“Holy-Hooray-For-Hollywood, Batman!”- My trip to the Hollywood Museum

Sep23

by Lin on September 23, 2018 at 12:33 pm

Posted In: Blog

This past spring I got to go to Hollywood for the weekend. My wife Nicki was in Beverly Hills on a business trip for a week, and I flew out later that week on a Thursday and stayed through Monday. While I was there I got to check out the “Batman ’66” exhibit “Holy Hollywood History!” at the Hollywood Museum. The exhibit was organised by Roger Neal (Burt Ward’s publicist) and special guest curator Wally Wingert. Wally is a Bat-fan extraordinaire and voice actor who can be heard on the latest Batman ’66 animated movies (“Huzzah! Huzzah!“) and several of the Batman video games.

This is the first ever Batman exhibit of its kind! It opened to the public on January 12, 2018 (the anniversary of the TV show’s 1966 debut). When I first heard that this exhibit was happening I never thought I would get to see it, but thankfully I have a batastic wife who indulges my bat-obsession. When she saw it was going to be happening while she was in town she suggested I fly out for it. Since her flight and hotel was a business expense, we just had to cover my flight and a few nights hotel for the weekend.

As Egghead would say, I was EGGS-static to get to EGGS-perience this EGGS-traordinary and EGGS-quisite EGGS-hibit..!

The exhibit was scheduled to close the weekend I was there in April, but was extended a couple of times and got revamped a bit recently. A new “The World’s Finest Five” exhibit is scheduled to open at the Hollywood Museum sometime later this fall!

I got to stay in Beverly Hills for the night on Thursday, did some exploring and sightseeing that afternoon and then the following morning with Nicki. After a walk down to Rodeo Drive we headed back to our hotel and took a Lyft into Hollywood.

I was a bit leery to get into a car with a stranger, and traffic in L.A. is definitely an adventure all to itself! We chatted with our driver while doing more sightseeing along the way, and I felt a bit more at ease the more we drove. We made it safely to our hotel. You could see the HOLLYWOOD sign from the front of it as we drove up, and we saw there was a big outdoor mall within walking distance. When we first walked into the hotel there was a Morgan Freeman replica in the lobby (from Madame Tussauds) which took us by surprise and kind of freaked me out.

My first thought was, “Holy crap- Morgan Freeman is staying here!“, and then my second thought was, “Why is Morgan Freeman staying here?” It was a very nice hotel, but I think he can do so much better! The “Faux Freeman” became our friend, and each time we would pass by him in the lobby we would say hi/bye to him. Shame he couldn’t go to the Magic Castle with us on Sunday night- but I’ll tell you about that night in a future blog post.

Our hotel was located just up the street from Hollywood Boulevard, so it was a quick two block or so walk down for us on Friday afternoon to do a bit of sightseeing. We walked by Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (now TCL Chinese Theatre) on one side of the street, and saw the El Capitan Theatre on the other side. It was hard to see some of the stars on the sidewalks because of all of the vendors set up along it. We did see a few and some hand/foot prints in the cement, as well as a few of the costumed characters and celebrity look-a-likes posing for photos with tourists. We crossed Hollywood and made our way over to the museum. They had a lot to see in the lobby including a Christopher Reeve Superman costume on display and we talked a bit with the staff, but I was a man on a mission and was there to see Batman!

The Batman ’66 exhibit was at the top of the museum on the fourth floor of the historic Max Factor building. I didn’t mind the walk up, and got even more EGGS-cited the closer we got.

One of the first displays I noticed when we entered the exhibit was across the room and was filled with bat-toys, costumes, and other collectibles… it was guano heaven!

As you might EGGS-pect, I was standing there with my jaw almost on the floor. One of the first things my wife said to me was, “So how much of this guano do you have..?” as she EGGS-amined the display.

Okay, so truth be told I have “a few“ Batman collectibles in my Batcave studio at home.

It’s not huge space- only a 10’x10′ room, but I have managed to fit a lot in it. (Don’t open the closet- it’s pushing maximum capacity!)

This small Batman figure above started my Batman collection- it’s about as old as the TV show and myself. One of my earliest childhood memories is picking it out to be a cake topper for my 2nd or 3rd birthday. I had a few Batman items after that (Megos, comics, records, buttons, Super Powers, etc.), but really didn’t start building my collection up until just before the ‘89 Tim Burton movie hit and Batmania swept the country for a second time. Once the animated series and Batman movie sequels hit the collection had taken over my Spiderman and Star Wars collecting- as well as taking up much of my house. In the past few years there has been a ton of Batman ’66 merch released (many of my new items on the right) and my collection has exploded again..!

