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If you're minding the heat, why not cool down with a free figure skating eBook? For a limited time only, you can download free copies of my reference books "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating" on Amazon.

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Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on FacebookTwitterPinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a pre-ordering a copy of the upcoming book "Jackson Haines: The Skating King": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/2015/08/jackson-haines-definitive-biography.html

Summer Figure Skating Reads

Header for "The Best Figure Skating Biographies You'll Ever Read!"

Looking for a great figure skating book to take to the beach this summer? 

I recently put together a list of five great figure skating biographies that everyone should read for the great folks at Shepherd. Click here to read the list and reach out on social media to let me know which of these figure skating biographies you have read and which ones that I didn't include that you really enjoyed reading! 

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on FacebookTwitterPinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Adagio And Apache: The Ruth Mack And Everett McGowan Story

Ruth Mack and Everett McGowan, pioneers in the art of adagio pairs figure skating
Photo courtesy Joseph Butchko Collection, an acquisition of the Skate Guard Archive

Born March 20, 1900 in Crookston, Minnesota, Edward Everett McGowan was the son of Thomas and Josephine (Campbell) McGowan. He grew up in Glyndon Township, where his father was employed as a weigher for the Minnesota State Grain Inspection Agency. As a toddler, Everett learned how to skate while visiting Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He won a speed skating race on clamp skates at the age of six.

Minnesota speed skater and adagio pairs figure skating pioneer Everett McGowan
Photo courtesy University Of St. Thomas (MN) Archives

As a young man, Everett enjoyed just about every recreational pursuit imaginable - everything from speed and roller skating to baseball, lacrosse, boxing, badminton, tennis, croquet, dominoes and football. While studying law at St. Thomas shortly after The Great War, he played left half for the college's football team. In 1920, he won the Northwestern Indoor Amateur Skating Association's speed skating title and defeated future Olympic Gold Medallist Charles Jewtraw in a race in Lake Placid. He turned professional the following year, amassing an astonishing twenty five victories in his first season. One of them was a win against his own speed skating coach, Norval Baptie. Reporters called him the "Three Letter Man Of Skating".

Minnesota speed skater and adagio pairs figure skating pioneer Everett McGowanMinnesota speed skater and adagio pairs figure skating pioneer Everett McGowanspeed skater and adagio pairs figure skating pioneer Everett McGowan
Everett McGowan. Photos courtesy Hennepin County Library.

During the roaring twenties, Everett set a world speed skating record in the fifty yard dash, raced an automobile travelling forty four miles per hour on Onota Lake in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and competed in a six-day international roller skating race at Madison Square Garden.

Minnesota speed skater and adagio pairs figure skating pioneer Everett McGowanMinnesota speed skater and adagio pairs figure skating pioneer Everett McGowan
Everett McGowan. Photos courtesy Hennepin County Library.

Everett also played baseball and boxed professionally. He played hockey for six years with teams in Edmonton, Vancouver and Winnipeg, before being sold to the New York Rangers, who farmed him out to the Springfield Indians, where he had a short but sweet career as a defenseman.

Ruth Mack and Everett McGowan, pioneers in the art of adagio pairs figure skating

In the height of his success, Everett met a roller skater eight years his junior named Ruth Lillian Mack. They soon tied the knot and embarked on an unlikely career as professional figure skaters.

Ruth Mack and Everett McGowan, pioneers in the art of adagio pairs figure skating
Photo courtesy Hennepin County Library

Everett and Ruth - or McGowan and Mack, as they would soon become famously known - learned some of the finer points of figure skating from Gustave Lussi, Norval Baptie and Howard Nicholson. Soon they translated 'table top' adagio roller skating tricks to the ice and created a unique style that was all their own. Their first performances were in conjunction with speed skating races, hockey games and carnivals in the State of New York. At one such event in Syracuse, a reporter remarked, "The pair went through a series of waltz whirls, spins and stunts which had the fans constantly in applause." When they appeared at a carnival in Kansas City in 1934, the program stated, "Skaters: If your insurance is paid up, you can try this."

Ruth Mack and Everett McGowan, pioneers in the art of adagio pairs figure skatingRuth Mack and Everett McGowan, pioneers in the art of adagio pairs figure skating
Photos courtesy Hennepin County Library

Everett and Ruth's first big 'gig' was the Black Forest ice show at the Dallas Centennial Exposition in 1936. In the years that followed, they appeared in the film "Ice Follies Of 1939". They acted as producers and stars of their own travelling McGowan and Mack International Ice Revue, which brought them acclaim at hotels and movie theatres across America. They had a portable 20 X 40 tank rink which could be installed and frozen in less than twelve hours. Their advertisements boasted, "The only portable real ice rink which complies with every State and City refrigeration ordinance, and can be made at any size."

