The
bat-
pole is what
Bruce Wayne and
Dick Grayson would use to slide down to the
Batcave on the old
60's Batman TV show. The routine went like this:
Commisioner Gordon would call using the
hotline. You knew this was a special phone line because the phones on both ends were completly painted
bright red. Then Bruce and Dick would swing into action, running into the
Wayne Mansion's private library. In the library was a
stone bust of Bruce's father whose head would swivel open to reveal a
button in the
neck. Pressing that button resulted in the bookshelf swinging open to reveal... the bat-pole! Bruce and Dick would slide down, much like how
firemen do in
firestations.
In the TV show, only three people knew about the location of the the pole and the cave. Bruce, Dick, and the butler Alfred. In the Batman comics and animated series, the entrance way to the Batcave was hidden behind a grandfather clock. In the movies, it was just behind a locked door.