My wife’s question about what I had was actually really a hard one to answer, because there was just soooooo much guano on display it was practically bat-sensory-overload! I replied, “I have this, and that, and that, and that…” and what I didn’t have was definitely on my wish list! I post a lot of pics to my Facebook account just to try and keep up with what I do own. It gets tricky remembering sometimes.

Something I knew I did have was the Ideal Bat-Helmet above (those are some of my other collectibles on the right). I always wanted one as a kid and finally found one in good shape and for a good price a few years ago. Same for the alarm clock on the right. The bat-symbol is part of a Batman/Superman cake decorating kit that was for another couple birthday cakes. I had one of each from it growing up. It came with one pan, two faces, and two emblems. Still have it all, and the box!

I also have one of these Batmobile rides that was in their display above (mine is pictured below). There were other items, but what was fascinating to me was getting to see these collectibles in such good shape, and with a lot of the original packaging.

Most of mine (some here on display at the Hernando Library) has definitely seen a lot of playtime and sans box. I found my Batmobile (above) at a small Hot Wheels collector toy show out in Bartlett, TN a couple years ago. Nicki and I have done lots of displays at our local library, including a Batman TV 50th Anniversary display.

In front of the toys/collectibles display and between the door were a few display cases in the center of the room. Here I found a few more items I had in my collection, like the record, View-Master, button, mug, and a few others.

I have a copy of this mask as well- loose, of course.

There were many rare items like these bat-heads, screen used Penguin sticker, and a signed script from the show.

To the left of the collectibles display were mannequins with costumes and props from many of the villains (and henchmen/women) from the show and Batman movie.

Throughout the exhibit’s displays they also had video clips from the show and a segment with Burt Ward/Robin.

Next to the villains display was a Batcave display, complete with a full-sized Batmobile, Batcycle, restored Batcomputer, Batgirl, and a duo of the Dynamic Duo.

One pair of mannequins were wearing original costumes…

…and the other pair were wearing very nice replica costumes, along with a replica Bat-shield.

I myself was wearing a limited edition Geeky Jersey! I love this show, and like it I was born in ’66- the Year of the Bat! The original costumes were kinda faded and worn, but the colors on the replica costumes were very much in full color!

It reminded me of watching the series’ washed out colors in syndication as a kid, and then getting to see them on the newly remastered DVDs/Blu-Rays– “Holy-In-Living-Color, Batman!” (Another gift from my Bat-enabling wife- thanks, Babe!)

Across from the Batcave display was Bruce’s study complete with Bruce and Dick mannequins, Shakespeare bust, Batphone, labeled Batpoles! Hanging in front of this (not shown) and going down the center of the exhibit was several photos and more info on the show. There were amazing bat-photos everywhere. The Batman EGGS-perts who put this on did an EGGS-ceptional job with all the details.

Also centered in the room there was an octagonal display case filled with original and replica props- one was actually a prop aircraft prop!

It was an autographed helicopter tail rotor from Eugene Nock’s original 1966 Batcopter. Several of the show’s stars had signed it. Lots of other great costume pieces and prop items like the Bat-phone, Batarangs, Batzooka, and Bat-repellents.

I’ve got a replica Robin Batarang in my collection that I got Burt Ward to sign for me at AdventureCon in Knoxville, TN several years ago. He was raising money for his Gentle Giants Dog Rescue. Over the years I’ve met Burt, Julie Newmar, and Yvonne Craig once each, Adam West twice, and got to see Frank Gorshin perform once at the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis.

After checking out other exhibits and walking up and down several flights of stairs we decide to grab some lunch at Mel’s Drive-In diner located next to the museum in the Max Factor building. The food was great, but man did that root beer really hit the spot!

We had a great view of the Hollywood High School from our booth and could see the recently added John Ritter part of the mural. We also noticed this strange thing mounted to one of the walls…

After lunch we explored the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard and searched for some of our favorite stars’ stars. I found TV Batman Adam West and Batman co-creator Bob Kane’s next to each other, and just around the corner from the Hollywood Museum.

I found many other Batman related actors/actresses stars including BTAS Joker- Mark Hamill‘s. Also found this cool Batman standing on guard at one of the souvenir stores along the Walk of Fame.

Nicki was excited to find Lynda Carter‘s star, which had just been placed that week.

Nicki was working during the unveiling ceremony, but was happy to have her pic taken with it. Wonder Woman was her hero while growing up, and well- still is.

There were lots of other exhibits to see at the Hollywood Museum, including a new horror movie section with Elvira and their Dungeon Of Doom. I’ll post more about them and us being and meeting some “Beverly Hillbillies” later…as well as my trip to Gotham City Police Headquarters!

Y’all come back now, ya’ hear..?!

Lin