Holy Verbatim!
The free morning newspaper AM New York marked the passing of ’60s-era Batman star Adam West with a lengthy Bat-obit that included this unexpected heel turn: “While struggling to land post-Batman acting roles, West turned to making personal appearances wearing the Batman cape and cowl — some rather undignified, as when he appeared on a Memphis pro wrestling program opposite wrestler Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler.”
If West’s appearance with Lawler and WMC host Dave Brown was somehow beneath the actor’s Bat-standards it was hard to tell. He name-checked heroes like Superman (“I call him Supes”) and Spider-Man (“Spidey-baby”). He seemed to get into the spirit of professional sports entertainment, calling Lawler, “naughty,” then advising him to be more courteous and use the turn signal when he drives.
Today, Lawler owns a ’60s-era Batmobile like the one from West’s show and has been known to take it out for a spin. Rest in Bat-Peace, Mr. West. Memphis will miss you, old chum.
News to Us
WMC-TV has partnered with Kingdom Communications, a public relations firm, to create Memphis-100, a free website publishing bite-sized, 100-word articles and 100-second video clips twice weekly. The stated goal is to focus on positive stories bringing Memphis “more good news” instead of better news programming.
