The 1911 European Figure Skating Championships

In this day and age, it's hard to imagine an ISU Championship with only five competitors. Yet, back on February 12, 1911, that's precisely how many skaters were on the ice at the Yusupov Gardens in St. Petersburg, Russia for the 1911 European Figure Skating Championships.

The area of the ice that was cordoned off for the competition was decorated with festive flags, trees and strips of broad fabric, but the decorations didn't make much of a difference to the skaters or audience, who were battling bitterly cold, minus twenty two degree temperatures. The reigning European and World Champion Ulrich Salchow opted not to travel to Russia to compete after winning his tenth and final World title nine days prior in Berlin. In fact, only two skaters who competed in Berlin opted to make the trek to Russia to compete: Germany's Werner Rittberger and Hungary's Andor Szende. Szende had been started practicing for both events in October in Berlin, then spent six weeks carving out rockers and eights in Switzerland. In contrast, the lone Swedish entry, Per Thorén, had only started training fourteen days prior to his departure to Russia, and then only by moonlight. Without artificial lighting, he struggled to see the tracings of his figures on the ice. The judging panel in Russia was heavily stacked, with a Russian referee, five Russian judges, one judge from Russian Finland and one from Hungary. Thorén and Rittberger entered the event at a huge disadvantage, neither having any representation on the panel.

The competition started at ten in the morning with the compulsory figures. Per Thorén recalled, "It was raging cold and the ice so hard, that I thought that my skates would not cut into it. To protect me against the cold, for almost the full time I wrapped newsprint under my clothing. It helped some, but the cold soon penetrated through even this armour. The one who was best in this cold was Ivan Malinin from Moscow. Unaffected by the cold, he had been out one hour before the competition and practiced." Russia's Karl Ollo took the lead in the school figures and was praised for his small but accurate tracings. Thorén was second, followed by Malinin, Szende and Rittberger. However, the marks were somewhat all over the place. Two judges apiece had Ollo, Thorén and Malinin first, with the lone Hungarian judge supporting his own skater, Szende.

Ivan Malinin. Photo courtesy Sveriges Centralförening för Idrottens Främjande.

By two in the afternoon, a throng of Russians swarmed Yusupov Gardens, many pushing their way as close as they could to the ice to see Karl Ollo and Ivan Malinin skate. The St. Petersburg newspaper of that date (translated by figure skating historian Gunnar Bang) praised the Russian competitors thusly: "The latter part of the competition, the free skating, was opened by Malinin, who showed a temperament full of ruthless force executing free glides and numerous recurring combinations of steps. He went helter-skelter [through his performance] but it made little difference... The second man was Ollo, who the home crowd was well acquainted with. His musical program was safe, but not sufficiently expressive. The program was rich in combinations of figures, but he carefully avoided all of the jumps the audience was waiting to see in his program." Thorén followed with a program that received thunderous applause, and Rittberger was criticized for skating "a complete copy of Salchow's programs". Szende's program was praised for combining "athletic force" and "great beauty".  Thorén won the free skate with the first place marks of three judges. Russian judge Alexei P. Lebedeff tied him and Rittberger, while two other Russians placed the German first. Again, the Hungarian judge had Szende in first. Thorén was able to overtake Ollo by 32.2 points and two placements to win the gold. Rittberger moved up to win the bronze, ahead of Malinin and Szende.

Per Thorén

Women's and pairs events were also held in St. Petersburg, but these were treated as separate categories from the European Championships. Ludovika Eilers and Walter Jakobsson won the pairs; Eilers the women's event over two Russian women - Xenia Caesar and Lidia Popova.

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 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.

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Asian Heritage Month and Canadian Jewish Heritage Month

 

May is Asian Heritage Month and Canadian Jewish Heritage Month! Skate Guard celebrates the important history of skaters of Asian and Jewish heritage with extensive timelines from Canada and around the world, as well as required reading lists of past stories featured on the blog.

