Batman 1966 Casting Call: Judge Madison, Vicki Vale and Jack Ryder

The Batman is a Gothic creature of the night. He is The Dark Knight. He is also the Dark Knight Detective.

After the cruel murder of his parents, Bruce Wayne what every normal, rational individual with tons of money and a lot of free time would do. Become a revenge-seeking costumed vigilante. Dressed like a bat.

For three seasons, two nights a week, on Wednesday and Thursday nights on ABC, Batman was the "Caped Crusader". He fought the good fight in broad daylight. On occasion he went out after dark. He was not scary, and neither were the rogues he fought. As ground-breaking and landmark a series as the 1966 live-action Batman television show was, the producers still played it safe. The show was a half-hour program two nights a week; but really, it was a sixty minute program broken up into two half hour segments that hinged on a cliffhanger. Producers didn't want to scare younger viewers, or alienate adult viewers watching with their children, so Batman became campy, and played for laughs. Gone were the Gothic, scary, thriller elements - and characters. Two-Face, The Scarecrow and Clayface were nowhere to be seen on the series. The Joker, instead of the insane psychotic we all know and love, was more clownish than terrifying like he was in the early comic books. The 1950's had been unkind to comic books. German-American psychiatrist Frederic Wortham had concluded in his 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent that "comic books were a negative form of popular literature and a serious cause of juvenile delinquency". Wortham had become a "Harold Hill", his "pool" were comic books. Twelve years later, in January of 1966, Adam West and Burt ward took the country by storm when Batman debuted. Batman was a show EVERY body wanted to be on.

Instead of characters like Two-Face, The Scarecrow, Clayface, Poison Ivy, viewers were treated to Bookworm, Egghead, King Tut, Lorelei Circe, Louie The Lilac, Marsha Queen of Diamonds and Zelda The Great.

Interestingly enough, immediately after the series had been cancelled, The Batman returned to his Gothic, suspense roots with stories by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams, like, The Secret of the Waiting Graves.

Batman was still campy in cartoons, though.

In 1989, The Batman returned to theaters as a dark figure of the night with Michael Keaton as The Batman.

 But, what if? What if YouTube videos were true? What if fan-made videos and films were what the original producers had accomplished with the 1966 series? Over the passed couple of days, I've wondered aloud who I would like to see added to the cast, here and here.

Along with Adam West, Burt Ward, Alan Napier and Neil Hamilton, I would add Lyle Waggoner as Gotham City DA Harvey Dent, Jessica Walter as Dent's fiance Pamela Isley, Raquel Welch as Bruce Wayne's fiance Julie Madison, Meredith MacRae as Kathy Kane and Donna Reed as Dr. Leslie Thompkins.

On top of that I would cast the late Raymond Burr, best known as Perry Mason and Ironside as Julie Madison's father, Judge Madison. Like Chief O'Hara and aunt Harriet Cooper, the judge would be a completely original character created solely for the series. Batman would have access to Commissioner Gordon, DA Harvey Dent, Dr. Leslie Thompkins and Judge Madison. Bruce and The Judge would be social friends, because of his engagement to Julie. Like Harvey, The Judge would be a resource for law. But, The Judge might not be one hundred percent sold on The Batman as a Caped Crusader. More as a Dark Knight. One of the weaknesses of the series was that Jim Gordon and the Gotham City Police were reduced to incompetence around Batman. Instead of trying to arrest and unmask a costumed vigilante, he's been "duly deputized"! Instead of the urban myth that helps promote his war on crime and inspire fear in criminals, Jim Gordon has a hotline under glass in his office to summon the savior of Gotham.

Next, I would add news photographer Vicki Vale, Batman's version of Lois Lane, with fashion model-slash-actress Lauren Hutton. She could be the original Kim Basinger. Vicki would be obsessed with revealing this urban legend and unmasking Batman. Of course, Bruce Wayne would be fascinated by her photos. Nothing like Corto Maltese; more along the lines of portrait, landscape and scenery.

And then there would be Jack Ryder. Much like Vicki Vale, Jack would be obsessed with proving that The Batman is a vigilante and a menace to Gotham City. This would be tricky. Crusading television newsman Jack Ryder is the alter-ego of The Creeper. If The Joker could have a "martian" in an episode, (episode 118, "The Joker's Flying Saucer") then certainly Batman could face Jack Ryder's "Hotseat" program, while teaming up with The Creeper; along with Meredith MacRae's Batwoman, Cyd Charisse's Wonder Woman and Peter Lupus' Superman.

I would invite James Darren, from Gidget, The Time Tunnel and T.J. Hooker fame to join the Batman cast as Jack Ryder.

This is all fantasy casting. If there were no limits. What if? What if each one of these celebrity actors and actresses were available and agreeable to appearing on the series.

Jeff Parker expressed the desire in a recent interview at Comic Book resources to introduce Killer Croc to the Batman '66 comic book he is currently producing for DC. He expressed the desire to base the character on Ted Cassidy, who played great characters on The Addams Family, Star Trek and I Dream of Jeannie. I started wondering - what else could be possible?

What if?           

