It's Andy Fish!

In late 1942, Columbia Pictures announced its serial offerings for the 1942–43 season, which would include The Secret Code, The Valley of Vanishing Men, The Fighting General, The Phantom, and The Batman. The Batman serial was promoted as being “by the creators of Superman,” and based on the exploits of the popular Batman magazine cartoon character. Casting was quickly drawn from Columbia’s roster of contract players. Lewis Wilson was cast in his first leading role, with Shirley Patterson as his girlfriend, Linda Page; Douglas Croft as his ward, Dick Grayson; and J. Carrol Naish as Batman’s archvillain, the Joker.

Filming began in early spring 1943, but not without controversy. National Comics (now DC Comics) objected to the portrayal of the Joker as the head of a spy ring. In response, the screenwriters simply altered the role being played by J. Carrol Naish, transforming the character into a Japanese prince named Dr. Tito Daka.

Naish nevertheless chewed up the scenery, and the production retained his secret headquarters in a distinctly Joker-like setting: a carnival sideshow. One can only imagine what the performance might have been had Naish been allowed to play the Joker himself.

Lewis Gilbert Wilson was born on January 28, 1920, in Framingham, Massachusetts, a city located approximately twenty miles west of Boston. He grew up in Littleton, Massachusetts, with his parents, Lucile and John Henry Wilson. His father served as minister of the First Unitarian Church from 1927 to 1945.

Wilson attended the prestigious Worcester Academy, an institution with long-standing generational ties to his family. He graduated from the Worcester, Massachusetts school in 1939, continuing a family legacy that spanned multiple generations.

Wilson’s costume has been called cheap with strong objections to the devil ears, but the cowl is shaped very much like the earliest Batman comics– and it’s important to remember the character had only been around for about four years when the serial began production.

At just twenty-three years old, Wilson remains the youngest actor to portray Batman. He brings an unexpected maturity and humor to the role, giving his Bruce Wayne a faint Don Diego–style languor while infusing his Batman with genuine menace.

Douglas Croft as Robin is the only actor to date to actually be a teenager when he played the Boy Wonder– records aren’t clear but he was between 14-16 years old during filming, and he actually behaves like a kid, often causing some frustration with Batman when he makes a mistake. Still the two leads had a nice chemistry and rather than the more associated adult and boy relationship they come across more like brothers.

The serial debuted on July 20, 1943, and ran for fifteen weeks through October. Backed by an extensive publicity campaign, it played successfully in movie houses throughout its run.

Despite their popularity, serials were not considered “legitimate” filmmaking at the time, The Batman did little to advance Wilson’s career. He continued to appear in small roles at Columbia until 1944, when he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in the European Theater, including participation in the Battle of the Bulge.

Upon returning to civilian life, film roles proved even harder to secure as established actors returned from wartime service. Wilson ultimately turned back to Broadway, where he found a measure of success and frequently performed alongside his wife, Dana, whom he had married in 1941.

In the 1950s, Wilson turned to television, including a regular role on Craig Kennedy, Criminologist. By this time, however, heavy drinking had taken its toll, and his once-boyish good looks had hardened noticeably.

After Lewis and Dana co-starred in Wild Women (1953)—a zero-budget jungle film that would have embarrassed even Ed Wood—the couple divorced. In 1954, Wilson left acting altogether and accepted a sales position with General Foods.

Lewis and Dana had one son, Michael, who would later go on to produce the James Bond film franchise after his mother married Bond producer Cubby Broccoli.

In 1966, a reporter tracked Wilson down in North Hollywood, where he had begun a new family, and interviewed him about the Batmania craze sweeping the country following the success of the Adam West television series. Asked whether he had considered accepting a guest appearance on the show, the forty-three-year-old Wilson replied that he would have welcomed the opportunity to play a villain, though the producers never approached him.

In retirement, Wilson said he never regretted playing Batman, recalling that he had enjoyed the role and the modest notoriety it brought him. He passed away on August 9, 2000, in San Francisco, at the age of eighty. Lewis Wilson remains a pivotal figure in film history as the first live-action Batman and the first DC Comics character to be adapted for the silver screen.

My obsession with the original Batman serial began in 1974, when I first encountered a publicity still from it mixed in with images from the 1966 film and television series. The contrast intrigued me, and I spent many years trying to track down the serial itself.

In the back pages of Famous Monsters of Filmland, silent 8mm abridged versions of the serial were offered for sale. I was never able to convince my mother to let me buy a projector, and, in truth, I’m not sure I wanted to take on the laborious work such a project would have required anyway.

Eventually I would find grey market copies in the great comic/video store FABULOUS FICTION on Park Ave in the Woo– and I worked extra shifts at a 14 year old to save up the then pricely sum of $90 per serial– and thus my obsession with movie serials would begin. I’ll post a bit more on Fabulous Fiction in another post.

Over the years I’ve commissioned artists to create a 1/6 scale figure of Lewis Wilson, including a very talented artist from Brazil who did a really nice job. I think I’ve owned three and invariably tired of what I considered flaws and sold them off (to nice profits). Well recently I found an artist right here in the states and he gladly tackled the assignment and he hit an absolute home run.

I’m extremely happy with this one– and I may order some other serial figures from him in the future. He even crafted a detailed raygun that Batman uses in some of the earlier chapters that is quite amazing.

Here’s to Lewis Wilson! IMO the Best live action Batman to date.