One item I desperately wanted but was out of my reach was a Batman lunch box. At $4.98, it would take weeks to save that and I didn't possess the patience. Asking Dad was out of the question; no way would he fork out $4.98 for something a half-cent paper bag would do just as well, so I was forced to sit at the lunch table and lust over the ones the other lucky boys had. Around 1990 I was at an old toy show seeking out another childhood toy I wanted but never received (James Bond 007 attache case w/ all kinds of spy gadgets,) when I spotted a Batman lunch box on a shelf. The price had gone up considerably, $40, but I snatched it up. A few aisles down I found a Green Hornet box and bought that too. The beast had been unleashed and today I have over 200 metal lunch boxes lining the garage walls.
When the Batman movie was released in '67, our local second-run cinema sold out every show the first Saturday it played. The paper said it was the first such occurrence since 'Gone With the Wind' played there in 1940. I lived right behind the theater and although I had seen it twice, every day during its 2 week engagement, I went to the back ally and pressed my ear to the emergency exit doors, closing my eyes and reliving every scene.
RIP Mr. West and thanks you for bringing so much fun and excitement to my childhood.
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