In the days of my youth I lived and died by the syndicated reruns of the 60's live action Batman series. I remember one particular morning when I pitched a holy hell-fire fit when I discovered that my brother, too sick to go to school, would get to watch the morning reruns of the show...without me. Mom decided that I was too hysterical to handle school but I had to spend the rest of the morning banished to my bedroom. There was no Batman for me that day, my friends. I was devastated.
As young as I was at the time, the whole campy, kitschy, self-parodying aspect of the show was way over my head but I do remember thinking that something was oddly intriguing about that Catwoman character (the Julie Newmar incarnation, not the Eartha Kitt one...holy hideousness!). I wasn't able to figure out then what is so eye-poppingly obvious now what exactly that quality was. I'll let you be the judge. Meow indeed.
That said, there is another more subtle aspect of Newmar's Catwoman that makes her portrayal extra appealing...she was a villain. Guys like bad girls. I suppose even 8 year old guys do at some level. They're exotic, dangerous and even a little scary. Catwoman had that in spades. Batgirl, on the other hand, did not interest me in the least. Batman and Robin took care of the crime-fightin', dammit! They didn't need help from some do-gooder teenage tomboy. Besides, she took screen time away from the chick in the skin tight cat suit.
Given the history I have with this fetching feline felon, when I noticed a review of the new Catwoman movie in today's paper, I felt I owed it to myself to at least read it since the chances of me actually seeing the film are wafer thin. Imagine my surprise upon discovering that Halle Berry's character...is a crimefighter. That just ain't right. They've gone and thrown the whole bad girl image down the tubes with this thing! I mean how can that be sexy?
Uhhhh...never mind.
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