Different strorylines from comics, movies, and TV shows have shown Batman
accessing the Batcave a variety of ways. Usually Bruce Wayne would enter the Batcave from a hidden door in Wayne Manor's study.
For years in the comics Bruce would enter behind a non functioning grandfather clock by moving the hands of the clock to 10:47, which is the time Martha and Thomas Wayne were murdered. The clock would open revealing a descending staircase leading down to the Batcave.
In Batman Returns, Bruce would would switch the lights on in an ornament in an aquarium and then drop through the floor via an iron maiden.
In Batman Forever, he fell through a trap door in is office at Wayne Foundation into capsule that would transport him at 200 mph to the Batcave.
In Batman Begins, playing three keys on a piano opened a secret panel leading to an elevator originally built for the underground railroad.
Of all the ways the Caped Crusader and at times Robin accessed the Batcave, the secret switch hidden in the bust of William Shakespeare is my favorite. After receiving an urgent call from Commissioner Gordon, Bruce or Dick would pull back the head of the bust of William Shakespeare, perched a top Bruce's desk, and turn a switch. The bookcase on the back wall would then retract into the wall to reveal a pair of labeled fire poles, referred to as the batpoles, and potentially revealing the millionaire and his ward's secret identity with words "Access to Batcave via batpoles" printed on the back wall. Their names clearly identified their corresponding pole. On the way down the poles Bruce would pull down on a lever that would change them from their civilian clothes to their crime fighting gear. In the 1966 movie the lever was marked "Instant Costume Change Lever". But episodes of the TV series never revealed this. Although, in the episode "Shoot a Crooked Arrow", Bruce did pull a lever labeled "Negate Bruce's Change", leaving him in his civilian clothes.
I would have killed to have this prop when I was a kid..better late than never. This reproduction of the William Shakespeare bust was originally made for the TV reunion movie "Return to the Batcave". It is one of my favorite pieces...To the batpoles!
