#250 Batman’s Burt Ward Returns To The Batcave

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Jeff Dwoskin 0:28

All right, Tracy, thank you so much for that amazing introduction. And you get the show going each and every week, and this week was no exception. Welcome, everybody to Episode 250 of classic conversations. As always, I am your host, Jeff Dwoskin. Great to have you back for what's sure to be the biggest crime fighting focused episode in the history of classic conversations second, only to Episode 50 when Robin the Boy Wonder was here the first time that's right, Bert Ward is returned to the show. Bert Ward is here to talk Batman, Batman and more Batman. If you're looking for Batman, you've come to the right place. Burt Ward has it all and that's coming up in just a few seconds. And in these few seconds just a quick reminder couple past amazing interviews Michelle Danner renowned acting coach and director and of course TVs Michael Gray, Billy Batson of Shazam. Nope. Don't they'll just me okay. Billy Batson of Shazam. We're here great interviews. You're gonna love them. And you know what else you're gonna love my conversation with Burt Ward. We're talking gentle giants dog food and products. That's his way that he and his wife Tracy are changing the world rescuing dogs doing so much good stuff. I'm a huge fan started to be a huge fan after we talked after episode 50. I tell them all about that. And we talked Batman, we talked the appearance in the flash the Batman movie, The Batman TV show villains everything. This episode has it all. Enjoy. All right, everyone. I'm excited to introduce my next guest starred in one of the most iconic TV shows from the 60s is rescued over 15,000 Dogs way more than that, at this point, with his wife, Tracy, with their gentle giant rescue. You know him as Robin, the Boy Wonder from TV's Batman, Burt Ward. Hello, citizen. How are you?

Burt Ward 2:34

I'm great. Thank you.

Jeff Dwoskin 2:36

All right, Bert, since the last time we talked and we had a really awesome discussion about gentle giants. So after that, I just want to show you this, I boom, oh, I have your not only do I have your gentle giants dog food. And I've been we're on a two week subscription. So we've been getting it ever since my dog loves it. My wife's in love with the food as well, because you know how hard it is to find the right food for your Oh, absolutely. And I have friends who have big dogs, I have a little dog, I have a little Maltese. But I'm friends with big dogs, and I got them to do it. And not only the food, I remember when we talked last time, you were telling me about just the bowl being raised up and we changed the but we changed everything based on that,

Burt Ward 3:18

Oh, that's great. That's well that's gonna add five years to your dog's life by elevating the food and there's a specific height for every dog. And that height is such that when your dog comes over to eat or drink, he or she only tilts his head down, never leans down. And the reason for that is because dogs bodies were out much faster than human bodies, and the average dog now you have a smaller dog. So you're going to be able to add a few extra years. But the average dog by the time it's seven or eight years old, it starts to have a problem getting up, it starts to have a problem walking, and within three or four years, you've got a dog that can't get up anymore. And once it can't get up and it starts to poop and pee on itself. That's when people take it to a vet to be euthanized. Which is really tragic. Because mentally, the dog is perfectly alert. And emotionally, the dog would never believe that you would take it to be put to death when it's given you a whole life of love. So how do we combat that? We combat that by understanding that because their bodies wear out so fast. You want to do everything you can to reduce the stress on your dog's body. You know, we say that every stress you can remove today from your dog's body, you can add on to the length of their life. So what is the stress? Well think about it. If you put a full of food on the ground, even with this very small dog, they still lean down to get the food and they bring it up and they chew, then they go down, leaned down to get the water and it's up and down and up and down every day. And you're really wasting motion that that dog could be concerning to walk an extra month or a year or whatever. So that's one of the reasons the other thing is digestion. Digestion is the greatest stress on a dog's body digests See. So that's why we tell people, we recommend that you feed your dog five or more equally small meals. You know, in a day, most people do every what, twice a day. That means every 12 hours, effectively, they're without food, you know, then they get fed. And of course, they eat it all real quick, because they're so hungry. And then they gotta wait another 12 hours. You know, it's the old saying how to eat an elephant one bite at a time, the smaller, the smaller steps, it actually reduces the stress and the dog's body. And over time, it adds years. You know, the other thing people keep saying to me, what, why is your soul food so different? Let me just tell you a couple of three big things. One, any other pet food I've ever felt dog's food. If you rub the kibbles in your fingers, you feel a slightly greasy feeling. That's because pet food companies add fat, not only on the outside of the food, but on the inside of the food, they put excessive fat. And you say, Well, why would they do that? Because it confuses dogs brains to believe that they're hungrier than they really are. So that keep eating and eating and eating. And of course, the more they eat, the more you ultimately have to buy but coating the outside of a food with fat, which is on every food I've ever seen except ours. Yeah, I say to people, would you ever take a can of bacon grease poured down your garbage disposal? Well, of course not. Well, then when you realize that animal fat will ruin a metal garbage disposal, why would you ever feed a dog of food that every single kibble is encapsulated in animal fat that shortens their life because it clogs your arteries clogs your intestines. The second thing is GMOs. This is such a serious problem in our country, for humans, as well as dogs, you know that 98% of the food supply that we eat in the United States has been genetically modified. And you'll say, Well, why did they do that? Well, because when farmers would grow a crop, whether it fruits, vegetables, rice, something like that pests will attack it. And in the past, when they sprayed a pesticide to kill the pests, it would also kill the plant. So they were not being able to produce and therefore they could make as much money and they lived a lower quality of life. The people that make round up, you know, you've heard about all the litigations over cancer causing Roundup, those people in 1996, came out with a product called Roundup Ready crops. And what they did is they went to farmers and they said, Listen, you don't have to worry about losing your crop anymore. We're going to provide you with a new DNA of everything that you make. And so when you go, for example, to grow rice, and pest attack it, spray our roundup on that plant, it will kill the pests, but it won't kill the rice plant, it will grow and you'll get your full crop and you'll make all your money. Well, of course, everybody jumped at that. Because what a great business deal. What they a lot of people didn't take into consideration is that when you spray that plant with any kind of herbicide or pesticide, the plant absorbs it. And animals, their immune immune systems, your dog's immune system is much more frail than a human. And what's happening is it's causing cancer in dogs. People say, Well, did you discover the fountain of youth? No, no, I didn't discover I'll be drinking it myself. We're just not prematurely killing dogs. And the cancer causing ingredients in pesticides causes the cancer and the dogs are dying left and right. So that's the second thing. And the third thing is companies that are in the business to make money would love it for your dog, every bite your dog took to come out the other end, so that your dog would have to keep eating and eating and eating to get the minimum nutrition. We don't believe in that we believe just the opposite. We want your dog to get the maximum nutrition with the least amount of value. So how do we do that? There's something called Heat elated minerals. It's spelled ch e la te d pronounced chelating. That what they are minerals that when you add it to the food, it helps the dog digest more. So again, it's not how much a dog eats is count. It's how much the dog's body absorbs what it eats. And that's why when people feed our food, the stool coming out of their dog is cut by a third people can't believe it. And in the case of people that feed our cat food we just found out from talking to a scientist, why is it that cats eating gentle giants cat and kitten food? Don't get furballs Why were the hairballs? No hairballs and it's because added fat and other foods causes cats to lick their selves more. And the more they lick they excessively lick the for a accumulate the hair. And then of course it creates a hairball. These are things that if you try to do things we believe for the right reasons, you're gonna get the best results. And of course, this is our charity. We don't take any salary from this. This is all about helping animals live longer. And thank goodness when in fact, I got to tell you since we last talk, we thought we really had dogs living long and with our dogs living up to 27 and a half years and we were recently contacted by a man who lives in Phoenix, his dog you Got it from a shelter. The puppy was six weeks old when he adopted this dog now is 29 and a half years old. And January 3 of next year will be 30 years old has been eating our food for more than 15 years. We went and videotaped him. And we're going to put out a commercial with him was just an amazing story. And he loves his dogs. So let me just think, got it at six weeks. He's had it for 29 and a half years. Pretty cool.

