“BRUCE SCIVALLY is a film historian, professor and writer who teaches film classes at the Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago and Columbia College when not working on film history books. His latest book, "Billion Dollar Batman," traces the history of the Dark Knight in radio, serials, TV and movies.
Scivally previously wrote "Superman on Film, Television, Radio & Broadway" and co-authored "James Bond: The Legacy." He has also written articles for Filmfax, Variety, High Life and British Esquire.
Before moving to Chicago, Scivally produced and wrote documentaries for Special Edition DVD releases of the James Bond films, Alfred Hitchcock movies, the Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto series, The Pink Panther, The Great Escape, Legally Blonde, A Fish Called Wanda, A Bridge Too Far, Doris Day and Alice Faye films, and many others.
I had the pleasure of talking with Bruce about his new Batman book. Not only is Bruce very knowledgeable about James Bond and Superman but also for the Caped Crusader.
To start out with, this book is very long, over 400 pages but it flows very well. When you see a book this thick, the first reaction is ‘This is a lot of reading’. Sometimes when books are this thick it seems like you are reading a Text Book. Let me put your minds to rest, this is very enjoyable and enlightening. You would be surprised on how you will not get bored from reading this volume of wealth of Batman.
Chris Brockow: “How long did it take you to write this book?”
Bruce Scivally: “Two and a half years.”
Brockow: “What prompted you to write about Batman?”
Scivally: “When I was selling the Superman Book, people kept asking me when I was going to write about Batman? It took me 2 ˝ years but I finally did.”
Brockow: “My favorite Batman is the Adam West series and I noticed that chapter is 76 pages long.”
Scivally: “Yes that is the longest chapter and Tim Burton is the second biggest chapter.”
Brockow: “Is William Dozier still alive?”
Scivally: “No, he died in the 1990’s but I had a nice interview with his daughter. William said that little kids loved Batman, adolescents and teenagers hated it because they thought their heroes were being mocked but the college aged students and adults loved it because they got the humor.”
Brockow: “My favorite Catwoman was Julie Newmar. Why did she leave?”
Scivally: “Chronic back pain”
Brockow: “In the 1966 movie Lee Meriwether played Catwoman, how come she did not play the role when Julie Newmar left?”
Scivally: “She was committed to another series.”
Brockow: “Time Tunnel?”
Scivally: “Yes.”
Brockow: “I noticed you did not write about any of the cartoon series. The Filmation series, SuperFriends and even the Warner Brother’s Animated series.”
Scivally: “I wanted to keep the book to 300 pages and as you can see I couldn’t. If I added all the various cartoon series, the book would have been a thousand pages.
Brockow: “As much as I liked The 1960’s series of Batman I did not like the Tim Burton Batman movies.”
Scivally: “Those were executive produced by Michael Uslan, who recently published his autobiography, ‘The Boy Who Loved Batman.’ Uslan hated the 1960’s series. He worked hard to acquire the rights to Batman so he could make a more serious film. He was the executive producer in all the Batman films and also the Animated Series. He was gracious in giving me a 90 minute interview.”
Brockow: “Did you like the first 4 films?”
Scivally: “If I had to pick one as a favorite it would be Batman Forever. Batman Returns was too violent for children and Warner Brothers was getting complaints from parents so Joel Schumacher tried to make a living comic book movie. But then after Batman and Robin failed he wanted to do a lower-budgeted Batman movie for the fans and wanted Kurt Russell to play Batman.”
Brockow: “Did you like the Chris Nolan movie?”
Scivally: “I did like them, I just wish they had more humor.”
Brockow: “The last thing I would like to talk about is the cover. I love the yellow on the blue. How come you did not use the Bat symbol?”
Scivally: “Since it is an unauthorized book, I could not use the Bat symbol, so instead I thought of creating a dollar sign designed to look like the Bat symbol.”
Brockow: “Will you be going to the Superman Celebration this year in Metropolis Ill.?”
Scivally: “Yes I will be there selling my book (s).”
Brockow: “Thank you for taking the time to talk about Billion Dollar Batman.”
Scivally: “You are welcome.”
To all who are going to Metropolis this year I encourage you to stop by and see Bruce and get a copy of Billion Dollar Batman.
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