Benjamin Chambers writes:

What would have been the perfect, last-minute gift for someone on your holiday shopping list in 1966?

I’m betting it would’ve been the Batmobile seen on p. 185 of the October 1, 1966 issue of The New Yorker. (Click on the image below for a larger view.)

I was lucky enough to own one of these (though I didn’t get it until 1971 or so), and I can attest that it was the coolest toy car ever made. I quickly lost the “rockets”, but nothing ever dulled the joy of the car’s sleek lines, the futuristic windshield, or the chain-snapping blade that would pop out of the hood.

Curious to see if the Batman ever showed up in The Complete New Yorker, I was pleased to see that he did. I’ll have more to say about this at another time, but my favorite find was the Everett Opie cartoon below, from the June 24, 1967 issue. (Again, click on the image for a larger view.)

Naturally, the cartoon made me want to look into the Strauss operetta, “Die Fledermaus,” which I’d heard of, but never seen. I was amused to learn from Wikipedia that the gist of the finale is, “Oh bat, oh bat, at last let thy victim escape!”

Priceless!