Adam West Stars As Batman in Long-Lost Traffic Safety Ad

CBR

Long-Lost Footage Surfaces of Adam West As Batman

By Brittany Matter

Published Apr 16, 2018

Newly surfaced footage from the 1960s depicts the late Adam West as Batman in a television ad reminding UK children about traffic safety.

Adam West, US actor, and Burt Ward, US actor, both in costume as the 'Dynamic Duo' in a publicity still issued for the television series, 'Batman', USA, circa 1966. The television series featuring DC Comics characters, starred West as 'Bruce Wayne' and his alter ego 'Batman', and Ward as 'Dick Grayson' and his alter ego 'Robin'. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

Long-lost footage of Adam West as Batman was recovered and screened, thanks to Kaleidoscope. The clip, from May 1967, shows the Caped Crusader taking a holiday from fighting crime to teach children the importance of road safety.

In the segment, which never previously aired outside of the United Kingdom, West's Batman coaches a handful of British children how to cross the street safely using the Kerb Drill from the U.K.'s Green Cross Code. He reminds viewers that there's "no rest from danger, because all around us is that deadly, daily danger: traffic!"

Kaleidoscope is a U.K.-based organization that locates missing or believed-lost television footage and coordinates ITV’s Raiders of the Lost Archives campaign. As a part of the release of the Batman footage, Kaleidoscope launched an effort to search for the U.K.'s Top 100 missing TV shows that are most sought after by industry professionals. Kaleidoscope is calling for anyone who may have lost footage:

"We spend a lot of time searching through old canisters or looking through people’s lofts to try and find these shows or clips which are thought to have been completely erased from history" said Chris Perry, Kaleidoscope's CEO. "These lost episodes really can end up in the most unusual of places and people might not even know they have them."

The Top 100 list includes Doctor Who, Fraggle Rock and The Avengers (the Emma Peel and John Steed version). If you have lost footage, contact Kaleidoscope at info@tvbrain.info.

West, famed for his role as Bruce Wayne on the 1966 Batman television series, passed away June 9, 2017, following a short battle with leukemia. He was 88 years old.