- Mr. Lauderdale with his “bicycle” skates
On the April edition of WKNO’s fine program, Southern Routes, I journey back to the glory days of Skateland, Skatehaven, Rainbow Lake, and many of the other roller-skating palaces that were hugely popular with Memphians in the early to mid-1900s.
Not to give too much away, but back in those days, there was a whole lot more to roller-skating than just strapping on some skates and rolling around a wooden track. Rinks put on pageants, plays, races — even full-scale weddings. And skating wasn’t just for ma, pa, teens, and the little kiddies. They made special skates for dogs, monkeys, and even BEARS.
The show will even feature rare photos of me (such as the one here), taken in my younger days, when I was a veritable Flash at rinks around the Mid-South. Why, it took servants almost a day just to polish all the trophies I earned. Or were those bowling trophies? I can’t remember, since the Lauderdales were pretty much good at everything.
Tune into Southern Routes or you’ll be very sorry (and so will I). The show will air Thursday, April 8th at 8 p.m., and then it will repeat on Saturday, April 10 at 2:30 p.m., and again on Sunday, April 11 at 12 noon. It also airs on WKNO-2 Saturday, April 10 at 9 p.m., so I really don’t want to hear any pitiful excuses about, “Uh, I missed it.”
And I’ll be quite candid with you. Either watch the show, and admire the hard work done by my WKNO pals Kip Cole and Bonnie Kourvelas, or face the dire prospect of being cut out of my will. It’s that simple.
