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Photos courtesy "Skating" magazine, "The Ottawa Journal" and the "Evening Citizen" Archives
From February 26 to 28, 1953, Ottawa played host to the 1953 Canadian Figure Skating Championships. The competition was held after that year's World Championships but before the North American, U.S. and British Championships. The Minto Skating Club had last hosted the Canadians in 1949, but a fire gutted the rink in November of that year. This time, the organizers were tasked with putting together the event in their two-year-old Henderson Avenue rink while tackling a massive debt.
The Henderson rink had no exterior windows and was lit only by artificial light. The rink ran east-west, with a small second rink on the Eastern end called 'the pen' for training. The dressing rooms had wood stoves with bars where skaters could prop up their feet to warm them. Bleachers, which normally weren't in the rink, had to be installed specifically for the competition. The ice was dyed an unusual shade of emerald green so that school figure tracings could be more visible. The club lounge was decorated with drapes that took one group of club members fourteen hours to hand stitch, Aidrie Cruikshank's handmade lamps and lounge-style furniture hand-painted with compulsory dance patterns. It was there that trophies were presented and skaters and judges were treated to a buffet luncheon and a gala celebration. Melville Rogers was the competition's General Chairman and was assisted by CFSA President Donald B. Cruikshank and Minto Skating Club President Irwin M. Morgan. Out-of-town skaters stayed at the official hotel, the historic Château Laurier. The judges list read like a who's who of Canadian figure skating - Canadian Champions Ralph McCreath, Melville Rogers, Sandy McKechnie, Donald B. Cruikshank, Nigel Stephens and Norman V.S. Gregory. Let's take a look at what transpired on the ice that chilly February!
THE JUNIOR EVENTS
Dawn Steckley and David Lowery of Oshawa, whom one of the judges remarked were "one of the most beautiful pairs [I've] ever seen skate" took top honours in junior pairs, defeating the brother/sister team Patty Lou and George Montgomery and future Olympic Gold Medallists Barbara Wagner and Bob Paul. The Montgomery siblings were two of the busiest skaters in the entire competition. They competed in the junior pairs, junior dance, senior dance, Waltz and Tenstep competitions... and Patty Lou competed in junior women's. If any two skaters had tired feet by the end of the competition, it was that Toronto twosome!
Largely on the strength of his school figures, Douglas Court defeated Paul Tatton of the North Bay Figure Skating Club in a three-two split in the junior men's event. Victoria's Dick Rimmer, Oakville's Eric Noble and Oshawa's Hugh Smith rounded out the five-man field. Court was nineteen, six foot two and only trained on weekends during his school term. He attended Ridley College in St. Catharine's but trained at the Toronto Skating Club. Off the ice, he excelled at hockey, gymnastics and athletics. After being flatly refused permission to be excused from school to compete in Ottawa, he played hooky. When his name appeared in the papers because of his success, there was no hiding the real reason he wasn't in school. In the end, the headmaster of Ridley College called him into his office not to berate him but to apologize. He told him that if he knew he was that good, he would have let him go!
Douglas Court. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.
The first junior ice dance event ever held at Canadians was won by Oshawa high school students Geraldine Fenton and Glen Skuce, who had been skating together since 1950. Like Frances Dafoe, Fenton designed her own skating costumes. Skuce was a tumbling and track and field champion. Wagner and Paul finished fourth in that event but it was a tiny pair who finished tenth out of eleven couples that captured the audience's hearts. Susan Yarker and John Lynch were only ten and eleven and helped usher in a new era of 'baby ballerinas' in Canadian ice dance.
Edmonton's Sonja Currie made history in the junior women's event, becoming the first skater - man or woman - from Alberta to win a junior singles crown in Canada. In doing so, she earned first-place votes from three of the five judges. Sonja was born in England. Her father was a hockey coach and her mother a skating professional. She first put on a pair of skates when she was two years old. Donald B. Cruikshank had Czechoslovakian immigrant Carole Jane Pachl first, while Melville Rogers gave his first-place vote to a young skater from the Granite Club whose name any die-hard skating fan might find sounds familiar... Wanda Beasley. Mr. Rogers must have seen something he liked, as no other judge had Beasley higher than sixth, which was exactly where she ended up.