You can find all of the special content for Asian and Jewish Heritage Month by tapping on the top menu bar of the blog or visiting the following pages:

Asian Heritage Month (Canada)

Canadian Jewish Heritage Month (Canada)

Jewish American Heritage Month (United States)

International Jewish Skating History

For a timeline of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, head on over to U.S. Figure Skating!

To nominate skaters of Asian and Jewish heritage to the Skate Canada Hall Of Fame, click here.

Behind The Scenes: What To Expect In The Jackson Haines Book

Photo courtesy KHM-Museumsverband, Theatermuseum Vienna. Used with permission.

Self-publishing is a one-pony show and writing a manuscript is just the tip of the iceberg. You have to edit, design a cover and back matter and work on the layout and formatting. You have to find ARC readers and do everything you can to get those all-important reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. When the book comes out, you have to deal with promotions, marketing, pricing, pitching your book to libraries and advertising through interviews, ads and social media. 

After releasing my first three books, I wasn't sure if I really wanted to go through it all again - but once I started the process of putting together this biography of Jackson Haines, I couldn't stop. In the end, of all of the projects I have worked on - I really think I am proudest of this one.

I have a more or less finished, edited manuscript that I am continuing to tweak here and there and I wanted to give you all an idea as to what the book is going to look like. Following an Introduction, there is a chapter covering the year of his birth to 1863. Then, there are twelve chapters - each covering a year. The content serves almost like a diary of his travels through Europe but there are also many fascinating behind the scenes stories of his adventures. One of my favourite stories is about the time he rode a velocipede in Sweden.

Illustration of a man riding a velocipede, 1868. Photo courtesy National Archives.

A chapter on Jackson's legacy follows. It takes a deep dive into Jackson's personal life and rumours surrounding his time in Gamlakarleby (Kokkola) Finland and talks about his family members, grave and the skaters he inspired. I interviewed an actor that played him in a play in Finland and the 101 year-old great, great granddaughter of Jackson's uncle for this section. You might be quite surprised to know there's even a story that reads like something out of a Stephen King novel!

There is also a meticulously researched section on Jackson's family genealogy and a chapter on figure skating competitions. The book ends, of course, with acknowledgments to dozens of people who have helped along the way and detailed information on the provenance of the photographs in the book. There are over two dozen in all - several of which have never seen the light of day before. 

One of the things I really tried to avoid in this book was waxing poetically about Jackson's role as a figure skating pioneer. I really want to let the material speak for itself.

Jackson Haines' story is nuanced and quite different than the narrative that has been passed down for decades... and rather than give the people what they want, this book is going to give them everything and let them come up with their own opinions.

Through the process of researching and writing this book, I really feel like I got to know someone who passed away over a hundred years ago - and I can't wait for you to have the same experience this fall.

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 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 Canadian Coryphee: The Marilyn Ruth Take Wittstock Story

The daughter of engineer Percival Horace Take and Alice Marjorie Young, Marilyn Ruth Take was born on March 11, 1928 in Toronto, Ontario. 

Marilyn took up skating at the Toronto Skating Club at the age of nine and progressed quickly through the ranks, winning gold medals at her club's annual competition six times.

A student of iconic coaches Osborne Colson, Otto Gold and Madge Austin, Marilyn was one of the first Canadian skaters to employ principles learned in off-ice dance training to her skating and it paid off even at a young age. An accomplished ballerina, Marilyn studied at the Winnipeg Ballet and danced in one of the first all-Canadian ballets.

Marilyn earned her first medal at the Canadian Championships (a bronze in the junior women's event) in 1941, the same year she won the Toronto Skating Club's junior title. In 1942, she dropped to fourth and in 1943, won the silver.

Children's number from the 1942 Toronto Skating Club carnival. Marilyn Ruth Take is the butterfly pictured second from the left in the right photo. To her left is Suzanne Morrow.

