Batman TV Show test shots

I ran across these photos of the testing done before the Adam West - Burt Ward Batman TV show went on the air, and I think they're pretty cool.

They apparently put together the Batman costume first and tried it out, and then decided to "update" it to the yellow-oval version (and shorter ears). Meanwhile, having put together the Robin costume later, it looks pretty set.

The ears were a good call, considering they already looked like they were about to droop in this shot. Granted, that would've added one more satirical note, but it might have been too much to take.

As it was, my biggest complaint about the show was the fact that they put Batman's emblem on his sternum, rather than up higher where it would have looked more heroic and drawn attention away from his rather unheroic stomach.

Has anyone seen any other shots?

-- MSA

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  • That's one heckuva bat! Or is it a centipede?
  • It looks like a bent comb.
  • The Batman in the second shot is Lyle (The Carol Burnett Show, Wonder Woman) Wagner.

    They look like their wearing home-made Halloween costumes. I'm pretty sure that they changed fabrics as well as styles.

  • I do have to wonder what the inspiration was for that bat emblem. Were they putting their own spin on it so they could trademark it separately? Otherwise, why the heck would they get so elaborate? Maybe they wanted to cover up as much of his chest as they could to hide the fact that he didn't exactly have a great physique.

    They clearly changed their minds, which I think was a good thing, and the yellow oval was a good choice for this show. But I think everyone today agrees that Batman wouldn't have a bright yellow circle around his bat.I think the Animated Batman and Alex Ross have been pretty convincing on that point.



  • Philip Portelli said:

    The Batman in the second shot is Lyle (The Carol Burnett Show, Wonder Woman) Wagner.

    They look like their wearing home-made Halloween costumes. I'm pretty sure that they changed fabrics as well as styles.

     


    I dunno. If Batman were real, chances are his costume would look more like these efforts than the elaborate costumes costing 100's of thousands of dollars in the movies.

    These costumes have a rough and ready charm. I can see a no-nonsense vigilante who wanted to disguise himself while making himself known to criminals would be quite happy to don them before going out to break some heads. A 'Hallowe'en costume' would be just the ticket.

    That it has to be skintight is merely a convention of the comics.

    Just from that one picture, this Lyle Wagner guy looks more like 'Bruce Wayne' than Adam West.
  • That would true except that Bruce Wayne had hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend on costumes! So he would have gotten better looking threads that fit and Bat-ears that wouldn't sag!

    Lyle would have made a great Wayne! In the 80s it would have been Alec Baldwin!

    Figserello said:



    Philip Portelli said:

    The Batman in the second shot is Lyle (The Carol Burnett Show, Wonder Woman) Wagner.

    They look like their wearing home-made Halloween costumes. I'm pretty sure that they changed fabrics as well as styles.

     


    I dunno. If Batman were real, chances are his costume would look more like these efforts than the elaborate costumes costing 100's of thousands of dollars in the movies.

    These costumes have a rough and ready charm. I can see a no-nonsense vigilante who wanted to disguise himself while making himself known to criminals would be quite happy to don them before going out to break some heads. A 'Hallowe'en costume' would be just the ticket.

    That it has to be skintight is merely a convention of the comics.

    Just from that one picture, this Lyle Wagner guy looks more like 'Bruce Wayne' than Adam West.
  • Figserello said:
    I dunno. If Batman were real, chances are his costume would look more like these efforts than the elaborate costumes costing 100's of thousands of dollars in the movies.

    I dunno. If Spider-Man were real, chances are his costume would look more like these efforts than the elaborate costumes costing 100's of thousands of dollars in the movies. Likewise Daredevil. But Batman's rich! He would go all-out!
  • 1936039030?profile=originalI don't know, it looks like the same material to me as what they wound up with. They may have done a little tailoring to fit Adam West once they knew he was doing it, and certainly any later ones they made would've been made specifically for him. I never got the idea that the material was much more than basic cotton fabric with shinier stuff for the trunks and gloves.

    -- MSA

  • The Bat in the Lyle Wagner photos has too many points at the bottom, but is otherwise okay.

    Of course everyone knows the yellow oval came into the series when Julius Schwartz took over as editor of the Batman titles. Yet since it was a Bronze Age retcon to the mythos, Mr. Silver Age might not know that Bruce Wayne once said he put extra protection (later, body armor/kevlar) behind the symbol, so bad guys would have something to aim at but he would still be safe if they did.

    But is that Wagner in the first photo?

    And is that Burt Ward as Robin in the first two photos? For some reason, I can't tell for sure.

  • No that's Adam West and Burt Ward in the first photo. That's not Ward with Lyle Wagner, so I'm guessing they were testing chemistry.
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