Jumping into the Time Machine...Polaroid: 1979

by Skip Cohen

It's Throwback Thursday, one of my favorite days of the week.

Long before digital, Polaroid manufactured an ID camera that became one of the best ways for companies and states to issue a photo ID. In the late 70s, Polaroid was awarded the contract for the Nebraska driver's license program. At the time, I was the regional services manager for the Midwest, and lauching/servicing the program was my responsibility.

This became one of those incredible work-hard-play-hard scenarios that I never wanted to do again! LOL The group above was the training team that launched the program across Nebraska. Our point team would travel a day ahead of the bus and at each of three or four locations, set up the training room for hundreds of DMV staff.

We'd train all day, then pack it up, get on the bus and head to the next city. The team was a combination of staff from Polaroid's Oak Brook, Illinois, Cambridge office, with a few training experts from other Polaroid locations. Looking back, I immediately start laughing over so many funny moments that happened throughout the week.

The biggest was in Kearney, Nebraska, when Spiderman entered the bar at Dickie Dugan's. I knew I was going to have to do some memory-making events to keep the crew laughing over the challenges of training DMV staff all week, and late in the evening, I came walking in as Spiderman.

The ID camera used for licenses was the same system used in malls throughout the country for what we all remember as Santa Claus promotions. Somewhere in life, if you're over 50, you remember a camera that looked like a large Samsonite suitcase. Well, the sales group that sold it wanted to expand holiday seasonality and give it purpose all year long. They had a contract with Marvel for Spider-Man and Batman and Robin costumes, just to name a few. I borrowed a Spiderman costume for the week.

However, I didn't know the contract included a clause stating that Spider-Man would ALWAYS appear in wholesome locations...NOT a bar and dancing on the floor of a disco while trying to drink a martini through the one piece, head to toe, mesh body suit! I heard about the contract when we returned, and for years, the photographs and videos were locked in my safe deposit box, never to be spoken about.

And this is why I love Throwback Thursday - it's the way old photos stop time and bring back some of the very best backstories.  If you haven't gone off in search of your own favorite throwbacks, take a minute and do yourself a favor - find an old pic and enjoy the look in your rearview mirror as you take a quick spin down Memory Lane.

Happy Throwback Thursday!