By 1944, Marilyn had moved up to the senior ranks and made a strong statement in winning the silver medal behind Barbara Ann Scott, a placement she'd hold until 1946. Marilyn got her lucky break in 1947 when Barbara Ann skipped the Canadian Championships to compete overseas at the European and World Championships. This allowed Marilyn the chance to win the Canadian senior women's title in front of a hometown crowd - and she did it in spectacular fashion, defeating Suzanne Morrow, Nadine Phillips and Gloria Lillico by a forty-five point margin that year.

Due to time constraints, Marilyn skipped the 1947 World Championships in Stockholm and instead headed down to Washington, D.C. with Osborne Colson to focus on her training for the North American Championships, which were to be held in Ottawa that year. She finished an impressive third in the school figures in that event, but a disappointing free skate dropped her down to sixth overall behind Barbara Ann Scott, Janette Ahrens, Yvonne Sherman, Suzanne Morrow and Eileen Seigh. After the event, her family moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Marilyn remained in Toronto but was forced to take some time off from skating when doctors discovered a broken bone in her knee.

Competitors at the 1947 North American Championships (L-R: Janette Ahrens, Shirley Irene Lander, Suzanne Morrow, Barbara Ann Scott, Eileen Seigh, Yvonne Sherman, Marilyn Ruth Take)

Despite missing the World Championships, her disappointing showing at the North American Championships in 1947 and her injury, the 1947 season did have a silver lining for Marilyn. She secured spots on both the 1948 Olympic and World teams. Fortunately, she was able to resume training rather quickly after her injury healed. To improve her chances at the Olympics in St. Moritz, she headed down to St. Paul, Minnesota to work with Bud Wilson.

At the 1948 Winter Olympic Games in St. Moritz, Marilyn trained privately at the Palace Rink, where she had to shovel knee-deep snow off the ice in order to have a patch to practice on. Disaster struck in the school figures, when she lost her balance and had a freak fall. Falls in school figures were extremely rare so the judges had no clue what to do with her. One judge had her eighth; another in nineteenth.

Barbara Ann Scott, Marilyn Ruth Take and Suzanne Morrow at the 1948 Winter Olympic Games

Marilyn's free skating performance in St. Moritz to Amilcare Ponchielli's "Dance Of The Hours" turned some major heads. Captain T.D. Richardson, writing for "The Times" raved, "Marilyn Take of Canada... treated us to one of the most delightful displays of free skating... ever seen. It was a difficult program performed faultlessly, rhythmic and beautiful; it was, in a word, exquisite." In his 1959 book "Ice-Skating: A History", Nigel Brown noted, "She took a very bold step at musical interpretation, presenting a programme largely dominated by ballet movements. Her performance was beautiful and it showed clearly that skating in its highest form must interpret music." 

However, the judges were every bit as befuddled by Marilyn's dazzling (and at that time unorthodox) free skate as they were by her fall in the school figures. One judge had her tied for fourth and another tied for sixth, while others had her in sixteenth and seventeenth places. She finished twelfth overall. 

In a February 14, 1948 interview in the "Montreal Gazette", Marilyn shared her thoughts on her  Olympic experience: "I'm very proud of myself. I don't think I did too badly in my first time skating in Europe, and the reason I'm proud is that I had two weeks practice before the competitions. I cut my foot back home in the summer and wasn't able to get down to training until just before the Olympics." 

At the World Championships that followed in Davos, Marilyn finished ninth in the figures and dropped down to twelfth after the free skate, the same result she'd had at the Olympics. 

Marilyn Ruth Take. Right photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Marilyn initially intended to continue in the amateur ranks for another two or three years after Barbara Ann Scott left the amateur scene but opted to professional instead. She signed a contract with the Ice Follies and took up permanent residence in the U.S. in June of 1948. She toured with the company until 1952 alongside such greats as Richard Dwyer, Frick and Frack and Ája Vrzáňová.

After marrying and having three children, Marilyn planted firm roots in Toronto. She started coaching in 1968 and remained active as a coach there for many years. She worked at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club, Granite Club, Thornhill Figure Skating Club, Upper Canada Figure Skating Club and North York Figure Skating Club under her married name Marilyn Wittstock. Her students included sectional, divisional and national medallists.

