Boy, I Wonder

Boy, I Wonder . . . what would Burt Ward (as in "youthful") have done with his life if it weren't for the BATMAN TV series? I'm guessing the answer is probably what he did after the show was canceled - umm - shopping mall openings and comic conventions. When it was originally broadcast on ABC, BATMAN was like religion, but so much better than church. I watched both half hour episodes every week and reveled in the costumed characters brought to life from the pages of my DC comics (or at least the highly campy, velour and sateen versions of the character's costumes. Some of the costumes were potential career killers - Frank Gorshin's Riddler costume, the skin tight green leotard - gutsy of him to say the least) in the personas of old Hollywood stalwarts like Burgess Meredith, Cesar Romero, Otto Preminger, Julie Newmar, Victor Buono - actors who would not have been on my radar without the show. Even though we still had merely a black and white TV (to this day I think a gritty BATMAN movie in black and white would be amazing - Sin City anyone?) and even though I knew the show was not quite the same Batman I was hooked on in the comics, I thought it was the Best. Show. Ever. while it was on (1966-1968).