Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Day 5 of filming, AKA Bill Finger's New York, part 2 of 2

Part 1.

Speaking of detectives, Bill and Bob Kane would meet in Poe Park (in the Bronx, and named for Edgar Allan Poe) and discuss Batman. Maybe they sat near the house of the father of the detective story, which is still there today:

Bill lived in the following Bronx building from 1940 to summer or fall 1941. Therefore, it was likely there where he wrote the first Robin, Joker, and Catwoman stories, took the Batmobile for its first spin, and named Gotham City:

Here’s the Greenwich Village building where Bill had lived for much of the 1940s (during which time he’d created the Riddler) and where I’d been three times previously:

As I stood on the sidewalk in front wearing that Batman and Robin T-shirt, a boy in Joker T-shirt walked by with his mother and brother. His mother said to me “He likes your shirt” and I said “I like his, too.” The timing was, for the second time that day, so apropos that I wonder if the scene wasn’t being scripted by Bill himself from the great (Batman) beyond.

Bill was living at this next Manhattan address in the summer of 1965. In fact, it was while being interviewed in this building during that pivotal summer when he revealed for the first time on the record that he was instrumental in the creation of Batman:

Bill died in Manhattan, in this building, in 1974:

In memoriam.

4 comments:

Mel said...

Hi. I've never written to a blog before and can't find any way to contact you. anyways your blog is one of the few sites I have saved and check it weekly. My question is: since Bill Finger created Green Lantern, why didnt you mention it? I thought you could use the free publicity. Ok well I will be the 1st one to buy your book when you come to Los Angeles. Later - Mel

Mel said...

I just read your twitter. I guess you did find a place where someone pointed out Finger created Green Lantern. That's cool, but I still thought it'd be on your Finger site. By the way, a little about myself. I was at the 1st Bill Finger award forum at Comicon, where they announced Jerry Robinson and another guy would be getting the Bill Finger award that evening. I also met Robinson and Marty Nodell, so it was cool to meet Finger's 2 artists. You know, I own some stock in TimeWarner. Maybe I can make a fuss at the next stockholder's meeting about the Green lantern credit ommission.

Marc Tyler Nobleman said...

Hi Mel,
Thanks for writing. Sorry you couldn't find a way to contact me. For future reference, my email is at the top right of this blog.

Yes, Finger co-created the original Green Lantern. While I don't like to miss chances to credit Finger for his contributions, I haven't yet been struck with a Green Lantern post that says something new about the situation. Thanks for reading and thrilled to hear you'll be interested in the book.

Thank you.

Marc Tyler Nobleman said...

You know what? I will throw up one right now...