A devoutly religious woman, Marilyn donated her time and knowledge to girls and women involved in Toronto churches and offered them free skating lessons. 

Marilyn passed away on April 14, 2023 at the age of ninety-five. At the time of her death, she was the last surviving member of Canada's 1948 Olympic figure skating team.

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 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.

The 1975 European Figure Skating Championships

Photo courtesy Deutsches Sport and Olympia Museum

Princess Alexandra and Barbara Castle, the longest serving female Member of Parliament in England, had just launched International Women's Year. The Social Democratic Party had emerged victorious in Denmark's general election. A series of two PFLP terrorist attacks at the Orly Airport in Paris injured twenty three people. A postage stamp cost ten cents and the Average White Band's hit "Pick Up The Pieces" blared on Oldsmobile Cutlass 8-track players.

The year was 1975, and from January 28 to February 2, the Brøndby-Hallen just outside of Copenhagen played host to the first European Championships to be held on Danish soil. The multi-sport Brøndby-Hallen was constructed just two years prior, with seating for over four thousand spectators. 

Photo courtesy Dansk Skøjte Union, Jette Ryttergaard. Used with permission.

This historic 'get' for the Dansk Skøjte Union was largely thanks to the tireless efforts of Finn Olsen, who served as the organization's President for nearly twenty years. Let's take a look at how things played out at the event!

THE ICE DANCE COMPETITION

Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov (left) and Hilary Green and Glyn Watts (right). Photos courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Sixteen ice dance teams competed in Copenhagen and to no one's surprise, Soviet couple Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov took a resounding lead in the compulsory dances and Blues OSP, earning several 5.9's in the process. They debuted a new free dance set to a jazzy version of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" and earned three perfect marks of 6.0 in that phase of the competition on the way to the top of the podium.

Aleksandr Gorshkov, Lyudmila Pakhomova, Aleksandr Zaitsev and Irina Rodnina

In winning their fifth European title, Pakhomova and Gorshkov set a new record in ice dance at the European Championships. Great Britain's Hilary Green and Glyn Watts did well to take the silver. Glyn was suffering from chest congestion and was quite under the weather throughout the event. Though Irina Moiseeva and Andrei Minenkov garnered a lot of attention with their speedy, dynamic free dance and placed second in that phase of the competition, they were unable to move up and finished fourth behind their teammates Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov. The other two British teams, Janet Thompson and Warren Maxwell and Kay Barsdell and Kenneth Foster, placed a disappointing seventh and ninth.

THE PAIRS COMPETITION

Irina Rodnina and Aleksandr Zaitsev in Copenhagen

An unlucky number of thirteen couples were entered in pairs competition. As was so often the case in the seventies, Irina Rodnina and Aleksandr Zaitsev were in a class of their own. In the short program, they received three perfect marks of 6.0 for artistic impression. In the free skate, Rodnina had a rare miss on a side-by-side double Axel to double Salchow series, but the couple skated brilliantly otherwise. In winning her seventh title, Irina (like Pakhomova and Gorshkov in the dance) set a new record for European titles. However, since she won her first four titles with former partner Alexei Ulanov, Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler's record of six set back in the sixties still stood (for the time being).

Video courtesy Frazer Ormondroyd

Silver medallists Romy Kermer and Rolf Österreich of East Germany made some history of their own when they became the first pair to land a throw triple loop in an ISU Championship. They earned eight 5.9's for their free skate, but still sat well behind Rodnina and Zaitsev. A fall on a throw double Axel kept their teammates, Manuela Groß and Uwe Kagelmann in third. Both teams trained at the SC Dynamo Berlin with coach Heinz-Friedrich Lindner. Karin and Christian Künzle's fifth place finish was notable in two respects. They were the first Swiss pair to make the top five at Europeans in ten years, and they were the first twins to crack the top five at Europeans as well.

THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION

Christine Errath (middle), Dianne de Leeuw (left) and Anett Pötzsch (right) on the podium

East Germany's Christine Errath, the reigning European and World Champion, was heavily favoured to win the school figures, but she had an admittedly terrible day and placed only fourth. Switzerland's Karin Iten was the winner because six judges placed her in the top two, though West Germany's Isabel de Navarre, who placed third, had the most first place ordinals. Dianne de Leeuw, a Californian representing Holland, was second. 

Both Christine Errath and Dianne de Leeuw turned out exceptional performances in the short program, with Errath winning that phase but de Leeuw taking the overall lead because of Errath's showing in the figures. In the free skate, Errath made history as the first woman to land a triple toe-loop in combination in an ISU Championship. de Leeuw landed no less than four double Axels, one of them in combination. In a five-four split of the judging panel, Errath came out on top, with her fourteen year old East German teammate Anett Pötzsch taking the bronze with a gutsy program that included an unplanned triple Salchow near the end, after she fell on her first attempt. The previous year's bronze medallist Liana Drahová of Czechoslovakia finished fourth ahead of Isabel de Navarre and Susanna Drianno, another Californian who moved to Milan to represent Italy internationally. Karen Iten had a disastrous showing in the free skate, placing nineteenth, and dropped all the way to tenth overall. 

THE MEN'S COMPETITION

Vladimir Kovalev (center), John Curry (left) and Yuri Ovchinnikov (right) on the podium. Photo courtesy "Ice & Roller Skate" magazine.

Notably missing from the men's field of twenty one was defending European Champion Jan Hoffmann. The nineteen year old student of Jutta Müller from Chemnitz was forced to take the season off while recovering from a knee cartilage operation. In his absence, twenty-five year old Sergei Volkov of the Soviet Union earned first place marks from seven judges and two ties to take a strong lead in the school figures. Second and third were Vladimir Kovalev and John Curry. 

Vladimir Kovalev. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

In the short program, Sergei Volkov made an extremely costly error on his jump combination - two-footing his triple Salchow and omitting the required double loop altogether. Kovalev and Curry both skated very well, landing their triple combinations. Though Curry's triple loop/double loop combination was more difficult than Kovalev's triple Salchow/double loop, he received lower marks. Quoted in the book "Black Ice: Life and Death of John Curry", Curry recalled, "Before [the free skate] took place, I had a visit from the International Skating Union officials. I was warned that the costume I had worn for the compulsories - an electric-blue leotard and pants with a white vapour trail encircling the body - had upset the judges, and that I should not wear such a controversial outfit again as it had caused me to lose marks. I was amazed - it seemed that the supposedly conservative judges much preferred the sequins, circus spangles and gaudy beads that were the current vogue amongst the male skaters."

Sergei Volkov's troubles continued in the free skate, with problematic landings on two different triple jumps and a fall on a double Axel. Vladimir Kovalev had one of the best skates of his career, landing three different triple jumps and earning a slew of 5.9's and a perfect mark of 6.0 for technical merit from the West German judge. In winning the gold medal, Kovalev made history as the first Soviet skater to win an ISU Championship in singles skating. Nikolay Panin-Kolomenkin, of course, had won the gold medal in the 1908 Olympic Games in special figures, but never won a European or World title.

John Curry's work with Carlo and Christa Fassi paid off with a strong performance that featured a clean triple Salchow and triple toe-loop. He received a perfect mark of 6.0 for artistic impression from the French judge and earned the silver medal, skating in a plain black outfit to appease the judges. Soviet skater Yuri Ovchinnikov captured the bronze, with an athletic and imaginative performance of his own that featured two clean triple jumps. John Curry recalled, "It was a sweet moment for me. In some ways it meant more to me than any other result in my career, because I had done what everyone had told me was impossible - I had managed to claw my way back from obscurity and was once again in the front rank of international contenders."

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 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.

