In Cuba around 1863 the Bacardi family began to distill rum. Their logo is a bat, modeled on the families of fruit bats that nested and swooped through the Bacardi cane plantations and distillaries. Among Cubans, fruit bats are considered bringers of good luck. The same bat logo is still employed today by Bacardi.
Bob Kane's Batman arrived in 1939 -- he's nearly 70. One wonders if there was any bit of subliminal influence from Bacardi to Kane's Batman logo? There was an awareness of Cuba and things Cuban, particularly rum and music, back in those days that's difficult for people who came of age in the post-embargo era to realize.
6 comments:
wow. i didn't know that at all. It is amazing the part rum played in colonial era North and South America.
I had the good fortune to ride in one of the Batmobiles a couple of years back, in Seattle. I'll see if I can dredge up some of those photos.....
I had the good fortune to ride in one of the Batmobiles a couple of years back, in Seattle. I'll see if I can dredge up some of those photos.....
Hmmm. Who can say? Was he ever interviewed about it?
Graeme -- Rum was money, literally. The North American colonies had little or no cash money for the most part (a currency was something that the infant U.S. government had to figure out how to back, and which remained a division and issue of white hot heat through at least Jackson's administration). Rum (like slaves in the south) functioned like money. The rum trade between the Caribbean and the Northern colonies was essential -- though all the empires' mother countries outlawed for their colonies. This was paid no attention to. Havana was NYC's biggest trade partner throughout the 18th century.
Love, C.
Phil -- Probably nobody has ever thought to ask him, since most people really never think of Cuba and know nothing about it as a consequence of these long decades of embargo.
Love, C.
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