Ruth Mack and Everett McGowan, pioneers in the art of adagio pairs figure skating

What many did not know at the time was the fact that Ruth and Everett's skating career almost ended before it really got started. Arthur L. Goodfellow recalled, "McGowan became afflicted with a rare and supposedly incurable form of arthritis. Every clinic visited had the same dismal response. 'Mac, your days of ice skating are over.' But McGowan, a fighter from away back, refused to give up. Two persons had taken a particular interest in his case - one was a doctor with a major health clinic, the other a former veterinarian and sports massage expert, Ralph Cressler, who at the time was managing the Hippodrome ice rink in St. Paul. It was Cressler who proposed an unorthodox method of treatment. He had tried it with varying degrees of success with arthritic animals. 'This idea of mine might help you,' said Cressler, 'but it will take a man with guts to do it.' McGowan's reply, 'Let's go.' So Cressler rigged up a special harness and literally hung McGowan from the rafters by the head, stretching [his] legs and spinal column for weeks. It was a rough ordeal and between bouts he'd go to the regular clinic doctor for check-ups. However, the unconventional Cressler treatment was unbelievably successful. Within eight months Everett and Ruth were ice show stars again." Unbelievably, Everett wasn't the only skater to endure such 'treatments' at the time. Olympic figure skater, film noir actress and ballet dancer Belita Jepson-Turner was also sent to a veterinarian for care.  

Ruth Mack and Everett McGowan, pioneers in the art of adagio pairs figure skating

Everett and Ruth appeared in shows at the College Inn, Hotel Sherman, Conrad Hilton Hotel, Adolphus Hotel and Boulevard Tavern. They also toured with Ice Capades, Ice Follies and Holiday On Ice. The 1940 Ice Follies program raved, "Everett McGowan has... a tremendously rugged physique, coupled with cool nerves [which] gives him the ideal requisites for the exacting tasks he performs in this year's 'Ice Follies'. His partner, Ruth Mack, is a charming person both on and off the ice. She, in contrast to her husky partner, seems small and petite, but what she lacks in size is more than made up in courage. She goes through the rigors of the severe routine calmly and coolly and her striking personality radiates through the audience as she, with her partner, acknowledges the plaudits of the audience."


Everett and Ruth, along with their thirteen year old daughter Jo Ann (who went on to star in Holiday On Ice herself) were also featured in the 1944 Republic Pictures film "Lake Placid Serenade", starring Věra Hrubá Ralston. Their signature number was called "Cafe de Apache", and was set to Jacques Offenbach's "L'Amour de L'Apache". The Apache dance, popular in Paris in the early twentieth century, was a highly theatrical, angry dance with elements of stage combat that depicted a struggle between a pimp and a prostitute. Maurice Mouvet described it as "as an intensely brutal dance, but... not vulgar with deliberate vulgarity. It is the dance of realism, of primitive passion; as a picture of life in the raw it has beauty and artistic strength."

Arthur Godfrey and Everett McGowan
Arthur Godfrey and Everett McGowan

In April of 1952, Everett installed a portable ice rink for an episode of the variety show "Arthur Godfrey And His Friends". The episode, which was performed entirely on ice, was a massive hit and CBS was inundated with phone calls, telegrams and letters as a result.

All-Year Indoor Skating Rink at the Raleigh Hotel in South Fallsburg, New York

Everett and Ruth continued to perform professionally well into the fifties. They later operated the All-Year Indoor Skating Rink at the Raleigh Hotel in South Fallsburg, New York. On May 19, 1962, Everett was inducted into the National Speed Skating Museum's Hall Of Fame. Ten years later, he was inducted into the Ice Skating Institute's Hall Of Fame. Sadly, Everett passed away on May 1, 1982 in Kiamesha Lake, New York at the age of eighty-one. Ruth passed away on March 18, 2001 in Forest Lake, Minnesota at the age of ninety-two.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on FacebookTwitterPinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

The 1969 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

Schedule of events for the 1969 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Seattle, Washington
Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

Tunics and polyester pants were all the rage, Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" topped the music charts and the very first Wendy's Restaurant opened in Columbus Ohio. With "one giant leap for mankind", 1969 was also the year of the Moon Landing, "Abbey Road" by The Beatles and the very first Woodstock festival.


