My Very Own Batgirl Mystery
04/19/2005 23:02 Filed in: Culture Watch
When I was about ten or so, I was visiting my grandmother in Malvern, Arkansas (population 11,000). While there, my dad said, "Hey, how would you like to go see the real Robin and Batgirl?" Of course I jumped at the chance.
They were signing autographed photos at the local Gibsons (a pre-Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart kind of store).
Now, you have to realize that of course, since I was born in 1967, I never saw the Batman series in its original run. I saw them only in reruns and I have never seen all of them (not that I would want to at this point in my life). I remember watching them as a kid, not realizing AT ALL that they were done with high camp. I had read Batman comic books before I ever saw the TV show, and by that time, thanks to Neil Adams and Denny O'Neil, they were very somber again. But I also had access to all these tabloid size reprints which I understood were from the fifties. So, I think--if I remember clearly--that I assumed the TV series was based more on the older version of Batman, which it actually was.
Anyway, when I think back to that day that I saw Robin and Batgirl at Gibsons, it's really kind of sad. Poor Burt Ward . An actor must surely realize that his peak has come and gone when he's participating in these kinds of events.
I don't think they were promoting anything at all--maybe just trying to make some extra bucks traveling around making appearances. I remember walking into the store with my Dad and asking where Robin and Batgirl was. They directed us to a corner of the store, and sure enough, there they were sitting at a card table in full costume...well, almost full costume. I remember being very disappointed that not only did Robin not have his green gloves on, but that he was also wearing a wristwatch. I had drawn Robin dozens of times in painstaking detail copied from comic books and I knew good and well that he didn't wear a wristwatch.
And I don't know how well their appearance had been promoted in Malvern. There was NO ONE around them. They were just sitting there talking to each other. I got their pictures autographed (publicity shots that I'm sure Dad had to pay for), shook their hands, and walked out of Gibson's slightly disappointed...but I wasn't sure why. Dad and I were kinda silent on the way back to my grandmother's house.
Anyway, fast forward 20 or so years, and I'm having a conversation about the Batman TV show with a buddy of mine. I mention to him that I once met the original Robin and Batgirl: Burt Ward and Katherine Whitfield. He looked at me funny, and said, "Don't you mean, Yvonne Craig ?"
I said, "No, I've got her autograph; I met her. It's Katherine Whitfield." He said that he didn't know who I had met, but Yvonne Craig played Batgirl.
Well, obviously he's right. So, who the heck did I meet? Who was impersonating Batgirl? This really bothers me. I've done a search on IMDB but can find no Katherine Whitefield (even using variations such as Catherine or Whitefield).
Could my memory be wrong? But how could it be SO wrong? I lose sleep over this some nights. Not really. But it's a weird mystery. I am not sure where the photos are. They are stuck somewhere with my autographs of Darth Vader and Terry Bradshaw, no doubt. Hopefully, these pictures will show up one day and the mystery will be solved, or at least have some light shed on it.