In 1966, with Batmania sweeping the world, everyone was trying to get a
piece of the action. Columbia Pictures came up with a novel idea. The
studio rereleased the 1943 Batman and Robin serials collectively under the title An Evening with Batman and Robin. Naturally,
this was more than twenty years before Adam West and Burt Ward slid
down the Batpoles for the first time. The gimmick turned a tidy profit,
though some of the more naive fans may have been stunned to see the
Dynamic Duo in black and white and attired in costumes that looked like
they came in last place in the local school Halloween contest. This rare
trade ad extols the regional grosses the film event was scoring across
America. Did you know that Lewis Wilson, who played Batman in these
serials, was the father of James Bond producer Michael G. Wilson?