Roller disco, trick skates for thieves
create popular displays in museum
By Julie Abrahamson
Staff Reporter
Think “Xanadu,” circa 1980. The
movie, starring Olivia Newton-John,
is a classic portrayal of the ensuing
decade: It’s about roller skating.
Like the movie, most people think
of the sport as another fad of the era.
Yet, after visiting the National
Museum of Roller Skating, 4730
South St., patrons may realize roller
skating didn’t run the course of
macrame, but rather, constitutes a
substantial part of pop culture history.
The museum features an impres
sive collection of roller skates, a hall
of fame containing photographs of
coaches and athletes and various
roller skating memorabilia. Among
them are postcards, award medal
lions, stickers, costumes and paint
ings of roller skaters.
Moreover, the museum holds the
largest collection of roller skate prod
ucts in the world, said director and
curator Michael Zaidman.
The museum’s founders estab
lished the United States Amateur
Confederation of Roller Skating in
Detroit. However, after numerous vis
its to Lincoln for the National Roller
Skating Championships, they moved
the association here, changing the
group’s name to the Roller Skating
Association.
In 1980, they founded the
National Museum of Roller Skating.
The museum is currently the only one
of its kind, Zaidman said.
Normally, 15 to 20 people visit the
museum weekly, but every summer
during the Regional Roller Skating
Championships, the museum draws
1,500 to 2,000 visitors. Also, local
elementary schools occasionally visit
the museum.
With all the different styles of
rouer SKares displayed, me museum
may seem like a creative extension of
a roller rink such as Lincoln’s Holiday
Skateworld.
One very popular booth features
roller disco, Zaidman said. This dis
play features a pair of white roller
skates with enormous pompoms
attached to the toes. Next to the roller
skates hangs a 1970s-style red and
yellow T-shirt with a sparkly roller
skating iron-on logo. A button on the
booth - that when pressed - plays a
clip of the Village People song
“YMCA,” which is still a popular
song at roller rinks.
Due to the popularity of the exhib
it and the song, the recording has been
warped because of constant play.
Antique and modern skates fill
other display cases, featuring items
such as a 1760s photograph of Joseph
Merlin.
Merlin took a pair of ice skates
and replaced the blade with five in
line wheels, therefore inventing the
first in-line skates.
Featured in another exhibit are the
first pair of in-lines skates to receive a
patent. The skates date back to
France, 1819. Furthermore, the booth
contains a photograph and description
of James L. Plimpton, the “father of
roller skating.” In 1863, Plimpton
invented the quad skate, the typical
four-wheel model of roller skate.
Zaidman said people preferred
Plimpton’s skates because they pro
vided more stability than in-line
skates.
Interesting exhibits lace the entire
museum. For instance, one booth con
tains the museum’s most unusual
skates, including a motorized skate,
which rolls along at speeds up to 30
mph.
International skating is the theme
for yet another booth. Skates from
Germany, Great Britain and Israel
auorn me uispiay case, wmcii leaiures
a sleek pair of red platform sandals
with wheels built into the soles
of the shoes, and a lever
attached to the sandal acting
as a wheel release.
The trick skates were
used by a roller-skating
jewelry thief in an
episode of the television
series, “CHIPs” which
enjoyed success during the peak
of roller skating popularity.
Various sports displays contain
speed and roller hockey skates, some
of which were donated by athletes or
skating companies. Photos of a 1920s
roller basketball team occupy a
booth as well.
Sarah Webber,
assistant
curator, said
her work at
the muse
um cata
loging
pieces and orga
nizing displays made
her feel like a part of
roller skating’s rich
heritage.
“Most of what
I do involves histo
ry,” Webber said.
Currently, Webber is working on
an exhibit about movies featuring
roller skating.
Zaidman said the display would
include a focus on the film “Xanadu”
and feature a floor plan, set design
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were meant to roll, and current
ly Webber and Zaidman are planning
a trip for many of the museum’s
pieces.The two have started packing
278 items from the museum to be
placed in a six-month exhibit at San
Francisco International Airport. The
exhibit
will run from Dec. 1, 1997
through June 1, 1998.
Meanwhile, for those left in
Lincoln, free tours are offered th$ first
Friday of every month at 12:15 p.m.
“The museum has an incredible
history,” Webber said. “Even if you
don’t know a lot about roller skating,
you should go. It’s very interesting.”
Regular museum hours are
Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5
p.m., and admission is free.
lechmcal tricks can t save movie
By Gerry Beltz
Film Critic
Ah, that old trick! The “globetrot
ting-nuclear-weapon-on-American
soil-by-remorseful-music-teacher” for
mula strikes again - this time in “The
Peacemaker.”
Director Mimi Leder takes a break
from directing TV movies and episodes
of “ER” to take the helm of the first fea
ture film from Dream Works - a pro
duction conglomerate of Steven
Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey
Kateenberg - and is fortunate enough to
have some talented people to work with,
like Nicole Kidman and current co
worker, George Clooney.
Still, formula is formula, and pretty
much everything is by the book, with a
few surprises. Nuclear expert Julia
Kelly (Kidman) is thrust into a situation
headfirst and can barely keep up, while
ultra-realist Colonel Thomas Davoe
(Clooney) gives her lessons on how
things are dohe in the “real world” of
wheeling and dealing in order to get the
information.
Together, along with some neat
technical heely-hooter thingamabobs,
the two fnust learn to cope with each
other to find and stop the detonation of
a nuclear bomb.
A major problem with “The
Peacemaker” is the beginning. Here’s a
hint: Consume caffeine. The beginning
of this film makes the O.J. trial look like
swift justice. Either bring a pillow or
stab yourself in the arm or leg periodi
cally to stay awake.
Good thing: no romantic involve
ment here. These two feed off of each
other in an intellectual manner, each
fighting their own personal battles as
the film progresses.
“The Peacemaker” is more drama
and suspense than out-and-out action.
The car chase provides possibly the best
action sequence of the film and is better
than the average chase scene due to
unexpected realism (actual reasons for
cars exploding, intelligent tactics and so
forth). . ^.
, It was also nice to see the snipers of
a film screw-up for once, and not be
Please see NUCLEAR on 10
Darwin awards
honor odd deaths
By Sean McCarthy
Internet Critic
Whether you call it natural
selection or the thinning of the
gene pool, life-threatening faux
pas bring to light morons who
make Gerald Ford look like Fred
Astaire.
And no one celebrates these
duffers better than the annual
Darwin Awards.
By far, the awards’ official
World Wide Web site is one of
the funniest sites you will find.
Located at http://officialdar
winawards.com/, the site
includes tales of people meeting
their untimely fates in funny and
often undignified ways.
Last year’s recipient went to a
Toronto lawyer who died while
demonstrating the safetv of win
Please see DARWIN on 10
