Early Mexican Batwoman predating Batman?

[BiffPow]

Found this image online. I know nothing about its origin or the caption “Abuelita de Batman,” other than the Facebook watermark, but thought maybe the experts here would know something about it. From appearances, the underlying image looks to pre-date 1939. Is it photoshopped, possibly?

[Jim Akin]

Reddit's r/opera Subreddit identifies it as a costume from a 1903 production of Strauss's "Die Fledermaus."

Comments on the post seem kind of skeptical about which character in the opera would wear that getup, so take it with a grain of salt. I'm not familar with Die Fledermaus, or with any opera.

Comments also seem to indicate the subject is a man. If so, it'd be "Abuelito."

[BiffPow]

Thanks, Jim. My son and I have been doing a music appreciation class including Strauss. The “flitter mouse” is “the Bat,” and it’s also known as “Revenge of the Bat”! Interesting!

[AndyFish]

You beat me to it, Jim! As a lifelong Opera fan I was going to chime in this looked to be an opera portrait and Die Fledermaus was my first guess. More likely Spain than Mexico because Barcelona had a very healthy opera circuit and Opera itself didn't get popular in North American until the mid 20th Century-- but I could be wrong and maybe Mexico had a burgeoning playhouse.

There were also off broadway productions of Mary Roberts Rhinehart play "The Bat" which pre-dates Batman and often featured the villain in a bat suit.

[BiffPow]

Ah, ha ha! Impressive, Andy.

[Lou Szabo]

Holy highbrow Batman! The translation is literally The Flying Mouse, because Germans love compound words.

[Jim Akin]

More likely Spain than Mexico because Barcelona had a very healthy opera circuit and Opera itself didn't get popular in North American until the mid 20th Century-- but I could be wrong and maybe Mexico had a burgeoning playhouse.

I think the Spanish-language association could be be spurious, a result of the inscription "Abuelita de Batman" ("Batman's granny"), which isn't part of the original image.

[chrisbcritter]

Holy highbrow Batman! The translation is literally The Flying Mouse, because Germans love compound words.

And "Fledermaus" is what Von Bloheim calls Batman in the party scene from "Death in Slow Motion"!

[clavierankh]

Dr. Floyd calls him that in The Joker's Epitaph.