Yet, from January 29 to February 1 at the Seattle Center Arena on 4th and Mercer in Seattle, Washington, the only thing any self-respecting American cared about were the results of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. The city had played host to the U.S. Championships twice previously at that point. In 1951, Dick Button had claimed his sixth U.S. title in Seattle and in 1960, Carol Heiss and David Jenkins each took their fourth. The faces may have been different in 1969, but the level of skating couldn't have been higher. Let's take a look back at how things played out!

THE NOVICE AND JUNIOR EVENTS


Newspaper clipping from the 1969 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Seattle, Washington

Blizzard conditions caused poor attendance on the first days of the competition, when many of the novice and junior events were held. Eleven young men vied for the novice men's title, and two of the smallest prevailed. Los Angeles' Jimmy Demogines and Boston's Mahlon Bradley held the first two places in the school figures and managed to retain them overall after giving impressive free skating performances. In the novice women's event, a young Dorothy Hamill rose from sixth after figures to claim gold ahead of Juli McKinstry and the early leader, Sheri Thrapp of Burbank. In the junior men's event, Richard Ewell III landed a triple Salchow and Atoy Wilson attempted a rare double Walley, but it was John Baldwin of the Broadmoor Skating Club who came out on top despite two missed jumps in his free skate. The star of the junior women's event was Audrey King, who vaulted from eighth to third with a delightful free skating performance. However, it was Louise Vacca of Long Island's impressive free skate that clinched the title. The junior pairs event wasn't particularly well skated, but John Baldwin managed to win his second gold medal in Seattle with partner Jannat Thompson. Ten couples entered the Silver Dance competition. After six were eliminated in the initial round, it was Candace Johnstone and Bruce Bowland of the Essex Skating Club who were the unanimous winners of the title.

THE PAIRS COMPETITION 


American figure skating champions Cynthia and Ron Kauffman
Cynthia and Ron Kauffman. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

"We are going to make this year one of our best performances," Cynthia Kauffman told Jane Tarbox. Cynthia and her brother Ron's commitment to skating was a challenge in the months leading up to the Nationals in Seattle. She'd been attending Griffin Murrfy Business College; he'd been on GI duty. Yet, they'd still found time to work with coach Ron Ludington as much as possible. When the Kauffman's missed their side-by-side double toe-loops in the compulsory program, JoJo Starbuck and Ken Shelley surprised many by taking the lead.

Video courtesy Frazer Ormondroyd

The tables turned in the free skate when Starbuck and Shelley dropped to second with two falls and the Kauffman's delivered a conservative but classy performance on their way to their fourth and final U.S. title in front of a hometown crowd. In "Skating" magazine, Lynn Thomas noted, "One bystander remarked that the Kauffman's performance was too beautiful to be interrupted by applause. That is the supreme compliment." Melissa and Mark Militano moved up from fifth after the compulsory program to take the bronze with an exciting free skate that featured a throw Axel and double Salchow.

THE ICE DANCE COMPETITION

American ice dancers Judy Schwomeyer and James Sladky
Judy Schwomeyer and James Sladky in Seattle. Photo courtesy Judy Sladky.

Eleven talented teams weaved their way through the Westminster Waltz, Quickstep, Blues and OSP but Judy Schwomeyer and James Sladky were in a class of their own. Though they were somewhat upstaged in the free dance by Anne and Harvey Millier, they decisively took their second U.S. Gold Dance title with unanimous first place marks from the five judges. Though they were third in the free dance, the Millier's remained in fifth place, behind Joan Bitterman and Brad Hislop, Debbie Gerken and Raymond Tiedemann and Debbie Ganson and Rollie Arthur. Bitterman, Hislop and Ganson all represented the host Seattle Skating Club, thus receiving generous applause from the large crowd who attended the free dance.

American ice dancers Judy Schwomeyer and James Sladky
Judy Schwomeyer and James Sladky. Photo courtesy Judy Sladky.

Recalling the rink in Seattle, Judy Sladky said, "I'm 4'10" and the board was so high I could barely see over it. I kept thinking, 'How could the judges possibly see your feet if they can't even see your head?'"

