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BATMANIA

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<i> Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press</i>

Here’s a new bit of trivia for Batfans. In Dallas, a securities dealer named Stephen Batman has an assistant named Robin, and his life has become so crazed with crank calls since a certain new film came out that he may have to get his batphone unlisted. Although he may change his phone number, he says he definitely will not change his name. Originally from Dodge City, Kan., not Gotham City, Batman’s grandfather did a study of the unusual family name, which originated in England, and found about 300 Batmans in the United States. Batman, 33, was a grade-schooler when the television series came out and his own popularity rocketed as a result. Now, he says, “I take a lot of kidding. I have a 3-year-old batson, my newborn baby is a batbaby, I have a batdog, and everybody at work says I drive a batmobile.” As for the new “Batman” movie, Batman thinks it’s “very good . . . And I think it will do wonders for my own career.” He’s also a baseball fan and was off to see a Texas Rangers game, because, well . . . it was bat night.

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