How did the Bat-Poles/Automatic Bat-Costume Changer work???

[Yellow Oval]

For lack of any real idea how it would've worked I'll just say sprayed on in acrylic paint going down and water-sprayed off going up.

[clavierankh]

In the original pilot Semple describes the following when Bruce and Dick slide down the batpoles.

A series of QUICK SHARTLY ANGELES CUTS to give the effect of Bruce and Dick sliding dowñ poles in an enormously deep burnished metal shaft.They seem to grab now and then at BRIGHT COLORED what-nots suspended from cylinder wall, and we hear odd ZIPPING SOUNDS.

It sounds like Semple's original concept was that they dressed on the way down.

[Progress Pigment]

For lack of any real idea how it would've worked I'll just say sprayed on in acrylic paint going down and water-sprayed off going up.

The John Astin Riddler episode would have really tested the spray-on.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2qAj2c3XxI[/youtube]

[Parker Gabriel]

The DC Comics never referred to any Bat-Poles; those were entirely for television.
Instead, the actual procedure the comics described referred to the Bat-Duo switching from their civilian clothes as Bruce Wayne and Richard "Dick" Grayson to their respective Batcostumes as they descended a flight of stairs which led to the Batcave, which flight of which stairs was concealed behind a grandfather clock. Presumably, the Batcostumes were then maintained inside lockers carved into the walls of the stairwell.
But alas, all that would have been much too expensive for William Dozier's and Howie Horwitz's rather limited budget; thus, the Bat-Poles were substituted for that procedure, which would also have been so time-consuming that it would have slowed the stories down too much, as a cost-saving--and time-saving--measure. You have to remember and to bear in mind that Greenway/Greenlawn Productions did not have the luxury of nearly limitless financial resources.
Moreover, the show was an action comedy, and comedy always has to move fast, even action comedy; comedies are always better compressed than padded.

[Batman65]

The DC Comics never referred to any Bat-Poles; those were entirely for television.
Instead, the actual procedure the comics described referred to the Bat-Duo switching from their civilian clothes as Bruce Wayne and Richard "Dick" Grayson to their respective Batcostumes as they descended a flight of stairs which led to the Batcave, which flight of which stairs was concealed behind a grandfather clock. Presumably, the Batcostumes were then maintained inside lockers carved into the walls of the stairwell.
But alas, all that would have been much too expensive for William Dozier's and Howie Horwitz's rather limited budget; thus, the Bat-Poles were substituted for that procedure, which would also have been so time-consuming that it would have slowed the stories down too much, as a cost-saving--and time-saving--measure. You have to remember and to bear in mind that Greenway/Greenlawn Productions did not have the luxury of nearly limitless financial resources.
Moreover, the show was an action comedy, and comedy always has to move fast, even action comedy; comedies are always better compressed than padded.

I read that the poles were added as a tribute to fire fighters, which is cool by me. No explanation needed. As a kid, my imagination always ran wild as to how the costume changer worked, always thinking that they just fell into the outfits, goofy yea, I know, but that's part of the fun. The adult in me sees it as, they are superheroes, I don't need an explanation ( because there isn't one) as to how it worked. It just did and I accepted it, still do...lol

[Therin of Andor]

I accepted quite happily when the costume change was interrupted by the first commercial break. But then they started playing with our minds. And Batgirl's auto change button was mind boggling. Maybe she had holographic technology? Clever librarian!

[Parker Gabriel]

Should the Bat-Show be revived in more modern times, and approached more seriously in that revival than the 1960s Bat-Show was, Batgirl would have holographic camouflage technology to disguise her Bat-Grotto. (It should NOT, in that instance, be called a BatCAVE, to prevent it from being confused with the one where Batman maintained his headquarters.)