Sensations From St. Paul: The Oscar Johnson And Eddie Shipstad Story

Photo courtesy Hennepin County Library

Born November 13, 1898, and February 16, 1907, respectively, Oscar Fabian Johnson and Eddie Shipstad both grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, the sons of working-class Swedish immigrants with many mouths to feed. As boys, they met wearing double runners on Lake Como and became fast friends as they both taught themselves how to 'really skate' at the popular St. Paul skating spot, enduring temperatures that sometimes dipped to minus thirty below. It was on that lake, through trial and error, that they developed an act that later became known as their 'Bowery' number. So many locals flocked to the lake to watch the comedy stylings of the boys that more than once, the police showed up to disperse the crowds out of concern that the ice wouldn't bear with so many folks gathering in one area.

Photo courtesy the Minnesota Historical Society. Used with permission.

By the twenties, Oscar and Eddie were working as a chemist's apprentice at a coke plant and typewriter salesman, taking odd jobs like cutting hot dog buns and squeezing lemons at a ballpark to earn extra money. When they weren't toiling away at their low-paying jobs, they were sweeping the ice at the local rink in exchange for time to practice their popular comedic skating acts. They gave their first performance at the St. Paul Hippodrome in 1924 and were regulars during the intermissions of Duluth and St. Paul hockey games, earning five or ten dollars a show.

Eddie's younger brother Roy - also an extremely talented skater - set off for New York City to take on a half-time hockey game skating exhibition gig of his own at Madison Square Garden. In the November 23, 1986 issue of "The Chicago Tribune", Eddie recalled, "From the reaction he got, he thought we could make a go of it with a full-scale show." 

Soon thereafter, Eddie and Oscar headed east to join him and became huge hits with their icy equestrian antics as Sparkplug, a comedic skating horse. Oscar took the head; Eddie the rear. After their five-year engagement ended, Oscar, Eddie and Roy set to work laying the foundation for their own production.

Photo courtesy the Minnesota Historical Society. Used with permission.

Photos courtesy the Minnesota Historical Society, Hennepin County Library. Used with permission.

In the winter of 1933, Eddie and Oscar staged their first production, which proved a financial flop as it was held on a bank holiday when funds were unavailable. Their next effort, the first annual Midsummer Ice Carnival at the St. Paul Auditorium, proved far more successful. In the year that followed, they successfully staged several hospital fundraisers on ice and organized a tank ice show at the College Inn at the Hotel Sherman in Chicago.

Photo courtesy the Minnesota Historical Society. Used with permission.

Soon, Eddie and Oscar developed a little tour you might have heard of... Shipstad and Johnson's Ice Follies. Although the Ice Follies went on to become one of the most recognized and celebrated skating tours in North America, its beginnings were humble at best. Including Oscar, Eddie and Roy, the initial cast only included twenty-eight skaters, including Bess Ehrhardt, Lois Dworshak, Ruth Mack and Everett McGowan and Heinie Brock.

Janet Champion, Ginger Clayton, Oscar Johnson, Roy Shipstad and Betty Schalow at the Ice Follies 20th Anniversary Party. Photo courtesy Minnesota Historical Society.

The costumes for the entire cast during year one of Ice Follies only cost five hundred dollars. Eddie's brother Roy made his own, stitching sequins to a pair of long underwear dyed black. On the show's opening night in Omaha in 1936, there were more cast than audience members. Eddie called the skeptical cast together for a pre-show pep talk and joked, "Don't worry! We've got 'em outnumbered!"

For over a decade, Oscar and Eddie doubled as producers and stars of the Ice Follies. Some of their routines were legendary. "A Bicycle Built For Two", "On And Off The Beat" and "The Bloody Buccaneers", with Oscar as Spike McDuff and Eddie as Gashouse Annie, set the bar for skating comedy acts to follow.

