On the sunny morning of April 5th on Hollywood Boulevard, a ceremony was held in front of the Guinness World of Records Museum to commemorate TV’s Batman getting his star. And this one does not have a POW!! inside of it.
At the age of 83, Adam West has finally gotten his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, apparently due to a campaign waged by my favorite LA area radio station, 106.7 KROQ’s morning show crew. Ralph Garman, a member of the Kevin and Bean morning show, headed up the fundraising via Kickstarter. He is also producing a documentary about the whole ordeal of trying to get Adam his star for the past four years. See the teaser here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrY_ONOwv44&feature=youtu.be
Also in attendance were George Barris, the designer and builder of custom Hollywood hot rods with his Batmobile; some cosplay actors dressed as 1960s television versions of Batman, Robin, Batgirl, and two Catwomen; and a large crowd of fans that spilled out onto Hollywood Boulevard, blocking traffic.
Adam’s current boss, Seth McFarlane, for whom Adam does the voice of the mayor in the animated TV series Family Guy, kept the crowd laughing with some anecdotes of how Adam West is never totally out of character, before getting asked if at Family Guy they have a lot of drugs lying around the office. “Drugs? No…we have Adam West. Ten minutes with Adam West is like licking a temporary tattoo you got from some guy at Coachella.”
Adam was introduced as being a big part of the cultural phenomenon of the 1960s, boiling down to the three Bs, the Beatles, Bond, and Batman.
While making his acceptance speech, Mr. West addressed the crowd as “citizens of Gotham” with that familiar 1960s Batman delivery. Adam also mentioned the recent Batmobile drag race in which our editor in chief was a passenger. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m3jcBMI9WU&feature=youtu.be
He also mentioned the significance of the ceremony being in front of the Guinness Museum, being that he had portrayed Batman over 170 times. Surely a record.
Here is a great youtube link of the entire ceremony for those who have 22 minutes to kill. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiHVDV9Aaig
Lee Parmerter
lee@comicattack.net
