Cesar Romero, who played the Joker in the “Batman” TV series, is the subject of Samuel Garza Bernstein’s new book, “Cesar Romero: The Joker is Wild.”

Photos: Cover, Courtesy University of Kentucky Press; Bernstein, Joshua Michael Shelton

That Cesar Romero was a gay man is not a revelation at this point – scandalous or otherwise. During his years as a studio contract star in the 1930s to the early 1950s, he participated in the dream machine fantasy of dating eligible Hollywood actresses, but looking back at his fan magazine coverage today, it never seems forced or false. He and Joan Crawford laugh uproariously in each other’s arms; he shares a cigarette with Ann Sheridan with a gleeful, conspiratorial gleam in his eye; he winks at Betty Furness with a clear sense of intimacy.

He’s clearl

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