In July of 1965 the Playboy Theater in Chicago started daily showings of the original Batman serial chapters over the course of three weeks (15 Chapters fit perfectly into Tuesday through Saturday showings-- the theater was closed Sun and Monday). The attendance was so good that they decided to string all 15 chapters together and show the 4 1/2 hour serial in one sitting that started at Midnight. They sold out the show and more importantly the concession stand and Columbia Pictures took notice and put a package together which then toured art house theaters and college towns in the Fall of '65.
AN EVENING WITH BATMAN AND ROBIN played in several big cities including New York, Boston and Los Angeles. It's often misreported that the Playboy showings inspired the Adam West TV series although there is some evidence that there was inspiration there. The comics of the period weren't cliffhangers from issue to issue, although sometimes they had cliffhangers between ad pages, but the serials obviously did. A few of the serial traps were used in the show-- the room closing with the spikes is straight out of Chapter 14 of Columbia's first Batman serial.
Bringing Batman to TV had been in the works since the early 60s. Originally the plan was to do a straight action show in the vein of the Lone Ranger and former football star Mike Henry was slated to play Batman. He ended up going on to play Tarzan and eventually the project ended up on Bill Dozier's desk where he and Lorenzo Semple came up with the style and format that eventually made it to the air.
Once the show was on the air, the Columbia serials continued to play around the country;
Which added to the myth that it was connected to the show.
It's unclear whether or not they did the same thing with the much sillier '49 Batman serial although I suspect they did. Republic tried their hand at it too, releasing a similar full serial release of ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL which wasn't as successful (it might be because while Batman was funny seen through the progressive eyes of the 60s making the 40s fashion camp, Captain Marvel was actually a pretty well made serial that held up-- giving it fewer unintentional laughs).