Top: Eddie Shipstad, Harris Legg and Oscar Johnson. Photo courtesy Hennepin County Library. Bottom: Eddie Shipstad and Oscar Johnson with Dorothy Lamour and Bill Howard. Photo courtesy Los Angeles Public Library.

To this day, many of the themes Eddie and Oscar and their contemporaries - Frick and Frack - developed have been liberally borrowed from. A film inspired by the tour, "Ice Follies Of 1939", featured no less a star than Mommie Dearest herself... Joan Crawford.

Eddie and Roy Shipstad with Oscar Johnson. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

After thrilling audiences from St. Paul to Seattle for decades, Oscar and Eddie hung up their skates in 1947 to focus on the management of their tour. They later sold Ice Follies for a cool three point five million dollars. Both men married. Eddie had children; Oscar didn't. They were both inducted into the Ice Skating Institute Hall Of Fame in 1965, alongside Eddie's brother Roy, Dick Button and Frank J. Zamboni.

Oscar Johnson, Eddie and Roy Shipstad. Photos courtesy "World Ice Skating Guide".

Sadly, Oscar Johnson died in Rochester, Minnesota in 1970 after an eight year battle with cancer at the age of seventy-one. Eddie's brother Roy passed away in 1975 and in 1976, both Oscar and Eddie were among the initial group of inductees to the U.S. Figure Skating Hall Of Fame. Eddie Shipstad passed away at the age of ninety-one on August 20, 1998, in Los Angeles, California.

The legacy of Oscar and Eddie lives on in the incredible roles that their family members, friends and former employees have done to keep professional figure skating alive and flourishing in North America. They were - simply put - legends.

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 Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering one of five fascinating books highlighting the history of figure skating:

https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Veterans' Week

On November 11, 1918, the signing of the Armistice near Compiègne, France, signified an end to the gighting on the Western Front during The Great War. 

Throughout both World Wars, numerous individuals from the Canadian figure skating community devoted themselves to their country. This included Canadian and North American champions, judges, coaches, club leaders, recreational skaters, and family members of some of our most celebrated skating talents, all of whom served in the military or engaged in vital wartime efforts. 

To honour their sacrifices, Skate Guard is proud to present a special Veterans' Week page that highlights the remarkable contributions of these courageous men and women during wartime.

The Skating Club

"The ice was remarkably good, and the quadrilles of several members of the Skating Club attracted a large circle round that portion of the ice, on which they practised their graceful evolution." - "London Evening Standard", January 26, 1838

"Thou'st here, at last, attained thy true perfection under the gallant Skating Club's protection!" - Excerpt from a poem published in "The Illustrated London News", 1844

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine you're in a horse-drawn carriage riding through the side streets of Victorian England. It's a chilly afternoon between Christmas and New Year's Day - cold enough you can see your breath. You pass coopers and chimney sweeps, milliners and tea merchants. As you approach your destination, you gaze out the carriage window at the frozen Serpentine River. Your coachman stops and opens the door. You breathe in the crisp winter air and beam. It's the first day of the skating season.

Long before the days of indoor rinks, English figure skaters were dependent entirely on the weather. Some winters saw weeks of good skating; others none at all. Though 'skaiting' had its devotees in the eighteenth century, it wasn't until April 28, 1830, when Henry C. Chilton organized a meeting of winter-hardy figure skaters, that the first organized group of skating enthusiasts in Victorian England was founded. This group was known to its members and the public as The Skating Club. The Club's first skating session was held on December 27 of that year. An account in the "Evening Mail" recalled, "The Skating Club had their first meeting on the Serpentine River, in Hyde-park, on Monday afternoon, at two o'clock. It is composed of the best skaters in town, and the members are distinguished by wearing a small model of a skate in silver suspended from the button-hole. The club will now meet daily at two o'clock, near the Receiving-house, in Hyde-park." The next month, members of The Skating Club took to the ice in Regent's Park in their black coats, trousers and tall hats. The January 31, 1831 issue of the "Globe" described the scene thusly: "There was a vast assemblage of beauty, rank and fashion on the banks, to witness the skating. The weather was remarkably favourable altogether, and the garden of this delightful park presented a most animated scene."

