Posted By Dan Greenfield on Dec 2, 2024 | 4 comments

MORRISON MONDAYS meets TOYHEM!

—

Welcome to MORRISON MONDAYS and welcome to TOYHEM! For the sixth straight holiday season, we’re bringing you a series of features and columns celebrating the toys of our youth, which often made for the best memories this time of year. And Bill’s here for the festivities! Click here to check out the complete index of stories — and have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Chanukah and Happy Holidays! — Dan

—

By BILL MORRISON

I have a pretty big Batman collection. It’s not the biggest in the world because I’m not wealthy, but it’s large enough that it’s developed some subset categories within the whole. One such group is that of unlicensed items.

In 1966, some manufacturers took advantage of the Bat-Craze so brazenly that they actually used the name “Batman” on the packaging, or imitated elements of Batman’s costume in the item or imagery. But most just have the word “Bat” followed by a noun, like the labeled objects in the 1966 Batman TV show (Batcomputer, Bat-Earplugs, Three-Dimensional Bat-Restorer, etc.) They’re not all toys, but they are all 100 percent weird and fun! You can call them unlicensed, you can call them bootlegs, you can call them knockoffs… but I call them Wanna-Be Batman Collectibles, and here are my TOP 13 from my collection, in no particular order!

—

The Bat-Belt. I don’t think this was a child’s costume accessory, but rather a mod fashion item worn by ladies at Swingin’ Sixties discotheques. Either way, that dude in the bat-mask is creepy! I kinda want a font of that lettering though!

—

“Batgirl” Valentine. This card looks like it could possibly be licensed, but the absence of a copyright line puts it under suspicion, and the cowboy gloves seal the deal for me. I can’t see a DC licensing agent giving this one the thumbs-up.

—

Batwoman Movie Poster. In 1968, filmmaker René Cardona capitalized on Batmania with his Mexican film “The Batwoman,” starring Maura Monte. IMDb credits Bob Kane and Bill Finger as writers, along with Alfredo Salazar! Seriously?? I need to look into this. This is the large Italian 2-fogli (2-sheet) poster, and it hangs proudly outside the entrance to my studio.

—

The Flying Catwoman. This toy hails from Argentina and is a knockoff of the 1966 Transogram “Flying Batman” toy from the US, right down to the package design. It’s remarkable in that it’s one of the rare Catwoman toys from the period, and the only one I’ve ever seen that’s figural. It also clearly depicts her in the Julie Newmar costume from the TV show.

—

“Bat-Boy” Cufflinks and Tie Bar. As a kid in the mid-’60s, I dressed up for church every Sunday, and I would have absolutely killed to have an accessory set like this! Whether I would have made it past my mother wearing them is another question. The tie bar is small, but maybe with a skinny tie I could wear these today. Hmmm… if I present at the Eisner Awards™ this year, I just might!

—

Felt Hat/Mask. I have a nearly identical version of this headgear that’s fully licensed with the Batman logo on the applique. The “POW” sound effect on this one gives it away as a bootleg.

—

“It’s Fun To Be a Batman” Book. There’s no denying that it would have been fun to be Batman in the 1960s, but it’s definitely not fun to read this book. It’s full of bad jokes and doctored photos with corny captions, and not a copyright line in sight.

—

“The Bat” Halloween Costume. Imagine being a kid in 1966 and begging your mom to buy you an official Ben Cooper Batman costume for Halloween. Then, she brings this monstrosity home and you’re forced to go trick-or-treating as Counterfeit Batman!

—

“Dynamic Duo Exposed” Poster. I’m not sure if this 1968 black-light poster depicting President Lynden B. Johnson and Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey as the Dynamic Duo was meant to celebrate or ridicule them. But no matter what side of the political spectrum you’re on, I think we can all agree that these two needed to stop skipping leg day at the gym!

—

Bat-Pin. This one is sheer marketing genius. Put a black bat on a yellow button, label it “BAT PIN,” in case there’s any doubt at to what it is, and call it a day. They probably sold a bat-zillion of these!

—

Turkish Movie Serial Poster. If this image looks familiar, it’s because it was stolen and redrawn from the cover of World’s Finest #135, published in 1963. If you’d seen this poster in the lobby of a movie theater in Turkey, you might have thought you were going to see a chapter from a serial that teamed Batman and Robin with Superman! But of course, you’d have been wrong: No such film existed in the 1960s. But maybe the theater was showing one of the serials that starred Batman or Superman individually and they just used this dynamic image to cover their bases! Sorry, wrong again. Kane Richmond is clearly listed as the star, and he never appeared in any of the Batman or Superman serials. He did appear as the Shadow and Spy Smasher, so maybe this poster was meant to advertise one of those films?

—

The CrimeFighter vs. The BadMen Cape & Masks Playset. This deluxe cape and mask playset features plastic masks of “Crimefighter” (a clear Batman stand-in), “Bird Boy” (a poor man’s Robin, of course), “The Kidder” (obviously a deranged version of the Riddler with forehead tattoos and sharply-filed teeth), and of course… Mr. Poison? Who the heck is this guy supposed to be? They were already on very thin ice with the DC lawyers with the first three. Did they have anything to lose by doing a rip-off of the Joker?

—

Batman and Batwoman T-Shirt. Finally, we end with my very own example of copyright infringement! I designed this t-shirt in 1989 from a panel by Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris that appeared in 1962’s Batman #153. I did it mainly for myself, but I must confess I did sell a few of them in a local comics shop. (Shame on me!)

—

Want more MORRISON MONDAYS? Come back next week! Want a commission? See below!

Want more TOYHEM? Click here!

—