Two To Tango: The Louise Bertram And Stewart Reburn Story

Photo courtesy City Of Toronto Archives

"They didn't really have the lifts for pairs, but they were the forerunners of free dance and took New York by storm in the thirties." - Debbi Wilkes, "Ice Time"

The daughter of manufacturer Robert Mckenzie Bertram and Louisa Hope Hodgins, Frances Louise Bertram was born May 30, 1907. She was raised in prosperous circumstances on Spadina Road in Toronto with two live-in servants and two brothers, Robert and William. She was the middle child. 

When Louise was five on August 11, 1912, over on Forest Hill Road another middle child was born. His name was Stewart Dudley Dagge Reburn. He was the son of auditor William George Reburn and his Irish born wife Evelyn Sarah Stuart. When The Great War broke out, Stewart's father enlisted and the Reburn family was sent to live in England. In May 1919, William Reburn repatriated from Europe and that October, seven year old Stewart arrived at Pier 21 in Halifax with his mother, older sister Elizabeth and one and a half year old brother Dudley.

Louise Bertram and Betty Wily in the Toronto Skating Club carnival

The following year, Stewart met young Louise at the Toronto Skating Club. Though they struck up a friendship and skated together every week, their partnership took many years to form. In his youth while attending Upper Canada College, hockey had actually been his main sport for some time. 

Louise and Stewart both made their debuts at the Canadian Championships in 1928, but with different partners. Stewart and Veronica Clarke were third in the pairs; Louise and Errol Morson fourth. Both pairs were coached by Gustave Lussi.

Louise Bertram and Stewart Reburn skating singles

Louise made her singles debut at the Canadian Championships the following year, competing in 'novice ladies singles' against Cecil Smith's sister Maude, which essentially would have been a junior event as there was no junior category. Stewart finished second in the senior men's event behind Montgomery Wilson and won the fours event with partner Veronica, Margaret Henry and John Machado.

Top: Jack Eastwood, Maude Smith, Cecil Smith and Stewart Reburn. Bottom: Stewart Reburn, Margaret Henry, Louise Bertram and Hubert Sprott.

In 1931, Stewart repeated as silver medallist behind Montgomery Wilson in senior men and placed third in the pairs event with Cecil Smith and second in fours with Cecil and Maude Smith and Jack Eastwood. Louise's senior debut came the following year at the Canadian Championships in Toronto. She teamed up in pairs with Jack Hose and missed the podium but won the fours event with Stewart and Veronica and John Machado, actually defeating the fours team her pairs partner was on. It was after that competition that Louise and Stewart finally decided to form a pairs partnership. It was the right decision.

Photo courtesy City Of Toronto Archives

The following year at the Canadian Championships, Louise and Stewart finished right behind Constance and Montgomery Wilson in the pairs event and second in fours with Margaret Henry and Hupert Sprott. After that event, they debuted a tango-themed program set to a piece from the film "Flying Down To Rio" called "Orchids In The Moonlight" by Vincent Youmans. It was a huge hit at the Toronto Skating Club's carnival. They were invited to perform the number at a carnival in Montreal, where a sold-out crowd of ten thousand marvelled at their musicality and flair. Soon, clubs throughout Canada and the U.S. were flooding the Toronto Skating Club with letters requesting that this untested, unheralded pair come perform "their tango" in their carnivals. Writing of their number in "Skating" magazine in May 1934, A.E. Kirkpatrick rejoiced, "Music of Spain, a handsome youth, a maid of blithesome beauty, mistress of the blade; In perfect harmony, combine to seize our fixed regard, and every sense to please." British judge and journalist Captain T.D. Richardson raved, "It is the dance programme par excellence. It is performed with an exquisite perfection of timing and in an unexaggerated purity of style that is a delight to watch. Its very nature, however, tends to make it appear perhaps a trifle slow after the fireworks of some of the other pairs, but of its kind, it is as near perfection as can be."

Stewart Reburn. Photos courtesy the City Of Toronto Archives. Series 1957, Used with permission.

