BAT-GIRL AT 65: A dream cast for a dream show…
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NOTE: The original Bat-Girl turns 65! Check out Peter’s groovy history and celebration of the character, click here. For Bill Morrison’s far out MORRISON MONDAYS tribute, click here. — Dan
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By PETER BOSCH
Hey, remember those great imaginary tales Alfred the butler used to write in the early 1960s? He imagined future generations of the Wayne family stepping into the boots of Batman and Robin. There were several of these tales published between 1960 (Batman #131) and 1964 (Batman #163).
But, what if, when the original Bat-Girl first appeared in 1961 — as she did 65 years ago — Alfred began imagining what a Batman TV series would be like that featured the contemporary Caped Crusader? (Actually, it’s not too far-out a concept. In 1962, Ed Graham Productions took out an option on the Batman property for a live-action TV series.)
Who would Alfred cast in his mind to play Bat-Girl — and, hey, what about the rest of the Batman familiars and the rogues’ gallery? Who among the TV and film stars of 1961 – five years before the Adam West series – could have been featured?
Here are a number of possibilities:
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THE GOOD GUYS
Mike Henry as Batman. This was actually producer Ed Graham’s original casting choice for Batman/Bruce Wayne. Henry, a professional linebacker turned actor, appears to have been an excellent choice.
Mike Henry and a famous comics panel segment by Neal Adams (with Dick Giordano inks) from Batman #244 (Sept. 1972). Henry looked perfect for the role. (When the series didn’t materialize, he went on to play Tarzan, as seen here, in three movies.)
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Russ Tamblyn as Robin/Dick Grayson. Shorter than Henry (5’9” to Henry’s 6’2”), youthful looking, and a terrific gymnast. Tamblyn’s acting career included West Side Story (1961), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), Tom Thumb (1958), The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962), and more.
MGM photo of a Robin-like, masked Russ Tamblyn (with Yvette Mimieux) from The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962).
In this classic clip from MGM’s Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), Tamblyn is wearing the blue shirt and shows off his athletic skill. Also: Look closely for the tall brunette in the purple plaid dress — that’s Julie Newmar!
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Ann-Margret as Batwoman/Kathy Kane. So beautiful — and motorcycles really were her thing, including riding a Harley-Davidson into her 80s.
Ann-Margret, and Batwoman’s first appearance in Detective Comics #233 (July 1956), with cover art by Sheldon Moldoff.
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Sebastian Cabot as Alfred. The lean Alfred might think of the heavier Cabot as the perfect butler. Cabot would prove Alfred right on TV’s Family Affair as Mr. French.
Walter Pidgeon as Commissioner Gordon. Very much the image of Commissioner Gordon from the early 1960s comics.
Sebastian Cabot and Walter Pidgeon
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Julie London as Julie Madison. London was an actress and sophisticated torch song singer.
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Gwen Verdon as Vicki Vale. Verdon was a great Broadway star — funny and sassy. She could make Vicki Vale a definite asset to the show and not just a Lois Lane clone.
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SPECIAL GUEST VILLAINS
Anthony Perkins as The Joker. “We all go a little mad sometimes.” Who can forget this final grin in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic Psycho?
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Jane Fonda as Catwoman and Lesley Ann Warren as her assistant, Pussycat. Fonda played a slinky, sexy wildcat named “Kitty Twist” in the 1962 movie A Walk on the Wild Side. A few years later, she would become famous as another cat — Cat Ballou (1965). Lesley Ann Warren was 15 in 1961 but four years later she would play a jewel thief known as “The Cat” in the 1965 Broadway musical Drat! The Cat! (It closed after 8 performances.)
Left: Jane Fonda as Kitty Twist in Walk on the Wild Side (1962). Right: Lesley Ann Warren as “The Cat” in the Broadway musical Drat! The Cat! (1965).
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Richard Widmark as the Riddler. Did you know Frank Gorshin based his Riddler laugh on Richard Widmark as the psychotic Tommy Udo in the 1947 film noir Kiss of Death?
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Robert Morley as the Penguin. Morley could easily convey the traits of the likewise-rotund Penguin — conceited, brilliant, witty: the sophisticated gentleman of crime.
