Souvenir Program: The Roller Derby / Spring 1938 [title from cover]

[ROLLER DERBY]

Published by Roller Derby, Inc, N.p. [Chicago?], 1938

About this Item

Quarto (28cm). Staple-bound, illustrated wrappers, printed in black and red; [8pp]; illus. Old vertical crease; mild rippling and soil to covers; Very Good. A very early Roller Derby program, issued under the aegis of the sport's inventor (and long-time copyright holder), Leo Seltzer, and dating from the first three years of his promotion of the sport from a regional novelty to a nationwide spectacle. Seltzer had hit pay dirt at the beginning of the Depression by promoting "walk-athons," a spin-off from the "dance-a-thon" craze; but by the mid-Thirties these events had grown passé and Seltzer began casting about for a new competitive endurance spin-off. "Roller Derby" was trademarked in 1935 and, after some fits and starts (including a tragic 1937 bus crash in which nineteen of Seltzer's star performers were killed), the sport became more-or-less established in the form we know it today. A collaboration with Damon Runyon in 1938 resulted in most of the rules of the modern game; and Seltzer's skill at recruiting women skaters ensured the sport's popularity with members of both sexes. Roller Derby's links to the culture of the Great Depression, along with other similarly brutal endurance sports, have been well-documented: in addition to the promise of entertainment and prize money, such events highlighted the value of endurance, self-determination, persistence, and grim determination - all qualities in high demand during the bleak years following the Crash. The current program, produced for an event in Cleveland, includes a bio and portrait of Leo Selzer, action shots from previous Derbies, and two pages of portraits and profiles of the night's competitors, who included such future Hall-of-Famers as Peggy O'Niel and Johnnie Rosasco. The night's lineups are listed, and the sport's Rules and Regulations are printed in full; the rather crude cover art, depicting a classic "whip" move being executed by two female competitors, is signed "MacArthur." [54142].

Seller Inventory # 54142

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Souvenir Program: The Roller Derby / Spring 1938 [title from cover]
• Publisher: Roller Derby, Inc, N.p. [Chicago?]
• Publication Date: 1938
• Seller catalogs:
  • Women
  • Social History
  • Great Depression