Generations of young boys have played and mimicked their heroes. When we were young boys we portrayed ourselves as Batman and Robin as we played throughout our neighborhood, keeping Gotham's villains from taking over. I'm sure those in our neighborhood remember Keith Shaw and me riding our bikes with our Batman T-shirts and towels tied to our neck as we played Batman and Robin.
Our Batman and Robin were different than the comic books and the Batman movies that have appeared in recent years because our generation’s television programs were more innocent than what is being portrayed on television and movie screens today. I, for one, am thankful that the Batman than I remember was happier,friendlier and, yes, campier than anything done today.
I have heard younger people say that the acting was terrible and that it was too silly, boy, do I disagree. Some of the greatest actors of the 40s, 50's and 60's appeared on the 1960's Batman television show. Some of these actors were for the first time introduced to a completely new generation of children which spawned the rebirth of their careers at a time that Hollywood and television had turned its back on older actors and actresses. Many of the older critically acclaimed actors were doing their best to get cameos in the new Batman movie or even on the Batman TV series in hopes that it would spark a new beginning for their careers.
I do understand that Batman the TV show of the 60's could not be made the same way for television today as it was back then. As I see it, the actors that portray Batman today, I can't help but feel that there's something missing, something that's just not there. I think back to the days that I couldn't wait a whole week to see my Batman and then the network got it, they understood what it meant to my generation of young boys and they actually put a television show on two nights a week. I was born in 1956 that makes me 61 years old and I do not remember ever seeing a show scheduled for two nights a week other than the 1960's Batman. The thing that is missing today is the innocence of youth that was still intact in the 1960's.
There is always someone that is the number one actor in a TV show or movie which, by the way, my Batman had movies and a television show. That actor usually is well-known and respected in the industry. The actor that played my Batman was known and respected but not so much to the public at that time, so when these two actors came to play the dynamic duo they had no idea that they would be remembered so fondly some fifty-something years later. I have gone to autograph shows to get as many of the autographs and meet the people that were on my Batman. I have collected at least seven or eight autographs from these actors. I even told the person that played my Batman about how my best friend at the time Keith Shaw and I went with my parents to the drive-in movies to see the new Batman movie. The drive-in movie theater was giving out a black and white 8 x 10 glossy picture to each car that came to the movie on this particular day but it was only one picture per car so of course, my parents gave it to my friend. I told him how I cried because I didn't have a picture of Batman, but now not only do I have a picture and autograph, I have one of my fondest memories of meeting Adam West, my hero, and my Batman. 
It was such an honor to meet Adam West and many of the cast of that original 1960's TV show Batman. Unlike the 1960's we now can own every single episode of that original Batman TV show without commercials. Adam West embodied what was good about the Batman he played. He has done many voiceovers for cartoons over the years and done parodies of that original TV show where he played Batman, but he has always kept a campy dignity surrounding the persona of the Batman he portrayed that the young boys of my generation loved so dearly. Adam West had a place in all of our young hearts and all of our minds and even our dreams and hopes for the future. Adam West is one of those actors that will never be totally missed because his body of work lives on through the magic of reruns, videotape, DVD's and Blu-ray's, but there is a much greater magic within those young boys of my generation and that's the undying gratitude and love of the fun and adventure that he gave us that still lives on through us today and forever.
Even though the bat signal has gone dark we wish you Godspeed and Bat thrusters on full, Adam West to your next adventure.
September 19, 1928-June 9, 2017