Batman 1966 Casting Call: Leslie Thompkins, Julie Madison and Kathy Kane

Ben Affleck has just been inducted into an elite fraternity: The League of Batmen. He joins Michael Keaton, George ("Franchise Killer") Clooney, Val Kilmer, Christian Bale and Adam West. He also joins the likes of Olan Soule, Gary Owens, Frank Welker, Jeremy Sisto, William Baldwin, Bruce Greenwood, Rino Romano, Diedrich Bader and Kevin Conroy - just to name a few! - who have voiced The Batman for animation. A petition is being circulated to undo Affleck's casting. At last count it had reached 25,000 signatures. Warner Bros. received 50,000 letters from irate Batman fans about Michael Keaton's casting. Pick one of the many actors to portray Batman, and I'm sure someone is dissatisfied with the performance. I liked Keaton's Batman; his Bruce Wayne was a bit on the weak side. Bale's Batman is much to coarse for me, but I liked his Bruce Wayne. I would describe it as affable. Kilmer was like George Lazenby, the "transitional" Batman. Kevin Conroy managed to capture the best Batman and the best Bruce Wayne with just his voice. Adam West will probably be forever stereotyped as the character.

 

 

The 1966 live-action Batman television series starring Adam West and Burt Ward was a groundbreaking, landmark series. It was such a pop-culture phenomenon that EVERY body wanted to be on it.

Lyle Waggoner lost the role to Adam West. I think he would make an awesome regular cast-member as Gotham City District Attorney Harvey Dent. Dent was played in the 1989 film by Billy Dee Williams - also known as Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars films - Tommy Lee Jones opposite Val Kilmer in Batman Forever, and Aaron Eckhart in The Dark Knight. He was voiced on Batman: The Animated Series by Richard Moll, Bull from the '80's sitcom Night Court. The character really shined in both the O'Neil-Adams era of the Batman comics and the Timm-Dini animated universe. Instead of Stafford Repp's memorable Chief O'Hara, I would have loved to see Lyle Waggoner transform from DA Dent into Two-Face.

 

Alongside Waggoner's Dent, I would add Jessica Walter as Pamela Isley. It would be cool to watch these two actors unravel over the course of a season. Walter's Isley would reveal herself as the pernicious Poison Ivy; Waggoner's Dent would descend into the tormented Two-Face.

As much I like Dick Grayson's aunt Harriet Cooper, I would introduce a character that was introduced much later in the comic books: Dr. Leslie Thompkins. She was introduced in 1976, and became a surrogate mother-figure to a young Bruce Wayne. She and Alfred Pennyworth watched Bruce Wayne grow into The Dark Knight. She would know about both Bruce and Dick's dual idnentity, which would eliminate some of the inherent camp and silliness. Leslie could have added a sense of melodrama and philosophy to the series. The Donna Reed Show was just winding down in the Spring of 1966, I would have cast Donna Reed as Dr. Leslie Thompkins. I would have cast her as a series regular to get around her stance on guest-starring roles.

I would also cast Julie Madison, Bruce Wayne's actress fiance from the early years of Detective Comics. I would cast the character as recurring in a romantic triangle for West's Bruce Wayne. She would be a bit self-obsessed and oblivious to others around her, which would explain why she wouldn't discover Bruce's dual identity. It wouldn't matter. I think she would be the perfect first season romance. She would be in competition for Bruce's affections with the much more adventuresome Kathy Kane. Why these two women were never used on the television series is beyond me. It would be interesting to see Bruce deal with his feelings for Julie, Kathy and the alluring Catwoman. Here's who I would see as Julie Madison: Raquel Welch.

 

I wouldn't see Bruce and Julie lasting the complete run of the series. Remember, Bruce is supposed to be something of a ladies' man. So, he would be engaged to Julie at the start of the series. She would be perfect as a younger version of Aunt Harriet. Oblivious and clueless. She would be cast in a film at the end of the season, and due to busy schedules, the engagement would be called off.

The other figure in the romantic triangle would be the daring and adventurous Kathy Kane. She would be inspired, much like in the comics, to become Batwoman. not only would she be the perfect counterpart for Bruce Wayne; but, the ideal female counterpart to Batman, before the debut of Batgirl. It would be interesting to see some competitiveness come up between Batwoman and Batgirl. Kathy would be hard to cast, because like Yvonne Craig's Batgirl, the role would be somewhat physically demanding. But, I would cast the late Meredith MacRae in the role. At the time Batman debuted, she was in-between My Three Sons and Petticoat Junction, so she could have been available as Kathy. She could have stayed blonde, and then thrown on a brunette wig as Batwoman.

 

Most series have a limited licensing. The Batman television series would have a license to use characters related to Batman and appearing in Detective Comics and Batman. So, that would limit the use of Justice League and Teen Titans characters respectively. However, DC could have beat Joss Whedon by decades if they had begun with either The Adventures of Superman, or Batman. With the death of George Reeves in 1959, the potential for Superman to make a guest-starring or cameo appearance opposite Adam West would fall to Mission: Impossible's Willy Armitage, played by Peter Lupus.

 

Lupus made several commercials as Superman. He has the physique and the look of the Man of Steel. Special effects might be tricky to pull of his appearance; flying being the biggest challenge, but take away the flying, like showing Two-Face's horrific scars, and Superman and Batman could have had been The World's Finest before Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck.

To complete the Trinity, I would have cast dancer Cyd Charisse as Wonder Woman. Diana Prince would have added yet another female lead to the series, and another romantic link, and possibly another romantic triangle; this one between Lupus' Superman and the Amazing Amazon.

It would be cool to see a three-part episode with Superman, another three-part episode with Wonder Woman; and then, a full four-part episode, or two-hour television event with Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. 

Batman could have been one of the longest-running super-hero television series in history. Still, forty-seven years later, we're still enjoying it, and the newly minted merchandising and a DC Comic of original stories based on the landmark series.

As always, I'm open to suggestions. I'd like you to share your comments and thoughts below.