Los Angeles will pay tribute to the late Adam West, the title role of the campy 1960s “Batman” TV show, on Thursday night by shining a “Bat Signal” into the night sky, Entertainment Weekly reported Wednesday.
City mayor Eric Garcetti and Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck will flip the switch on the searchlight from the Spring Street Steps at City Hall. DC Comics, the label that publishes Batman comics, is promoting the event at its website and is urging attendees to show up in costume.
Attendees are promised the appearance of “surprise Bat-guests,” EW said.
The City of Angels may seem at first glance an odd metropolis to honor the Dark Knight, protector of gritty, cynical Gotham City, a comic-book stand-in for New York.
But West’s light and campy take on the Caped Crusader remains a family-friendly cult favorite for many fans, an escape from reality rather than a brooding meditation on it; a ray of light piercing the darkness, much like the Bat Signal.
“There are several fine actors who have portrayed Batman in films,” Burt Ward, who played Batman’s trusty sidekick Robin, said, according to Variety. “In my eyes, there was only one real Batman that is and always will be Adam West. He was truly the Bright Night.”
The L.A. city-hall event will serve as a charity fundraiser in honor of the late Caped Crusader, who died at age 88 after a battle with leukemia. DC Comics suggests people donate either to the Adam West Memorial Fund for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or to Camp Rainbow Gold, an Idaho-based charity that runs camps for child and teenage cancer patients.
• Ken Shepherd can be reached at kshepherd@washingtontimes.com.
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