THE MEN'S COMPETITION

World Figure Skating Champion Tim Wood
Tim Wood

Tim Wood dominated the senior men's school figures from start to finish, even earning a 5.8 from one judge for his back paragraph bracket. In the free skate, Wood was pitted against John 'Misha' Petkevich, Gary Visconti and Kenneth Shelley. All four men had stellar reputations as outstanding free skaters, so needless to say, the audience in Seattle were riveted as each man came out and tried to outdo each other. In "Skating" magazine, Lynn Thomas recalled, "Tim... won the free skating, but the majority was not so clear. His program was excellently conceived with varied, imaginative footwork. The jumps were woven into the fabric of the routine, and Tim generated more excitement than he has in the past. As usual, five minutes seemed like a short time when J. Misha Petkevich was skating. His music and huge jumps generate excitement throughout, but his program may suffer from familiarity. His footwork was not as creative as Wood's; some steps were too repetitive. Gary Visconti skated with his usual energy, but his jumps were small compared to Wood's and Petkevich's. He seemed to be spending so much time selling the performance to the audience that he forgot about the actual skating. Kenneth Shelley and Roger Bass were the only other men to skate particularly well." Wood's victory in Seattle was unanimous. Petkevich defeated Visconti for the silver in the narrowest of three-two judging panel splits, and Shelley vaulted from seventh to fourth.

THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION

Everyone in Seattle was curious to see who Peggy Fleming's successor would be. Dawn Glab of the Arctic Blades Figure Skating Club managed a narrow lead over Tina Noyes, Julie Lynn Holmes and Janet Lynn in the senior women's school figures. Though she skated one of her best performances in the free skate, it simply didn't have the same technical content of the other three contenders. Noyes attempted a triple toe-loop - the same jump she'd missed the year prior at the Nationals in Philadelphia - and again floundered. Holmes skated beautifully, landing a rare double inside Axel, but was unable to best the ethereal Janet Lynn, who was competing for the first time in ten months.

U.S. Figure Skating Champion Janet Lynn Janet Lynn in Seattle
Janet Lynn in Seattle. Photo courtesy "Peace And Love" by Janet Lynn.

Janet Lynn had some small errors - a missed combination and a touch down on her triple toe-loop, but the overall package she presented drew well-deserved rave reviews. She took the gold medal, earning first place ordinals from three of the five judges. Judge E. Newbold Black IV gave his first place ordinal to Noyes, and the wife of former USFSA President John Shoemaker gave hers to Holmes. Dawn Glab finished fourth; Jennie Walsh of the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club ninth.



After the competition, a heartbroken Tina Noyes told a reporter, "Halfway through I started to get tight. I knew I had to relax, but my legs felt stiff. The music would fade inside me. I was blowing it, and I couldn't do anything about it... Skating has been everything for seven years. Oh, why did I let this get away?"

American skaters had an outstanding showing at that year's World Championships in Colorado Springs. Every single member of the team finished in the top ten at Worlds that year - an achievement that was truly a testament to the depth and talent in U.S. figure skating at that point in time.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on FacebookTwitterPinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Sonja Henie And The Extortionist

Olympic Gold Medallist and World Figure Skating Champion Sonja Henie

January, 1938... the usual pile of fan mail flowed into the Twentieth Century-Fox studio. Some letters were addressed to "Sonja Henie c/o 20th Century Fox", others simply to "Sonja". There were thousands of letters from Oslo, Ottawa and Ohio. Some of them were charming; some of them a little cuckoo. Men were in love with her; women envied her glamour and mystique; little girls wanted to be just like her. 

The Norwegian ice queen didn't sit there in front of a giant pile of letters opening them one by one herself. She had people to do that for her. On March 21, 1938, one of those people finally opened a letter postmarked January 14. When they did, they probably had to pick their jaw up off the floor.

Olympic Gold Medallist and World Figure Skating Champion Sonja Henie
Photo courtesy Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection. Used with permission.

The letter in that studio employee's hand warned Sonja Henie that she was being watched. It demanded five hundred dollars in cold hard cash and threatened, "Do not report this to the police." It was signed Joe Cummings. The frightened employee brought the letter to the attention of their superior and the studio's management decided not to tell Sonja or her father about the incident for fear that they would have a hullabaloo on their hands. Instead, the studio executives contacted the Federal Bureau Of Investigation in Washington. It wasn't until that April that Sonja was finally told about the letter's existence. She wasn't a happy camper.

Olympic Gold Medallist and World Figure Skating Champion Sonja Henie

The FBI traced the letter and determined that "Joe Cummings" was actually a twenty-four year old Scottish immigrant named Fred Roger Cunningham. Prior to moving to California, he had previously resided in Plainfield, New Jersey and worked in Civilian Conservation Corps camps in Sneedsville, Tenneseee and Buffalo, New York. The feds further ascertained that Cunningham had been arrested in Tucumcari, New Mexico on January 22, 1938 on suspicion of theft of an automobile near Pasadena... only eight days after the letter to Sonja had been mailed. For this car theft, he was sentenced to a year in the Los Angeles County road camp. When the feds went to 'visit' Cunningham, he was taken into federal custody on extortion changes. He was probably lucky that the FBI found him before he met the end of Papa Henie's cane.

