Following World War I, a gun manufacturer named the Winchester Repeating Arms Company decided to use its surplus production capacity to manufacture various consumer goods like refrigerators, kitchen knives, and....believe it or not...roller-skates!
It's hard to comprehend now, but these clunky slabs of metal were once promoted as a wondrous form of personal transportation, capable of granting the wearer "super speed"!
Appearing in magazines since the early 1920's, ads for Winchester Roller Skates later made the jump to comic books through a recurring campaign starring Wings and Winnie Winchester. This brother-sister team constantly promoted the super-speed capabilities and civic value of their namesake roller skates. In fact, in November 1958 issues of DC Comics, Winchester roller skates were used by Wing and Winnie to "Bag a Thief"! Sporting the standard flat cap and suit coat from the Joe Chill Criminal Collection, a purse-snatcher disrupts the peaceful suburban serenity (click on the panels for a larger view)...
Attaboy, Wings! Leave the womenfolk behind and chase that creep down! What'll Wings do when he catches up with him? A spinning axe kick to the jaw? Quickly reassemble the skates into a tiny Winchester firearm? What?
Sadly, cooler minds prevailed and Wings merely staked out the purse-snatcher's house until the cops showed up. With typical Wings Winchester modesty, he credits his skates for his impulsive and somewhat dangerous act of heroism!
Of course, those of us who grew up on dirt roads out in the country could never realize the universal dream of roller skate crime fighting.
Also, is it just me, or does the criminal in the final panel look like a desperately-in-need-of-a-bathroom Leonard Nimoy? Okay, that was a cheap shot...but with the new Star Trek movie hitting Friday, you can't blame a guy for doing a little preemptive Google-baiting.
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LOL at the Joe Chill Collection!
Roller skates of the '50s and '60s were completely impractical for skating on roads because the moment you hit a pebble--no, a grain of sand--you were going to lose it.
In fact, that's why skating and especially skateboarding never really took off until they came up with the plastic wheels. I remember skateboards hitting it big around 1963-1964 in my home town. I remember it largely because my left knee has this really amazing scar from the time I biffed it on the lip of my neighbor's driveway. I threw out my skateboard after that adventure and very quickly so did everybody else.
BTW, good skaters can easily outpace runners, so in a sense they do have "super speed".
Posted by: Pat Curley | May 06, 2009 at 01:25 AM
Super speed and roller skates! What other reason is there that I would have taken up roller skating?
Posted by: Dan Lietha | May 06, 2009 at 06:20 AM
The Golden-Age version of the hero Air Wave used to chase down bad guys by roller skating on power lines! Now that's hard core. :-)
Posted by: Sea-of-Green | May 06, 2009 at 08:39 AM
Don't forget the VERY early Iron Man story where Stark plans to transport entire platoons of soldiers on transistorized roller skates.
Posted by: Chris Tolworthy | May 06, 2009 at 10:11 AM
Here's iron man in his later jet-powered roller skates. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3345/3192075276_bc22a5d930_o.png
This is why I love comics.
Posted by: Chris Tolworthy | May 06, 2009 at 10:16 AM
Wings and Winnie Winchester. Remember, kids, never think up a name for your kids after that third tequilla.
Posted by: ShadowWing Tronix | May 06, 2009 at 04:09 PM