Jeff Dwoskin 10:29

That's amazing. All right. So you got cat. So you said kind of come up with a version for humans, I could use us for miles as well.

Burt Ward 10:36

Everybody says that, Jeff. But here, let me tell you what prompted us to make the capital because you're right, we've had a lot more than 15,500 dogs that we've rescued in 30 years, we just stopped counting five years ago, you know, I mean, too much to keep track. But here's the interesting thing, we've rescued probably somewhere between three to 400, cats, or maybe even a little bit more. But what prompted us to make the cat food is that two years ago, we lost two of our cats, one was 31 years old, the other was 32 years old. And guess what they were eating, they were eating the dog food. So we do know that cats need a little bit more protein, a few other very minor stuff, but they do need other stuff. So we went back to the same amazing nutritionist, the best that we could find in the country and said, All right, let's take something we know they love. And obviously, if you can live 31 and 32 years, that is so incredible. And now let's technically make a cat food that is 100%. Perfect. And that's what we did. We've done that. And again, it's our charity. And now we're even looking at making horse food. My horse is 33 years old. And let me tell you, horses don't usually get over 30 years old, we had two other horses in the past, one lift to 36 and one lift to 37. And we did the same thing, instead of feeding them twice a day, fed them five times a day elevated all to reduce the physical stress in their body. But anyway, this has been our charity. And I think I told you even before we started today that Tracy and I now are are going to be doing programming, television and film programming. We have a beautiful animation studio for 3d animation, recording studio, and we've just finished building the shell of our soundstage that we're going to be able to film on so we're keeping incredibly busy and having fun at the same time. It's a great

Jeff Dwoskin 12:19

story you and Tracy did together and this charity, and you should I mean, it'd be okay if you took a few bucks from it. But no one would no one would

Burt Ward 12:28

know, Can I do something because there's so many people out there, especially elderly people that maybe they have a spouse, maybe they've lost their spouse, but they might have that pet and that that is everything in their life. And they may have very limited funds living either on Social Security or maybe a pension or whatever. You know, obviously, with the economy the way it is the cost of food and everything else so high, we just want to be able to bring the finest food in the world as affordable as possible to help people save money so they can have your animal live with them longer.

Jeff Dwoskin 13:03

Well, it's amazing stuff. It's it's really great. Not everyone dedicates themselves to such a righteous cause as you have. So it's amazing Bert really has and I and I can attest to it. Personally, I my dog loves it. And we're excited to be part of the gentle giants family.

Burt Ward 13:21

That's right, and Batman family. That's right. I don't know if you know this, but we get people we're national now, we have probably have more than a half a million dogs that eat gentle giants every day. And we get just from people calling with a question about this or that or maybe how to feed this or how often to do that we get about 1100 people a week that contact us now they're not all phone calls, we'd never be able to answer that many phone calls. And Tracy helps me answer that because there's just no way. It's funny. I tell people I start out sounding great in the morning, by the end of the day, I'm down to whisper, you know, you're just gonna only take so much, but she helps so much with this. And people love it that you will actually take the time to help them. And you know, that's one of the it's very frustrating in this world. When you have an animal and you love your animal, you want to do the best for that. But your vet can give medical advice, but not necessarily every day advice on caring and things like that. And, and people say, Well, where did you learn all this? I said, Well, we've had 15,000 More than that live in our house in the last 30 years. 24 hours a day, seven days a week for 30 years. I said don't you think somebody would learn an awful lot just surviving that we always have about 50 In our house, and we feed 600 pounds a day of gentle giants. So we have a 30 pound bag and we feed 20 of those bags every day. And if you say to yourself, Wait a minute, what does it take to lift, carry and pour when he 30 pound bags a day and clean up from what comes out of that 30 fee. I mean, we're gonna fessional pooper scoopers by the time we're done.

Jeff Dwoskin 15:05

That's it. Yeah, should have a bat scooper. That'd be a good accessory.

Burt Ward 15:09

There you go, yeah, I think it's gonna be more like one of those Caterpillar tractors, you know, we're able to lift all of that. But it really in our animals, they all live together. And in fact, you know, here we are, and you don't hear anything. And I got 50 dogs in my house, because we've trained him not to bark unless they sense danger, believe it or not barking is the beginning of aggressive behavior in animals, and you really want to avoid it. Now, if something is really bad, or real danger that's different. But if not, there's no reason, get them excited, and where they bark and get upset with each other. So our dogs live very quietly with us. It's a very nurturing environment. And that's a very important thing. If you have an animal, you want to create peace and quiet. And one of the things that people say to me all the time, and I'm so worried about my dog about this or that both Tracy my wife, and I explained to them, cats and dogs are much more sensitive to things than you might imagine. We tell people, if you're worried about your pet, okay, that's fine to be concerned about him. But never show that worry in front of them. There's been all this testing done showing that if you're stressed about something for your dog or cat, your dog or cat is going to pick up on it. Now they don't think like we do. They think in absolutes. So when the dog sees that you're worried about something they don't know that maybe you're worried about your car having not starting properly in the morning, they take it as though your life is in danger. And then they get stressed because they know that without you they can't survive. So we tell everybody, whatever you do, you want to be stressed. Just never show it in front of your dog or cat always tell them everything is fine. Because we don't want them to be stressed that's going to shorten their life.

Jeff Dwoskin 16:53

I know exactly what you're saying. My mother in law thinks and only absolute so.

Burt Ward 16:58

Yeah, there you go. Yeah, well, yeah, I've run out of hiding places here. But in any event, you know, I fully understand exactly what you're saying.

Jeff Dwoskin 17:08

Sorry to interrupt my conversation with Burt Ward. Canine Crusader gentle giants really is amazing. I love it. But I do need to take a quick break. First, I want to thank all of you for your support of the sponsors. When you support the sponsors. You're supporting us here at Classic conversations. And that's how we keep the lights on. And now back to my conversation with Robin the Boy Wonder Bert Ward, we're going all in on Batman. Enjoy. All right, so we talked a little Batman. Absolutely. Before we dive back in time, I haven't seen it yet. But the flash apparently has Adam West CGI. And

Burt Ward 17:43

here's what I know. My agent came to me Warner Brothers requested a clip from our series. So I haven't seen the movie yet. Either. They came to me and we agreed to allow them to use a clip from the TV series. I don't know there may be something else in addition to that, but I know that we authorized the clip to be used. And

Jeff Dwoskin 18:03

I guess there's a lot of cameos that they they popped in there. Yeah, I was just I was just curious.

Burt Ward 18:08

It sounds like a great movie, too. You know, I mean, I've been seeing the advertising for it. It looks like it's really they've taken it to the nth degree.