Olympic Gold Medallist and World Figure Skating Champion Sonja Henie

FBI investigator John H. Hanson released the following statement upon Cunningham's arrest: "On April 16, this individual was located by special agents of the Federal Bureau Of Investigation and made a full confession with respect to this case in which he stated that he had written the extortion letter to Miss Sonja Henie and mailed [it]." 

Photograph of Fred Roger Cunningham, a man who attempted extortion against Olympic figure skater and actress Sonja HeniePhotograph of Fred Roger Cunningham, a man who attempted extortion against Olympic figure skater and actress Sonja Henie
Fred Roger Cunningham

Cunningham had told the FBI he had written the extortion letter "as a bit of devilment" but admitted that he was flat broke at the time. He also claimed that at no time would he have ever harmed the three-time Olympic Gold Medallist. The feds ultimately went easy on the young man, allowing bail on his nine-month sentence to be posted if he stayed the hell away from Sonja and her family.

Newspaper clipping about a 1938 extortion attempt against Olympic Gold Medallist and World Figure Skating Champion Sonja Henie

That same spring Sonja and Tyrone Power's 20th Century Fox 1937 film "Thin Ice" was released to British audiences. The film opened at Earl's Court in London in March of 1938 at the exact same time as the film "One Mile To Heaven"... a tale about a career-driven young woman who found herself in the middle of an extortion plot.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on FacebookTwitterPinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

A Midsummer Night's Ice Dream

Poster for the video release of "A Midsummer Night's Ice Dream"

"If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear."

- Excerpt from "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

Penned in the late sixteenth century by William Shakespeare, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is without a doubt one of the most famous plays in history. Though the play has been performed thousands of times on the world's most iconic stages, it wasn't until the late twentieth century that the play was first translated to the ice. Though it was earlier used as a theme of an ice show at Sea World San Diego in the summer of 1988, the first large-scale adaptation of the legendary play took place four years later at the Granite Curling Club in Edmonton, Alberta.

Michael Slipchuk and Kevin Cottam in rehearsals for "A Midsummer Night's Ice Dream"
Michael Slipchuk and Kevin Cottam

Presented by the National Ice Theatre Of Canada, "A Midsummer Night's Ice Dream" debuted from August 16 to 23 as part of the Edmonton Fringe Festival. The brainchild of choreographer Kevin Cottam, it was the first figure skating production in the Edmonton Fringe Festival's eleven year history at the time. Uniquely, Cottam set Shakespeare's play in a subway station, focusing "on the Changeling boy's relationship with the bickering royal couple, Oberon and Titania", according to the August 13, 1992 issue of the "Edmonton Journal". The stars of the Fringe production (Michael Slipchuk, Cameron Medhurst, Anisette Torp-Lind, J.P. Martin, Mark Schmitke and Allison McLean and Konrad Schaub) honed their acting skills with Jan Miller. An original score was composed, recorded and performed by Jan Randall. 

Though the production was wildly popular with Fringe audiences and sold out for all thirteen performances, the reviews weren't all favourable. Theatre critic Christopher Dafoe, covering the show in the August 19, 1992 of "The Globe And Mail", was less than complimentary: "As dance theatre, Ice Dream is, well, a wonderful bit of figure skating. As Puck, the only character in the production who speaks, Australian skater Cameron Medhurst sounds like he's about to deliver an off-colour joke about sheilas and kangaroos. J.P. Martin and Anisette Torp-Lind show some flash as Oberon and Titania, the king and queen of the underworld, but the rest of the skaters, including Canadian champion Michael Slipchuk - he plays Bottom as a janitor - play their parts with the emotional range of a Zamboni. Jan Randall's score is a patchwork of pop, jazz and classical themes that sound as if they were all processed through the same synthesizer and Allison Warman's body-conscious costume design has the unfortunate effect of making the fairies look like extras in Flashdance. Still, there's no arguing with success and now that the Fringe has dipped its toe into sports theatre, we can no doubt expect a flood of jock thespians. Look forward to Kurt Browning as a giant insect in an adaptation of Kafka's Metamorph-Ice. Silken Laumann sculling the North Saskatchewan River in a distaff production of Three Men In A Boat. And, of course, Michael Jordan starring in Nike Theatre's full-court production of Arthur Miller's classic Death of A Pitchman."

