#071 Batman '49: So bad, it….. might not be bad?

In 1949, six years after the wartime Batman serial, Columbia Pictures tried again with New Adventures of Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, with a completely new cast and somewhat changed bat-tableau. Typical of that era's serials, the production values are cheap, the script is full of illogical behavior and red-herring "clues", and the acting is something well short of Olivier. But it's instructive in how 1940s entertainment was made for an audience of nine-year-olds with no access to a "rewind" button. But was the '49 serial a major source of inspiration for the '66 TV series? We examine the evidence, in as much context as we can muster, and then we read your mail! Delmar Sherrill's "Stardust" column on movie serials (in Statesville (NC) Daily Record, 5/31/49) Old Batman Serials Win Praise as Single Movie (AP report in High Point (NC) Express, 12/11/65) Will Batman revive Saturday serial? (by Bob Thomas in The Evening News (Sault Sainte Marie, MI), 3/3/66) HONK article mentioning William Fawcett's aborted appearance in "The Duo is Slumming" (Puzzler pt 2) He's Producing Batman Movie (by Bob Thomas in Daytona Beach Morning Journal, 3/16/66)