Jeff Dwoskin 18:16

Yeah. So it looks it looks pretty good. I was digging around for some stories. So I found one thing that said you were giving a speech at Harvard University, you brought the robbing costume, and it got stolen,

Burt Ward 18:29

right? That's true. And, and the person that stole it is a very popular comedian that's had his late night show on Conan O'Brien, there you go. He was going to Harvard as a student, I'll never forget it, I was doing a thing. And he came up on the stage with another guy. And they said, you know, we're here from, you know, security, and we just want to make sure there's no issue. So we're going to take your costume backstage till you're finished. And then we'll of course, give it back to you. And of course, he's used that to steal it. And that was a really valuable costume. That was that, that you're talking about? Something that one of a kind, you know, I can only only imagine the monetary value. But it took a day and a half to get it back. But we finally got it back. I was on his show some years ago. He remembered very well. In fact, he brought it up. It was funny. So it's so funny how you know your paths can cross at different times in different places.

Jeff Dwoskin 19:26

It's a really funny story. So what was that your costume? Are you just wearing?

Burt Ward 19:30

Yes. Yeah. Let me tell you what happened on Batman. These fight scenes. They had six costumes for me. But every one of these fight scenes, something got torn, or pool or frayed or whatever. And because of personal appearances that I would make on the weekends. I made my own costume, you know, is an exact duplicate, if anything nicer and it got to be where if there was a problem, where I had to do a scene where there was a close up and all of the callers were afraid on the Because of the fights, I would use my own costume because it didn't do anything with you know, I wanted to keep it pristine, and it worked great. I did have my own costume. So that was the costume that I was taking was shown. But I mean, we would go I mean, they had like every week like six Robin costume goes fighting. You could go through two or three costumes in one fight scene. You know how to stop it. You know, this tour? Oh, you don't have time to fix it. Put on a new K put on a new vest up. You get shredded tights go get this. I mean, it's just so many things, your masks get torn off. And because it actually tore from the fight scene where it was pulled off the face portion. So things happen when you're doing very active stuff. And Batman was a very physical show.

Jeff Dwoskin 20:44

Oh, yeah. power was out. I guy No,

Burt Ward 20:46

I Oh, yeah. But I mean, these fight scenes got really rough. Because these stunt guys, they liked that stuff. And normally when you have a fight scene, it doesn't go on as long hours worth but the stunt guys that were hired to do stunt work for us really spent 90% of their time choreographing these two and three minute fight scenes, which that's a long time. And you know, all kinds of things like somebody picks up a table in crashes it over Batman's head, of course, he falls down but then gets right up. I mean, the one thing that was great is that we could have all that action, and yet it'd be family oriented. Nobody ever really got hurt. Anytime something happened. They got knocked down. They got right back up no blood. I mean, it was really something the whole family. And I think one of the reasons Batman was so successful, is it here you go back in 1960s, color television had just come out. Very few people had a color television, but there were some and they were starting to sell them pretty good. And our costumes, oh my gosh, look at the brightness of our costumes, look at the villains costumes, mazing colors and stuff like that. At the time our show came out people. It's like the typical family in America. Dad was at work. Maybe the mom also work possibly, but a lot of times just stayed home, took care of the house and stuff. Kids were at school. So by the end of the day, everybody got together, they had their dinner together. And what do they do as a family right after dinner, they go in their living room, and they sit down and turn on the television. And guess what? There we were. I mean, that's why we reach so many Indians and millions and millions of people. And all ages, there was something for everybody. For kids, it was the hero worship. For the adults. It was the nostalgia of the comic book. But for the college kids and the high school kids, that was a really tough audience to reach. Because at that time, nobody that age wanted to be inside watching television. They want to be out cruising around the local outdoor restaurant on a Friday and Saturday night revving their engines and stuff like that. So how did we get them in? Well, we got them in by the campy style, the suggestive dub, often double meanings, stuff that we said the extremely overly reverent attitude that I mean, for example, I can't tell you how many teenagers and college kids they would think it's the funniest thing in the world. And I have aligned with Batman or Bruce Wayne at the time and say, Gosh, Bruce, you're right. I mean, nobody at that age, however, would tell the parents that they were right, you wouldn't be rather be torn apart than to say something like admit to your parents that they were right. Oh, no, it's your that right? The parents are wrong. That was the time. And yet in the dorms. These college kids would get there an hour and a half early to get a seat just to wait on Tuesday and Thursday nights for Batman to come on. And the high schoolers the same thing. So we had this giant audience. We were number one and number two in the entire world, Jeff. I mean, pretty amazing. And our opening night ratings were higher than any Superbowl ratings ever. We had a 55 Share on the opening night of January 12 1966, which meant in North America, because the ratings cover all of North America you got besides United States, Mexico and Canada that 55% of every television that were turned on, were watching Batman that night 55% And all the other local stations, regional stations, the two broadcast networks, plus the ones in the other countries, they were sharing that other 45% it was it was gigantic. It was so crazy, because you'd have people I mean, women had their Batman hairdos. Kids had their Batman and Robin Underoos. I mean, there was, you know, I mean, I can't tell you how many hundreds of 1000s of letters of people sending in a photo of their child dressed up with a bath towel around their neck held together with a closed pen jumping off their couch wanting to be Batman and Robin. It was phenom.

Jeff Dwoskin 25:01

Oh, yeah, I was I was right there. So the the interesting thing about how huge it was it had, like you said one of the biggest debuts ever was that they were thoroughly convinced, based on the screening the the tests that they did before that it was gonna be a complete failure because the pilot tested worse than anything's ever tested. Like it just tanked.

Burt Ward 25:24

I'll tell you why I believe you see, we change things, I can tell you as a fact, in those days, when people watch television, it's usually you're watching like a police show, where there's the good guys and the bad guys. And you as an audience person, is really you're totally away from me, you're just watching something in the distance. And you're not really part of it, you don't feel you don't feel reacting to it. And so it was either a police show or a medical show where somebody's sick, and somebody's trying to save their life he was not drawing people in and what Adam and I made a conscious effort to reach through that television set and affect the people in the audience to draw them in. And I think in that screening, that people were not prepared for that, you know, sometimes you give something to somebody that is so new and so different. They don't really know how to react to it. And sometimes they actually think negative only because I've never seen anything like that, that that doesn't you can't do that on television. And yet we did and became so gigantic for it. It's strange things that you never know, right? I mean, you never know we were midseason replacement came in. And in fact, and I may have told you last time, we talked that it was right during our first hiatus that this young producer came to me at Fox and said, I want you to be in my movie. And I said, Yeah, and I asked Fox, I said, Yeah, you can be in it. And I said, as long as you don't have it done with another studio, you know, they don't know, they're all protective about that. But then ABC came back in and said, We don't want you to do anything else Batman and B which made ABC which was a syndicated network, a real the number three broadcast networks as power of our show. They didn't want me to do anything. So I didn't get that movie. It was called the graduate with Dustin Hoffman. They got him to play the role. They couldn't get me and of course, you know, became a monster hit I would have I would have loved to do that. And it's so funny because the producer His name is Larry Turman, every so often in town where you got a lot of people go to the same restaurant so and I'd run into him you say, y'all Bert, I always run it you for that role. I said, Please, Larry, don't don't, don't rub it in. I would have loved to have done it. So you win some and you lose some Jeff right? And people saying, Oh, does that really bother you? What about typecasting, I said, look at it. Look at it this way you have success. Think of it like a glass full of water, you can have a glass full of water that represents a whole bunch of smaller successes. Or you can have a glass full of water. One giant success and other smaller success. Either way, it's your glass is full. And that's the way I've always looked at it that I was incredibly fortunate. I had a great time doing this. And it is truly a classic our show when they took Batman and put it into reruns normally a show when it sells into reruns these other networks buy it for a year, you know, these cable stations? Do you know that Batman was sold? Initially, because of the success of your station, you want to carry Batman, you had to buy it for 25 years? 25 years. That's amazing. Not one year. And that's how big and they got it. And our show is been aired is still on every week here in the US different people channels and stuff. But it really truly a classic and it was so much fun. And the adults today are where the kids are the past and a lot of them bring their kids up. They say you know we love Batman, it was very wholesome wasn't dark, was it deadly and violent and stuff like that. And you know, we want our kids to grow up in a in a very positive atmosphere.