Performers in "A Midsummer Night's Ice Dream"

Despite Dafoe's criticisms, in May 1994 the production was adapted for television by Tohaventa Holdings with an all-star cast, including Liz Manley, Yuka Sato and Jozef Sabovčík. Australian Champion Cameron Medhurst reprised his role as Puck. Filming for the ninety minute television special took place in Spruce Grove, Alberta.

Elizabeth Manley having her makeup done for "A Midsummer Night's Ice Dream"

The show was picked up for national broadcast in Canada and later shown on PBS in the United States. It won an Alberta Film and Television Award for Musical or Variety in 1995. Although "A Midsummer Night's Ice Dream" and the National Ice Theatre of Canada's other two taped productions have since somewhat fallen into obscurity, they speak to an important era in Canadian figure skating history when creativity was at a peak and opportunities existed for experimentation and artistic growth.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on FacebookTwitterPinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Approach The Bench: Canada's Olympic And World Judges

Graphic of a Skate Canada judge's work sheet used under the IJS System
Photo courtesy Skate Canada

"Hundreds of hours spent in freezing cold rinks... Early mornings, late nights..." Those words could easily describe the careers of any of Canada's top figure skaters, but they equally apply to the grossly underappreciated Canadians who have dedicated the better part of their lives to officiating the sport. Today's Skate Guard blog highlights the judges, referees and technical specialists who have represented The True North strong and free on the world's biggest stages.

CANADA'S OLYMPIC OFFICIALS

Year

Men's

Women's

Pairs

Ice Dance

Team Event

1932

J. Cecil McDougall

J. Cecil McDougall

(none)

N/A

N/A

1936

John Z. Machado*

(none)

(none)

N/A

N/A

1948

Melville Rogers

Melville Rogers

Melville Rogers

N/A

N/A

1952

Norman V.S. Gregory

Donald Gilchrist

Donald Gilchrist

N/A

N/A

1956

Ralph McCreath

Ralph McCreath

Ralph McCreath

N/A

N/A

1960

John Greig

John Greig

John Greig

N/A

N/A

1964

Bill Lewis

Suzanne (Morrow) Francis

Suzanne (Morrow) Francis

N/A

N/A

1968

Ralph McCreath

(none)

Ralph McCreath, Donald Gilchrist (AR)

N/A

N/A

1972

Donald B. Cruikshank

Joan MacLagan

Joan MacLagan, Donald Gilchrist (AR)

N/A

N/A

1976

Suzanne (Morrow) Francis

Ralph McCreath, Donald Gilchrist (R)

Ralph McCreath

Dorothy Leamen

N/A

1980

Alice Pinos

Donald Gilchrist (AR)

Dennis McFarlane

Suzanne (Morrow) Francis

N/A

1984

Margaret (Crosland) Berezowski, Donald Gilchrist (R)

Norris Bowden

David Dore

Ann Shaw

N/A

1988

Jean Matthews

Dennis McFarlane, Donald Gilchrist (R)

Suzanne (Morrow) Francis

Ann Shaw

N/A

1992

Jean Matthews

Mary Pearson

Dennis McFarlane

Bill McLachlan

N/A

1994

Elizabeth Clark

Audrey Williams

Frances Dafoe

Jean Senft

N/A

1998

Sally Rehorick

(none)

John Greenwood

Jean Senft

N/A

2002

(none)

Debbie Islam

Benoit Lavoie

Ann Shaw (AR)

N/A

2006

William Thompson

Benoit Lavoie, Michael Slipchuk (TS)

William Thompson, David Moellenkamp (ATS)

John Greenwood, Marie Bowness (ATS)

N/A

2010

Debbie Islam

Cynthia Benson

Andrea Derby, David Moellenkamp (TS)

Jodi Abbott

N/A

2014

(none)

Karen Howard

Karen Butcher

Jodi Abbott

Karen Butcher

2018

Janice Hunter

Nicole LeBlanc-Richard

(none)

Leanna Caron

Janice Hunter, Leanna Caron

2022

Cynthia Benson

Janice Hunter, Kelly Cruickshank (ATS)Andrea DerbyNicole LeBlanc-RichardNicole LeBlanc-Richard, Andrea Derby, Kelly Cruickshank (ATS)

*John Z. Machado withdrew from the judging panel halfway through the men's event at the 1936 Winter Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen due to illness and was replaced by a German judge.

