Meaning or Reference of Robin's Quote

General goings on in the 1966 Batman World

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Robin's Girl
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Meaning or Reference of Robin's Quote

Post by Robin's Girl »

I love Robin's "holy" puns. But there is one that I cannot figure out the meaning of. I think it was in one of the episodes "An Egg Grows in Gotham" or "The Yegg Foes in Gotham." In the scene, Batman and Robin are in the Batcave and Batman is on the Batphone, dialing numbers from memory. Robin asks him how he remembers a particular man's number, and Batman says it's because the phone number spells out the name of a girl whom both the man and Bruce Wayne once dated. In reply, Robin slyly remarks, "holy I. T. & T." But I don't know what he's referencing here or what it means. Does anyone know? I'm curious and it's bugging me that I can't figure it out. LOL. :D
I prefer to believe it's because our hearts are pure. - Batman
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Riddlersgurl
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Re: Meaning or Reference of Robin's Quote

Post by Riddlersgurl »

International Telephone and Telegraph, which was the precursor of A. T. & T., re: American Telephone and Telegraph, also known as Ma Bell, which, due to laws about there not being any monopolies in the United States, was split up in the late 1970's, early 1980's.
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Jim Akin
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Re: Meaning or Reference of Robin's Quote

Post by Jim Akin »

ITT Corp. still exists, but it's no longer in the phone business; there's no longer an "&" in its name, either, and the letters of its name are no longer initials for anything. In the 1960s, when it was still International Telephone & Telegraph, it was a peer of "Ma Bell," not its precursor: AT&T had a lock on the U.S. phone market; IT&T operated in other countries. (Remember the solid gold phone that got passed around at the Cuban summit meeting in "The Godfather Part II"? IT&T.)

Because of its monopoly status in the US, AT&T was split up by federal decree in the early 80s, spawning a bunch of regional phone companies known as "Baby Bells." One of those spin-offs, Southwestern Bell, eventually bought what was left of the AT&T parent company, and it now operates under the AT&T name. (Other baby bells eventually merged and morphed into companies including Verizon and CenturyLink (formerly Qwest Communications).

Cheers,

QQ
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clavierankh
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Re: Meaning or Reference of Robin's Quote

Post by clavierankh »

You could start a whole thread of references in Batman that wouldn't make sense to people today.
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Dr. Shimel
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Re: Meaning or Reference of Robin's Quote

Post by Dr. Shimel »

Ironically, at the time the episode originally aired (October 1966), IT&T and ABC were trying to complete a merger that had been announced a month before Batman went on the air. Below is a brief online description of why it never came to pass:

"On December 7, 1965, ITT (then the ninth largest employer in the U.S.) announced a merger with ABC. The FCC approved this merger on December 21, 1966, but the U.S. Justice Department fought it, citing ITT’s high proportion of foreign owners who might try to influence ABC’s news reporting. After years of political and legal wrangling and delays, ITT chairman Harold Geneen called the merger off on January 1, 1968."
Mr.Freeze
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Re: Meaning or Reference of Robin's Quote

Post by Mr.Freeze »

I called overseas US to Europe using AT & T , it was like 100$ for 15 mins.......holy robbery , Batman :shock:
Bob
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Re: Meaning or Reference of Robin's Quote

Post by Bob »

Was AT&T "Western Electric" and not ITT ?......google is just confusing me more...Holy alphabet
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clavierankh
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Re: Meaning or Reference of Robin's Quote

Post by clavierankh »

I believe Western Electric was the manufacturing arm that made the phones and other equipment.

I remember when you only rented the phone. The phone company actually owned the equipment.
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