Jeff Dwoskin 29:01

I love your attitude on it. Because you know, it's you'll meet some people that don't embrace Oh, exactly. They got and not everyone has something on their resume. Somebody might have 1000 things on the resume and don't have Robin, you know, I mean like, right, just to be part of something so iconic. And I think why you're just so loved and and Adam was so loved was how much you guys embraced it and love the fans.

Burt Ward 29:27

Oh, absolutely. And Adam and I got along so well. Let me tell you something. There really is something to having a chemistry when people are working together as a team. He and I got along so well. When I met him. I met him at my screen test and I went for the screen test. They said oh, we're going to have you read with another actor. And I said okay, and they said here, Bert, this is Adam and Ohio. Are you any city I'm Adam West and Burt Ward. We sat down in five minutes, the two of us were laughing. We got along like you just wouldn't believe and we never stopped laughing for over 50 years, we just got along so well. And I must tell you, I really believe the chemistry that we had on screen, which was natural directors often tell actors how to say their lines. Oh, are you? Can you say this with more emotion? Or can you be more upset about this? Or can you do this? Can you do that? Do you know in 120 episodes and 32 different directors, not one director ever told Adam or me how to stay aligned, not once, not once, in 120 episodes, because I truly played off the way he would say things, you know, Adam was a such a funny guy. I mean, such a naturally funny human being. And he loved to think of himself kind of like Winston Churchill, or, you know, he thought he was such grand as he once came to me said, you know, Bert, you know, that deep voice he, you know, I finally realize what it's like to play Batman. I said, Well, what do you mean, Adam? Well, you know, I watched last night, a movie, I watched the 10 commandments, okay. And I watched Moses come down from the Sermon on the Mount, with the with Word of God. And Adam, oh, my god, Adam, please don't go there. You know what I mean? And he, you know, he, he was so you know, oh my gosh, I mean, he saw himself in such a grand way. And it was so funny because the the slower he would talk, the faster I would talk, I counterpointed. Everything and people just went crazy over that. Because if you look at the great comic Duo's in history, they've always been a great contrast, like Laurel and Hardy, right? One skinny and went heavy. I mean, even Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon give different way of presenting things. Abbott and Costello, I mean, the great, great comedy Duo's in history have always had extreme things between them. So as as slow as Adam would talk, I would talk that much faster, you know, and he'd be like, calm down, or Robin, and it's like, people just ate it up. And it's so funny. When people come to our events, they'd stand in line for sometimes five hours to get a signature. And when they get up there, they'd start doing our lines in front of us, you know, I mean, it's a Oh, I know, you're gonna say this, gosh, golly, gee, Batman. It's hilarious. And Adam and I used to laugh so much, but Adam was quite a character. And he would say things to people, let me tell you something very eye opening. I remember one time when we had these very, very attractive young ladies came up on the stage. And he said to one of these in the cost, of course, this cow is oh, I've got an itch in my cow. Would you mind scratching my ear? And the young lady got just scratches here, and I feel so much better. It says in having met you, I'm beginning to feel strange stirrings in my utility belt. You know. It is so weird. And so Oh, my gosh, people would just be embarrassed. He could embarrass people like nothing you've ever seen. And he and I just had the best time. He was like, a true funny person. He didn't have to get up on a stage and say a bunch of swear words to get people to laugh. Just the way his mind worked. You know what I was like, Oh, I don't know about this. He pretty kooky guy.

Jeff Dwoskin 33:27

It's so fine. I love to hear about some of your other classmates as well, like Alan Napier.

Burt Ward 33:32

Oh, he was the nicest man. Oh, he played our butler, Alfred. And he was I mean, he was perfect for the role. Okay. And by the way, he had his pet dog. His pet dog was so small, the entire dog's body fit into the palm of his hand. And he's a very big man. He's six foot nine and a half, I think really, really tall. Adam was six foot four, Julie Newmar was six foot three, and they put four inch heels on her and four inch heels on Adam and they cut my heels off. So I'd be smaller. And then that would go out and make appearances they say, Gosh, I had no idea you were this big is right out your little, you know, well in comparison to what they made at you know, Batman and Catwoman look like I look tiny in comparison. Yeah. Oh, what a wonderful, sweet kind. Everything truly British. He was the perfect. You couldn't have a better Butler than him. Now. On the other hand, Julie Newmar. If you want to talk about cast members, she's the only person that Adam was cautious around. Okay, because she also had a very brilliant mind. She didn't she does, you know, but she could come out with zingers too. And Adam would never know what she was about to say. You know what I'm saying? I mean, she she was it's unpredictable and could say things you just you just say nobody could get away with saying that. Oh my gosh. She was wonderful. In fact, I remember there was a great scene on Batman it was such this is so Batman style, you know the campy style where she's Catwoman and there's a moment of kind of mental chemistry between her and Batman and she says, Oh, Batman, why don't you and I get married? We could do such wonderful things together. And Batman's kind of thinks for Mesa. Well, what would we do with Robin? She's, oh, kill him. He's no, we're not gonna kill Robin. Yeah. It was just I mean, it just was that everything was so funny. And there were other scenes where we'd be chasing villains on the street, you know, running down, always running, always chasing the bad guy, right? So you'd see these villains run across the street, I'd start to run across the street and Batman say don't Robin, we have to follow the law. We must use the crosswalk I saw but Batman, you know, we're gonna get way behind him. So we have to go to the crosswalk, go to cross and then we can continue running after Oh my gosh. And people giggled and giggled that they they just people just love that it was that that style of Batman that kind of you know, we say things in and we did it in such a way that he did it Adam was so amazing. He everything he said was in a suggestive way that you can take any number of ways. And I mean, of course you know, he had some wild moments, there was a time in the Batcave where we had Batgirl is in third season, we had shown her the Batcave, and now it was time to take her back out of the back game, we couldn't let her know where you know where the Batcave was. So we're going to drive her in the Batmobile, we had to give her a whiff of bad gas kind of like to knock her out. So when we got outside, we could return she wouldn't know what the Batcave is. So we have this scene. And it's supposed to be a really quick scene where she's already kind of like out and I'm in the passenger side of the Batmobile course, Adam is Batman is in the driver's seat. And I have a line like, gosh, Batman, back girl is very pretty. And Batman supposed to have a line like well, Robin, I'm glad you notice it shows you're growing up or something like something trivial. And then we start the car and drive off. We'll add a messed up 11 takes in a row, a left over that one sentence 11 takes. And now you have to understand there's so much pressure on a director when you're shooting a series television, you can't fall behind. I mean, you can never work again as a director if you get behind, and the studio loses money. So the director was starting to really panic that and what's the matter what's you keep getting pieces? Well, I'll make let's do it again. So we're on the 12th. Take the 12 Take it understand that just don't turn it right back on, you got to get I'll make sure the lights are writing film is right and you haven't run to the end all of this stuff before you can start. So here we go in the 12 take and I say gosh, Batman, you know, that girl is very pretty. And Adam, who intentionally had done this all the time. He says I'm glad you noticed Robin, it shows the oncoming thrust of manhood. And so I like had tears coming down my mask on the inside. I was laughing so hard but trying to keep a straight face record. Nobody caught it. Nobody caught and that's exactly what Adam wanted. So here now a few weeks goes by, they edit it. There's no other cut, they have to use it. It's on the show. They air it and boy the sensors came in. And you can't say this producer saying to Adam, why did you listen? You know, it was frustrating. It was a 12 take i i just said what it ever came to my mind kind of thing. But that was the beginning of when the sensor started coming in on us for all kinds of suggested things. Well, you can't do that. You can't do this a national. Now today it's a whole different world, but it wasn't in the 60s

Jeff Dwoskin 38:46

Keeping in that thread. So you fought the Joker The Riddler Catwoman Penguin, but what are your personal other villains? Well, the Catholic League of decency?