At the 1935 Canadian Championships, Louise and Stewart finished second in the fours event with Mrs. Spencer Merry and Hupert Sprott and won an unofficial Tenstep contest. "Orchids In The Moonlight" won them their first and only Canadian title, bumping five time Canadian pairs champions Constance and Montgomery Wilson down to third. In her book "Figure Skating History: The Evolution Of Dance On The Ice", Lynn Copley-Graves summed up the significance of their victory and winning program:  "This pair dance, devoid of 'tours de force' and 'highlights', may actually have been the first true 'free dance' before the term was conceptualized. With utmost simplicity, fluidity and timing, this early tango free had mesmerized carnival audiences everywhere and apparently had the same effect on the judges at the Minto Club. Described as 'poetry in motion', this pair dance united music with movement, emphasizing the oneness of partner skating... Years later, Joel Liberman recalled that, even without the content in their pair skating, Louise and Stewart could 'rouse an audience in their tango or waltz variation routine like no other skater, amateur or professional.'"

The international judges were never as accepting. When five thousand spectators gathered to watch the North American Championships in Montreal in 1935, Louise and Stewart were only judged the third best of the seven pairs teams who participated, though they easily won an unofficial Waltzing competition held during the computation of marks. At the 1936 Winter Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the Swedish and Norwegian judges placed them third and fourth... and the Austrian and German judges had them well down in thirteenth and fourteenth. They ended up sixth. Louise was competing with an injured knee at the Olympics, which required an X-ray. She attended the Games with a chaperone, Elizabeth Pitt Barron. In her diary, Pitt Barron recalled, "We were getting ready for the main performance that we had come so far to see and... we found that when we started out, I had no ticket to get in and after coming so long I just had to see our people skate. So I decided I would get between Louise and Stewart and I would carry her skates. I was wearing a culottes skirt, a divided one, which is so popular right now - that everyone is wearing - and I had put a bank note showing in my pocket with also an identification card. The blue bank note looked like an official card for entrance and so as I was line and the Nazi officer stopped me those behind me kept yelling 'hurry, hurry' and the first thing I knew I was pushed in and of course I had no place to go. I had no ticket so I just couldn't do anything else but leave our couple, wish them luck and wander up all the stairs to the top back of the stadium. I then realized I could look down and see those who were arriving and so later on I was able to see the big Mercedes arrive and there was the man himself, Hitler, the little man."

Photo courtesy City Of Toronto Archives

After the 1936 Olympics ended, Louise and Stewart travelled to Brussels, where they gave two exhibitions. The next day, they travelled to Paris, checked in to the Majestic Hotel and did some sightseeing and shopping in Versailles between practices at the Palais des Sports for the World Championships. Though they recovered quickly, a fall cost them a medal at the event. They finished  fourth behind Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier, Ilse and Erich Pausin and Violet and Leslie Cliff. American judge Charlie Morgan Rotch had them in third - ahead of both American pairs - but a bloc of European judges kept them off the podium. 

Upon their return to Canada, Louise and Stewart they won their final competition together, an invitational Fourteenstep competition held in conjunction with the Granite Club's annual carnival in 1936. Twenty teams from both Canada and the U.S. participated... but it was an ice dancing competition, not a pairs one. This victory certainly supports Copley-Graves' argument that their skating was more in the vein of free dancing in an era when highlights like lifts, jumps and spins were becoming a more and more prevalent necessity in pairs skating.

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

After that Olympic season, Stewart worked as a clerk in the insurance field briefly. Louise placed third at the 1937 Canadian Championships in the Tenstep with Osborne Colson. Louise and Stewart continued skating together in an endless stream of club carnivals and were dubbed as the 'Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers of the ice'.

