[
Editor's Note: Matt Love's timing is just uncanny. He sent this blog post to us over a week ago, having no idea that today would be the announcement that Anne Hathaway will play Catwoman in the next Batman film. Ask him who'll win the Super Bowl.]
As an Oregon City boy in the 1970s, I watched her show alone at least once a day, and usually three times in a row. Secreted away in my bedroom, I would gather up the contraption with my left hand, load the reel into the slot with my right, bring it to my eyes, and direct it toward light. Through the binocular portals I'd see the first image of the show. All I had to do was depress the contraption's lever with a finger and soon I would see the show's star.
Click. The depressed lever rotated the reel forward revealing a new image of the drama. Each reel contained seven images, as well as a sentence or two of text in the white space between the binocular portals.
Another click — the star, the special guest villainess, and then click click click for more images. Reel one concluded, I slid in reel two, and clicked away. When it ended I loaded the third and last reel. Soon, "Batman: The Purr-fect Crime" serial, released in 1966 as a View-Master companion to the campy television series starring Adam West as Batman, was over.
But not really. I simply emptied reel three and reloaded reel one, and two clicks later... beheld the nuclear-powered stereographic image of Julie Newmar wearing black leather and three-inch black heels, starring as Catwoman, my first fantasy, in my bedroom, in my hands, in my eyes, in spectacular 3-D!
All of this inexplicably came back to me when I was driving one day. The memory of Julie Newmar as Catwoman simply exploded into my consciousness and I immediately called my mother and asked her if by some miracle she'd held onto the viewers and reels. It had been 40 years.
Two days later a package arrived from my mother. I ripped it open and the reels and my viewer spilled out on the counter. I inspected the reels. All Biblical titles! No Catwoman! Where had you gone, Julie Newmar? No matter. It took less than a minute to locate a coveted View-Master title online and I ordered it for 20 bucks.
A week later, my order arrived and I loaded up reel one... click click... Purrrrrfect. A digitized alien in Avatar or Lara Croft as the Tomb Raider could never compare to a celluloid 3-D Julie Newmar as the Catwoman — in my hands! It wasn't even close.
I published my View-Master/Newmar fantasy in print and online a while back, and not long after, I opened my email account on a rainy morning and discovered a letter with no subject line from an unfamiliar sender. Spam, I thought, but I read it anyway.
Dear Matt Love:Thank you for the lovely things you said about me. I am producing a book titled "First Fantasy." I would like you to contribute, if the mood inspires you. Although I am discouraging people from writing about me, in your case, you could write about anyone you like. As a matter of fact, there should be one or two stories about me in the book, so you do have that license. I love writers and enjoy your column so much.
Julie Newmar
I wrote back in seconds. She responded.
Dear Matt,Yes it was the View-Master piece. It is so vivid. The stories that will be in the book are mostly one page, though there are no limits.
Julie Newmar
I wrote back in seconds. She responded.
Dear Matt,I found the View-Master piece because of Google Alerts. I look forward to the new piece you have written. I've always wanted to visit Portland, originally for the roses. I have a book on roses that I'm working on and a rose named after me. When will you be in Los Angeles? My number is 310-***-***. I'm here most of the summer.
Julie Newmar
I submitted the essay but haven't yet heard about its editorial fate. This summer, I will fly to Los Angeles and meet Julie Newmar. I'll bring along the View-Master and reels. Where this story leads, I have no idea.