Batman and Robin costume

Rubies Costume Co. Batman The Dark Knight Child Costume - Small

Batman and Robin call up numerous associations—different ones for different people of different ages, genders, and mindsets. Batman and Robin, that is, didn’t always inspire such sardonic satire as that of Saturday Night Live’s “Notoriously Gay Duo” animation or such innocent hero worship as the Batman or Robin costume and mask that little kid still wear for Halloween…forty years after the original dynamic duo did their stunts on TV every night right before dinner.


For some, the original Batman series is unparalleled for its colorful and clever and cutting-edge elements, it's first-time ever used comic book “sounds” (Bam! Zonk! Kapow!), its serialized nature (playing on the old radio shows, etc.), its stellar star lineup. My brother was riveted to the TV in those first years, watching The great Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt as Catwomen, Egghead, Mr. Freeze, and the Penguin try to out-wit the witty, out-do the duo. I watched less faithfully, but always, always stayed in the room for the bookworm and the Riddler, my absolute favorites. (I was intrigued by the contraptions the Bookworm, Roddy McDowall, had for reading—despite how he also made time for crime; I was fascinated by Frank Gorshin’s hideous hyena giggling, his derisive and mocking laughter, his adept activities, his green bodysuit with the question marks, and, of course, his clever yet felonious riddles.)

For others, the original Batman and Robin are irrelevant, for the slew of Batman & Robin movies made in the last twenty years are all they know. This isn’t disturbing to us original Batman fans, as the movies have sort of lived up to the concepts and costuming (sometimes going beyond our expectations, with the futuristic Batman suits, for instance, for Michael Keaton, or the Cat woman costume Michelle Pfeiffer fit like a feline should…), though at the same time, they never attempt to REPLACE the originals, thereby bringing their own creative interpretations that seem to have done justice. (Jim Carrey’s Riddler, for example, was a stunning derivation for Riddler fanatics.)

For still others, the 19997 Batman & Robin will be memorable not only for Uma Thurman’s slinky and sexy Poison Ivy rendition but for the appearance of the IceMan as he was played by (California Governor) Arnold Schwarzenegger, the innocence or naiveté of a Robin played by Chris O’Donnell, or the darkly deep of a Batman played by the ever-popular with women George Clooney.

I can’t speak to the spinoffs, such as Cat woman starring Halle Berry, but I can speak to the original, which was finely balanced, cleverly cast, and, of course, dynamically written…for kids, teens, and adults alike. A phenomenon that has not stopped with the TV series but has extended over four decades with movies, more comic books, and much, much wonderful sought-after memorabilia.