Roller skating

This vignette cartoon depicts, at center, the current “craze” for “Free Silver,” showing Uncle Sam riding a silver rocking horse. Surrounding vignettes show him participating in several fads “Past and Present,” such as the “Blue Glass Craze” after A. J. Pleasonton’s discovery of the properties of blue light; the “Prohibition Crusade”; the “Roller-Skating Craze”; a puzzle craze in the 1880s including the “Fifteen Puzzle,” with 15 sliding blocks in a square box, and “Pigs in Clover,” a “rolling-ball dexterity puzzle”; the “Paderewski Craze” around 1891 for piano music by Ignace J. Paderewski; the cycling craze, which has not yet ended; and the “Schlatter Craze,” which did come to an end with the disappearance and death of faith healer Francis Schlatter.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-07-29

Creator(s)

Opper, Frederick Burr, 1857-1937

A minister and a “Theater Manager” are crying because of poor attendance at sermons and theater closures due to “Poor Business.” A young boy on roller skates is nearby with a sandwich board that states “Sunday evening sermon by the Rev. Dr. Gums, on the Sin of Roller Skating.” A crowd of people are standing at the entrance to a “Roller-Skating Rink” in the background.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-03-18

Creator(s)

Opper, Frederick Burr, 1857-1937