Being a little kid during the 1966 BATMAN TV Show was a great time to be alive! No matter how you felt about the Television Series the marketing was insane and they made a TON of cool Batman Toys and Collectibles! This week's "Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday" is sort of inspired by that. These Bat-Backgrounds were made using photos of 2 very cool pieces of 60's merchandise, Vinyl Placemats, featuring graphics of Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder! Actually, the one of "Robin" better represents the real product as the item was a die-cut image of the figure & the cape made-up most of the surface area... but you get the idea!
OK, I thought I'd do a quick post to share this ultra-rare piece of Bat-History! These photos are of 2 items that recently sold on evil eBay. One is a Store Display Poster for an offer to buy an OVALTINE Mail-Away Premium "JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA" T-Shirt. Those bright day-glo colors must have been seen by every little kid for a 3 mile radius, ha ha! Then, the next photo shows the actual JLA T-Shirt you could have got back in the 1960's ( I'm guessing around 1966 or 1967 ). Oh man, the retro-style graphics are totally beautiful and it even features Batman, Superman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, and The Flash! I wish I had these 2 pieces, especially that poster. But, I guess I'll just have to enjoy these pictures because this stuff is so ultra-rare it will probably never be seen by me in my lifetime. It's what we serious Vintage Toy Collectors call a "Museum Piece".
Here is the cover and all the inside pages to a Vintage "Trade Publication" Magazine called TOYS AND NOVELTIES that was published around April 15th, 1966. This was a special item sent to Toy Retailers, like Department Stores ( think Sears & Montgomery Wards ) and Toy Stores ( mostly "Mom & Pop" type places ). Basically, it featured new products coming out that season plus information for the Wholesalers. Today this issue is special to "Vintage Batman Toy Collectors" because it was the "Bat-Issue"!
Shown here are all the advertisements for cool Batman items coming out. Today it's a treasure trove of super-rare collectibles. Seriously, I've been an extremely hardcore Toy Collector hunting down Bat-Merchandise for over 20+ years & I have NEVER seen some of these items!! We get to see all of these pages because of the kindness of a fellow Bat-Fan named David. So, a special THANK YOU goes out to him for scanning these pages, you ROCK, Sir!
It been a while since we last featured some cool Vintage BATMAN Toys on the BAT-BLOG.COM. So, Here We GO! The general theme is "Toy Collector Reference Photos" of cool Bat-items from the 1960's. This has always been a favorite era of toy collecting for me. With the popularity of the 1966 TV Show they really went crazy with the merchandising and today there's a TON of great items to try and hunt down!
The 1st photo is an extremely RARE Batman Bobblehead Nodder that was made in Japan. Now, some people might say it's kinda ugly but that's a huge part of it's charm, the "cheesy factor", ha!
Next up is a fun toy that I used to totally love, a 1966 BATMAN Magic Slate. Today I remember these from my childhood and they were super exciting, for about 10 minutes. But I've always loved the graphics on these things. I'm showing 2 different ones here so you can see what I mean. Plus, they're also great for display because they hang on the wall so easily.
Now we come to the 4th picture and it's so beautiful!! Here's a '66 BATMAN Flashlight on it's original Blister Card. Just the toy itself is pretty cool but those awesome graphics on the packaging would have caught my eye as a little kid in 2 seconds, very cool!
Speaking of cool graphics, the last item shown here is this Arts and Crafts Toy made by Hasbro called "RUB-ONS". This one was themed with the Dynamic Duo and had rub-transfer decals you could add to a page to make fun artwork.
As a pretty serious Batman Toy Collector I also love finding strange thing to add to my collection. Shown here are some reference photos I gathered as an example. The 1st item is a Children's BATMAN Restaurant Menu from the 1960's. This item is ultra-rare & I have no idea where it was used but the graphics are extremely cool!
Next-up is an unofficial "bootleg" item. it's an extremely weird "Robin, The Boy Wonder" figure. It sort of reminds me of a Kitschy Troll Doll because, it's so cheesy-trashy, that it's fun, ha! Speaking of cool the 3rd pic shows us a Vintage Batman Toy sold in the UK. It's called the BATMAN BATARANG Bagatelle. It was made by MARX ( an American Toy Company ) but was only sold in England, extremely RARE! I love the original box almost as much as the toy!
