Word: batman
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Nothing is deader than yesteryear's fad, or so at least moan merchants who have been stuck with unsalable stocks of Yo-yos, Davy Crockett hats and Batman costumes. Until six weeks ago, the same could have been said of Hula Hoops, which in a profitable six months in 1958 racked up worldwide sales of 70 million. But Wham-O Manufacturing Corp., which started the first craze, had a hunch that hoops were good for another twirl. The novelty that was needed was noise. So Wham-O put half-a-dozen ¼-in.-diameter ball bearings inside each hollow...
Curtis' Kicks. Phyllis Diller owns three Excaliburs, in yellow, silver and grey-presumably rotated to match her hair. Bobby Darin, Eddie Albert, Actor James Darren, Batman Adam West and Writer Rod Serling have one apiece. Steve McQueen got one for his wife. Dick Van Dyke and his wife wear raccoon coats while tooling around in their yellow model; when people yell hello, Dick and Marjorie wave little pennants that say "HI." Tony Curtis sold his two Excaliburs. He's got four other cars anyway, and besides, Tony gets his kicks now by restoring authentic antique cars. "I suppose...
...displays a kind of false prudery about violence to the point where, in the words of Psychiatrist Robert Coles, "almost anything related to forcefulness and the tensions between people is called violent." While this attitude (including Dr. Wertham's frequent blasts at anything from military toys to Batman) is plainly unrealistic, there is no denying that a gruesome violence on screens and in print is threatening to get out of hand. According to one theory, such vicarious experience of violence is healthy because it relieves the viewer's own aggressions. But recent tests suggest the opposite...
...wings and a fero cious cackle: "Bawk, bawk, bawk, baaawk-CHICKENMAN!" A background chorus proclaims: "He's everywhere! He's everywhere!" Well, not quite every where, but almost. In the past year, 149 U.S. radio stations have programmed Chickenman, a 2½-minute spoof of the Superman-Batman genre. Some cities have even played him nine times a day, seven days a week...
...with the U.S., could serve as a model for many lesser-endowed countries struggling toward maturity. "We are always apologizing for not having had any wars or revolutions," says Toronto's Father Michael Quealey. "This is too bad only if history is going to be a replacement for Batman. Creative fumbling is always preferable to fighting. We have made compromise work." That thought may or may not be sound historically; what is important about it is its welcome new sense of Canadian self-assurance...