50th soundstage thoughts and questions

General goings on in the 1966 Batman World

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doubleknotspy
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50th soundstage thoughts and questions

Post by doubleknotspy »

As we approach the 50th anniversary and I reflect on years of enjoyment of the show, I have always been curious about the soundstage. I have seen a few pictures behind the lights, but not as many as I would have expected for such a popular show. I was wondering if any of our board members were fortunate enough to visit the soundstage and see the actual setups? As a kid in southern Indiana, a visit to a Hollywood set would have only been a dream in 1966. Also, were the main sets (batcave, Gordon's office, Bruce's study and Wayne Manor) all within the same soundstage? If anyone has seen these or has information about the sets, it would be fun to hear your stories.
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Ben Bentley
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Re: 50th soundstage thoughts and questions

Post by Ben Bentley »

The interiors for the show were 99% shot on the sound stages of Culver (Desilu) Studios once the network presentation reel had secured season one, the interiors were shipped across town from Fox over Culver where the show would be based for its three season run on the basis of the space required and the lack of space on the post-Cleopatra Fox lot. Exteriors were shot on the Culver 40acres backlot, Fox Hills and Warner Brothers backlots depending upon the type of environment needed for the scene. For example any of the "bigger" city type street scenes were shot over at Warner Brother's, including the infamous steps of Police Headquarters.

Stage 16 at Culver was home to the Batcave, Commissioner Gordon's office and the Bat-climb sets. Wayne Manor and subsequently the Gotham Library interiors as well as Barbara Gordon's apartment were on Stage 15. Various other stages at Culver including 8 and 12 were used for week to week episode specific interiors. Even the exteriors of the stages themselves were regularly used for exteriors of villain hide-outs that the Dynamic Duo would pull up outside of in the Batmobile.

This is a topic that has fascinated me over the last decade - one I could easily rattle on for hours about! ;)
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Dr. Shimel
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Re: 50th soundstage thoughts and questions

Post by Dr. Shimel »

I know during the hectic second season, they were shooting three scenes at a time (when possible) to put together 60 half-hour episodes.
Gleeps, it's Batman
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Re: 50th soundstage thoughts and questions

Post by Gleeps, it's Batman »

Ben Bentley wrote:

This is a topic that has fascinated me over the last decade - one I could easily rattle on for hours about! ;)
And I'd probably listen to you rattle for hours too, Ben. LOL. This coming from a person who sits down to watch The Love Boat or Fantasy Island, not for the lame stories, but to pick out where certain scenes were filmed. I can tell the Love Boat set apart from the real ship, and the real Fantasy Island house at the LA Arboretum from the fake house they built in Burbank. And both shows cut from real to fake constantly. I've been to the real ship and the real Fantasy Island house, so I can easily tell the differences.

If you think of any backstage/behind-the-scenes Batman details in the future, Ben, please post away!
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Ben Bentley
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Re: 50th soundstage thoughts and questions

Post by Ben Bentley »

Gleeps, it's Batman wrote:
Ben Bentley wrote:

This is a topic that has fascinated me over the last decade - one I could easily rattle on for hours about! ;)
And I'd probably listen to you rattle for hours too, Ben. LOL. This coming from a person who sits down to watch The Love Boat or Fantasy Island, not for the lame stories, but to pick out where certain scenes were filmed. I can tell the Love Boat set apart from the real ship, and the real Fantasy Island house at the LA Arboretum from the fake house they built in Burbank. And both shows cut from real to fake constantly. I've been to the real ship and the real Fantasy Island house, so I can easily tell the differences.

If you think of any backstage/behind-the-scenes Batman details in the future, Ben, please post away!
Well in fact you are literally going to be able to listen to me rattle on about this topic in the not so distant future. John S Drew of the Batcave Podcast is having me back as a guest again to talk about Bat-Filming Locations in an upcoming episode.

I'll be sure to post the link here when it becomes available to stream!
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