Burt Ward 38:57

That's right. Oh, no, you have to understand. Every buddy wanted to have their say about that. Every buddy wanted to have their cake psychiatrists that got into this whole thing about well, you know, Batman and Robin is really, really the wish dream of two homosexuals. They would ask me about this, you know, for questions about this news article or something like that. And I would say I don't understand what's so strange about two guys wearing tights and run around fighting crime. And of course, they laugh. Oh, wow. You know, but yes, and in this case, it was they didn't like the way I fit fit in my leotards. I mean, man, I've gotta be honest with you, Jeff man was not built for tights. Okay, we let's get that right out in the open here. So as a result, and they're very clean, and they thought it was that you shouldn't have a bulge like that. You know what I mean? I mean, just normal is not anything other than normal, but you're wearing a very cleaning material. So we had these wardrobe guys, and some of them were like, oh, I want you to try this on and try that on. Oh my god. Have these exotic things they were trying to give me and none of it worked. And finally, finally they found this doctor that gave me these pills that would shrink you up for like two or three days. I took him for a winter talk to advice. I remember and then I got worried what is it? What if it ruins my never able to have a child or something? So I stopped taking them and I started using my cape to cover but the word got out and we were tea. Oh, I was teased on the set. You have no idea. We had this Londinium larcenies three parter, where Lord fog and Lady pea soup and Glynis John's and instead of having the guy's his henchmen had all these very attractive English young ladies as their Hinch women or whatever and oh, they all knew about this stuff so in the course and they're supposed to be grabbing pulling me and you know, I can't get them because they're you know, we've never hit a lady you know, so you could hit them but in the course of they're pulling me and tugging me they are continuously purposely running into me rubbing against me doing everything they could to aggravate the situation

Jeff Dwoskin 41:07

they wanted a piece of the Boy Wonder I oh

Burt Ward 41:09

yeah that tried to get a rise out of me I guess I'll I'll I can tell you was that these are crazy things that went on and and it's like, oh my gosh, in the scheme of things what's the big deal about this and but everybody had to have their two cents in about our show. He was number one in the entire world. I mean, it really and my gosh, the women with the Batman hairdos off you just need amazing heritage. I can't imagine they must spend hours in a beauty shop to get a Batman style hair hairdo in every conceivable toy and metal Batmobile and and ah, there's everything that the studio went nuts in the company that Warner Brothers did own the rights took out an ad that after the first year of Batman that they sold this is back in 1966 $1.2 billion of Batman merchandise 1.2 billion in those days that's like well, billion dollars now. And it actually turned out in history with all these other shows, wonderful shows, you know, Star Wars movie Star Wars and Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, Superman, all of these other merchandise. All the Avengers all of that stuff. Batman merchandise is still the greatest selling merchandise in history. It still is number one, the Batman merchandise

Jeff Dwoskin 42:26

since you were one degree away from everything costume aside. What's one thing that you have or wish you had from the show?

Burt Ward 42:34

Oh, it's like a momento from the show. I got it. I had a battering okay. I did have a battering and I that was really cool that you Robin had different batteries of Batman. I don't know if you know that. I had a battering that was really cool. And I almost got a Batmobile. I almost got a Batmobile. But you get a lot of upkeep for the Batmobile. Unless you're driving it you have to have have it you know on a special trailer and take because of the width of the Batmobile so wide on the trailers that hold the Batmobile. In order to be able to drive on a on a highway you only have four inches of space on either side of the car. That is way too close to you know what I mean? You can have where you can rub this paint job offers. So I guess I had my own costume. So I think the Batman's battering that I got was was really cool. And I heard later on that Industrial Light Magic. Got the mold, and they actually sent me one that they made from that mold which I thank them so much. It was a real a real treasure. So actually had a had to bet better rings.

Jeff Dwoskin 43:39

That's pretty awesome. You mentioned the Batmobile. I'm a big fan of George Barris, his work who designed the Batmobile and the monster coach and Oh absolutely. A lot of famous famous things like Joker

Burt Ward 43:50

mobiel Did you see the Joker mobiel

Jeff Dwoskin 43:53

horse? How do you miss so much iconic stuff. But what was interesting that I read was that it almost wasn't a George Barris it was almost a gene almost a dean Jeffries because he had to pass on it because originally they were going to make the Batman movie and then they rushed the TV show into production. Right. Dean Jeffries couldn't do it. George Barris ended up getting it in the speed and time to market. George Barris was really good at creating a lot of these iconic things fast. If you read about any of those, it was like he had two weeks. But this was like a 1955 Lincoln that actually had already been in another movie. It started with a kiss with Glen Ford and Debbie Reynolds painted differently. Of course, I just thought that was interesting. And they converted that into the Batmobile made that the Batmobile?

Burt Ward 44:39

Yeah. Oh yeah, that's true. And of course very nice man. George Barris. Very nice man. He wasn't too happy with me on the first episode, though. In fact, he was really upset with me because one of the scenes that I had, you have to understand I love doing that so much that when I got into it, I did what the character would do. I didn't really start thinking about why Acting, acting. You know, when I grew up, I always wanted to be a superhero. And after school, I would come home and I had this wall and I hit a ball, I would kick this ball against the wall and chase it and kick and keep doing this while I'm daydreaming about being a superhero, right. And so when I got the role and I'm doing this stuff, I just did what I thought the character would do, I mean, and I just became absorbed in it. So one of the first things that we did with Robert Butler, the director who directed the pilot, which was very special because instead of a one week schedule, they gave it a six week pilots I mean, they really made a big deal out of really making a perfect episode of pilot episode but anyway, what we did with the with the Batmobile is we pulled up to a museum and the way Batman parked the Batmobile is the car was actually facing away from the museum. And we were supposed to get out of the car and then run to the back of the car continue over to the museum wall that's where we climbed up the side of the building. This was the regular show The director thought that I would just open the door and come out so they set up for that was never any talk about that. Okay, you guys are going to come out and you go to the back, go over there to where the museum wall and you're gonna throw your battering up and messed up when it came to shooting it. I just thought hey, I'm gonna go in the back. So instead of opening the door, I just stood up in the seat stood up on top of the door, walked on that very careful, very narrow, thin all the way to the back and jumped off the back. Right. And the director says cut cut bird we didn't set up for that. We thought coming out the door you're supposed to come on. That's what's a climb and go to the back. I said okay, I'll do it. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute, since that was so natural, that was so unexpected and so real lucky. All right. We're gonna take another half hour to set up go get the tracks get the plywood. They put down this thing so they can dolly and they dolly and they made the shot. And I got such a great response from the producer. Oh my gosh, where did you get that idea Berta did Bob Butler took no no he didn't tell me to do that. It just it was such a nice thing. But here they weren't expecting you. However, here's the part about George Barris. He saw me standing on his 30 coat paint job. And walking on that very, almost coming to a point on the fin which easily could have nicked it or scratches or dented it but I had rubber soles on my boots right. And the I understood I didn't know it. But they had two crewmen plus the assistant director holding George Barris, his two employees back from rushing to the Batmobile to get me off of it. There's always the fight behind the on the said, because I just can't touch my battle. You can't do that. And I didn't know about it till later. They kept it away. But later on George and I kind of worked things out together. And he was very nice. You know, he was a really nice veteran. And thereafter, we always got together I said, Look, I just I was motivated to do it. This is the real thing. I'm doing what Robin would do. And he's Yeah, I understand that it but my paint job. I said, Well, look, you know, it's look Okay, is there any paint, nobody could have gone wrong. And they fret about that, because the studio you have one, they had to have three Batmobiles at all times, if one thing went wrong, or maybe didn't start or who knows what the they have to have a replacement, and they had two replacements on set. So he had to make three Batmobiles.

