Sunday, September 30, 2012

Contacting the people in the building where Batman began

In 2011, I made pilgrimage to the Bronx apartment building in which Bill Finger lived in 1939—in other words, the building in which Batman was likely created. Surprise—the owners did not know the Batman connection. But that made the experience more fun for me.

I had not wanted to show up unannounced, but I didn’t know who was living there. So I had to resort to a tactic I’d used when trying to get inside the house in which Jerry Siegel lived when he dreamed up Superman: sending a letter not addressed to anyone by name.

Here’s the Finger letter:

Guess why I did not specify the "famous person"?

I hoped the tease would increase my chances of a response, if for no other reason than to satisfy curiosity.

But with Finger as with Siegel, I did not hear back from anyone. They left me no choice but to show up unannounced.

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