The One Line That Solidified Burt Ward As The World's First Robin In Batman
Everything Adam West did, Burt Ward did backward and in elf shoes.
Both West and Ward gave genius performances on William Dozier's 1966 TV series "Batman." The show took place in a cartoon universe full of outlandish villains and sexy criminals, while Batman stood in as some sort of cosmic straight man. Everything in the universe was strange, but the crimefighter dressed as a bat and his banana-caped sidekick in a domino mask both pretended that everything was normal and clean and, gosh darn it, even wholesome. West and Ward were stone-faced in delivering their weird-ass dialogue, elevating "Batman" from a simple adventure program to one of the most brilliant comedy shows in TV history.
Ward had it harder than West. Thanks to the face-covering design of the Batman costume, West could easily be replaced by a stunt performer for the show's many fight scenes. Ward, with his whole head exposed, had to learn to do a lot of the stunts himself. He also noted in his autobiography "Boy Wonder: My Life in Tights," that he was too well-endowed for the Robin costume and the studio briefly gave him pills to ... shrink him. Thankfully, Ward stopped taking the pills pretty early on.
When West and Ward were auditioning to play Batman and Robin, they developed chemistry right away. Both seemed to share the same preternatural sense that "Batman" was just as much a playful satire as it was a camp adventure. In West's own autobiography "Back to the Batcave," he recalled his first screen test with Ward and the one line of dialogue that Ward utterly nailed to let everyone know that he was perfect for the role.
Holy Callback, Batman
The scene that West and Ward had to enact for their audition was, by West's recollection, a short one. Batman and Robin merely had to discuss the dastardly dealings of the Penguin (presumably still not cast at that time, but who would eventually be played by Burgess Meredith), and West knew that whoever played Robin had to fit certain criteria. "The casting of Robin was obviously very important to us," West wrote, "since he had to have the build and energy of a 15-year-old, but with adult sensibilities and wit to sell the character." Ward — then going by his real name of Bert "Sparky" Gervais, Jr. — was given an audition because of his experience selling real estate to a Fox executive. As the saying goes, it's not what you know but who you know.
Luckily, Ward also knew a lot about performing. During his screen test with West, Ward, with complete confidence, shouted out one of Robin's catchphrases: "Holy popcorn, Batman!" West loved it:
"As Burt said that last line, he slammed his fist into his palm with punishing enthusiasm. As he did, I knew Batman had a Robin. The chemistry was right, Burt had nailed the character, and his Robin would be able to show all the youthful exuberance my Batman wouldn't be able to."
Some of West's and Ward's early screen tests can be found online, and it's astonishing how good they are when compared to their also-considered counterparts played by Lyle Waggoner and Peter Deyell. They can sell the absurdity. Waggoner and Deyell were playing the parts too up-the-middle. It reveals just how subtly and perfectly West and Ward understood the material. The show they made is, as a result, one of the best ever.