Jeff Dwoskin 48:22

That's incredible. Sorry to interrupt how to take a quick break. And we're back with Burt Ward to talk about all the dangerous stunts he was a part of on the set. And we're back. I thought you were going to tell the story how on the first day of shooting, they tried to pretty much kill you a million times.

Burt Ward 48:40

Oh, no, they just waited. They just did a little bit each day. The every day there was something else that was in the hospital for it. And of course by the end and then they took out that huge multi multimillion dollar life insurance policy. And I swear by the end of the third season, I thought they were trying to collect on that policy. They gave me some really dangerous stuff to do. I mean, I don't know if I told you the story where I had a scene and here's the thing. I always would say well, wait a minute, why don't you use my stunt man? Oh, we can't use him. Why can't you use? He doesn't look like you. Well, why didn't you hire somebody who was a stuntman that looked close enough to me so that I wouldn't have to do all these by myself. Well, we can't find anybody Bert. So you got to do it. So there was this scene on top of a soundstage. Jeff, do you realize how tall those soundstage I had to go up on top of the soundstage. All right. And the way you get up there you have these rickety old wooden steps where you can see through the step, every step you get higher and you kind of creek it makes a little crackling sound and you step on the wood going up and up and the next layer and you go higher and way up and the thing is like 80 or 90 feet tall is huge soundstage and the scene was that I was going to be hung over upside down off the soundstage and I said I don't want to do that. Oh, thanks. That's what's in the show, that writer will get a different writer. No, can't do that. It's in the show. So here it is lunchtime, right, but they're doing this right after lunch. And right after lunch. I'm up there. And I say, Wait a minute. The only way I'm going to do this is if I get a huge get me a big rope. You know, like one of those tie a boat to a mooring. And let me tie it around. Something that I see is strong and tight around my leg. And they we got two of our strongest stunt guys holding. I said, Yeah, and we had fried chicken for lunch. Don't you think their fingers might be a little greasy? They might slip and drop me upside down off the soundstage to my death. No way. I'm doing this with this tight around my leg. And that's the only way I would do that shot. And it came out. Okay, but it was I can't believe I did that. The only thing that was even more dangerous is I had to go up the same rickety steps. You know, when we slid down the back pole? Well, most of the time we were in Wayne banner, where they had a it was about an eight foot drop below level where we jump onto the bat pole and slide down. But there was a time for the movie that they wanted to go all the way down to simulate how high it was. They built it all the way up right up near the top of the soundstage a pole. Okay for Adam, one for me, and you had to go up the rickety steps and along the highest catwalk now they have multiple levels of catwalk, this was the highest catwalk to get to this. They had no net under me. They had nothing. And I had the stunt guys telling me Okay, well, when you do this bird, you have to understand, you're going to be sliding down even though you got gloves and boots on the friction is going to be tremendous. So what you have to do is you have to as you're sliding down, you like slightly letting go, which will go down a little faster. But then you're cleaning with your gloves because he's going to burn a hole right through your gloves. It's on and off, on and off. And same thing with your feet. You know the insides of your soles against the thing because it just burn up the soul. You're going like 80 or 90 feet slightly depth with no net. What if I missed I can't believe I did it. Adam and I didn't we were so stupid. We could have died right then. And I still never know why they didn't have a net. Why didn't they have something? They just figured okay, you're just gonna jump out on the pole. It's right there. Yeah, but what if you didn't get it? Do it right. Oh my gosh. Those are the kinds of things that I wake up and have dreams about what it oh my gosh, thank God, I survived that.

Jeff Dwoskin 52:17

Thank God. I mean, it sounds like Yeah, it sounds like it was a very, very dangerous environment. I imagine if you're doing it these days, things would be a lot different. Like I imagine a bag climbing up the side of the building that wasn't as dangerous.

Burt Ward 52:33

No, but actually, it's kind of interesting because it wasn't flat. People always thought oh, that you just turn the camera on its side. No, actually it was at a 45 degree angle. So you did have some stress on your muscles. It made it look much more realistic. And then they had clear monofilament fishing line attached to our capes so they could pull them taut. Because if you were truly going straight up and down your cape would be hanging these guys at the studio. They're really good at this stuff. They make this absolutely wonderful. Now there was the my stuntman did do one thing really in our Batman movie in Century City, one of those like 30 storey buildings, he did come down, he used that the thing they were they come down on the outside of the building with I mean, he and the other stuntman did that, thank God I didn't do that. But it was such a wide shot that you couldn't tell there was my face or anything, you know, he they really did. And then there was the one out over the ocean in the movie where I'm flying the bat copter, and I'm lowering Batman onto this boat and it took turns out that the the boat was actually just a projection of film projection, he actually went into the water from the rope ladder to the helicopter, and he comes out with a big shark on his leg, right? And he's beating the shark with his fists hitting the shark. Right, and I gotta get out of the helicopter and go down and hang upside down in heaven. The anti shark off bat spray. Now that's another one that my stunt man really, you know, Victor Paul was his name, but he really did it. And they're out on a helicopter up over the ocean. And he went down that rope ladder and hung upside down and then they cut to me on the stage where it's still you're hanging upside down about 10 feet off the ground, but not whatever. 80 or 100 feet above the ocean. There was a lot of stunts in that show a lot of stuff that were Adam stuntman and my stunt man they did some stuff that was really would have been life threatening dangerous.

Jeff Dwoskin 54:27

I was gonna ask you about that shark because that's that's sort of an iconic moment from that movie. Oh, absolutely. It's so funny. And then the porpoise out of nowhere saving you guys.

Burt Ward 54:38

Oh, yeah, right. Well, the thing that was so funny about that is in the movie where penguins got a submarine where he's got a special high powered magnet on this buoy that attracts our utility belts and we can't release the utility belt and he started shooting torpedoes at us right and Batman pulls out his he's got a homing device that redirects the CIG. Those of the of the torpedoes that they misses and then the third torpedo is coming. And he presses in the hands This line says, Oh my gosh, the batteries are dead. I've been here for 25 cent battery you're gonna lose your life because your battery the batteries died. And then you don't know what happens and we're flying in the bad cop you're in and Adam has Batman has this line. That was a noble porpoise that swam in front of that torpedo to save our lives.

