--- title: Batman: Photos From the Set of the Classic Adam West TV Show description: Photos of Adam West and Burt Ward on the set of the old 'Batman' TV show, in fond celebration of a lighter side of Gotham's caped crusader. canonical: https://time.com/3734071/life-with-batman-rare-photos-from-the-set-of-the-classic-tv-show/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-07-17T17:56:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:05:12.372Z og:title: Batman: Photos From the Set of the Classic Adam West TV Show og:description: Photos of Adam West and Burt Ward on the set of the old 'Batman' TV show, in fond celebration of a lighter side of Gotham's caped crusader. og:url: https://time.com/3734071/life-with-batman-rare-photos-from-the-set-of-the-classic-tv-show/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfce0840e752fb8da/6987824d2dce010e759dde5a/150305-batman-02.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Batman television show 1966 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Batman: Photos From the Set of the Classic Adam West TV Show twitter:description: Photos of Adam West and Burt Ward on the set of the old 'Batman' TV show, in fond celebration of a lighter side of Gotham's caped crusader. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfce0840e752fb8da/6987824d2dce010e759dde5a/150305-batman-02.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # LIFE With Batman: Rare Photos From the Set of the Classic TV Show by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Jul 17, 2012 5:56 PM UTC  Adam West (Batman) and Burt Ward (Robin) on the set of Batman, 1966. Adam West (Batman) and Burt Ward (Robin) on the set of Batman, 1966.Yale Joel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Jul 17, 2012 5:56 PM UTC Despite the mega-success of the bleak and brutal _Dark Knight_ Batman movies, it’s worth recalling that the Batman franchise wasn’t always so unrelievedly brooding and intense. Sure, Frank Miller’s graphic novels in the late 1980s—re-inventing Gotham’s troubled crime fighter as a humorless, vengeful sociopath—certainly sparked renewed fanboy interest in Bob Kane’s and Bill Finger’s amazing creation, and the early comic books themselves had their macabre moments. The Law & Order SVU star teared up when she discussed the immense backlog of untested rape kits But for many years in the middle part of the 20th century, the [Batman](http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/26/living/batman-anniversary-irpt/index.html) of the popular collective imagination was not the hyper-violent vigilante of Miller’s riveting novels, or of Christoper Nolan’s often-overwrought movies. Instead, he was a wry, approachable, comically self-aware Good Guy. In fact, in the minds of millions of men, women and kids who spent any time watching TV between, say, 1966 and 1989—when Tim Burton’s caped-crusader movies came on the scene—Batman was [Adam West](http://www.adamwest.com/), and Adam West was Batman. Along with Burt Ward as Robin and a slew of showbiz notables (Frank Gorshin, [Eartha Kitt](http://www.earthakitt.com/), Burgess Meredith, et al.), West starred in more than 100 episodes of _Batman_ on ABC, and very few TV shows in the history of the medium can touch the series for sheer, unapologetic goofiness. Here, LIFE.com offers a series of photos from the set of the classic old show, in fond celebration of a lighter side of Gotham’s masked avenger. We’ll end here by reprinting LIFE’s priceless observations about Batman when he and his cohorts were entertaining TV audiences for the very first time: --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- Does it ever.  On the set of Batman, 1966. Yale Joel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Adam West (Batman) and Burt Ward (Robin) on the set of Batman, 1966. Yale Joel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Adam West on the set of Batman, 1966. Yale Joel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Adam West on the set of Batman, 1966. Yale Joel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Adam West on the set of Batman, 1966. Yale Joel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  On the Batman set, 1966. Yale Joel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Burt Ward (Dick Grayson/Robin) and unidentified woman on the set of Batman, 1966. Yale Joel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Burt Ward (Dick Grayson/Robin) on the set of Batman, 1966. Yale Joel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Adam West in costume on the set of Batman, 1966. Yale Joel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  On the Batman set, 1966. Yale Joel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Adam West on the set of Batman, 1966. Yale Joel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Two bat people, Colin Wightman, 6, and Kitty Blumberg, 4, of New York, leap into action. Yale Joel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  LIFE magazine, March 11, 1966. LIFE Magazine  LIFE magazine, March 11, 1966. LIFE Magazine  LIFE magazine, March 11, 1966. LIFE Magazine  LIFE magazine, March 11, 1966. 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