plays off the American public’s fascination with beaches, surf music, and beach culture.
Yet, it was not only celebrities and entertainers who randomly showed up in the windows of Gotham City.
Let’s Market Those Climbs!
Another group that appeared in “Bat-climb” cameos were TV characters/stars. For example, Lurch (Ted Cassidy) from The Addams Family (1964–66) greets the caped crusaders with characteristic grunts as the theme music for his comedy-horror series plays in the background (“Penguin’s Nest,” Dec. 7, 1966).
Batman tells Lurch, “You may return to your harpsichord,” a metatextual reference to Lurch’s playing the instrument in his own show. This exchange is also interesting because it alludes to ABC’s other programs — as The Addams Family, like Batman, aired on ABC.
This early form of metatextual marketing is used again when Sgt. Sam Stone (Howard Duff) from ABC’s Felony Squad (1966–69) greets Batman in the episode “The Impractical Joker” (Nov. 16, 1966) and when ABC’s Dick Clark appears in “Shoot a Crooked Arrow” (Sept. 7, 1966).
Clark’s exchange with Batman and Robin is both campy and metatextual. Batman mentions Dick Clark’s hometown of Philadelphia, where his show American Bandstand originated. Then Clark, puzzled by the men’s appearance, asks, “Are you a vocal group? I thought perhaps you might be a singing duo — you know with the outfits and all that.”
Finally, Batman’s crime-fighting nemeses The Green Hornet and Kato first appeared in a cameo in the episode “The Spell of Tut” (Sept. 12, 1966). This exchange prepared audiences for Dozier’s forthcoming comic book series The Green Hornet (1966–67), which notably also aired on ABC.
Although brief in screentime and featured in only 14 of Batman’s 120 episodes, these “Bat climbs” cameos are fascinating — not only because they serve to brand ABC, but also because they speak to the nature of the American television landscape in 1966, a year when action-adventure series, Westerns, fantasy sitcoms, cop shows, and variety shows were the most popular form of programming.
As more and more comic book series dominate our small screens today (e.g., Gotham, The Flash, Daredevil), it’s important to look back and see how the form has been used to create new modes of television and challenge audience expectations — as Batman did during its short run.
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