CANADA'S WORLD OFFICIALS

Year

Men's

Women's

Pairs

Ice Dance

1930

J. Cecil McDougall

J. Cecil McDougall

J. Cecil McDougall

N/A

1931

(none)

(none)

(none)

N/A

1932

Norman Mackie Scott

Norman Mackie Scott

Norman Mackie Scott

N/A

1933

(none)

(none)

(none)

N/A

1934

(none)

(none)

(none)

N/A

1935

(none)

(none)

(none)

N/A

1936

(none)

(none)

(none)

N/A

1937

(none)

(none)

(none)

N/A

1938

(none)

(none)

(none)

N/A

1939

(none)

(none)

(none)

N/A

1947

(none)

Donald B. Cruikshank

(none)

N/A

1948

Melville Rogers

Melville Rogers

Melville Rogers

N/A

1949

(none)

(none)

(none)

N/A

1950

Norman V.S. Gregory

Norman V.S. Gregory

Norman V.S. Gregory

(none)

1951

Donald Gilchrist

Donald Gilchrist

Donald Gilchrist

(none)

1952

Donald Gilchrist

Norman V.S. Gregory

Donald Gilchrist

Norman V.S. Gregory

1953

John Greig

John Greig

John Greig

(none)

1954

Melville Rogers

Melville Rogers

Melville Rogers

(none)

1955

Donald Gilchrist

Donald Gilchrist

Donald Gilchrist

(none)

1956

Ralph McCreath

Ralph McCreath

Ralph McCreath

(none)

1957

Pierrette Paquin Devine

Sandy McKechnie

Sandy McKechnie

Pierrette Paquin Devine

1958

Nigel Stephens

Gordon Jeffery

Nigel Stephens

Gordon Jeffery

1959

Donald Gilchrist

Pierrette Paquin Devine

Donald Gilchrist

Pierrette Paquin Devine

1960

Bill Lewis

Bill Lewis

Bill Lewis

Sandy McKechnie

1962

Norman V.S. Gregory

Melville Rogers

Melville Rogers

Norman V.S. Gregory

1963

Sandy McKechnie

Dick McLaughlin

Dick McLaughlin

Sandy McKechnie

1964

Pierrette Paquin Devine

Donald Gilchrist

Donald Gilchrist

Pierrette Paquin Devine

1965

Bill Lewis

Ralph McCreath

Ralph McCreath

Dorothy Leamen

1966

Suzanne (Morrow) Francis

Joan MacLagan

Suzanne (Morrow) Francis

Dorothy Leamen

1967

Donald Gilchrist

Donald B. Cruikshank

Donald Gilchrist

Frances (Abbott) Gunn

1968

Bill Lewis

Joan MacLagan

Bill Lewis

Frances (Abbott) Gunn

1969

Dorothy Leamen, Donald Gilchrist (R)

Donald B. Cruikshank

Dorothy Leamen

Barbara Lane

1970

Audrey Williams

Ralph McCreath

Ralph McCreath

George J. Blundun

1971

Donald Gilchrist (AR)

Barbara Graham

(none)

George J. Blundun

1972

Bill Lewis, Donald Gilchrist (R)

Suzanne (Morrow) Francis

Suzanne (Morrow) Francis

Audrey Moore

1973

Dorothy Leamen

Joan MacLagan

Alice Pinos, Donald Gilchrist (AR)

Frances (Abbott) Gunn

1974

Dorothy Leamen

David Dore

Dorothy Leamen, Donald Gilchrist (R)

Audrey Moore

1975

Ralph McCreath, Donald Gilchrist (AR)

Bill Lewis

Audrey Williams

Pierrette Paquin Devine

1976

Joan MacLagan

David Dore

Dorothy MacLeod, Donald Gilchrist (R)

George J. Blundun (AR), Joyce Hisey (S)

1977

David Dore

Norris Bowden

David Dore, Donald Gilchrist (R)

Joyce Hisey, George J. Blundun (AR)

1978

Dorothy MacLeod

Margaret (Crosland) Berezowski, David Dore (AR)

Norris Bowden, Donald Gilchrist (AR)

Roy Haines, George J. Blundun (R)

1979

Margaret (Crosland) Berezowski

Suzanne (Morrow) Francis

Suzanne (Morrow) Francis

Dennis McFarlane

1980

David Dore

Donald Gilchrist (AR)

Audrey Williams

Suzanne (Morrow) Francis

1981

Donald Gilchrist (R)

David Dore

Dorothy MacLeod

Joyce Hisey

1982

Norris Bowden, Dennis McFarlane (S)

Margaret (Crosland) Berezowski, Dennis McFarlane (S)

Norris Bowden

Joyce Hisey

1983

Margaret (Crosland) Berezowski

Margaret (Crosland) Berezowski

Suzanne (Morrow) Francis, Donald Gilchrist (R)