In her memoir "Dreams Upon The Stars", Carole Jane's mother recalled, "When [Carole Jane] came with her mother to the dressing room to change her boots, they heard some people coming into the next room. The rooms were only divided by a wooden partition that did not quite reach the ceiling. They heard a voice very clearly state, 'I hope you will not let that foreigner win.' Other skaters came in at that moment, talking and laughing loud enough that they could not hear the answer. But Caroline froze in the middle of lacing her boots and looked at her mother with the eyes of a hunted deer. Jarmila put her hand on Caroline's shoulder and gave it a compassionate squeeze. They both knew that the room next to them was the judges' room. Caroline didn't say a word, just finished lacing her boots and went out to the rink with her mother. She did her free skating program to the music from 'The Student Prince'. Her program was graceful and lovely, without a fault. The audience was wildly enthusiastic during her routine. She was skating well and she was clearly a crowd favourite. [Gustave] Lussi said she was, without a doubt, the best. In the final judging, she came in third... A mother of one of the other Canadian skaters spoke to Jarmila and agreed that Caroline was cheated. She mentioned that the judges didn't like the fact that Caroline was being trained by an American skating coach."
THE PAIRS AND ICE DANCE COMPETITIONS
There were three separate senior dance competitions at the Canadians in 1953 - the Waltz, Tenstep and the Dance event, which consisted of four compulsory dances only. Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden, who'd won all three events in addition to the senior pairs event in 1952, decided to skip the Dance event, as practicing the four compulsories in addition to their pairs program was just too much. However, they managed to easily defend both their Waltz and Tenstep titles in 1953, besting the winners of the Dance event, Winnipeg's Frances Abbott and David Ross. Abbott was a home economics major at the University of Manitoba, and Ross was the twenty-eight-year-old Assistant Zone Manager for International Harvester Co.'s Motor Truck Division. Dancers performed the Westminster Waltz, Kilian, Fiesta Tango and Foxtrot but no free dance, making it next to impossible for Canadian dancers to prepare for international competition. Dafoe and Bowden's only competition for the senior pairs title were junior champions 'skating up' Steckley and Lowery. While the Oshawa duo were a lovely pair, they were simply no match for the reigning World Silver Medallists.
THE MEN'S COMPETITION
After the six school figures were skated, defending Champion Peter Firstbrook of Toronto had amassed a comfortable lead in the men's event. Charles Snelling of the Granite Club, the previous year's junior champion, presented Firstbrook with quite a challenge in the free skate. Two judges had Snelling first, two had Firstbrook first and another had Peter Dunfield first. When the marks were tallied, Firstbrook again came out on top, followed by Snelling, Dunfield and Oshawa's Alan Anderson.
THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION
The women's competition was perhaps the most interesting of all. For starters, Marlene Smith wasn't returning to defend her national title, nor was Suzanne Morrow, who had represented Canada at the World Championships. Vevi Smith and Elizabeth Gratton, the 1952 silver and bronze medallists, seemed two of the most likely successors to the Devonshire Cup which not so long ago had been won by Barbara Ann Scott. The surprise leader in the figures was junior pairs champion Dawn Steckley, who had never won a medal at the Nationals in singles previously either as a junior or senior.
Minto Skating Club member Charlotte Kindle, recalling the event in her report for "Skating" magazine that year, remarked, "Of the whole beautiful, three-day program, one scene stands out uniquely from the rest. Rarely do a dozen top-flight girl skaters appear together on the ice, all spinning, leaping and whirling in a riot of movement and color. The warm-up for the Senior Ladies' singles provided such a scene, and on the green surface of the Minto ice they looked just like a band of lovely, filmy butterflies fluttering and poising over a lawn of green grass."
The 'butterfly' who came out on top was sixteen-year-old 1950 Canadian junior champion Barbara Gratton. Educated at Loretto Abbey, Gratton planned to attend the University of Toronto. The Gratton girls (Barbara and her older sister Elizabeth) had been living with their aunt since the sudden death of their father, a doctor, in the autumn of 1951. Steckley dropped to second place and Carole Jane Pachl won her second medal in Ottawa after claiming the bronze in junior women's. Vevi Smith and Elizabeth Gratton placed fourth and seventh. Sonja Currie, the junior women's champion, was eighth of eleven skaters. The ordinals were all over the place. Gratton had two first places, two seconds and one sixth, while Steckley had a first and a seventh. One judge had Vevi Smith first, while another had Maureen Senior, who placed ninth, first. That judge was 'Mr. Minto', Melville Rogers, who was more often than not quite out of line with the rest of the panel throughout the event. Carole Jane Pachl's mother's memoir recalled, "The first and second-place Juniors who had outscored Caroline in their own division, placed far behind. How was this possible? The answer was simple... there were different judges. It proved that she should have placed in front of both Junior competitors and won the Junior title. How terrible that a young girl is seemingly punished because she was not born in Canada."
