Wednesday, March 11, 2009

HOLY TIMEWARP, BATMAN!

Barbara Gordon and her alter-ego Batgirl, together in one photograph. KA-POW! Holy Ta-ta's, Batman!
Batgirl waiting to haul (very cute) Bat-ass.
Nice color shot of Batgirl and the Batgirl Cycle.

I was reading the news today, and I ran across one of those filler pieces in the entertainment section. It was a short blip on a singer named Jimmy Boyd, who had died last Saturday at 70 years of age. Boyd's biggest hit was in 1952, when he was 13 years old. He's the kid who sang the original version of I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. That song sold 10 million records in 3 months. That's a lot of records, but back then, an artist like that was lucky if they got a 1/2 cent per record, and when you add in the agents' fee, travel, publishing fees, etc, that wasn't a lot of dough

One other thing of note they mentioned was that Boyd was married to Yvonne Craig from '60-'62. Now, aside from co-starring in two Elvis movies, assorted B movies, and a stint in TV's Star Trek, Yvonne Craig is best known as playing Batgirl in the final season of the TV series Batman, in '68. She appeared in 26 episodes, as Batman was on twice a week in prime time.

The premise in the last season was that Batgirl in reality was Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Barbara. Barbara Gordon was a mild, be speckled librarian by day, and Batgirl crime fighter by night (although most of the shooting took place during the daytime). The coolest part was her transportation - The Batgirl Cycle (not to be confused with the Batcycle, that was a sidecar rig Batman drove. Robin's "sidecar seat" was actually a little go kart that could blast off of the Batcycle on it's own).

I was 16 in '68, and I thought Yvonne Craig was a hottie, and I still do. I mean, come on - a girl superhero that wears a tight, purple sparkle spandex Batsuit - with a mask, stilletto-heeled fuck me boots, rides a motorcycle, is 5'4" tall, and had measurements of 37-23-35? Are you kidding me? And, to top it all off, Yvonne Craig claims to this day that she did all her own riding in the show, they never used a double, or cut scenes.

Then, all of a sudden, it dawns on me while I'm reading Jimmy Boyd's short bio. If he just died at the age of 70, how old is Yvonne Craig now? So, I looked it up. She's doing fine, still looks not-so bad, and she'll be 72 this year on May 16! Holy Geritol, Batman! That can't be right! But, it is. Damn.

I don't think adolescent fantasies should ever be allowed to get old. I'm writing my congressman. He's probably about my age, he'll understand.......

2 comments:

CycleDelicCycles said...

Hell yeah. And dont even get started on Ginger, Mary Anne and (sigh) Ellie Mae.

mindpill said...

nice.......