Now, for the last item, you must be wondering, "What is that crazy thing?". Well, this is a 1966 Batman BAT-CHUTE! What you did is put this thing on the back of your Bicycle & when you switch a lever a large drag-shoot ( or parachute ) would burst out! Yes, the original 1966 Batmobile Car had this device on the TV Show & kids loved it!
Fans of Julie Newmar should be pretty excited about this! MPI Home Video has just announced that around March 2012 they will be releasing a brand-new 2-Disc DVD Set featuring "THE LIVING DOLL" TV Series! It will contain 11 complete episodes plus Special Features. This was the show she was on before becoming CATWOMAN on the 1966 BATMAN series. Here's their Press Release:
Iconic actress Julie Newmar may be best-known as the original feline villain Catwoman in the 1960s Batman television series. However, her cult-classic, small-screen career was cemented with the CBS-TV sitcom MY LIVING DOLL.
Newmar portrays Rhoda the robot, a top-secret project of the U.S. government's space program, who is placed under the supervision of agency psychiatrist Dr. Bob McDonald, played by Robert Cummings (The Bob Cummings Show/Love That Bob).
Bob moves the beautiful Rhoda into his apartment and begins the task of training her how to function in the human world while keeping her secret from being discovered, a situation complicated by his interfering sister (Doris Dowling) and his love-sick neighbor Peter (Jack Mullaney).
This collection offers 11 complete episodes of MY LIVING DOLL which have not aired on television in decades and make their official DVD debut. A wealth of special features is also included.
For more information please visit the TV SHOWS ON DVD website! Also, check out this YouTube video ( obviously not the quality of the DVD but here for reference ) featuring the title sequence, it's groovy baby!
For new readers, the BAT-BLOG.COM is mainly about the joys of being a Collector of the Toys and other fun Bat-Memorabilia, both new and vintage. Here are some examples of older items that are sort of "Candy or Chewing Gum" related. The 1st photo is probably the rarest of all the ones shown here, it's a Package for 1966 BATMAN CANDY STICKS from England. I totally love the graphics on this thing!
Next up is another UK Candy item except they're a little more new. These were also Candy Sticks but featured art from BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES. They were made by the Thorneycroft Candy Company, which British people would probably be familiar with.
Then we have a photo of some individually-wrapped JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA Tattoo Bubble Gum! These were made in the USA by the Fleer Candy Co. between 1969 and 1970. When you open the tiny wax wrapper there's a separate piece of paper with one of those water-based tattoos on it. I actually have one of these, with BATMAN... unopened!
OK, last but not least, is a photo a Friend sent me awhile back because he knew it would torture me, ha! Shown here is a completely full PEZ CANDY DISPENSER Store Display Box!! This is from the mid 1970's and oh my god, they were only 59 cents, ha! We got the Penguin, Joker, Batgirl, batman, and Wonder Woman. Oh yeah, these were also the "rubber head" versions which are way harder to find.
Listen, the BAT-BLOG is about sharing the love of collecting old Bat-Toys and even the new stuff. So, if you have some pics of super-rare items or if you come across some totally brand-new merchandise then please let us know, thanks!
Here's a post of random BATMAN AND ROBIN Humor Photos and Comic Strips that are pretty funny. The 1st one is the Republican Presidential Candidate Michele Bachmann. ( No, we are NOT endorsing her, it's just a funny Batman-related parody photo ). The next pic with the 2 girls in costume is a photo I found awhile back on the internet and it didn't explain what it is. It might have been a photo used in an advertisement or from a High School Yearbook, who knows? But it's kinda funny. Actually, I think it's more cute than funny, ha! The last 2 graphics are obviously "Comic Strips". The 1st one was from a foreign website & I have NO idea what they're saying but if you study the image you can kind of figure it out, ha! The last one is from the 1960's & appeared in a Vintage Paperback Book from around the time the '66 BATMAN TV Show was on. I forget the name of the book, I think it was "BAT-LAFFS", or something like that. I love the retro-style artwork and the Batmobile looks cool too, ha!
Have you recently seen a funny Batman Photo or Parody? If so, then please share it to us. Our email button is always at the top right-hand side of this page, thanks!