Ann Shaw

1984

Margaret (Crosland) Berezowski

(none)

Frances Dafoe, Donald Gilchrist (R)

Suzanne (Morrow) Francis, Joyce Hisey (AR)

1985

Norris Bowden

Jean Matthews

Frances Dafoe, Donald Gilchrist (AR)

Dennis McFarlane

1986

Jean Matthews

(none)

Ralph McCreath, Donald Gilchrist (R)

Bill McLachlan

1987

Jean Matthews

Donald Gilchrist (R)

Frances Dafoe

Suzanne (Morrow) Francis

1988

Jean Matthews

Audrey Moore

Suzanne (Morrow) Francis

Ann Shaw

1989

Jean Matthews

(none)

Audrey Williams, Donald Gilchrist (R)

Dennis McFarlane

1990

Audrey Williams (AR)

(none)

Frances Dafoe, Donald Gilchrist (R)

Jane Garden

1991

Mary Pearson

Jane Garden

Audrey Williams (S)

Joyce Hisey (AR)

1992

Jane Garden

(none)

Frances Dafoe (S)

(none)

1993

Elizabeth Clark

(none)

Frances Dafoe

(none)

1994

(none)

Margaret (Crosland) Berezowski

Susan Heffernan

Joyce Hisey (R)

1995

(none)

John Greenwood

Sally Rehorick (S)

Jane Garden, Ann Shaw (AR)

1996

Mary Pearson

(none)

Susan Blatz

Jean Senft, Ann Shaw (AR)

1997

Sally Rehorick

(none)

Debbie Islam

John Greenwood

1998

(none)

Susan Heffernan

(none)

Ann Shaw (R)

1999

(none)

(none)

Jane Garden

Elizabeth Clark

2000

Jane Garden

(none)

Susan Blatz

Elizabeth Clark

2001

Debbie Islam

John Greenwood (R)

Benoit Lavoie

Ann Shaw (AR)

2002

William Thompson

(none)

Sally Rehorick

John Greenwood (AR)

2003

Beth Crane

(none)

William Thompson, John Greenwood (R)

Elizabeth Clark

2004

Jean Senft

(none)

Sally Rehorick

Elizabeth Clark, Ann Shaw (R)

2005

Benoit Lavoie, Michael Slipchuk (TS)

(none)

Susan Blatz, Debbi Wilkes (ATS)

Marie Bowness (ATS)

2006

Debbie Islam, Benoit Lavoie (C)

Michael Slipchuk (TS)

Cynthia Benson, John Greenwood (R)

(none)

2007

Debbie Islam

Debbie Islam, Ravi Walia (TS)

Susan Heffernan, David Moellenkamp (ATS)

(none)

2008

Sally Rehorick (C)

Janice Hunter

Debbie Islam, David Moellenkamp (TS)

(none)

2009

(none)

Susan Heffernan (R)

Andrea Derby

(none)

2010

Ravi Walia (TS)

(none)

(none)

(none)

2011

(none)

(none)

(none)

Elizabeth Clark

2012

Ravi Walia (TS)

(none)

Andrea Derby

Jodi Abbott, Marie Bowness (TS)

2013

Beth Crane (C)

Susan Heffernan (R)

Karen Butcher, Jamie McGrigor (ATS)

Marie Bowness (TS)

2014

Benoit Lavoie

Cynthia Benson, Sally Rehorick (C)

Susan Heffernan

Leslie Keen, Shae Zukiwsky (TS)

2015

Beth Crane, Kelly Cruikshank (ATS)

(none)

Karen Howard

Rock Lemay (TS)

2016

Andrea Derby

Jean Senft, Benoit Lavoie (R), Jamie McGrigor (TS)

Benoit Lavoie

(none)

2017

Jeff Lukasik

Leanna Caron

Sally Rehorick

Nicole LeBlanc-Richard

2018

Susan Blatz, Sally Rehorick (R)

Lynne Dey

Karen Howard

Jean Senft, Marie Bowness (TS)

2019

Cynthia Benson

(none)

Andre-Marc Allain, Beth Crane (R)

Jodi Abbott (R)

2021

Ravi Walia (TS)

(none)

(none)

Marie Bowness (TS)

2022

Debbie Islam, Cynthia Benson (TC)

Karen HowardVéronique Gosselin(none)

2023

(none)

Beth Crane (TC)Leanna Caron, Laurene Collin-Knoblauch (ATS)(none)

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on FacebookTwitterPinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html