Eleanor O'Meara, Virginia Wilson, Cecil Smith, Maude Smith, Louise Bertram and Eleanor Wilson. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Louise and Stewart were also regulars at Madison Square Garden in the Skating Club Of New York's annual carnivals in the thirties, holding their own alongside skaters like Henie, Karl Schäfer, Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier, Maribel Vinson and Vivi-Anne Hultén. , The February 15, 1938 issue of "The Ottawa Citizen" reported on their appearance in that years Minto Follies thusly: "Not only is this matchless duo internationally noted for perfect rhythm and flawless coordination, it also is considered by many to be the foremost pair of interpretive skaters in the world today. Their programs typify the true poetry of motion and everywhere they have appeared they have received tumultuous acclaim. Only last week in Philadelphia they had to respond to numerous encores." A waltz to Hans Otten's "Du kannst nicht treu sein" soon became a popular sequel to Louise and Stewart's tango but "Orchids In The Moonlight" was by far their signature number. In the heyday of their post-Olympic career they never lost their amateur status, performing in carnival after carnival for the love of the sport instead of the love of money. Yes, people actually did that back then.

Everything changed in August 1938, when Stewart received a letter from the office of Arthur M. Wirtz advising him that he had been chosen to skate with Sonja Henie in the Hollywood Ice Revue. "That was the greatest surprise of my life and it developed into the greatest thrill of my life when I actually began skating with Miss Henie. Who wouldn't be proud to skate with the finest skater in the world?" said a 25 year old Reburn in a January 21, 1939 interview in "The New York Sun". Sonja praised him by saying, "I don't think I have found a more expert partner anywhhere. Stewart is very good." On the surface, their partnership was a hit. On January 17, 1939, "The New York Sun" reported, "Miss Henie and her new partner, Stewart Reburn, danced a tango together, drew applause requiring five encores to quell." That's right - a tango. Sonja Henie liked Stewart and Louise's "Orchids In The Moonlight" tango program enough that she hired Stewart and worked her way into the pair's signature program. What did Louise think about all of it? In a 1938 interview, she said, "He went one way and I another. He's a professional." She never was and as it turned out, Stewart wasn't for long.

Stewart Reburn and Sonja Henie

Sonja Henie had a long string of partners as a professional. In the period between 1936 and 1944 alone, the list included Stewart Reburn, Harrison Thomson, Jack Dunn, Marshall Beard, Eugene Turner, Geary Steffen, Jr. and Buford McCusker. After appearing together in her 1939 film "Second Fiddle", there were even rumblings that Stewart and Sonja weren't just partners on the ice. However, when he announced to her that he planned to join the military at the outbreak of World War II, she practically moved on to the next man (Harrison Thomson) before he even had his skates off.

Stewart Reburn and Sonja Henie. Photo courtesy Toronto Public Library, from Toronto Star Photographic Archive. Reproduced for educational purposes under license permission.

In August 1941, Louise married Montreal born Sidney Melvin Hulbig. Soon came her only child, a son named Frank. Meanwhile in Europe, Stewart worked as a Staff Officer M.D.. and then served as a Lieutenant with the 48th Highlanders in the First Canadian Division. He was wounded in action in Sicily, Italy in January 1944. When Canadian men's, pairs, ice dancing and fours champion Captain Ralph McCreath went to go visit a friend at a hospital in England that year, he looked over and Stewart was is in the next bed. After recovering from his first injury, he'd been injured again in the Battle of Ortona. Stewart's chance meeting with Ralph McCreath wasn't his first such encounter during the War. When he was first hospitalized in Sicily, Canadian skater Prudence Holbrook Craig was on duty with the Red Cross.

Stewart eventually recovered to some degree and married Bette Ellsworth Balmer, the daughter of Albert Leroy Ellsworth, President of British American Oil Co. Ltd. He worked for many years with Shelly Films Ltd., a commercial and industrial motion picture company. He passed away at the age of sixty-three on June 6, 1976 in Toronto, right after both of his parents.

Louise passed away twenty years later on October 18, 1996, also in Toronto. In an interview shortly after her death, Louise's daughter-in-law recalled, "She never spoke about her own accomplishments but they were happy memories for her. She talked about the boat trip to the Olympics and how special that was." Both were inducted posthumously into the Skate Canada Hall Of Fame in 2015 but sadly, to this day, few realize just how important a role a Canadian pairs team who never won an Olympic or World medal played in popularizing ice dancing in North America in the thirties.

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