A case of not-so-secret identities: The true story of Mrs. Ann Batman

Turns out there is a Mrs. Batman, and no Bruce won't come to the phone.

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Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Detroit resident Ann Batman! 

When Batman debuted in 1966, it took an established character and strapped a rocket onto his cowl, making the Caped Crusader nearly inescapable for the rest of the decade. The comic book hero had a new kind of mainstream exposure. Now, for the first time (except for a few serials in the '40s), kids had access to Batman, whether they bought the comics or not. Batmania was at an all-time high. Only the 20-years-later powers of Prince and Tim Burton would be able to top Batman's ubiquity in 1966.

Batman was a craze, and there were plenty of people that just couldn't get enough. This was great news for the show's creators and terrible news for the otherwise-uninvolved Ann Batman, formerly of Fayetteville, North Carolina. "Ever since that television program started, I've been getting 10 phone calls a day," Mrs. Batman told the Associated Press in 1966. "But I figure this Batman thing will die out in a couple of months, and then they'll just leave me alone."

Ann Batman had the unfortunate distinction of being the one-and-only "Batman" listed in the phone book. While she refused to change her name, she eventually made efforts to ensure her phone number would go unlisted. However, while her number was still public, Mrs. Batman continued to be plagued each and every day by would-be Gothamites looking to speak with their masked hero.

At her Batcave in Detroit, Mrs. Batman's Batmobile was actually a red 1964 sedan, which she drove back and forth to her job as a restaurant manager. Of course, with a name like hers, Ann was subject to more than her fair share of teasing at her surname's expense.  

"Whenever I go somewhere I have to give my name, people give me that 'are you kidding?' look. It happens at the laundry, at the bank, and all over," she said.

One would be forgiven for taking a curmudgeonly approach to responding to such daily pestering. However, despite the near-constant barrage of phone calls, Ann Batman remained good-natured about her super surname. "The little ones I just tell that Batman isn't in at the moment. I tell them that I'll tell Batman they called when he gets in, and that seems to make them happy."

So given her closeness to the character, was Ann Batman a fan of TV's Batman? "I do not watch Batman," said Ann, in no uncertain terms. "And I never will."

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16 Comments

KMP50 16 months ago
There's a Batman in my family tree as well - Elizabeth Batman, born around 1796 in Kentucky. She was not related to the comic book Batman, preceding it by almost 150 years. She was my father's great-great grandmother on his father's side. I only found her in my tree after my father had already passed on. He would have found it funny. I do.
Runeshaper 17 months ago
lol 😆 that’s great! At least Ann had a good sense of humor.
Andybandit 17 months ago
I am sorry, I did not understand this story. I am sorry about that.
KJExpress Andybandit 17 months ago
What didn't you understand? This poor woman's last name was Batman, so she got all sorts of phone calls (pranks and otherwise) from people. Naturally, that was very annoying.
cperrynaples 17 months ago
2 Bonus Questions: [1]Which villian tried to marry Batman and which woman pretended to be Mrs. Batman to stop the wedding? [2]Which MeTV actor once played Mr. Superman?
madvincent cperrynaples 17 months ago
ahhhh.........,Catwoman
Jeremy cperrynaples 17 months ago
To answer your first question it was Marsha, Queen of Diamonds (played by Carolyn Jones a.k.a. Mortician Addams) who tried to marry Batman and it was Aunt Harriet who pretended to be married to him already. As for the second question, I don't know...yet.
cperrynaples Jeremy 17 months ago
It's Morticia, and if anyone in the Addams house looks like a mortician, it's proably Lurch...LOL! But yes, Alfred talked Aunt Harriet to go along with the ruse!
cperrynaples cperrynaples 17 months ago
A extra hint for Question 2: He was mentioned in one of today's posts!
Jeremy Jeremy 17 months ago
Oh, I knew it was Morticia but the phone I was using thought it was Mortician and I was observant enough to notice the mistake.
LoveMETV22 17 months ago
cperrynaples LoveMETV22 17 months ago
Even Batman got those kind of phone calls...LOL!
cperrynaples 17 months ago
This comment has been removed.
LoveMETV22 daDoctah 17 months ago
LOL. I like the " UK Athletics DirectTV spoof "Don't Cruise Campus in the Batmobile."

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