Steady work is hard to come by.
Thats true everywhere, and its true in Hollywood.
Originally a Boston newspaperman, he started working at MGM as a script supervisor right after World War II.
The small screen beckoned.
He became a TV director, and he worked across TV history.
He was there when fading movie stars sought second life,The Mickey Rooney ShowandThe Roy Rogers Show.
He was there for the Westerns,Colt .45andCheyenneandLawman.
He directed episodes ofBrady BunchandMission: Impossible,CHiPsandDiffrent Strokes.
He directed 18 episodes ofMaverick, and then 20 years later he directed one episode ofYoung Maverick.
Another reason: Martinson was the first man ever to direct a Batman feature film.
The job came his way 50 years ago.
Martinson directed a couple episodes of theBatmanTV shows first season.
(The Penguin Goes Straight: Spoiler alert, he doesnt actually.)
The show was a big hit.
They wanted to race a movie into theaters, in the summertime between seasons.
Decades later,in an interview, Martinson would recall the films fast pace.
Show it in 27 days, for not very much money, he explained.
They wanted to see that picture in a hurry, the executives.
Batman: The Movieis a film in a hurry.
This takes a minute, and the film hasnt even finished getting started.
Batman and Robin drive the Batmobile to the airport, where their trusty engineers have prepared the trusty Batcopter.
The women wave at the heroes.
A Jack Klugman look-alike picnics with a Lady Bird Johnson look-alike in a park.
Gives a feller a good feeling to know theyre up their doing their job, says faux-Klugman, mid-sandwich.
AndthenBatman and Robin fly out to sea, andthenBatman punches a shark, andthenthe shark explodes.
(Were much smarter now; or, maybe, were whatever smarter isnt.)
Was there time for Martinson to enjoy filming this stuff?
One cool car, and another cool car, and a helicopter!
Women love them, policemen approve of them, heteronormative American domesticitydependson them!
Automobiles, aircraft, seacraft, oh my!
The best joke in the opening sequence isnt that Batman and Robin have Shark Repellent.
Its that they dontjusthave Shark Repellent:
What wonder in that opening sequence, what droll joy!
), the chance to see everything you never get to see in the real world.
