And THWAP! And KA-POW!
The campy '60s sensation has become a nightly ritual at our house. The 11:30 p.m. ET airing of Batman on cable channel The Hub is a pretty swell way to end the day -- the deadpan delirium of title star Adam West, the funky parade of movie stars playing silly villains in comic book adventures.
Thursday night's episode features Frank Gorshin's wicked Riddler in his question mark bodysuit (now you know where Matthew Lesko got the idea), menacing the Dynamic Duo of Batman and Robin with a deadly vat of bubbling wax.
Friday night/Saturday morning at 3 and 3:30 a.m. ET, it's Hollywood mainstay Cesar Romero, 30 years removed from The Thin Man, finally set free from his leading man reserve under crazy makeup as The Joker, in a then topical tale of pop art pilfering.
And on Sunday night/Monday morning at 3 a.m. ET, the same Yvonne Craig extolled in Bianculli's recommendation of Thursday night's TCM '60s flick Mars Needs Women steps into the series spotlight as Batgirl. She's kidnaped by The Penguin, perhaps the show's ultimate baddie in Burgess Meredith's scenery-chewing turn as the quacking crook-de-grace.
Really watch Meredith -- the guy never stops working at his acting, even in this absurd slam-dunk for someone of his stature.
Then there are the lesser-recalled Batman villains scattered through the Hub run. Imminent episodes feature Eli Wallach's Mr. Freeze (Sunday morning at 3 and 3:30 a.m. ET; with Elisha Cook, too), Joan Collins as The Siren (Monday morning at 3:30 a.m. ET), Victor Buono's King Tut (Wednesday-Thursday at 11:30 p.m. ET).
There's even, god bless her belting heart, Ethel Merman as Lola Lasagne (June 25 at 3:30 a.m. ET and June 26 at 3 a.m. ET).
Did I mention Milton Berle? (Louie the Lilac, June 27 at 3 a.m. ET.) Or Vincent Price? (The Egghead, June 27 at 3:30 a.m. ET.) Roddy McDowall? (The Bookworm, June 27 at 11:30 p.m. ET.)
Even the supporting characters are a goldmine for old-time movie lovers.
Neil Hamilton, a Batman regular as police commissioner Gordon, was a silent-era heartthrob 40 years before his TV stint (he was in 1926's The Great Gatsby). As was Francis X. Bushman (1925's Ben-Hur), who shows up on The Hub June 29 at 11:30 p.m. ET in a Riddler tale.
See show videos and photos at The Hub's Batman page. Check the channel schedule here.