THE PAIRS AND ICE DANCE COMPETITIONS
Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.
There were three separate senior dance competitions at the Canadians in 1953 - the Waltz, Tenstep and the Dance event, which consisted of four compulsory dances only. Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden, who'd won all three events in addition to the senior pairs event in 1952, decided to skip the Dance event, as practicing the four compulsories in addition to their pairs program was just too much. However, they managed to easily defend both their Waltz and Tenstep titles in 1953, besting the winners of the Dance event, Winnipeg's Frances Abbott and David Ross. Abbott was a home economics major at the University of Manitoba, and Ross was the twenty-eight-year-old Assistant Zone Manager for International Harvester Co.'s Motor Truck Division. Dancers performed the Westminster Waltz, Kilian, Fiesta Tango and Foxtrot but no free dance, making it next to impossible for Canadian dancers to prepare for international competition. Dafoe and Bowden's only competition for the senior pairs title were junior champions 'skating up' Steckley and Lowery. While the Oshawa duo were a lovely pair, they were simply no match for the reigning World Silver Medallists.
THE MEN'S COMPETITION
After the six school figures were skated, defending Champion Peter Firstbrook of Toronto had amassed a comfortable lead in the men's event. Charles Snelling of the Granite Club, the previous year's junior champion, presented Firstbrook with quite a challenge in the free skate. Two judges had Snelling first, two had Firstbrook first and another had Peter Dunfield first. When the marks were tallied, Firstbrook again came out on top, followed by Snelling, Dunfield and Oshawa's Alan Anderson.
THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION
The women's competition was perhaps the most interesting of all. For starters, Marlene Smith wasn't returning to defend her national title, nor was Suzanne Morrow, who had represented Canada at the World Championships. Vevi Smith and Elizabeth Gratton, the 1952 silver and bronze medallists, seemed two of the most likely successors to the Devonshire Cup which not so long ago had been won by Barbara Ann Scott. The surprise leader in the figures was junior pairs champion Dawn Steckley, who had never won a medal at the Nationals in singles previously either as a junior or senior.
Minto Skating Club member Charlotte Kindle, recalling the event in her report for "Skating" magazine that year, remarked, "Of the whole beautiful, three-day program, one scene stands out uniquely from the rest. Rarely do a dozen top-flight girl skaters appear together on the ice, all spinning, leaping and whirling in a riot of movement and color. The warm-up for the Senior Ladies' singles provided such a scene, and on the green surface of the Minto ice they looked just like a band of lovely, filmy butterflies fluttering and poising over a lawn of green grass."
Barbara Gratton. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.
The 'butterfly' who came out on top was sixteen-year-old 1950 Canadian junior champion Barbara Gratton. Educated at Loretto Abbey, Gratton planned to attend the University of Toronto. The Gratton girls (Barbara and her older sister Elizabeth) had been living with their aunt since the sudden death of their father, a doctor, in the autumn of 1951. Steckley dropped to second place and Carole Jane Pachl won her second medal in Ottawa after claiming the bronze in junior women's. Vevi Smith and Elizabeth Gratton placed fourth and seventh. Sonja Currie, the junior women's champion, was eighth of eleven skaters. The ordinals were all over the place. Gratton had two first places, two seconds and one sixth, while Steckley had a first and a seventh. One judge had Vevi Smith first, while another had Maureen Senior, who placed ninth, first. That judge was 'Mr. Minto', Melville Rogers, who was more often than not quite out of line with the rest of the panel throughout the event. Carole Jane Pachl's mother's memoir recalled, "The first and second-place Juniors who had outscored Caroline in their own division, placed far behind. How was this possible? The answer was simple... there were different judges. It proved that she should have placed in front of both Junior competitors and won the Junior title. How terrible that a young girl is seemingly punished because she was not born in Canada."
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, Bluesky, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering one of six fascinating books highlighting the history of figure skating: https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.
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