That's what you get when you know you're not well and you push yourself anyway. Why? Well, usually it's a stupid reason. Like a paycheck. Or an item on sale that you can't live without. Or, in the most extreme cases, a little toy car.
Okay, so I was maybe looking for part-time employment, maybe, and I really did have that haircut appointment- which, trimmed way down in anticipation of warmer weather, looks mighty fine, if I do say so myself -but we all know the real reason I dragged myself out of my sickbed, shaved and shined, dressed and drove forty miles each way to see a former workmate who I only confab with every two, three months of late...
That's right! It's the Batmobile, baby! Na-na-na-na-na-na-nah! Batman! Not a cartoon Batmobile! Not a movie Batmobile! The REAL Batmobile! Score, baby! Thank you, Big Don!
Yes, what started life as the 'Car Of The Future'- envisioned, oddly enough, by its designer after a real-life encounter with a shark; the streamlined contours, fins and toothy grillework a mimicry of those belonging to the powerful fish -the 1955 Lincoln Futura enjoyed a whirlwind tour of the years' auto show circuit and a brief stint as the centerpiece of the 1959 celluloid masterpiece, It Started With A Kiss starring Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds. Relegated to a musty storage facility until self-styled 'King of the Kustomizers' George Barris bought her for a paltry sum in the early 60s, she seemed destined for the scrapheap or perhaps, under George's hand, some way-out, kandy-kolored, psychedelic supposition of 'Hey, Daddy-O' hipness... until fate intervened in the form of a TV show based on a comic book character with a pretty hip ride of his own.
With only a few weeks' notice until shooting began on Batman, ol' George was under the Hollywood heat lamp in a big way! So he rolls out the languishing Futura, strips some chrome, makes her an open top- much more happenin' than the claustrophobic Jetsons-style closed canopies -paints her black, adds a few Bat-notions and some pinstriping and >voila< she's done.
By all accounts the car was quite literally a rolling wreck: too heavy with its huge all-steel body so that it constantly blew out tires and could barely be stopped by its braking system, hard to handle without power steering and a suspension made for a car lighter by half, not to mention a miniscule gas tank good for getting from its trailer into the shot but never back again...
In spite of these behind-the-scenes flaws, the car onscreen was a dazzling thing to behold. Long and sleek, polished and deep, deep black, with it's jet cockpit styled bubble top... it looked for all the world like just the one-of-a-kind conveyance for those mysterious and colorfully garbed Caped Crusaders.
And the magical undercranked camera made it seem like it would cover the fourteen miles to Gotham City before Commissioner Gordon could return the red phone to its cradle.
But, I digress...
I was sick as anything all day then yesterday, hacking and going on like pneumonia, weak as a pup and alternating between chills and heat flashes and the best part of the night was a struggle to get comfortable between the same extremes of temperature and general malaise. What a drag!
At least I had that new little Batmobile on the wall to glimpse through bleary eyes and bouts of achey breaky sweats...
And just to prove that I learned my lesson I was back on the road today, all over the county stocking up on mailing supplies, wrapping articles for mail in the back seat of the car, gathering doll parts, consolidating artifacts and craft materials at my remote storage facility(Mom's garage)and back tending to e-business tonight another coupla hours. Yeah! Go, baby, go! 'Sick' is all in your mind...
>hack, hack<
So, now... I need at least one more Batmobile so I can break it outta the plastic bubble and play with it like a little kid. And then one to customize, y'know, tweak the details a little. And my son surely wants one too... Hey, a few small pleasures adds up to one big one, I always say.
Okay, I just made that up. But, seriously, anything and everything you might wanna know about the TV Batcar can be found here:
No comments:
Post a Comment