Encountering the Dynamic Duo...

I was 7 years old when the prime-time television show "Batman" premiered. Boy was my little brother Tony and I excited. We just couldn't hardly wait for the next week for a new episode to air.

Between shows we'd pretend to be Batman and Robin, taking turns with the roles. It wasn't long before masks and costumes were available at the local department stores and so we constantly started pestering our parents until they finally gave in and bought them for us. We even got to see the Batmobile in person and that was a REALLY cool thing since we were in Fairbanks, Alaska at the time.

Although the television show only lasted for two seasons (1966-68), it immediately went into syndication. My brother and I watched those shows over and over for the next several years until we eventually grew up and left home.

In 1984, I took my family to a car show in Evansville, Indiana. I had heard that the original Batmobile from the 60's would be there and I had wanted to see it. Much to my satisfaction, the car was indeed there. I very much enjoyed telling my little boy Christopher about seeing the car when I was just a little older than he was. As we were examining the Batmobile, I suddenly realized that two men dressed in the original Batman and Robin outfits were sitting at a table a little off to the side of the Batmobile display.

My son and I walked over to the table to get a closer look and I immediately recognized that Adam West and Burt Ward, the original actors from the T.V. show were the ones in the costumes! There must have been a lull in the activities at the car show for no one else was around the table. The lull therefore provided an opportunity for Chris and I to actually speak face-to-face with the REAL Batman and Robin for almost 15 minutes.

We had a great visit, the two actors were very friendly, and they autographed pictures of themselves for my son. From that point on, whenever the original Batman show would air on a cable channel, my son would get real excited and tell me that my "friends" were on television.