Quick Snaps (and Video): Adam West and 'Batman' in Austin

I was sorry to miss the City of Austin's "Night of the Bat" festivities a couple of weekends ago. Among the events celebrating bats and their ties to local history and culture, the Paramount screened the 1966 camp classic Batman. Back in 1966, the film had a gala world premiere at the Paramount. Texas Archive of the Moving Image showed footage of local interviews with the cast of Batman from that premiere, which you can watch online.

To add to the "Night of the Bat" fun, Adam West showed up and, I am told, fascinated the audience with a variety of tales from his Batman days. You can see West in the above photo (do I need to tell you he's second from the right?) with Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell and a couple of masked crusaders. We've got more photos after the jump, including the Batmobile.

I had to wonder why Batman had its world premiere in Austin, and the Texas Archive of the Moving Image site reveals why: "According to sources, the 'BatBoat' featured in the film was created by an Austin-based company, Glastron, whose payment was in having the film premiere in their hometown." The BatBoat wasn't at this month's event, but the Batmobile did make an appearance. Here it is driving down Congress near the Paramount for the June 6 event.

And here's Adam West in the Batmobile, arriving at the South Congress Bridge (under which the bats live) for the rest of the evening's festivities.

The City of Austin was kind enough to let us publish the above photos from their Flickr set of the event (yes, the city does have its own Flickr account). Special thanks to Chris Florance from the city's Communications and Public Information Office for helping us out with permissions.

Here are some more photos and videos from the Batman screening and Night of the Bat event:

• Adam West arriving at the South Congress Bridge for bat-related festivities ... in the Batmobile, of course. (via YouTube user hakujin1)
• During the Batman Q&A, West talks about "the hottest Catwoman." (via YouTube user leavethegun)
• KXAN aired a story on the Night of the Bat festivities, including a lot of info on the bats under the bridge. Apparentliy the bats didn't come out that night, unfortunately.
• The Paramount has a Flickr set from the event, including many people who wanted their picture taken with West. In addition, Paramount projectionist John Stewart has some especially cool photos.
• Finally, West talks to the Paramount audience about his 1966 visit to Austin for the Batman world premiere. I've embedded this video from YouTube user alamojulie below.

[Photo credit: City of Austin Communications and Public Information Office. Found on Flickr, used with permission.]