That’s Leonard Nimoy hitting the skins next to Adam West.
I came across this photo from the late 1960s, photographer and location unknown
to me, via one blog link that led to another. You know how it goes. I hit a wall once a Tumblr post led to a Facebook page that I can’t access ’cause I’m not on Facebook. [Update: I’m on Facebook now, at least occasionally, but that link is dead.]
Seeing either West or Nimoy in this situation would be interesting enough, but seeing them together is just... geektastic. The original broadcast runs of Batman (Jan. 1966 to Mar. 1968) and Star Trek (Sept. 1966 to June 1969) overlapped considerably, of course. Yet while some supporting actors did double duty opposite the Dynamic Duo and the Enterprise crew — most famously, Yvonne Craig captivating Capt. Kirk as the green-skinned Orion slave girl Marta after livening up Batman as bombshell Barbara Gordon, a.k.a. Batgirl, and Frank Gorshin taking on Trek as the half-white/half-black Bele after vaulting The Riddler to the upper echelons of Batman & Robin’s rogues gallery — we never got the series crossover that seems natural in so many ways. (Fun fact, though: Adam West and William Shatner were paired up for a TV pilot, Alexander the Great, in 1964. Had that gone to series it’s impossible to say who’d have filled the boots of Bruce Wayne and James T. Kirk.)
Reruns of Batman and Star Trek were staples of my childhood. I’m still amazed that
my mom got to watch them as they first aired while in college and grad school. I bet she’ll get a kick out of this picture, too.
That is an awesome picture. I wonder how posed it is, versus them actually both hitting the skins a little.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't know if I forgot about that Alexander the Great pilot or if I really never knew about it, but that's really a cool little tidbit.
Also also, Warner Bros. and ABC and Fox really need to get their collective ass in gear on releasing Batman to DVD. I know that Fox conceded to DC/Warner on the character rights, letting Warner settle with ABC over merchandising, but I haven't heard about that leading to any movement yet on the episodes themselves.