A Word In Defence Of Batman FROM A STAFF REPORTEP The man responsible for the Batman television programme, Mr. William Dozier, perched nonchalantly on the arm of a chair in a London hotel yesterday and told a mixed audience that if they did not like the who4e concept of how it was done he could be blamned. Almost in the same breath. however, he said there were literally millions of people who did like the programme and the current rating in America was that it drew an audi- ence of 35 million people to their television sets. In Britain, since it had started, the programme had remained in the top 10. He readily admitted that no one was under any delusion it was going to raise the intelligence quotient of viewers, but it had an appeal not only to chi,ldren because of its adventure aspect but to adults as sophisticated humour. Mr. Dozier, who was in London with his daughter, aged 18, said be did not attempt to defend Batman. but his answers to ques- tions seemed to imply that he did just that. He spoke of letters he received from parents grateful for the homilies from the Batman series, and not a word of complaint came from police organizations. Batman has made large sums for those concerned with its production, but Mr. Dozier said that when it was first put on in America the critics predicted a life of three weeks. He agreed it was something that must come to an end, but be could not foretell when that would be. In a pause in the questioning he asked if any of his audience had scen Batman. No one answered. Earlier, however, Mr. Dozier said that in America many people watched the series and would not admit afterwards that they had. Perhaps he found comfort that his British audience exhibited the same modesty. A WORD IN DEFENCE OF BATMAN