Trivia / Batman and Robin (Serial)

• Dawson Casting: Johnny Duncan, who portrayed Robin in the serial, was in his mid-twenties when the serial was filmed, and appears much older than even that; both he and his stunt double, like Burt Ward, had to wear pink leggings to cover their leg hair.
  Kevin Murphy: (As Batman) "Also, didn't you just have your 17th birthday?"
  Bill Corbett: (As Robin) "Uh-huh."
  Kevin: "Well, then, why do you look at least FIFTY? Do you have some kind of aging disease?"
  Bill: "Uh, being a circus acrobat — which you'll remember I was — really puts wear and tear on the body."
  Kevin: "Well, it must. I mean, your face could hold a three-day rain."
• Exiled from Continuity: Sony's ownership of this serial and its predecessor ensured that Warner Bros. wouldn't stream it on their DC Universe and HBO Max apps, a fate shared with the 1966 series and its tie-in movie (owned by Disney/20th Century Fox).
• No Budget: By far one of the cheapest serials ever made, due to being made by Columbia during the tail-end of the format's commercial viability.
  • The locations consist of the same ten redressed sets (including a hallway used for two different buildings and a "cave" which doubles as both the Batcave and the Wizard's lair), two exterior locations (Carter's house and the research plant), a studio backlot for city scenes, and a huge stretch of dry California road.
  • The "Batmobile", likewise, was the most inexpensive contemporary car they could get — a factory-stock Mercury convertible painted maroon; since the '49 Merc was bad at handling sudden curves, the production went through about six during shooting, and would merely switch out one car for another when it sustained damage.
  • The one complex special effects shot — of Jimmy in the Batman suit falling to his death — was recycled from the 1943 serial. Other effects range from typical (negative scratches used for energy rays) to laughable (the invisible Wizard's gun held up by a string) to downright embarrassing (a radio-controlled toy truck being treated as a scientific marvel).
  • The costume for Batman was intended for Lewis Wilson from The Batman. When Robert Lowery replaced him, they didn't bother to make a new costume, which drooped on the smaller Lowery.