An article that appeared in the "Morning Post" on January 6, 1832, provides the exact location of The Skating Club's first sessions, as well as a list of its early members: "The Skating Club met yesterday in the Regent's Park, on that part of the lake next [to] the Marquis of Hertford's Eastern [also referred to as 'Hindoo'] Pavilion. There was a considerable degree of grace and science displayed by [Thomas Heron Jones the] Viscount Ranelagh, Mr. [William] Newton, Captain [John] Trotter, Mr. [Frederick] Byng, the two Chiltons [Rev. Cyril and George], Mr. [Edward] Shepherd, Mr. Joy, Marquis of Clanricarde, Mr. T. Staveley, Mr. Weston, Mr. G.A. Thompson and Mr. T. Rivell. All the skates were upon an improved principle."

The formation of The Skating Club not only generated considerable interest in the art; it also created jobs. Skaters needed skates and they obtained them from a cutler named Mr. W. Coleman, who had a shop on the Haymarket. He ran an advertisement in the newspapers aimed at "the Gentlemen of the Skating Club and Amateurs of the Manly Art of Skating". Mr. Coleman wasn't the only one who profited from the Club. 

Many men and boys of the "humble classes" would strap and screw on the well-to-do's skates in exchange for a shiny coin or two. T. Maxwell Witham recalled, "The well-known words, 'Ave a pair on, sir? Skates on, sir?' invited the promenaders in the London parks in every direction, and it was apparent that thousands of the humble classes were getting their daily bread in a most inclement season by ministering to the wants of the skater." When the ice would bear, entrepreneurial vendors also showed up in droves. An 1865 article from "The Sporting Magazine" noted that they sold "hot-baked potatoes, buns, gingerbread, peppermints, hot coffee well flavoured with chicory, porter and beer with a dash of pump water mixed with them, leather straps for disabled skates, walking-sticks to hold up the timid and the learner, with sundry other 'good and useful' articles such as the necessity of the occasion would seem to require."

As one can imagine, safety was a huge concern of the members of The Skating Club. From the get-go, they made generous donations to the Royal Humane Society for their services. The 'icemen' had several plans in place if the ice broke and a skater fell in. They stocked up on ladders and erected a pole on the shore of Regent's Park, from which they hung ropes, and placed signs marked 'Dangerous' near sections of bad ice. They even had a special rescue boat made. In 1839, eight members of the Club were rescued when the ice broke. When an unlucky skater was pulled from the water, they were offered a warm bath, blankets and "stimulants" of some variety and sent home in a carriage to recuperate immediately. The 'icemen' were also tasked with assisting the injured. The newspapers of the day often wrote of unfortunate skaters who suffered fractured limbs and "broken heads".

Illustration from a scrapbook of The Skating Club. Photo courtesy Surrey History Centre.

Though The Skating Club was very much a gentlemen's Club, ladies skated with members as early as the 1830's. In 1837, one of the members - a banker named Mr. Weston - brought his two daughters with him. An article from "Saint James's Chronicle" noted that "The Misses Weston... in the quadrilles displayed an ease and grace which were quite charming." In 1838, "a lady, about 30 years of age," joined the Club members on the ice. She was "habited from head to foot in green-coloured clothes [and] ran a race along the ice in skates with a gentleman, which created so much confusion, that it was found necessary for the police in attendance to interfere, who accordingly conducted her to the bank, where she took off her skates." By 1867, the Club had "about 40 lady skaters".

