Next Stop: 2007

Was it Sunday? Or did he dress up for the picture? It is hard to imagine him wearing it every day.

[September 15 that year was a Friday. There was a lot more tie-wearing back then. - Dave]

When I was a kid in the 40s and 50s, we used to make two versions of a thing we called a "skate-a-mobile". These were made from clamp-on roller skates. One skate was pulled apart so that one half became the front wheels and the other half the back.

The upright version was like a scooter. It had a footboard with wheels attached, and an upright at the front with a crosspiece nailed to it for handlebars.

The flat version had only the footboard, but with "handlebars" at the front. It was rather like a skateboard but we never used it that way. It was used in the manner that this picture shows, or headfirst if you were daring.

Let's not forget those hollow metal two-piece wheels from hell. On asphalt they would spark like flint and slide like skates...till they split in half and almost kill you.

Not really, but if you've ever seen that crazy X-Games style sport you'd recognize the way Clarence is lying on whatever wheeled contraption he's lying on as a classic luger's posture. Of course these days he'd be wearing a helmet.