Jeff Dwoskin 55:24

I rewatched the movie because I just had to I hadn't seen it so long. But it's funny because penguin submarine right, the story in the movie is it's a pre atomic submarine that he just bought from the government.

Burt Ward 55:36

Yes, right, right. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And then they shoot a Polaris missile, and it brings down the bat copter, and you think we're dead. We have to land on an outdoor display of rubber for sale. There's a giant pile of rubber that we supposedly fell and you know, when the bad cop your crash that saved our lives? Oh, there's some very funny,

Jeff Dwoskin 56:01

really funny stuff. Yeah, there's a scene where you're figuring out oh, here, you remember any of these. What does a turkey do when he flies upside down? he gobbles up. That's right. Well, waist is sits in a tree and it's very dangerous. A sparrow with

Burt Ward 56:16

a machine gun? Yes, of course. Oh, yeah. No, but I also had some tongue twisters I had, let me tell you something. I had a tongue twister where I had to say this. And of course Robin has to say it fast. It's not like being able to see something like even as we're talking relatively slowly, I had to say things very fast. I had one line that was happening to some anti ballistic Battlax in your utility belt, Batman, you tried to say that that is really, you know, a tongue twister. And everything I did had to be fast. And of course, the faster I was the slower Adam was that he was such a character and such a funny, funny guy. Unpredictable, fun loving, you know, always a twinkle in his eye. You know what I mean? I missed him terribly. But he was a great and we had a very special friendship. On the back end. Even afterwards, when we did the two movies for Warner Brothers. They had two animated features released about I guess, five or six years ago, one year after another one. I remember I was recording at the recording studio at Warner Brothers. They had recorded a separately and he came in to start his recording as I was finishing mine. And it was like my wife Tracy told me said, you know, he said when Adam saw you like he had a tear in his eye. And you know, like, we kind of hugged. I mean, you got to understand we work together for over 50 years, there was a true friendship there. You know, we had times and on the set where we would laugh, and sometimes even on the weekends, if we had time we go out and play tennis. I mean, it was a true friendship and a mutual respect.

Jeff Dwoskin 57:43

It's heartwarming to hear that it was a tragic loss. It was so sad when he passed away unexpectedly, right? I mean, it wasn't

Burt Ward 57:50

Oh, yeah. And they The thing is at the city hall, they had this amazing thing. The mayor arranged to have the Bat Signal projected on the LA City Hall, which is like it's got kind of like what you would imagine Gotham City City Hall would look like they project and it was fantastic. And what a trip and it was less than I think three days notice they had more than 12,000 people that showed they couldn't get any more people across from where you know, the on the lawn and everything to watch the memorial dedication that the mayor did and chief of police and then i i spoke and it was it was really it was a nice Memorial Day and

Jeff Dwoskin 58:27

I'd say anytime like I'm kind of stuck on something I always think back to a line of his from the Batman movie. It just cracks me up some days. You just can't get rid of a bomb.

Burt Ward 58:37

Oh, yeah, he had this where he was going to throw the bomb off the pier. There was a mother duck with silver ducklings, and then he was going to throw it in one direction. All of a sudden here came the salvation army marching band. And it was very it was so far ahead of its time. It was so tongue in cheek, really? And I don't recall any feature films or TV shows that were tongue in cheek at that time. We used to say that we put on our tights to put on the world.

Jeff Dwoskin 59:04

Yeah, you did. I wanted to ask you about Mads Blake and Harriet,

Burt Ward 59:08

very sweet lady. She actually passed away during the time of the series. I had a funny thing happened on the set. With her there was a scene I didn't know she would get very nervous or the shots you know, and I'm standing next to her. And during the scene, Adam as Bruce Wayne says something that I'm supposed to cross over to join him because we're going to you know, we got a message we got to go to the study because the commissioners calling so you know, when Alfred the butler comes in and tells whisper something to you know, Bruce Wayne, Adam turns to me says, well, Robin, we got to do so and so and so I'm supposed to go with him. Right? Well, I'm standing next to her but I didn't realize how nervous she gets during the filming just before. I mean, we started the scene and she reaches over and she grabs my wrist I mean with a grip of steel. So then then I'm supposed to cross over and I did cross over. They said cut. But why didn't you cross over when you can't she's such a sweet little lady. I couldn't say that she grabbed my couldn't. So I just took it as though you know, they, I just took the punishment, the blame for goofing up when I really, I wouldn't have goofed off, but she hadn't gotten a hold of me. And I mean in a grip, like you just wouldn't believe like a vise. And so what I had to do is I had to stand extra so I could see here it's gonna come again. So I then I put my hands behind me, so she had nothing to grab onto. So I could do that. I never forgot that. I mean, I was always took pride in not messing up a shot, but I couldn't tell her she was such a sweet lady. Oh my gosh, and she gets so nervous. And yet, she was just great for the part. I mean, the casting I thought was amazing. Just absolutely amazing. The casting and the villains and Cesar Romero is the Joker. All these great actors that were on Batman, let me tell you something, they loved it. And one of the reasons they love to Jeff was because they could be as big as they wanted when they were doing other movies and stuff. They just stay in the character, right? They couldn't make it that big or whatever. But here on Batman, they're a villain. They're bigger than life. They can have the most villainous laugh or whatever they want to do. And they love that they love the freedom to be as big as they wanted. And you know with Frank Gorshin is the Riddler he had the amazing river laughs Cesar Romero had the Joker laugh, all of the characters and the villains got to make it as big as they want it and everybody loved it.

Jeff Dwoskin 1:01:31

Talk to me about King Tut. Victor Victor Watteau.

Burt Ward 1:01:35

mazing actor Oh, and he had a voice and a style and and they just let him go. What an amazing actor. Oh my god. I mean, I honestly I'm telling you. I was like the kid that candy store watching these people. I mean, these were people that I had either watched on television, all the stars or watching a movie, and he was great as King Tut. He just was great. And it was just so convincing and so evil and and yet didn't when he would bump his head and he go back to being the professor. He was so mild and meek. And you know, I mean, another great actor, Vincent Price. When I was a kid, I remember seeing a movie he did call the rabid and I was only like five years old. And that really scared me That movie scared me so bad. So here when they said, you know Vincent Price is coming on the set. You know, it's like for somebody that has a child, you were so affected by something. I had kind of like a butterfly in my stomach. He first came on the set, and I saw him like, Oh my God, that's really him. And yet I when I finally had a chance to be introduced to just the nicest guy in the world, such a great actor.

Jeff Dwoskin 1:02:40

Oh, I read your book, by the way. So Shelly winter.

Burt Ward 1:02:45

Oh, my chalet winters? Oh my gosh, she was very hilarious. I had been warned about her. There's Oh, she she's gonna come after you burdens. What are you talking about? Oh, no, she likes young guys. Oh, come on, you know, you know, and yet she was she was very nice. And she was very professional. She did ask me the book to reach away have a book for you to read. And I so Okay, well, thank you very much. And she's I'll bring it tomorrow. And she brought it the next day and hand me the book and it says the delights of older women. That was entitled.

Jeff Dwoskin 1:03:19

You had quite an amazing life. I love all these stories. It was another story I thought was pretty cool. You in 1963. Were a theater apprentice and worked with Rob Reiner, who later was made one of his first TV debuts on Batman.