The Skating Club eventually obtained special permission from the Ranger of The Commissioners of Woods and Forests to install a large pavilion on the banks of the Serpentine River, where they enjoyed cognac and cigars in peace between skating sessions. They were 'left alone' for a time, but eventually the Club's favourite skating haunts were being inundated with recreational skaters. On January 3, 1837, the "Saint James's Chronicle" recorded, "Soon after noon there were assembled on the ice about 500 persons, principally of the lower grade; a few of them were skaters, but the greater proportion sliders. There might have been about a half-a-dozen adepts in the figure movements, but we saw none who appeared to be the ranks of gentlemen." The Club's upper-class members found that performing their figures was nearly impossible on a crowded ice surface, so they regularly shuffled around between St. James's Park, the Serpentine in Hyde Park, Battersea Park and the Long Water and Round Pond at Kensington-Garden. There, too, they often found the ice "literally studded with human beings". This 'problem' was temporarily solved when England's first indoor rink, The Glaciarium, opened at Baker-Street Bazaar. Sir William Newton, the Club's President, "pronounced it better than bad ice, but inferior to the best" and a group of roughly twenty members of the Club skated there during the winter of 1843. In 1855, Club members "obtained permission to appropriate to their special use a piece of water known as the intermediate reservoir" on the grounds of the Crystal Palace.

Illustration of skaters on the crowded Serpentine in 1850, from Richard 'Dicky' Doyle's book "Manners & Customs of ye Englyshe"

By the 1850s, The Skating Club's popularity had inspired the formation of similar clubs in Manchester, Sheffield, Southampton and at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. These other clubs weren't as choosy as The Skating Club. The Oxford Skating Club counted tradesmen, mechanics and students among its members. What made The Skating Club stand out amongst its peers were its royal connections. In 1841, Prince Albert was presented with a golden skate to hang in his buttonhole. In 1864, the Prince and Princess of Wales met with members of the Club at Virginia Water. The January 16, 1864 issue of "The Illustrated London News" reported, "Her Royal Highness, who is said to be an excellent skater, did not, of course, take part in that exercise, but was occasionally driven about in a sledge." The royals weren't just interested in skating; they were interested in the ice itself. In 1853, the "London Evening Standard" reported, "Several noblemen and gentlemen belonging to the Skating Club took an active part in the performance [in Hyde Park] and cut with their skates upon the ice many grotesque figures, serpents and letters.... The ice... was three inches thick, and that part nearest the east end is to be broken for the purpose of supplying her Majesty's kitchen so that the skaters will have to be very careful in not venturing too near the opening when that is done."

In the autumn of 1869, The Skating Club flooded their own 150 X 50-yard natural ice rink on the grounds of the Royal Toxophilite Society. Members of the Society were able to join the Club at a reduced subscription of £2 2s if they could perform the test figures: a cross roll forwards and backwards and a large three on each foot. The same year, the first edition of Henry Eugene Vandervell and T. Maxwell Witham's "A System Of Figure Skating" was published. Vandervell joined the club at the age of thirty in 1855 and he and Witham, along with several others, were responsible for the evolution of the club's Combined Figures and invention of several skating turns we take for granted today, including the counter, bracket and rocker.

One of The Skating Club's Combined Figures - 'Once Back, Two Turns, and Double'

By 1880, the year after the National Skating Association was founded, The Skating Club had one hundred and seventy members - one hundred and fifty men and twenty women. Its patrons were the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge. 

Many factors contributed to The Skating Club's decline in prominence during the late Victorian era. The rival Wimbledon Skating Club, formed in 1871, became a popular choice of English Style skaters because of its high standards. Three hugely popular indoor rinks opened in London - the National Skating Palace, the Ice Rink at Niagara Hall and Prince's Skating Club. The Continental Style gained popularity in England, thanks to The Figure-Skating Club (formed in 1898) and the efforts of Madge and Edgar Syers, Herbert Ramon Yglesias, Henning Grenander and others. As the Continental Style took hold in the Edwardian era, both The Skating Club and Wimbledon Skating Club's memberships dwindled. They joined forces in 1929 and in 1932, by command of their patron King George V, were renamed the Royal Skating Club. The Royal Skating Club is still in existence today, carrying on the overlooked but important tradition of English Style skating.

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 Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering one of five fascinating books highlighting the history of figure skating:

https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.