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Yul Brynner as Mr. Zero. Mr. Zero — later Mr. Freeze — debuted in Batman #121 (Feb. 1959).
Sir Laurence Olivier as the Mad Hatter. Olivier was an actor, director, producer, and writer… in other words, a man of many hats. What better casting?
Yul Brynner already looks hypnotized by Sir Laurence Olivier (right) as the Mad Hatter. (Come on, admit it, you keep expecting the lid of Olivier’s top hat to flip open and the mechanical “eyes” to pop up.)
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VERY SPECIAL GUEST STARS
Fess Parker as Jeremy Coe. Coe was the frontiersman from Detective Comics #205 (Mar. 1954) who lived in the 17th century and established the Batcave. He also was a man with a secret identity. He would disguise his appearance by covering his skin with a red dye to look like an Indian so he could infiltrate their camps and learn of their plans to attack colonists.
Fess Parker and the cover to Detective Comics #205 (Mar. 1954). Art by Win Mortimer.
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Boris Karloff as Clayface. Since the 1960s version of Clayface and his ability to change into things like giant buzzsaws and other ridiculous objects would be a TV-budget breaker, Matt Hagen is out.
However, a very special episode could be made from the plot of Detective Comics #40 (June 1940). Basil Karlo — named after Basil Rathbone and Karloff — was once silent film’s greatest horror star and an unsurpassed master of makeup, but is now a has-been who goes mad when he is left out of a remake of one of his most famous horror hits.
Boris Karloff in a number of his film guises.
No one but Karloff — who was having an incredible career resurrection in the 1960s — could bring the terror of his past screen roles, along with the heartbreaking pathos he showed with his portrayal of the Frankenstein monster, to the part of Karlo.
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Burt Lancaster as Dr. Thomas Wayne, Deborah Kerr as Martha Wayne, James Mason as Lew Moxon, and Martin Landau as Joe Chill. An “origin” episode based on Detective Comics #235 (Sept. 1956), where Bruce remembers that his Dad, Dr. Thomas Wayne, dressed as a Bat-Man for a costume party but was taken prisoner by criminals to treat their wounded boss, Lew Moxon. Dr. Wayne gave testimony that sent Moxon to prison for 10 years, at the end of which Moxon had Joe Chill kill Thomas and Martha.
Left: Martin Landau and James Mason (North by Northwest, 1959) as Joe Chill and Lew Moxon, respectively. Right: Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster (in From Here to Eternity, 1953) as Martha and Dr. Thomas Wayne.
Casting athletic Burt Lancaster as Dr. Wayne would likely have a subliminal influence on Bruce when it came to fighting gangsters in his grown-up life (and Lancaster played a doctor in 1989’s Field of Dreams, his final film). Deborah Kerr would bring love and sophistication to the part of Martha Wayne (plus she and Lancaster starred in 1953’s classic Best Picture winner, From Here to Eternity).
Moxon and Chill were typical mugs in the comics story, but would more sophisticated on screen — like Mason and Landau in Hitchcock’s 1959 North by Northwest.
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Steve Reeves as Superman. Superman should make a guest appearance or two… and could there be anybody better suited to play the Man of Steel in the Sixties than Steve Reeves? (Imagine that: George Reeves… Steve Reeves… Christopher Reeve.)
Steve Reeves in Hercules (1958), looking very similar to this splash page from Superman #32 (June 1989).
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So… getting back to Alfred’s original thought: Who would play the new crimefighting teen Bat-Girl?
Who else, but:
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MORE
— MORRISON MONDAYS — BAT-GIRL AT 65: An Anniversary Celebration of the Original Dominoed Daredoll. Click here.
— BAT-GIRL vs. BATGIRL: The 1960s DETECTIVE COMICS Issue That Should Have Been. Click here.
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13th Dimension contributor-at-large PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, was published by TwoMorrows. (You can buy it here.) A sequel, American Movie Comic Books: 1930s-1970s — From the Silver Screen to the Printed Page, is out now. (Buy it here.) Peter has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. He lives in Hollywood.
