It is 1989 and I remember sitting in my seat waiting for the movie, Batman, to start.
I was excited to see Batman on the big screen but waiting was made easier because I had something in my hand to look at. The brochure that Brian A. posted earlier.
"Look at all the Batman stuff!" Was going through my mind.
I felt like I was twelve again and we had just gotten the new Sears and J.C Penny catalogs on the same day.
We were expecting our first child and money was being pinched until it screamed but I had a brochure to look at and that was satisfying enough. I enjoyed the pictures in the catalogs too even if I didn't get many of the toys featured there either.
I did get a ball cap though. Not through the brochure but at the mall.
I was wearing a Adam West style Batman shirt to the movie because the black shirts didn't look right to a boy raised on the 1966 series. The crowd was buzzing waiting for the show to start.
I did like the jacket that Bob Kane was wearing brochure but who could spend $50.00 on a jacket?
The crowd let out a cheer as the camera pulled back to show the Batman emblem on the screen.
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Time passed.
Some 15 years later I spotted an item that I remembered being in that brochure that they had passed out back in 1989.
It was at a house in our addition. They were having a yard sale and hanging up high enough for me to spot from the road was the jacket that Bob Kane had worn in the brochure.
I pulled over and looked around at other stuff that they had for sale. I didn't want to give away that I had stopped for the jacket. I would loose all bargaining power if I went right to it and drooled all over it.
They had quite a few superhero things and I picked up a set of Captain America mugs for fifty cents.
I asked the lady standing on the porch if she was the collector.
She said no all of it was her husbands. Poor guy.
I finally moved over to the jacket and saw that it had a reasonable price on it!
It didn't really look worn either. It was in great shape.
The Bat-emblem on the back was awesome!
I tried to talk her down a little but I was pleased with the price on the jacket and felt sorry for the guy whose stuff was being sold while he was at work.
Man was I proud of myself. I had THE BATMAN jacket from 1989!
I couldn't wait to get home and model it for my wife.
My boys were with me and thought that their Dad had the find of the century. They were probably just gauging that from my reaction of owning the jacket.
I already had the hat so now my assemble was complete.
I think we were going to a cook out that afternoon and I couldn't wait to wear it and show my friends.
I decided to surprise my wife so I told the boys not to mention the jacket to their Mother.
I got ready to go and came upstairs with my jacket on.
I had never worn a silk jacket before, it was styled in the eighties and it fit a little funny but I didn't care.
The look on my wife's face was priceless. But not in the way I had imagined it.
She said she refused to be seen in public with me in the jacket and told me never to wear it out in public.
I thought she said she would divorce me if I wore it in public but she says she never said that.
Well that was the impression that I was left with.
I see it when I dig for a shirt in my closet every now and then.
I asked my daughter, now 20, to take my picture for the blog.
My wife reminded me that once it is on the web it will always be there to haunt you.
My daughter tried to talk me out of having my picture taken and laughed at me in my jacket and hat. My wife kept telling me not to do it.
I brought up the picture of Bob on the computer to try to strike a similar pose and my daughter said "Mom he is trying to match something else. That is why he looks that way."
I posed and my wife shook her head.
So I have worn the jacket in the house three times.
I think I will put it on Ebay. Maybe my neighbor will by it back.
Brian B
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Buy this baby. HERE You know you want it.
Great story and pics! Your family's reaction to wearing the jacket and hat is hilarious! Isn't embarrassing our families half the fun?
ReplyDeleteI don't know what it is about these little catalogs but they really make you want some of the stuff you see in them.
Now, if I can just find some shorts and a shirt like that kid is wearing...
That is what I was wearing under the jacket and jeans.
ReplyDeleteThat jacket is so 80's I don't think even you would really wear it out in public!
ReplyDeleteYou need to post a picture of Megan in her Batman sleeper! She was the best thing that happened that year. Right?
Haha that's awesome! I love how you even added the "posed" picture to your eBay auction. May have to bid on that one ;)
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you are actually selling this! Funny.
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way on opening night of Batman in '89. That brochure was unbelievable! I was a kid at that time and I wanted every single thing in there! What a great find though, I'm not sure if I'd buy that jacket for the mere fact that I'd keep it in my closet, but if it was more modern possibly...not sure. But for purposes of recreating the Bob Kane picture from that catalog then it was well worth it. I loved this post!
ReplyDeleteI want that jacket, I need that hat!
ReplyDelete