Talk about a fun bit of cheesy nostalgia. In 1966, long before the internet, DVDs, VHS or cell phones, a group of Minnesota’s Washburn High School students produced a 30-minute Batman fan film using a borrowed 16mm film camera from the audio-video department. They wore homemade costumes to create their own versions of Batman and Robin, thanks to a few moms who fired up the old Singer sewing machine. The students also drove what is presumed to be the family cars which were transformed into a Batmobile and another for the villain, Professor Sin. The budget was collected from one-dollar donations from fellow students (named as “shareholders” in the credits). Using $51 donated by fellow students to start, then another $50 more by generous relatives to finish it, and paying $3.00 per 3-minute roll of film meant that most shots had to be done in one take.
As the story plays out, with full participation from a few faculty members, the video shows Professor Sin spreading unspecified “smut” and “filth” throughout the school with an evil potion he creates that required complete access to hallways and classrooms. The result is hilarious, nailing the iconic TV series superhero satire, complete with inside jokes and someone actually holding cards in front of the camera that say things like “SWAK!”
Fan Films are a Relatively New Phenomenon
Betsy King, a classmate who also appears in the film came up with the idea to make the movie’s “world premiere” into a fundraiser for the student exchange program. The origins of the project dates back to a Washburn High in 1966. Friends Tim Olson and Mike Smith decided to create their own version of one of the funniest new shows on TV, Batman, starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Tim would play the Caped Crusader and Mike would play a new villain, Professor Sin. Pals Frank Ashman and Chris Gossett played sidekicks, with Frank as Robin and Chris as the evil Sorcerer. The film, Batman at Washburn, premiered in the school’s auditorium in 1966.
The few VHS copies that existed were lost, but one collector happened to see it advertised in an online auction and jumped at the chance to own the rarity and has uploaded a digitized version to YouTube. The earliest known fan film is Anderson 'Our Gang, which was produced in 1926 by a pair of itinerant filmmakers in Anderson, South Carolina. The short is based on the Our Gang film series and the only known copy resides in the University of South Carolina's News Film Library. Fan films are relatively new and few, but they clearly separate ordinary fans from the super fans.