Burt Ward 1:03:38

Yeah, he and I both got an opportunity to apprentice in a playhouse summer summer stock Playhouse one of the most famous summer stock off Broadway play houses in New Hope Pennsylvania. It was what an opportunity when this is where but it's called Bucks County Playhouse. And what would happen is big celebrities would come in and they would do plays for like two weeks. And every two weeks, on a Friday night, we would have to tear down the set. And nobody would get any sleep until Monday night, putting up this next set, because you had to get it all everything torn down everything rebuilt. The next all the sets put up for the next star that was coming in. He would because he was big. He was like the stage manager they because he's the only one that could take that huge rope and pull that curtain up and death. You know, so they made him stage made Rob stage manager. And it was very nice. And I had a great time there. It's a beautiful place. And as a young actor, I mean, I didn't get the chance to do any acting, but I built sets. I was in the painting and design. I went with the people making the costumes and learn how to sew in the costumes. And can I tell you it's so enriching. When you do some of these other things. You don't just do the thing. One thing alone. You do a little of everything. I loved it. Great memories.

Jeff Dwoskin 1:04:57

That is awesome. And then I know you've been so I'm generous with your time but I have one final question. Sure anything will teenage Bill of Rights and Autumn love songs you do with Frank Zappa ever be released with the public needs to know for the public?

Burt Ward 1:05:13

Oh my gosh, you know, something I wish I could control that, well, you know, MGM Records, they had come to me and I said, No, no, you guys, thank you for this amazing offer. But I can't say, oh, no, you don't have to worry about that. Or we're gonna take care of that. I said, Well, how can you take none and we're gonna get you this really talented guy that's going to work with you. And it turns out it's Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. And let me tell you, his band, you have to just you know what they look like, oh, my gosh, the shaggy hair, the long beards, they would come out and his band and they would just not only play and they were very talented, but then they would tear up their equipment. They destroy everything on the on the stage and they ruin their instruments. I just couldn't believe it. And Frank Zappa let me tell you, what a brilliant guy, he had gone to Columbia University and was a music major, brilliant, and yet when you look at him, you think like, Oh, my goodness, this is straight out of Haight Ashbury, you know, I mean, this is I don't know about this guy. And you're such a nice guy. It's so brilliant. So what we did is we did one song winter I love you where I took and I I wrote the well I took the the text from a whole bunch of fan letters and I put them together okay into a funny kind of a fan letter and then he arranged to and I don't know who created the music but that was boy wonder I love you and then there was another one orange colored sky there was a couple of things that I said I can't sing. Oh, don't you worry you don't have to and he sort of played upon the fact that I wasn't a singer and just to made it that much crazier. So yeah, I wish I had control of it but that was empty and records and now MGM a number of years ago was sold off to where it's partially owned by Sony AS partially owned by Amazon I don't know what's going to if that those who will ever come out I think it would be great to have it come out but I have no control.

Jeff Dwoskin 1:07:10

I was talking to Angela pyrite last in space I was talking to Patrick from the monsters and the one thing that they both say is Yeah, Batman came on and then we got cancelled.

Burt Ward 1:07:24

Oh I don't know. I don't know that we were even on the same network as that but it'll because there were so many shows being shot at Fox we couldn't even shoot it 20 Century Fox we were shooting at Desi Luke Culver studios the old Desi Lucy studios in Culver City not in the main West LA because at that time there was lost in space it was also Peyton Place. I mean, there was a lot of Ryan O'Neal and there's a lot of shows they had on there and I had my picture taken with the Lost in Space the actors and everything there everybody was very nice. I don't really think because I don't think any of our shows were really were competitive with others but there was so many shows on at that time.

Jeff Dwoskin 1:08:04

I think it was some of it was the huge colorful nature of your show because my were lost in space was a black and white drama and they literally changed their entire show Yeah, that's right. And then monsters was black and white. That's true yeah so

Burt Ward 1:08:19

and also Peyton Place I think yeah, yeah, but well that's why Batman was like one of the first to be colorful and boy did they did they go all out Jeff day that show was so amazingly colorful and and you know everybody have their two cents even the crew when they shot the villains hideouts, they always shot it at an angle and I finally ran into to one of the cinematographers after the series said I don't want it why did you guys do that? What do you mean Bert? Why did you always shoot the villains height out of angle? I mean, you guys are among the best in the world. You can keep the camera straight. Well we did that on purpose. What do you mean? Why did you What do you mean? What did you why did you turn the camera on and angled? He says because the villains were crooked so we need a crooked angle on the cameras Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, everybody had to have their two cents in and it was hilarious because you'd always had a sign villains hideout or something you know all these things that and it just makes people laugh that one of the first lines they put in the Batman opening show to make sure that people understood that this was a put on his when Batman went into this Whiskey a Go Go you know which is what a way to go which was there's a famous Whiskey a Go Go in LA. So they made a joke of it but where he goes in and then the maitre d says, Oh, can I get you a ringside seat? Bam. He's known I'll stand at the bar shouldn't wish to attract attention. Oh my gosh, that and he did it so well. Adam did it so well. It was terrific. And people really got it in. And once they understood that there was multiple levels, everybody, everybody came away with something They were entertained by

Jeff Dwoskin 1:10:01

it was amazing. And it's still super fun to watch even today. I think anytime I see a clip or I see the meme of, of you and Adam from the movie, you know where you're running?

Burt Ward 1:10:15

Oh, yeah, absolutely, uh, you know, something, I've actually seen episodes. I mean, not the whole episode, but I've seen scenes in watching some of the episodes that I had never even seen in all these years. Even though I have the DVD set, I didn't have a chance to watch all of them. And there are scenes in there that I did. I oh my gosh, did I do that scene, and it's just great memories. It is such a great memory and the people that they treasure. Let me tell you, I told you about the appearance that I make these appearances and people will come up with like things that they have saved for 50 years like this. One guy came up with his lunchbox and looked like an elephant. It stepped on it. I mean, this Batman lunchbox it survived 50 years and he wanted me to sign this lunchbox, you know what I mean? And it's like hardly anything left. It was like a squash tin can type of thing. And yet that was his his lunchbox when he was watching Batman growing up. They love those treasured things to be signed.

Jeff Dwoskin 1:11:15

I love that. I love it. Bert, you're incredible. I appreciate you spending yet another time with me and hanging out and sharing even more stories. I love every second of it. Thank you so much.

Burt Ward 1:11:29

Well, thank you, citizen have special wishes to all your listeners and viewers and best wishes for a successful future in this world that is very increasingly difficult. I wish everybody all the very best.

Jeff Dwoskin 1:11:42

Thank you, Bert. Can I get holy hutzpah?

Burt Ward 1:11:45

Holy hutzpah, Batman.

Jeff Dwoskin 1:11:49

Thank you very much. All right. How amazing was Bert ward? So amazing. Am I right? So fun to talk Batman with Robin? Oh my gosh, I can't believe it pinching myself. 250 episodes and a second go around with Bert ward. Oh my podcast dreams are coming true. Definitely check out gentle giants dog food and products. Seriously love it. My dog Lola loves it. That part of Burt's life I find so fascinating. The Batman stuff also awesome. I want to dedicate this episode to the memory of my good friend Dan Lippitt, who did slip me one of the questions that I asked Bert can't believe the episodes over I can't believe it's been 250 episodes. Wow. Huge thanks to Burt Ward are coming back again and hanging out with me. And of course special thanks to all of you are coming back week after week. It means the world to me. And I'll see you next time.

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Unknown Speaker 1:13:09

Right

Transcribed by https://otter.ai